Near the final pages was an entry dated seven months earlier.

Man from collector firm asked for clear photo of underside stamping and original ownership papers. Said he could double the car’s value with the right paperwork. I said no. He came with a lawyer named Hartman. Keep the old photos. Something about this doesn’t sit right.

Elijah read the sentence once.

Then again.

His father had met Gregory Hartman before Elijah ever moved into Maple Ridge.

He sat down on the workbench so suddenly the stool scraped backward.

A new feeling replaced anger. It was the awful realization that his father had seen the beginning of a problem and never known whether anyone would believe him.

He photographed the page and called Price.

“I found something,” he said. “And I think they’ve been after this car a lot longer than three weeks.”

CHAPTER 14: THE FRIEND WHO HAD SIGNED THE PAPER

Sandra arrived that evening carrying a folder she had kept hidden in the back of her linen closet. She looked troubled before she said a word.

“I owe you a correction,” she told Elijah.

He invited her to sit.

She refused. “If I sit down, I may not say it.”

Three years earlier, Sandra had helped review the HOA’s operating budget. Vivien had presented Sterling Asset Recovery as a replacement for a poorly managed towing contractor. The new company, she claimed, would charge less, document violations properly, and protect residents from unnecessary fees.

Sandra had questioned the numbers. Vivien had promised to provide a breakdown later. At the end of the meeting, the budget committee had recommended the contract to the full board. Sandra’s name appeared on the recommendation.

“I didn’t know about Gregory’s connection,” she said. “I believed what we were told. And when the complaints started, I told myself I wasn’t the person who authorized the individual tows.”

Elijah watched her struggle with the memory.

“You were given bad information,” he said.

“I also stopped asking questions when the answers got uncomfortable. That’s not the same as being innocent of all of it.”

She opened the folder. Inside were original meeting notes, emails requesting a detailed vendor audit, and a letter from the HOA’s former secretary warning that the contract had been extended without proper board approval. Some messages carried Vivien’s replies. Others had no answer at all.

Sandra had kept the records because she sensed something wrong. But she had never taken them to a lawyer or requested a formal investigation. Her fear of public conflict had been stronger than her suspicion.