Chapter Seven: The First Test
Moreno called Ethan at three that afternoon.
The preliminary inspection had found no approved reason for the tubing inside his service connection.
The city had extended precautions to all four houses while additional testing and repairs proceeded.
Ethan asked whether anyone had been poisoned.
“We have no evidence supporting that conclusion,” Moreno said.
“We’re acting because the connections were unauthorized and their use is unclear.”
The distinction mattered to Ethan.
He did not want Alder Spring’s dishonest advertising to turn into neighborhood panic.
He spent part of the afternoon helping Nina carry sealed drinking-water containers to Raymond’s porch.
By evening, the four households had gathered in Nina’s kitchen.
Carol did not attend.
Raymond brought crackers, Tessa brought a portable whiteboard, and Mateo arrived after his shift.
June came last, wearing an ordinary sweater instead of her white jacket.
She looked relieved when nobody asked her to deliver a sales pitch.
“I have a problem,” June said.
“They’re inviting customers who already paid thousands of dollars.”
“Are they promising refunds?” Nina asked.
“Only if the company cancels the event.”
“So they won’t cancel,” Ethan said.
June shook her head.
“They are moving the private tasting ahead of the public launch.”
Tessa wrote PRIVATE TASTING on the whiteboard.
“When?”
“Tomorrow evening.”
Raymond put down his crackers.
“They’re using my father’s photograph again, aren’t they?”
“It’s in the opening presentation,” June admitted.
The old man’s cheeks reddened.
“Then I’ll attend and tell them to take it down.”
Ethan thought of Carol breaking his pipe in daylight.
“We need more than a confrontation,
” he said.
“We need to understand what the customers bought and who made the promises.”
Nina tapped the whiteboard.
“They’ve sold a story people want to believe.”
“We can’t solve that by yelling louder.”
June produced a glossy packet she had been given to study.
It included an invitation to become a lifetime founding patron.
One page offered a private tour of the Alder Corridor.
Another described an optional contribution to preserve neighborhood water heritage.
The preservation contribution was separate from the bottled-water subscription.
“Is there any preservation work?” Mateo asked.
June hesitated.
“I’ve never seen any.”
Raymond laughed once, bitterly.
“The only thing they’re preserving is their profit.”
Ethan examined the packet.
Its most prominent photographs showed the old station and the three houses that had allowed demonstrations.
A fourth house had been added to the map using a generic rendering.
His house.
“They promised people access to my property,” he said.
Nina took the packet from his hands.
“Without asking.”
“They know I didn’t agree.”
“Then we should make that clear before anyone buys another tour,” she said.
They agreed to tell their own stories publicly and to leave all plumbing evidence with the city.
June would keep copies of the advertisements she had personally received at work.
Mateo would confirm which public areas were rented and which were not.
Raymond would attend the private tasting and challenge the use of his photograph.
Ethan would contact customers who had already begun asking questions online.
Tessa looked around the table.
“Who’s going to tell Carol?”
Nobody answered.
She had damaged Ethan’s water line, and several neighbors wanted nothing to do with her.
But Carol was the only person who had introduced Adrian to the street.
Ethan finally said he would speak to her once, with Nina present.
“Not because she deserves an easy exit,” he said.
“Because she knows something the rest of us don’t.”
