Chapter 16 #2
"No," Diaz said. "They can't. Which is why they tried the usual way first. They made you an offer.
A good one, by most standards. They expected you to take it because that's what most people do when a number with enough zeros shows up in their mailbox.
You said no." She paused. "And then your inn burned down.
Whoever set that fire made sure the damage was total.
Made sure there was nothing left to salvage.
You're pushed off the shoreline and onto your back forty, scrambling to figure out what comes next.
You start rebuilding your life out there on the land that's left, and suddenly somebody breaks into your tool trailer and cuts your layout lines without actually stealing anything. "
"Sending a message," Colby said quietly.
"Yeah," Diaz said. "This isn't random. And it's not just about some bored vandal getting their kicks by scaring a woman who lives alone. This is about money. A lot of it. The kind of money that makes people do very calculated, very ugly things."
Words tried to come and refused. Sabrina's throat felt like someone had wrapped a hand around it and squeezed.
She leaned back in her chair and stared at the plans she had forgotten she was still holding. Shell companies. Resort project. Crown jewel. The terms floated in the air between them like smoke from a fire she hadn't seen coming.
"So the night my home burned," she said slowly, testing each word, "it might not have been about me at all. Not personal. It might have been about clearing the shoreline for a development deal."
Diaz's gaze softened, but she didn't look away or try to sugarcoat it.
"I'm not ready to hang my hat on one theory for the fire.
We're still waiting on a couple of lab reports from the state fire marshal.
But I can tell you this much. There is a group with deep pockets and a lot of patience that very much wants a clean slate along this stretch of shoreline.
And your continued existence as a property owner makes that inconvenient for them. "
Sabrina's breath hitched, stuttering into something sharper. "Inconvenient."
Diaz lifted a shoulder. "If you crunch it the way people like this do, you're an obstacle. A woman who owns valuable land and refuses to sell at any price screws up their carefully planned timeline. You make their spreadsheets messy."
"So they burn my inn," Sabrina said, the pieces clicking into place with a horrible clarity.
"They come out to my land in the middle of the night and move things around just enough to prove they can.
They make me feel like I'm not safe in the one place I have left.
They want me rattled enough to cave. To finally say yes. "
"Yes," Diaz said. "That's one way to read it. The most likely way, based on what I've found."
Heat rose in Sabrina's chest, blooming outward, crowding out the cold fear that had lived there since the night she'd woken to smoke and sirens.
"They picked the wrong person," she said, her voice dropping low.
Colby glanced at her, something fierce and proud moving behind his eyes.
Diaz's mouth curved into something that was almost a smile. "I was hoping you'd say that."
Sabrina realized her hands had stopped shaking. She set the rolled plans gently on the table and pressed her palms flat against the wood again, this time to steady the anger instead of the fear.
"Do we know who's actually behind Seaside Development?" she asked. "Actual people with names and faces, not just initials on a corporate filing?"
"Not yet," Diaz admitted. "They're very good at hiding behind layers.
LLCs registered to other LLCs. Mail drops in other states.
Registered agents who are just professional signature services.
I'm pushing as far as I can from my end without stepping into the attorney general's turf or getting my knuckles rapped by the chief for overreaching.
I've also flagged everything I found for the state fire marshal's office, since they're still technically the lead on the Norman House investigation. "
Norman House. Sabrina tasted the name in the back of her throat like ash and memory.
"So this isn't some personal vendetta from a pissed-off neighbor," she said. "This isn't someone with a grudge or a mental health crisis. This is a coordinated land grab by people who see my home as a line item on a balance sheet."
"Yes," Diaz said. "With a side of arson and intimidation, if I'm reading the pattern correctly."
Diaz leaned back in her chair, studying Sabrina's face like she was looking for something specific. "How are you doing with all this? And I mean actually, not the answer you think you're supposed to give."
Sabrina considered the question honestly before she answered.
"I was scared. Standing in that field yesterday, seeing the cut lines and the broken lock, wondering who was watching from the tree line, whether I was crazy to try to start over.
Now I'm not less scared, exactly, but it feels different.
There's a shape to it, even if I can't see all the edges yet.
It's not a ghost in the shadows. It's numbers on a spreadsheet and someone in a boardroom somewhere who thinks they can push me out of my own life because the math works in their favor. "
Diaz nodded once, slowly. "That shift matters. Fear of the unknown is paralyzing. Fear of something specific is something you can plan around."
"It makes me mad," Sabrina added, and the word felt inadequate for what was building in her chest. "It makes me furious."
"Good," Diaz said. "Hold onto that. Fear keeps you careful. Anger keeps you from rolling over and showing your belly when someone pushes."
Colby spoke for the first time in several minutes, his voice cutting through the charged air. "What can we do in the meantime? Beyond the patrol drive-bys you mentioned yesterday."
"Stay visible," Diaz said. "You two keep showing up on that land like you own it, because you do.
Let people see you working. Let them see Jason's truck coming and going.
Let them see the walls going up. Copper Moon talks.
The more it's clear you're not backing down, the harder it will be for whoever's orchestrating this to operate in the shadows.
They're counting on you being isolated and scared. Don't give them that."
"And if they try something else?" Colby asked. "If they escalate beyond cut string and a broken lock?"
"They already escalated once," Diaz said, her expression hardening.
"I don't expect them to stop just because we noticed.
So you keep doing what we talked about yesterday.
She doesn't go out there alone, ever. You don't leave tools lying around like an invitation.
You lock everything, you take note of vehicles you don't recognize, and you call me the second something feels off.
Not after you've investigated it yourself.
Not after you've talked yourself out of being paranoid. You call me."
Sabrina listened, but a different thought pushed through the practical advice.
"If this is about assembling land for a resort," she said slowly, "that means it's not just me.
Everyone whose property they bought, those people at the motels and cottages and the bait shop, they didn't know what they were signing away.
They thought they were selling to individual buyers.
They didn't know they were pieces being moved around on someone else's game board. "
"No," Diaz agreed. "They didn't. But you did. You said no when you could have said yes and walked away with a fat check. That puts you in a different category. That makes you a problem they have to solve instead of a transaction they can close."
"It feels like a target painted on my back," Sabrina said.
Diaz's gaze flicked to Colby, then back. "Then it's a good thing you've got backup who knows how to watch for threats."
His hand found Sabrina's on the table, warm and steady. "She's not standing out there alone. Not now, not ever."
Diaz drained the rest of her coffee in one long swallow and stood, pushing back from the table.
"I have a meeting with the chief this afternoon. He won’t be thrilled about me poking at corporate filings and making calls to the county assessor's office instead of writing traffic tickets, but he'll get over it.
" She set her empty mug in the sink without being asked, the gesture oddly domestic in the middle of everything else.
"I'll keep you updated as I find more. In the meantime, you two keep building that cabin.
Every board you put up makes it harder for anyone to picture that land without you on it. "
Sabrina stood as well, her legs steadier than she'd expected. "Thank you. For all of this. You didn't have to dig this deep."
Diaz looked her straight in the eye, her expression carrying something Sabrina couldn't quite name. "You're not doing this alone, Hartley. Remember that. You've got people in this town who give a damn about what happens to you. Use them."
She left with the same quick, economical stride she brought to everything, no wasted motion, no lingering. The front door clicked shut behind her, and the cottage went oddly quiet in her wake, like the air itself was processing everything that had just been said.
Sabrina sank back into her chair, her body suddenly heavy.
Colby watched her for a moment, giving her space. "Talk to me."