“The system uploaded the complete video to your department before I reached the garden.”
Vivian’s face tightened.
Sergeant Coleman looked toward the packets.
“No one touch anything until evidence technicians arrive.”
Vivian stepped away from them.
“I never touched those bags.”
Cameron said nothing.
Officer Ortiz played the first video.
It showed Vivian entering through the side gate carrying a blue tote bag. She looked toward the house, waited, then walked directly to the flower bed.
The second camera provided a closer angle.
Vivian removed six packets from the tote.
She placed three under the azaleas, one beside an irrigation box, and two near the foundation.
A microphone hidden beneath a garden light captured her whispering to someone through an earpiece.
“It’s done. Call in the tip.”
Officer Ortiz paused the recording.
Every officer looked at Vivian.
Vivian Harrow (shaken, backing toward the locked gate): “That footage was edited.”
Cameron Blackwood (coldly, folding his arms): “It was transmitted live to police servers.”
Sergeant Coleman asked Vivian to place her hands behind her back.
She refused.
“This is absurd. I am the HOA president.”
“That does not authorize planting controlled substances.”
“You do not know what those bags contain.”
Officer Hayes looked at her. “You just said they were drugs.”
Vivian realized her mistake too late.
She had identified the substance before police tested it.
Her shoulders lowered.
Sergeant Coleman repeated the instruction.
This time, Vivian complied.
The handcuffs closed around her wrists while residents gathered beyond Cameron’s wall, watching patrol lights flash across the street.
Vivian tried one final strategy.
“He forced me to do this.”
Cameron stared at her.
“How?”
“He threatened to expose private board records unless I helped him stage an attack.”
Sergeant Coleman looked toward Cameron.
“Do you have any communication with her supporting that claim?”
“All of my communication is archived.”