She handed me the notice with trembling fingers.
“I can’t lose this house,” she whispered.
I told her not to pay the disputed amount until she had spoken with Nora or another attorney.
Then I called Nora and asked whether she could recommend someone to help Mrs. Porter.
Nora agreed to review the notice.
She found that it demanded payment to an account different from the one listed on previous association statements.
The bank name was unfamiliar.
The payee was Ashford Community Improvement Fund.
That entity did not appear in the association’s recorded documents.
Mrs. Porter produced her checkbook and showed us a payment she had made six months earlier.
The canceled check had been endorsed with the same fund name.
Nora photographed the endorsement with Mrs. Porter’s permission.
“This may explain why the records are being withheld,” she said.
I asked whether she thought Karen had stolen money.
Nora looked at me steadily.
“I think there are transactions that require explanation.”
It was the careful answer of a good attorney.
I respected it more than a dramatic accusation.
Chapter 10: The Brother With the Dealership
Karen’s brother was named Victor Bellamy.
He owned a small dealership specializing in restored muscle cars and imported sports vehicles.
His business occupied a warehouse beside the interstate.
I had never met him, but he had left two voicemail messages asking to buy my Mustang.
The first was polite.
The second suggested that my father’s car might become difficult to keep if I continued refusing reasonable offers.
I had saved both messages.
Nora asked to hear them.
She listened without interruption and requested copies for her case file.
Then she asked me a question that surprised me.
“Has Victor ever seen the Mustang in person?”
“Not that I know of,” I said.
“Then why is he so determined to buy this particular car?”
I had assumed he wanted a profitable restoration project.
The Mustang was desirable, but it was not unique.
There were other fastbacks for sale across the country.
Nora suggested that we examine the vehicle’s ownership history.
I had the title and my father’s purchase records in a folder at home.
The folder contained old photographs, repair invoices, and a handwritten list of parts.
My father had bought the car from a retired machinist named Leonard Finch.
The bill of sale was dated twenty-one years earlier.
One photograph showed the car in Leonard’s barn with its hood removed.
