She had personally collected most of the forms. Raymond remembered handing his to her on a Tuesday evening while she stood at his front door with a blue binder. “You scanned my drainage authorization.”
Denise gave a short laugh. “That is absurd.” Raymond did not respond.
Monroe asked where the original HOA forms were stored. Denise said the association secretary maintained them. Raymond knew that was not true because secretary Frank Delaney had been recovering from heart surgery in Florida for almost two months.
“Denise has had custody of association records since Frank left,” Raymond said. Cole turned toward his mother. “You told me Frank handled this.”
Denise snapped, “Cole, stay out of it.” The young man’s face changed again.
Officer Benton returned after checking the VIN. The vehicle was registered to Raymond Ellis at the address where everyone was standing, with a clean title, no lien, and no police-accessible record of a transfer. Denise crossed her arms.
“The DMV is behind.” Raymond looked at her. “Behind on what?”
She hesitated. Sergeant Monroe noticed.
Denise finally said the transfer paperwork had already been submitted and simply had not updated in the system. Cole stared at her. “You submitted it already?”
Denise answered that she had done what was necessary because Raymond kept delaying. Monroe lowered her notebook. “Who submitted the title application?”
“I did.” Raymond became completely still.
“You submitted a title transfer for my Mustang?” Denise answered that she acted as Cole’s representative. Raymond nodded slowly.
“With a signature I’m telling police I did not make.” Denise raised her voice. “You signed the deal.”
Raymond put his baseball cap back on. “Sergeant, I need an incident report.” Denise stared at him.
“For what?” Raymond looked at Monroe rather than at her. “Suspected forgery, attempted vehicle-title fraud, fraudulent use of whatever documentation accompanied that transfer, and anything else your investigators think the evidence supports.”
Cole took one step backward. “Mom.” Denise turned red.
“This is a neighborhood disagreement.” Raymond shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”
He rested one hand lightly on the Mustang’s roof. “This is a classic car worth somewhere north of seventy thousand dollars that someone tried to transfer out of my name.” Denise pointed toward the bill of sale.
“The contract says forty-one five.” Raymond looked at her. “Exactly.”
Undervaluing the car did not somehow make the document safer. It potentially created tax issues, distorted the transaction value, and made the supposed bargain even more suspicious. Denise apparently believed a lower price would make her story sound like a friendly arrangement rather than an attempted theft.
Sergeant Monroe instructed everyone not to touch the car until detectives completed preliminary verification. Denise immediately accused her of protecting Raymond because he outranked local officers. Monroe explained that she did not work for Fairmont and Raymond had no supervisory authority over her.
“The salute was professional courtesy,” Monroe said. “It does not transfer a vehicle.” Raymond almost smiled.