She explained that those design features were consistent with regular vehicle access, not merely clearing a ditch after a storm.
Walter asked who decided to replace the first schedule with the second.
Leonard’s counsel said he was still reviewing the electronic record.
The junior employee who processed the scans had preserved a message from Brenda instructing staff to use the newer map for the developer’s file.
That did not by itself prove Brenda intended to forge signatures, but it showed she knew which drawing was being advanced.
The question of why Schedule B disappeared from the recorded packets remained unresolved.
Nina considered several possibilities, including error, careless assembly, and deliberate concealment.
She refused to select the most dramatic answer until the submission record supported it.
Walter appreciated that restraint even when it frustrated him.
He spent the next evening trying to explain the distinction to Theodore.
“We know they drafted the wider corridor,” Walter said.
“We know we weren’t shown it.”
“We don’t yet know exactly who removed the attachment from the filing.”
Theodore tapped his cane against the porch rail.
“What happens if we never know?”
“Then we challenge what they claim based on what we can prove.”
Theodore looked at the drawing for a long time.
“They chose the line that takes the most from us,” he said.
“Maybe that’s why they never asked.”
Walter could not argue with the observation.
He thought about Lorraine and her insistence on reading the pages attached to a contract.
She had once refused to sign a home repair estimate because the contractor’s sketch contradicted his verbal promise.
The contractor called her difficult.
She hired someone else.
Walter wished he had learned that habit sooner.
Now he was learning it on behalf of people who had never been told they were signing anything resembling the documents on file.
Sofia’s younger brother Miguel arrived from Atlanta on a Saturday to help her father install handrails near the back steps.
He had heard about the corridor through a rushed telephone call and assumed the dispute concerned an ordinary neighborhood fee.
When he saw the documents, he asked why nobody had approached the county immediately.
Walter explained that the recorder had accepted the filings but did not adjudicate their validity.
Nina was handling the legal challenges, and the planning office was reviewing the proposed development separately.
Miguel said the process seemed designed to exhaust anyone who worked for a living.
