She also advised him not to discuss the merits of the property dispute with Vanessa without counsel present.

Mark followed her instructions.

He closed the shop and carried the untouched cinnamon rolls home.

For the first time in months, he threw away something Vanessa had brought him without feeling that he owed it a ceremony.

THE PLANNING OFFICE

The county planning director was a woman named Helen Brooks who had spent twenty years reviewing applications for industrial and commercial sites.

She met Rachel and Mark in a small conference room overlooking the parking lot.

A junior planner named Owen Pike joined them with the application file.

Helen began by explaining that planning staff did not adjudicate ownership disputes.

They relied on applicants to identify their legal interests accurately and to provide supporting documentation.

If an applicant misrepresented access rights, the county could require corrections or suspend review while the issue was resolved.

Rachel presented the recorded deed, the old drainage permit, and the lender’s letter rejecting Mark’s purported guarantee.

She explained that Mark disputed both the signature on the access agreement and the depiction of his property.

Owen opened the electronic submission history.

The first site drawing had shown the lane as privately owned and outside the proposed project boundary.

A second drawing, submitted eleven days later, showed the invented shared gate.

A third revision included the draft agreement with Mark’s name.

Helen asked Owen to identify the person who submitted the revisions.

The portal listed Serena Vale, a project coordinator working for Westbridge’s consultant.

Mark recognized her name from the earlier document exchanges.

Rachel asked whether the portal preserved upload timestamps and associated communications.

Owen said it did, and Helen directed him to preserve the entire administrative record.

She also ordered staff to place the application on hold pending clarification of legal access.

Mark felt a moment of relief, but Helen cautioned him that the hold was procedural rather than a final judgment.

The developer could submit a different design that did not depend on his land.

Rachel agreed that this was exactly how the process should work.

Before they left, Helen showed them a letter from a neighboring business owner.

The owner complained that delivery trucks had recently been photographed entering Mark’s lane and that someone had described the photographs as evidence of longstanding shared use.

Mark recognized the trucks.

They belonged to a temporary event company that had mistakenly used the lane during a street festival.

Ben had redirected them within minutes.

The photographs had been taken on the one afternoon when temporary traffic signs confused drivers throughout the district.