The investigation into the association fees also became more complicated.
Several homeowners elsewhere in Maple Ridge had paid legitimate voluntary maintenance contributions for years.
Others believed their dues were mandatory because Brenda repeatedly described the committee as a formal HOA with enforcement powers.
Tessa insisted that we distinguish the two groups.
She did not want an honest neighbor who paid for common landscaping treated as a victim of fraud without evidence.
Nor did she want Brenda to escape scrutiny by arguing that every payment was a harmless donation.
Malik separated the records into categories based on the actual representations made to each payer.
He compared receipts, letters, bank deposits, meeting minutes, and the committee’s public filings.
The analysis showed that some fees had been used for genuine maintenance.
Other funds had supported marketing, design work, and consulting expenses linked to Whitmore Gateway Development.
Whether those transfers were authorized depended on what the committee had approved and what the contributors had been told.
Margaret’s original minutes raised serious doubts about several claimed approvals.
Brenda’s revised versions told a different story.
Both sets had to be authenticated and examined carefully.
One afternoon, I received a call from a homeowner named Denise Rowan.
She had supported Brenda for years and wanted me to understand why.
“When my husband died, Brenda arranged meals for my family,” she said.
“She wasn’t always this person everyone is talking about.”
I told Denise I believed her.
It was possible for Brenda to have helped people sincerely and still committed serious wrongs.
Denise said she paid her annual committee contribution willingly and never felt threatened.
She also said she had not known fees were being demanded from renters under the pretense of landlord authority.
“If that’s true, I want it fixed,” she said.
“But I don’t want people pretending that every good thing Brenda did was fake.”
I promised her I would not make that argument.
A few days later, Denise visited Alton and helped him plant the new roses.
He initially seemed wary of anyone associated with Brenda.
By the time the first bush was in the ground, he was showing Denise photographs of Ruth’s garden from years earlier.
Their conversation had nothing to do with the legal case.
It mattered anyway.
The neighborhood was too small to survive if every resident had to choose a permanent enemy.
Meanwhile, Patrick’s company began sending revised explanations of its proposed development to investors.
