“I understand voting control,” I said.

I pulled the gold-tabbed binder toward me and opened the cover.

Pages one through sixteen were full of glossy revenue charts, bright renderings, and colorful floor plans of luxury lakefront condos.

On page seventeen, the glossy paper stopped.

Page seventeen was a stark white sheet of heavy bond paper, stamped across the top in faded red ink with an official notice from Ridgefield National Bank.

It listed twelve separate residential development lots in the Oakridge Ridge View subdivision, all sixty days past due on their main interest payments.