The lawyer agreed.
And the investigation widened beyond Willowcrest Estates.
Eleanor Price had moved into a small condominium near her daughter after selling the Crestwood Glen property.
When Natalie contacted her, Eleanor was initially reluctant to discuss the experience.
She'd spent months trying to put it behind her.
The swimming pool had once been her husband's favorite place.
He enjoyed sitting beside it in the evenings, listening to baseball games and watching their grandchildren play.
After he died, Eleanor continued maintaining the house because it held so many memories.
Then an unidentified substance appeared in the pool.
She paid for professional testing and cleanup.
The exact source was never established to her satisfaction.
During the same period, representatives associated with the HOA encouraged her to consider a long-term pool-management arrangement that would supposedly prevent future problems.
The pressure exhausted her.
Eventually, she decided to sell.
The transaction itself was legitimate, but she still wondered whether she'd been pushed out of a home she otherwise would have kept.
Eleanor was careful.
She didn't claim Bluewater poisoned her pool.
She had no proof of that.
But she retained correspondence showing that the company proposed an emergency management agreement shortly after the contamination appeared.
The agreement's structure resembled the one presented to Andre.
When Natalie explained the new dispute, Eleanor became silent.
Then she asked quietly.
"Is the homeowner still living there?"
"Yes."
"Has he signed?"
"No."
Eleanor exhaled.
"Good."
For several seconds, she seemed overcome by emotion.
Then she said something Natalie wouldn't forget.
"Tell him to keep his records. I wish I'd understood what was happening before I became too tired to fight."
Andre learned about Eleanor that evening.
Natalie called after receiving permission to share the relevant background.
She explained that the earlier case raised questions but didn't establish a proven pattern of deliberate contamination.
Andre listened.
Then asked whether Eleanor was safe.
Natalie seemed surprised.
"Yes. She's living near her daughter."
He nodded.
"Good."
For a moment, he imagined what it would feel like to leave his house because the constant pressure became unbearable.
He'd worked for years to buy the property.
But Eleanor's experience reminded him that ownership wasn't simply a legal document.
It was also a sense of belonging.
A feeling that you could close your front door and expect the world to respect the space behind it.
Andre looked toward the swimming pool.
Then thought about his father.
His mother.
And Maya laughing in the water.
He knew he couldn't let another person's conduct destroy those memories.