I stared at the number.
“That can't be right.”
Earl shook his head.
“Wish I could tell you it was.”
I did the math.
The association had been drawing water for weeks.
Maybe months.
My storage ponds weren't empty because of the drought.
They were empty because someone had been draining them.
I drove to the county office.
Rebecca met me there.
She looked through the records.
“Daniel, there's something strange.”
“What?”
“The Briar Ridge development originally had approval for a temporary agricultural water connection.”
I stared at her.
“Agricultural?”
“Yes.”
“For construction.”
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because the permit expired eighteen years ago.”
I looked at her.
“Then how is the pipeline operating?”
She shook her head.
“That's what we're trying to determine.”
She opened another file.
The original developer had contracted a small private utility company to provide temporary water service during construction.
The company's name was Red Valley Water Cooperative.
The company still existed.
Barely.
It served several rural properties.
But its infrastructure records were incomplete.
Rebecca pointed to a map.
“See this?”
A line ran from the creek toward Briar Ridge.
“That looks like the pipe.”
“Probably.”
“Who owns it?”
She checked.
“Red Valley Water Cooperative.”
I leaned back.
“Can they legally take water from my farm?”
“Not without an easement or water-right agreement.”
“Do they have one?”
She searched again.
“There's an old easement.”
My stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“Temporary irrigation support.”
“To Briar Ridge?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
She looked at the document.
“Twenty years.”
“When did it expire?”
“Eight years ago.”
I stared at her.
“So the pipeline has been operating illegally for eight years?”
“That's one interpretation.”
“What is the other?”
“They may have obtained a renewal.”
“Did they?”
She shook her head.
“There's no record.”
That was when I realized this was bigger than Karen.
She might not have built the pipeline.
She might not even own it.
She may simply have discovered a forgotten piece of infrastructure and decided to use it.
But someone had to be maintaining it.
Someone had to be billing the HOA.
Someone had to be keeping the system alive.
I asked Rebecca for the cooperative's financial records.
She looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because I want to know who is making money from my water.”
She nodded.
Two days later, I received the records.
Red Valley Water Cooperative was in terrible shape.
Its infrastructure was aging.
Its customer base was shrinking.
Its owner, Daniel Brooks, had been trying to sell the company for nearly a year.
The buyer negotiations had failed.
The cooperative had significant debt.
And one customer accounted for nearly sixty percent of its revenue.
Briar Ridge.
Karen had built her entire neighborhood's water strategy around a company that was almost bankrupt.
I stared at the numbers.
Then an idea came to me.
It was risky.
Expensive.
Possibly insane.
But it had one beautiful quality.
It was legal.
I called my attorney.
Her name was Melissa Grant.
“I want to buy a water company.”
Silence.
Then:
“Excuse me?”
“Red Valley Water Cooperative.”
“Why?”
“Because Briar Ridge is using its pipeline.”
“You're planning to shut them off?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly are you planning?”
I looked out at my dry fields.
“I want to own the infrastructure they're abusing.”
Melissa was silent for several seconds.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Do you understand how complicated regulated utilities are?”
“Yes.”
“No, I don't think you do.”
“I've been studying the records.”
She sighed.
“Then let's study them together.”
And that was how the most unexpected business deal of my life began.
Daniel Brooks was sixty-seven years old.
He had owned Red Valley Water Cooperative for twenty-three years.
When Melissa and I met him, he looked exhausted.
We sat in his office above a hardware store.
Old maps covered the walls.
Metal filing cabinets filled the corners.
A faded photograph of a water tower hung behind his desk.
“You want to buy the cooperative?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to understand my water.”
He studied me.
“Karen?”
I nodded.
He laughed.
“That woman has been driving me crazy for years.”
“Then why did you keep supplying her?”
“Because she paid.”
“Eventually.”