“Yes.”
“Multiple copies?”
“Yes.”
“Off-site?”
“Cloud and external drive.”
“Good.”
She read the violation notices.
Then acquisition letters.
Then a strange spreadsheet attached accidentally to one HOA email six months earlier.
The Homeowner had forgotten about it.
His attorney did not.
“What is this?”
He looked.
A document listing twenty-six properties.
Some highlighted green.
Others yellow.
Four red.
His address was red.
A column labeled:
Disposition likelihood.
Another:
Compliance pressure.
The Homeowner sat straighter.
“I never noticed that.”
“Why would a homeowners association have a disposition-likelihood column?”
“I don’t know.”
The attorney enlarged the bottom.
There was a company abbreviation.
Three letters.
She searched her existing notes.
Same abbreviation appeared on one of the developer letters.
The Homeowner stared.
“So they’re connected.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s the same company.”
“It is.”
“Then they’re connected.”
“Possibly.”
He looked frustrated.
His attorney remained calm.
“Facts first.”
He understood.
That phrase would become important.
Facts first.
The attorney subpoenaed nothing yet.
Instead, she sent preservation notices.
HOA.
Management company.
Developer.
Board members.
Any relevant communications involving the Homeowner’s address.
Within forty-eight hours, the story changed again.
A neighbor knocked on the Homeowner’s door.
Older white man.
Retired accountant.
Had lived across the street for fourteen years.
He looked uncomfortable.
“I heard something happened.”
The Homeowner did not invite gossip.
“Police are handling it.”
The neighbor nodded.
“I know.”
He hesitated.
Then held out a folder.
“I think you need this.”
Inside were copies of HOA violation letters.
Not the Homeowner’s.
The neighbor’s former next-door neighbor.
A Latino family who had sold eighteen months earlier.
Noise complaints.
Parking violations.
An accusation that their teenage son had been using marijuana near a playground.
The family denied everything.
The neighbor had been there the night police arrived.
No drugs found.
No charges.
But the violation notices continued.
Then the family sold.
“To the developer?”
the Homeowner asked.
The neighbor nodded.
“How much?”
“Less than the offer they rejected six months earlier.”
The Homeowner’s stomach tightened.
“Why do you have these?”
“They asked me to testify during an HOA hearing.”
“Did you?”