And accounting, unlike argument, had a way of remembering exactly where every number came from.
Detective Ruiz met Laurel Fenwick and Monica Reyes in a county conference room the following morning. Laurel looked like someone who had not slept. She had brought a banker box, two external drives, and a yellow legal pad covered in dates. Monica did most of the talking at first, establishing that Laurel was appearing voluntarily and wanted guidance before handing over any association material that might be privileged or protected.
Ruiz did not push past the attorney. She asked Laurel a simple question instead.
"When did you first believe the Vale account was not legitimate?"
Laurel looked down at her notes. "I thought it was wrong from the beginning. I did not understand how wrong until the survey came back."
"What changed after the survey?"
"Nothing. That was the problem. The survey said the warehouse was outside our boundary. Marissa kept billing him anyway."
"Did the board vote to do that?"
"Not the full board."
"Who did?"
Laurel took a breath. "Marissa said she had executive authority for enforcement strategy. She kept most discussion inside a smaller committee."
That committee had consisted of Marissa, vice president Neal Foster, secretary Paul Wexler, and at times Laurel when finances were involved. Paul had objected to several steps and eventually stopped attending closed sessions. Neal generally voted with Marissa. Laurel had continued attending because someone needed to know what was being spent.
The money told a clearer story than the meeting minutes.
Stonebridge Ridge originally entered Duncan into its collection software with an assessment balance of five hundred dollars. The next entry added twelve hundred. Then twenty-four hundred. Penalties followed.
Administrative charges appeared. Legal charges were loaded before Gareth invoiced the association. A "road preservation assessment" for nine thousand dollars was added without any board-approved road project tied to Duncan's parcel.
Marissa then introduced what she called a special security allocation. The ledger charged Duncan for patrol coverage, gate monitoring, and access enforcement on the theory that his commercial parcel created risk for nearby residents. Stonebridge Ridge never actually patrolled his road. Nevertheless, the charge grew monthly.
By the time Laurel printed the ledger, the account balance was two hundred fourteen thousand, three hundred eighty dollars and forty-two cents.
Ruiz stared at the number. "How does five hundred become two hundred fourteen thousand in three months?"
Laurel gave a tired laugh with no humor in it. "By creating fees that generate fees."
She showed them.
An eighteen-thousand-dollar enforcement surcharge had been calculated as a percentage of assessments that were never valid. A collections escalation fee was added because Duncan failed to pay the enforcement surcharge. Attorney charges were marked up and passed through to him even though some involved internal Stonebridge Ridge discussions unrelated to his property. A road maintenance reserve contribution was charged quarterly even though no such program existed in the approved budget. Late penalties were calculated against the growing total, compounding each month.
"Was this automated?" Ruiz asked.
"Some of it. The software can generate penalties. But the base charges had to be entered manually."
"By whom?"
Laurel slid over access logs. "Mostly Marissa's administrator account. Some by management staff after she gave written instructions."