Allison asked whether her mother had taken money from the project.

Walter said he had seen receipts and consulting entries but did not know the complete financial picture.

Allison looked at the marigolds.

“She told me you were trying to destroy a plan she worked on for years,” she said.

“Do you believe that?” Walter asked.

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Allison described a childhood in which Brenda organized everything from church fundraisers to school transport schedules.

She was admired for being efficient and feared for making people feel foolish when they questioned her.

After Brenda’s husband left, the association became the center of her life.

She began speaking about Cedar Glen as if the neighborhood owed her obedience in exchange for years of volunteering.

Allison had tried to persuade her to resign from the presidency the previous winter.

Brenda accused her own daughter of disloyalty.

Walter could hear the pain beneath Allison’s measured voice.

He understood what it meant to love someone whose choices frightened you.

He did not suggest that family loyalty required concealing those choices.

Allison had one specific reason for coming.

Her mother had asked her to scan old documents on a home printer and label them as backup records.

Some of the scans included a notary stamp.

Allison remembered the stamp because one image was tilted and had to be cropped.

She had assumed the documents were ordinary archives and could not recall every name on the pages.

Walter asked her not to search private accounts or remove equipment from her mother’s home.

He suggested speaking directly with Nina or an independent attorney about what she remembered.

Allison nodded and said she would.

Before leaving, she looked toward Brenda’s house across the road.

“I keep thinking that if I had asked one more question, none of this would have happened.”

Walter shook his head.

“Questions help, but the person making the decisions still owns them.”

Allison wiped rain from her sleeve.

“She’ll say you turned me against her.”

“I can’t decide how she tells her story,” Walter said.

“I can tell you what the documents show.”

Allison thanked him and walked to her car.

He watched her leave, then called Nina to report the conversation accurately.

The lawyer told him not to contact Allison again unless she initiated it or counsel arranged an interview.

Walter agreed.

He was relieved that Allison had come forward, but her family pain did not belong to him to use as leverage.