It was an expensive morning, and I deserved the expense.

Later, Officer Brooks called to ask whether I wanted to make a formal complaint about the possible forged signature.

I said I wanted the matter documented, but I was following my attorney’s advice on how to submit the records.

She reminded me that police would not resolve a complicated title dispute merely because one side claimed to have better paperwork.

“If someone knowingly falsified a document, that’s different,” she said.

“But investigators will need to establish who made it and what it was used for.”

I thanked her for treating the situation as a question of evidence rather than choosing a favorite neighbor.

On Wednesday, Brenda’s lawyer sent a letter disputing our ownership interpretation.

The letter asserted that the Maple Ridge Community Committee had maintained the entrance landscaping for more than a decade and therefore possessed equitable rights relating to the development’s infrastructure.

Tessa explained that maintenance could be relevant to some disputes but did not automatically transfer title to seven occupied rental lots.

The letter also threatened a claim based on reliance on my supposed acknowledgment.

The strange thing was that Brenda’s attorney did not attach the original document.

Instead, the letter referred to a copy retained by Martin Sykes.

I called Mara and asked whether Lillian had ever complained about Martin.

“She liked him until the last year,” Mara answered.

“Then she said he had started taking meetings without telling her.”

I asked why she had not mentioned that sooner.

“Because you kept telling me you had everything under control,” my sister replied.

She was right.

That evening, I invited Mara to visit, and she agreed to drive up over the weekend.

Before ending the call, she told me she had located Lillian’s old notebook in a box of family photographs.

The notebook mentioned a meeting with Walter Whitmore about drainage rights and a proposed neighborhood gate.

Beside the entry, Lillian had written two words in heavy ink.

Ask Calvin.

I told Mara that Calvin Price was still alive and living in one of the houses.

She went silent, then laughed once in surprise.

“Aunt Lillian always did leave the important clues in the least convenient places,” she said.

On Friday, Nadia returned with a preliminary survey review.

She had compared the legal descriptions of my seven lots with the recorded subdivision plats and found no recorded declaration attaching them to the Maple Ridge association.