Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
They gathered in Hank's living room that night. Brian, Tessa, Hank, Bree, Colby, Sabrina. Diaz had come and gone an hour earlier, taking notes on Carla's calls and promising to have officers canvass the area around the accident scene for witnesses who might have seen her.
Now it was just the six of them, and Brian was done waiting for the police to solve this.
"She's local," he said. "Has to be. She knew about the accident within minutes. She's been tracking Tessa's movements in real time. That means she's staying somewhere close."
"Diaz checked all the hotels and rentals," Colby said. "Nothing under her name."
"She's not using her name." Brian leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "She's smarter than that. But she still needs somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat. She's got to be leaving a trail."
Sabrina spoke up. "What about short-term rentals? The kind people list on vacation sites. Diaz might not have checked those."
"How many of those are there in Copper Moon?" Tessa asked.
"A dozen, maybe more." Sabrina pulled out her phone. "I know most of the owners, it's something I keep track of, since that's my business. Give me an hour, and I can get you a list."
"Do it," Brian said.
Hank had been quiet, watching and listening. Now he spoke. "Even if we find where she's staying, then what? We can't just kick down the door."
"No. But we can give Diaz a location. Probable cause for a search warrant." Brian looked at Tessa. "The phone calls. She's made direct threats. That's enough."
"She's using burner phones," Tessa said. "Different number each time."
"Doesn't matter. The content of the calls is what counts."
Bree set down her coffee mug. "What if she's not staying in a rental? What if she's got a friend here, someone letting her crash?"
"She doesn't have friends." Tessa's voice was flat. "I worked with her for two years. She kept to herself. No family in the area, no close relationships. The only person she connected with was Webb, and that was online."
"So she's alone." Colby drummed his fingers on his knee. "That's something. Alone means no backup, no one to watch her back."
"It also means desperate," Brian said. "People without connections don't have anything to lose."
The room went quiet. They all understood what that meant.
Sabrina's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, then looked up. "I've got three owners responding already. Two of them have renters right now. One's a family from Ohio, been there a week. The other is a single woman who paid cash and keeps to herself."
Brian straightened. "Where?"
"Pelican Lane. Little cottage at the end of the road. Owner says the woman's been there about ten days."
Ten days. Right around when the surveillance notebook started.
"Call Diaz," Hank said.
Brian was already dialing. Diaz answered on the first ring.
"Knight. What do you have?"
He gave her the address, the timeline, the description. Single woman, paid cash, keeps to herself. Ten days.
"I'm fifteen minutes out," Diaz said. "Do not go near that address. You hear me? Stay where you are."
"Understood."
He hung up and looked at the others. "She's on her way to check it out."
"And we just sit here?" Colby's jaw was tight.
"For now. Let Diaz do her job."
The next fifteen minutes were the longest of Brian's life. He paced. Checked his phone. Paced some more. Tessa sat on the couch with her hands clasped, knuckles white. Nobody talked much.
When his phone finally rang, he answered before the first ring finished.
"She's gone." Diaz's voice was clipped with frustration. "Place is cleaned out. Clothes, toiletries, everything. She must have left within the last few hours."
Brian's stomach dropped. "She knew we were coming."
"Maybe. Or she's just paranoid enough to stay mobile." Diaz paused. "I'm pulling traffic camera footage now. If she drove out of town, we'll have a direction."
"And if she didn't drive out?"
"Then she switched locations. Found another hole to hide in." Diaz exhaled. "There's something else. We found photos on the wall. Dozens of them. Tessa at the coffee shop. At the pier. Walking into the cottage. At the motorcycle shop. Some of them were taken through windows."
Brian closed his eyes. "How recent?"
"Some from today. The accident scene. Tessa, through Hank's kitchen window this morning."
He felt Tessa's hand on his arm and opened his eyes. She'd moved closer, her face pale but steady.
"She's escalating," Diaz continued. "The photos, the calls, leaving the notebook at your place. She wants you to know she's watching. She's building toward something."
"Building toward what?"
"I don't know yet. But I'm checking traffic cameras right now. I'll call you back when I have something."
The line went dead. Brian relayed the information to the group. The photos. The escape. The escalation.
"She was watching me through the window this morning." Tessa's voice was steady, but Brian could see the effort it cost her. "While I was making coffee. While I thought I was safe."
"You are safe," he said. "Here. With us."
"Am I?" She looked around the room. "She knew where I was this morning. She could know where I am now."
"Then we don't give her what she wants." Brian's jaw tightened. "She wants you scared. She wants you isolated. She wants you to run. So we do the opposite. We stay. We fight."
Hank nodded slowly. "He's right. Running plays into her hands. She's been controlling the board because we've been reacting to her moves. Time to start making moves of our own."
"What kind of moves?" Sabrina asked.
"I don't know yet." Brian looked at Tessa. "But we figure it out together. All of us."
His phone buzzed. Diaz.
"Traffic cameras caught her car heading north on Route 17 around six PM. That's two hours before you called me about the rental."
"So she was already gone."
"Looks that way. State police are watching the highways, but if she switched vehicles or doubled back on back roads, she could be anywhere.
" Diaz paused. "I've got units patrolling Copper Moon tonight.
Extra eyes on your cottage, on Hank's place, on the shop.
She won't get close without us knowing."
"Thanks, Diaz."
"Get some sleep if you can. Tomorrow we regroup and figure out our next move."
Brian hung up and looked at the others. "Carla's in the wind. Headed north on Route 17 around six. Could be anywhere by now."
"Or she could have doubled back," Colby said. "Made it look like she was leaving, then circled around."
"Diaz has units watching. If she's still here, they'll spot her."
Tessa stood, her arms wrapped around herself. "So we wait. Again."
"For tonight." Brian crossed to her and took her hands. "Tomorrow, we come up with a plan. A real plan. We stop reacting and start acting."
"What kind of plan?"
"I don't know yet. But Carla thinks she's the hunter here. Maybe it's time to remind her that she's not the only one who can set a trap."
Tessa met his eyes. Something shifted in her expression. The fear was still there, but underneath it, he saw something else. Resolve.
"Okay," she said. "Tomorrow. We make a plan."
The group broke up slowly. Colby and Sabrina headed home with promises to be back first thing in the morning. Bree started cleaning up coffee mugs while Hank double-checked the locks on every door and window.
Brian and Tessa retreated to the guest room. Neither of them expected to sleep, but they lay down anyway, wrapped around each other in the dark.
"I'm tired of being afraid," Tessa whispered.
"I know."
"I came here to heal. To start over. And instead I'm hiding in someone else's house while a crazy woman takes pictures of me through windows."
"That's not your fault."
"I know that too." She was quiet for a moment. "But I'm done letting her dictate my life. Tomorrow, we take control back."
Brian pulled her closer. "Whatever you need. Whatever it takes. I'm with you."
"I know." She pressed a kiss to his chest. "That's the only reason I can do this."
They lay in silence, listening to the house settle around them. Somewhere outside, a police cruiser rolled slowly down the street, its headlights sweeping across the window.
Tomorrow, they'd make a plan. Tomorrow, they'd fight back.
Tonight, they held on to each other and waited for dawn.