He had gone home intending to ask Kimberly. But that evening, she had been preparing for a presentation. The next morning, Roger left for Cincinnati.
Days passed. When he eventually mentioned seeing her name on a Westerville project, Kimberly gave him a simple explanation.
"A friend asked me to put a little money into a rental."
"How much?"
"Not enough to matter."
Roger had asked whether they needed to discuss it. Kimberly said it came from money she had set aside. He believed her.
That was the entire conversation.
Now Roger sat in Amanda's office looking at the same address.
"I recused myself from the inspection."
Amanda's expression sharpened. "You documented that?"
"My supervisor reassigned it. Email, probably."
"Find it."
Roger took out his phone. He searched his company email.
Westerville assignment reassignment, four months earlier.
"From Roger Barry to Mark Ellison. Owner documentation includes my spouse. Potential conflict. Please reassign."
Mark's response:
"Agreed. Reassigned to Palmer. Do not access project further unless requested for administrative reasons."
Roger showed Amanda. She read it twice.
"Forward this to yourself according to whatever company policy allows, and we'll discuss obtaining it properly if needed. Don't start removing company records."
"I won't."
Amanda pointed at him with her pen. "This may become important."
Roger understood why. If the Westerville property became part of the divorce dispute, someone might question whether Roger had used his professional position against it. The email showed the opposite.
He had stepped away before he knew anything was wrong. Roger looked again at the LLC filing.
"What happened to the property?"
Amanda slid another set of documents forward. "We have preliminary information."
The duplex had been purchased for $286,000. The plan appeared straightforward. Renovate, refinance, rent both units.
But the renovation budget had grown. Contractor invoices, material costs, permit delays, change orders, carrying costs. Roger scanned the numbers.
The original renovation estimate appeared to have been roughly $74,000. Later records suggested substantially more had been spent or committed. One invoice caught his attention.
Structural reinforcement.
Another: electrical remediation.
Another: plumbing replacement.
Roger knew what those phrases meant in an old duplex.
Money. Lots of it.
He studied the dates. Some matched withdrawals from the HELOC.
"Are you saying our house financed this?"
"I'm saying money appears to have moved from accounts connected to you and Kimberly toward accounts associated with this project." Amanda tapped the page. "We prove the route before we characterize it."
Roger nodded again. Facts first. But this time, the facts were becoming difficult to separate from what he felt.
Kimberly had told him the investment was small. She had told him the money was hers. She had not mentioned Jason.
Roger remembered the night she said it. She had been standing at the kitchen island cutting a lemon. He could picture the knife, the cutting board, the casual tone.
"A friend asked me to put a little money into a rental."
At the time, Roger had been more concerned about whether she understood the risk. He had almost offered to review the numbers.
Kimberly had laughed. "Roger, not everything needs an inspection."
He had let it go.
Amanda turned another page. "This contractor received several payments."
Roger looked. Three payments totaled more than $18,000. The company address matched the Westerville project.
One payment date was two days after a HELOC advance. Another followed a transfer from their joint checking account. Roger took out his notebook.
He began matching dates. HELOC advance. Transfer. LLC deposit. Contractor payment.
Not every dollar connected cleanly, but enough did to make the shape visible. Roger felt the same sensation he experienced when a building problem stopped looking random.
One defect could be coincidence. Three defects following the same structural line were a system.
"How bad is the project?" he asked.
"We don't know yet."
"Is it producing rent?"