Daniel was arrested first on fraud and conspiracy counts tied to the contracting scheme.
Cole was charged later after investigators recovered messages showing that he had used law enforcement databases to check tenants, contractors, and potential buyers connected to Millstone properties.
He was also accused of filing false reports and helping Daniel intimidate people who asked questions.
Patricia wasn’t charged immediately.
That bothered some of my coworkers more than it bothered me.
The video on her phone eventually became part of the evidence against her.
She had recorded me because she thought the footage would embarrass me.
Instead, it captured Cole taking my credential, hiding it from Brooks, shutting off his radio, and ordering an arrest without stating a charge.
It also recorded Patricia saying, before she knew anyone was paying attention, “Daniel said you’d keep her outside.”
Her attorney later argued she didn’t understand the larger financial operation.
Investigators found enough emails to challenge that claim.
She eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate.
Brooks called me the week after Cole was suspended.
She asked if I minded meeting for coffee.
We sat at a place near the county courthouse. She looked exhausted.
“I keep replaying the stop,” she said. “There were about six points where I knew something wasn’t right.”
“That’s probably why they put you with him.”
She frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone who still asks questions makes everybody else look normal.”
She stared at her coffee for a while.
Then she said, “I testified yesterday.”
I knew what she meant.
Internal affairs.
“How’d it go?”
“I told them everything.”
She rubbed the cardboard sleeve around her cup.
“I don’t think he’ll ever speak to me again.”
I didn’t tell her that was probably a good thing. She already knew.
I moved back into the house almost three weeks after the morning in the driveway.
The federal technicians removed the relay, the wiring, and two small storage devices buried behind drywall in the laundry room.
I replaced the damaged cabinets instead of repairing them.
The first weekend I was home, I finally finished cleaning the gutters.