Chapter 2: Three Words on a Stranger's Phone
That night Rob came home and didn't say a word about Dale.
He kissed the kids, ate dinner, helped Leo with his reading.
Normal.
Too normal.
After Maya and Leo were in bed, I found him at the kitchen table with his laptop open and a yellow notepad next to it.
He'd written something across the top in capital letters.
I couldn't read it from where I stood.
"Rob.
What are you doing?"
"Research."
"What kind of research?"
He looked up.
"Did you know that in most states, any fruit that falls from a tree onto a neighbor's property legally belongs to the neighbor?"
I stared at him.
"I've been reading the county ordinances too," he said.
"And I made a call to someone this afternoon.
A friend who knows property law."
"Rob—"
"He also told me something else." He turned the notepad around so I could read it.
At the top, in his handwriting: *Encroachment.
Nuisance.
Damages.*
"That shed mark," he said quietly.
"The one that's still there.
Do you still have the photos from when it happened?"
I did.
I never deleted them.
He nodded slowly.
"Good.
Because Dale has been doing this for years, Sarah.
And I think he knows exactly what he's doing."
Then his phone lit up on the table.
It was a text from a number I didn't recognize.
May you like
Three words.
*He's done this before.*
