Not because I was worried about my Jeep.
Because I was imagining what was on those encrypted drives, what evidence was now compromised, and how easily a neighborhood tyrant had just stepped into federal territory without even realizing it.
At 3:17 a.m., the moment that had started this story, I watched task force officers deploy without their surveillance vehicle, faces tight with frustration. One of them asked me point blank:
“Where is it?”
And I had to say the dumbest sentence of my life.
“I think my HOA president stole it.”
The next morning, I got a text from Officer Melendez.
Five words.
We found the Jeep. Come now.
My stomach flipped so hard it felt like falling.
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