My property wasn't subject to their covenants.
Their letter meant nothing.
I called the number at the bottom.
Karen answered.
"Mr. Mercer."
"Karen."
"You received our notice."
"I did."
"We expect the gate removed within seven days."
"I expect you to explain what authority your association has over my land."
Silence.
Then she said, "The road predates your ownership."
"So?"
"That gives the community rights."
"No. A road being old doesn't automatically create an easement."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I hired a title attorney before I bought the property."
Her voice changed.
"You did?"
"Yes."
Another silence.
Then Karen said something that bothered me.
"You should reconsider."
"Why?"
"Because everyone in Cedar Ridge is going to make your life very difficult."
I hung up.
That afternoon, I called my attorney, Rebecca Shaw.
She reviewed the notice.
Then she laughed.
"Did you actually receive this?"
"Yes."
"This is almost impressive."
"Why?"
"Because they're pretending to regulate land they don't own."
Rebecca asked me to send her every document I had.
She also told me not to argue with Karen anymore.
"Let her talk," she said. "People reveal more when they think they're winning."
I took her advice.
The next morning, I installed two cameras facing the gate.
I didn't know it yet, but those cameras were going to become extremely important.
Within a week, I understood why Karen cared so much about my gate.
People had been using the road constantly.
At first, I assumed it was simply convenience.
Then I started watching.
Every morning between 7:00 and 8:30, dozens of vehicles came through Cedar Ridge and crossed my property.
Residents.
Landscaping trucks.
Contractors.
Delivery vans.
Even a school bus used the route occasionally.
One afternoon, I saw Karen herself drive through.
She stopped at the gate.
I walked outside.
She lowered her window.
"Open it."
"No."
"This is ridiculous."
"You still haven't shown me an easement."
"I don't need to."
"Then we're done."
She stared at me.
"You have no idea what you're interfering with."
I looked at the road.
"What exactly am I interfering with?"
She didn't answer.
She drove away.
That night, I called Rebecca.
She told me to search the county recorder's database.
I did.
The property history was complicated.
My sixty acres had once belonged to a farming family.
In the early 1990s, the western portion had been sold to a developer.
That developer eventually built Cedar Ridge Estates.
But the sixty acres remained separate.
No HOA declaration.
No covenant.
No access easement benefiting Cedar Ridge.
Nothing.
Then I found something strange.
A document filed eleven years earlier.
It was called a Temporary Access Agreement.
The agreement appeared to give Cedar Ridge limited access across my property.
But there was a problem.
The document had expired after eighteen months.
And it had never been renewed.
I called Rebecca.
"Could that be what they're relying on?"
"Maybe."
"Then why are they acting like they own the road?"
"That's what we need to find out."
I printed everything.
The next morning, Rebecca came to my property.
She studied the old road.
Then she looked at the gate.
"Daniel, I think the road may be the least important part of this."
"What do you mean?"
She pointed toward the southern woods.
"Look at this parcel number."
I checked the survey.
She tapped a line with her finger.
"Your land borders a drainage corridor."
"Okay."
"That corridor connects to the subdivision's stormwater system."
"So?"
She looked at me.
"So if someone has been using your property as part of a private access arrangement without a valid easement, there may be other agreements connected to it."
"Like what?"
"Maintenance contracts. Utility agreements. Development agreements."
She paused.
"And potentially money."
That was the first time I wondered whether Karen's obsession with my shortcut had nothing to do with traffic.
Maybe the road was hiding something.
Two weeks later, I received another letter.
This one was more aggressive.
Karen claimed I had created a safety hazard.
She demanded that I remove the gate immediately.
She also threatened legal action.