I had not wanted to disturb anything else.

She approved of that decision.

A professional inspection could document the vehicle without risking the loss of evidence.

The following week, a forensic technician examined the car in a secured garage.

I watched from behind a glass partition.

Seeing strangers remove the seats and trim from a machine my father and I had restored together felt like watching someone dismantle a family photograph.

The technician worked slowly and recorded every fastener.

He found old receipts, a parking stub, and a photograph of my father standing beside the car at a county fair.

He also found a narrow strip of masking tape behind the passenger kick panel.

My father’s handwriting appeared on the tape.

The words were simple.

Ask Daniel about the blue ledger.

The technician photographed the tape before removing it.

No ledger was inside the vehicle.

The discovery gave investigators a direction, but it also raised another question.

If my father knew about a ledger, why had he left only a reminder rather than the ledger itself?

That evening, I sat in the garage with the Mustang’s passenger door open.

The smell of old vinyl and engine oil brought back afternoons when my father handed me tools and corrected my mistakes without raising his voice.

I remembered him saying that a car could tell you what happened if you learned to listen.

I wondered what he would say if he could see what the Mustang was telling us now.

Chapter 28: Karen Changes Her Story

Karen Bellamy appeared at a neighborhood meeting wearing a gray suit instead of her usual association jacket.

She had lost her position as HOA president, but she still behaved as though the room belonged to her.

The temporary board had scheduled the meeting to discuss access to financial records and the suspension of disputed enforcement actions.

Karen insisted on speaking before the agenda began.

She said she had made mistakes while trying to protect property values.

She admitted that the tow notice had been poorly drafted.

She claimed the attempt to remove my Mustang had been an unfortunate misunderstanding.

A woman in the second row asked why Karen’s brother had offered to purchase the car before the tow truck appeared.

Karen said the two events were unrelated.

Another resident asked why association funds had been paid to Victor’s company.

Karen said those payments were for legitimate services.