I asked whether anyone had checked the warehouse for property belonging to other residents

Eileen said the investigators were arranging access but had not announced what they expected to find

I covered the Mustang with a clean sheet before we left the garage

For the first time since Laura died I was relieved to put the car out of sight

That evening Sandra called and asked me to meet her at the public library

She sounded frightened enough that I arrived early and chose a table where I could see the entrance

Sandra carried a canvas shopping bag and kept looking over her shoulder

She explained that her former position as treasurer had given her access to archived statements

The statements were incomplete but they contained references to an account the association had never disclosed to members

She had spent the afternoon comparing the entries with old meeting minutes

The minutes showed approval for landscaping repairs and drainage work that residents said had never happened

Payments for those projects had passed through the undisclosed account

I asked why she had not brought the records directly to Marcus

She said she already had but wanted me to understand one entry before the investigators contacted me

She slid a photocopy across the table and pointed to a handwritten description

The entry identified a vehicle acquisition fee attached to my address months before Meredith posted the violation notice

I read the words three times because they seemed impossible

The association had recorded an expected payment for taking my Mustang before anyone had officially declared it a violation

Sandra said she believed someone had selected the car long before the morning it disappeared

I asked who had approved the entry

She showed me the initials written beside it

The initials belonged to Meredith and a board member named Conrad Vale

Conrad owned a property management company and had recently resigned from the board without explanation

I remembered Conrad as a man who always sat near the exit at association meetings

He rarely spoke unless someone asked about the budget

Sandra said Conrad had signed several agreements on behalf of the association without obtaining a recorded vote

She also said he had once threatened to sue her for requesting the underlying invoices

I copied the document with her permission and told her to keep the original secure

She shook her head and said the original was already in the custody of an independent attorney