Miriam eventually answered.
“Privacy.”
They were sitting with coffee.
“What?”
“Your pool has better privacy.”
“The community pool faces the clubhouse.”
“People see who’s there.”
“Your backyard is completely walled.”
Nathan stared.
“You think she’s hiding?”
“I think Loretta likes having things other people cannot have.”
Miriam looked toward the wall.
“When the Carsons lived there before you, she used that pool too.”
Nathan stopped.
“What?”
Miriam winced.
“I forgot.”
“They let her?”
“I assumed.”
“How long ago?”
“Five years.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Why didn't you mention this?”
“Because until today I thought she had permission.”
The Carsons had moved to Oregon before Nathan bought the house.
He found their email through old closing documents.
Sent a short message.
Hello, this is Nathan Voss. I purchased your former home at 9214 Saguaro Ridge. I have an unusual HOA-related question. Did Loretta Daniels ever have permission to use the backyard pool while you owned the property?
The answer came the next morning.
Nathan,
Absolutely not.
We caught her back there once in 2019 and told her to leave. She claimed the HOA had an easement for “community safety inspections.” We checked with management and were told no such easement existed. She never came back while we were there, at least that we knew.
Good luck. She was one of the reasons we were happy to leave.
Tom Carson.
Nathan forwarded it to himself.
Printed it.
Added it to the folder.
Then he called Fletcher Cross.
Fletcher’s office occupied the sixth floor of a building on North Scottsdale Road.
Nathan found him through a colleague who had spent eighteen months fighting an HOA over drainage access.
Fletcher answered the first call personally.
“What’s the short version?”
“My HOA president has been secretly swimming in my private pool while I travel.”
Silence.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“That reaction seems appropriate.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Five videos.”
“Good proof?”
“Face.”
“Entry.”
“Exit.”
“Timestamps.”
“Do the cameras stay on your property?”
“Yes.”
“Audio?”
“Only close range.”
“Any signs prohibiting entry?”
“No.”
“Gate locked?”
“Latched.”
“She can reach the latch through a gap.”
Fletcher asked another dozen questions.
Then:
“Send me deed.”
“Plat.”
“CC&Rs.”
“Bylaws.”
“Rules.”
“Board policies.”
“Videos.”
“Do not edit anything.”
“Do not send clips.”
“Send original files.”
Nathan did.
Fletcher called back that evening.
“She has no HOA access right to your backyard based on anything you sent.”
“I know.”
“Knowing is different from proving.”
“Now we can prove.”
Nathan liked him already.
“What do we do?”
“First, no confrontation yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I want her explanation before she knows what evidence exists.”
“How?”
“Let her come back.”
Nathan stared out his kitchen window.
“That feels insane.”
“It’s your choice.”
“We can send a cease-and-desist tomorrow.”
“That may stop it.”
“It also gives us one clean path.”
“What’s the other?”
“Document one final entry.”
“Preserve everything.”
“Then confront only if you feel safe, ideally in writing.”
Nathan said: