Then Officer Price asked about another vehicle.
"Mrs. Whitcomb, do you remember a towing complaint involving a red pickup truck on Brookstone Lane last month?"
Pamela froze.
Isaiah, standing several yards away, heard the question.
He frowned.
Brookstone Lane was three streets over.
He knew several people there.
One was a retired school principal named Arthur Jenkins.
Arthur owned an old red pickup that he used for gardening supplies and occasional trips to the hardware store.
Isaiah remembered seeing the truck parked near Arthur's driveway.
Then, several weeks earlier, it disappeared.
Arthur mentioned that he'd been having a dispute with the association over vehicle storage.
At the time, Isaiah assumed the truck was being repaired.
Now he looked toward the officers.
Pamela forced a smile.
"That matter was handled."
Price remained calm.
"Handled how?"
"Through the HOA's enforcement procedures."
The officer looked toward his tablet.
"Mr. Jenkins reported that he didn't authorize the truck's removal."
Pamela's expression tightened.
"He had numerous violations."
Price nodded.
"That's part of what we're reviewing."
For a moment, Isaiah felt a chill.
The red pickup had already been removed.
Now someone was trying to arrange removal of his Mustang.
The two cases weren't necessarily identical.
But the similarities were disturbing.
He looked toward the yellow car.
Then toward Pamela.
For the first time, he wondered whether other homeowners had experienced versions of the same pressure.
Arthur Jenkins had lived in Hawthorne Estates for twenty years.
He was seventy-two, a retired principal who had spent much of his career working with students from struggling families. He wasn't wealthy, but he'd saved carefully and purchased his house long before the neighborhood became fashionable.
His red pickup was old.
The paint had faded.
The driver's seat was worn.
And the truck occasionally needed maintenance.
But Arthur kept it registered and used it regularly.
He loved the vehicle because it had belonged to his late brother.
Several months earlier, Pamela complained that the truck affected the community's appearance.
Arthur asked what rule he'd violated.
The association had restrictions concerning certain commercial vehicles, inoperable vehicles, and parking in common areas.
But Arthur's pickup wasn't commercial.
It remained registered.
And he generally parked it on his own property.
Pamela issued several notices anyway.
Arthur disputed them.
Then one morning, the truck was gone.
A towing company later confirmed that it had removed the vehicle after receiving an authorization presented as an HOA enforcement request.
Arthur protested.