“I don’t want to build my life around someone else’s geography.”
“Then don’t.” Her sister took a breath. “Choose the place that feeds you. The person should fit inside that.”
The person should fit inside that.Letty swallowed.
“I love you,” Livvy said.
“Back at you.”
The call ended. Letty stared at the glass a moment longer, just thinking. She stepped back into the main room as Rhea’s chair swiveled.
“You look less tense.” Rhea observed.
“Do I?”
“Yeah. Less hurricane, more tide.”
Letty chortled. “That’s not a thing.”
“It is now.” Rhea rolled back from the screens and joined her at the glass. “You thinking about moving to Dallas?” she asked casually. “Sorry, voices carry up here.”
“Not really. It was a brief thought. I like it here.”
“Me too,” Rhea replied. “Our small team feels like family.”
Letty studied the marina below.
Rhea followed her gaze. “Tidehaven.” She shrugged. “It’s messy. Political and occasionally explosive.”
Letty huffed a laugh.
“But it’s ours.” Rhea smiled.
Letty dipped her head. “You think I could fit in here?”
Rhea didn’t hesitate. “You already do.” She touched her arm. “You will support our mission and become one of us. I can see it.”
Below them, a patrol boat idled past the dock, and Letty realized something important.I wasn’t waiting to leave; I was waiting to choose to stay.
WYATT
Twenty minutes after Driscoll left, Cal and Wyatt returned to Salt & Steel. The Bridge lights dimmed as Rhea brought the surveillance feeds and stills onto the main screen.
Cal stood at the front, hands on the back of a metal chair, eyes tracking the faces projected large across the wall. He pointed at each photo. “Deputy State Fire Marshal Grant Holloway, Will Thomas, Conrad Driscoll, three faces and three different kinds of wrong.”
Wyatt leaned next to the glass wall, arms crossed, a silver dollar flipping across his knuckles. “And the councilman, where does he fit in?”
Rhea grimaced. “I don’t have anything that makes me think he’s involved. I think he’s a victim of whatever is happening.”
Cal picked up a marker and turned to the whiteboard. He wrote one word in block letters:ARSONIST.
Then he circled it and added a question mark. “Separate the fire from the fallout,” Cal stated. “We don’t assume they’re the same person.”
Letty shifted in her chair. “You think the person who set the fire isn’t the one benefiting from it?”
“I think the person who struck the match isn’t always the one holding the contract,” Cal replied.
Wyatt nodded.
