The first real conversation about the divorce happened over that table. Molly asked whether I had told Claire about the HOA trouble. I admitted that I had not, because I did not want my former wife to think I had made a reckless purchase. Molly said Claire already knew from the local story and had asked whether I was safe. I looked out the window for a moment, surprised by the small comfort of knowing concern could survive a marriage without turning back into marriage itself.
I called Claire that evening. We spoke about ordinary things first, including a leaking faucet in her new house and the aunt who had adopted a dog too large for her apartment. Then she said she was glad I had found a place I loved and sorry the beginning had been so hard. I told her I was sorry for the years I had treated work as the only thing worth giving my full attention. She said we had both made mistakes, and there was no need to revisit every one that night. After we hung up, I felt the quiet difference between forgiveness and repair.
The next important document came through my attorney, not through a rumor. Investigators had obtained a series of consulting agreements between Tamarack Land Advisors and companies affiliated with Bellamy Lake Development. The services described included acquisition research, owner outreach, and resolution of impediments to the proposed Crescent Landing access route. In ordinary business language, those phrases can describe lawful work. In context, the invoices overlapped with the dates on Raymond's target spreadsheet and the periods when Elena and other owners had been threatened with fabricated claims.
Avery allowed Lena to summarize the relevant part for me because some of the information also affected a separate civil claim concerning the obstruction of my property. Approximately ninety thousand dollars had been transferred from accounts used in the fraudulent HOA collections toward Tamarack-linked entities. A second set of transfers suggested that companies connected to Bellamy had funded property purchases after owners surrendered land under financial pressure. Investigators were tracing which officers approved those payments, who authorized the acquisition strategy, and who understood the coercion being used.
I asked whether Gideon Bellamy himself had known. Lena said nobody could responsibly answer that question from the information she was authorized to share. She reminded me that ownership of a company does not automatically prove personal participation in every transaction. I did not enjoy the answer, because I had become convinced Bellamy was somewhere behind the curtain. But conviction was not evidence, and I had seen what happened when people decided the distinction was unimportant.