Deputy Martin checked that the pier area remained open into the evening and recommended we choose the lit public entrance near the park office rather than the far end of the water. She did not promise that officers would run a secret operation or protect every moment of the conversation. She agreed to receive the meeting details and asked me to call immediately if anything felt wrong. I told the unknown sender I would meet at seven, but only near the park's public benches. After a pause, he replied that he understood.
Miller's Point smelled of wet timber and lake weeds. A few people were loading fishing gear into trucks under the park lights, and a father in a baseball cap was helping his little boy untangle a line. The man who approached me from the path wore a faded brown jacket and carried a thick envelope under one arm. He looked as though he had not slept well for years. He stopped six feet away and asked whether I was Frank Johnson.
"Derek Murphy," he said when I nodded. He took a state identification card from his wallet and let me compare the name with the old filing I had printed. I told him I had checked the records and knew when he had left the board. He gave a bitter little laugh. "Left is a gentle word for it," he said. "I resigned because I couldn't keep signing books I knew were wrong, and they made sure everybody believed I had stolen from the association."
We sat on a bench beneath the park light, with enough people nearby that nobody had to pretend we were invisible. Derek placed the envelope between us but kept his hand resting on it. He asked whether I was the man who had bought Morrison Ranch for $183,000. I said yes. He shook his head slowly and told me Christine had known my name before the closing announcement was published. The ranch had been on a spreadsheet of potential targets for almost two months.
I asked how a small association could know about a bankruptcy auction so early. Derek said public sale notices were available to anyone who watched them, but that Raymond also cultivated relationships with people who understood distressed property markets. The important information was not secret in itself. The advantage came from identifying which buyers were isolated, recently divorced, newly widowed, elderly, or using cash without a mortgage lender to challenge the papers. Someone had researched my personal circumstances before Christine stood at my gate.
Derek had begun as treasurer when the association was ordinary. Twelve homeowners paid maintenance fees for the private road and a small shared drainage area. He deposited checks, paid landscapers, and issued annual summaries. Christine joined the board, brought in Raymond as a consultant, and proposed charging adjacent owners for services she claimed benefited them. When Derek objected that their covenants stopped at the surveyed line, Raymond replied that most owners would never examine the line closely enough to matter.