"Think about it."
Nine days later, I received my first violation notice.
My trash cans had supposedly been visible for too long.
Then came another.
My lawn.
Then my basketball hoop.
Then my guest's vehicle.
The violations weren't completely imaginary.
That was the clever part.
Sometimes my trash cans really were out too long.
Sometimes my lawn needed cutting.
Sometimes a visitor parked where they shouldn't.
But other homeowners committed the same minor violations without receiving repeated enforcement.
Naomi looked at the documents.
"You don't need to prove every violation was fake."
"Then what do I need?"
"Consistency."
She opened a spreadsheet.
"Who received notices?"
She showed me the names.
Then the properties.
Then the dates.
A pattern began to emerge.
Residents who had refused private agreements with the developer received significantly more enforcement.
Not every one.
But enough.
Naomi leaned back.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Over the next two weeks, Naomi interviewed homeowners.
One older couple brought forty-three violation notices.
Their "problem" had begun after they refused to sell a narrow strip of backyard needed for drainage improvements connected to the development.
A single mother had nineteen notices.
Her enforcement history began after she refused temporary construction access.
A retired Black teacher had thirty-one.
His property sat beside a proposed utility route.
Some violations were real.
That mattered.
Naomi refused to exaggerate.
"Facts are stronger when you don't pretend every inconvenience is a conspiracy."
So we separated everything.
Real violations.
Questionable violations.
Repeated enforcement.
Different treatment.
Timing.
Property location.
Private negotiations.
Then we found something else.
The security company had created a database.
License plates.
Visitor frequency.
Addresses.
Photographs.
Time stamps.
Vehicle movements.
It wasn't technically unusual for a private security company to maintain records.
The question was why the HOA had ordered such detailed tracking.
And who had designed the contract.
Naomi requested the documents.
The answer came back quickly.
The enforcement specifications had been drafted jointly by the property-management company and Celeste.
The contract instructed security personnel to pay special attention to: