His first call went to Calvin Roark, the owner of an independent, fully licensed towing company Wade had trusted for years, and he asked Calvin to be ready to move on short notice without explaining exactly why. His second call went to the sheriff's non-emergency line to formally document that vehicles had been removed from his private property without his consent. His third call went to his insurance carrier, and once again to Rebecca, who was already assembling a timeline built entirely from the footage they had.
Before doing anything else, Wade walked the length of his fence line to inspect the gate itself, confirming what the footage had already told him. The padlock hadn't been cut, pried, or forced in any way, which meant whoever opened it that night had used an actual key rather than any kind of tool. Only three keys to that gate had ever left Wade's possession in recent years, and one of them had been handed to the homeowners association during a wildfire season, back when emergency access to the area briefly mattered to everyone nearby. Marissa had told him at the time more than once that the key had been returned once the fire danger passed. The evidence sitting in Wade's driveway that morning made it obvious that promise had never been kept.
Marissa's second mistake landed in Wade's inbox around 5:00 in the morning in the form of an email dripping with satisfaction rather than caution. It informed him, in language clearly meant to humiliate, that his unauthorized commercial nuisance had been removed from the neighborhood for good. Wade didn't argue, didn't threaten, and didn't type a single angry word in response. He replied with one sentence, asking her to confirm in writing that she had personally authorized the removal of all 22 vehicles from his property.
Marissa, still convinced she held every advantage, answered without hesitation, stating plainly that yes, she had authorized the entire operation herself. Wade saved that email, immediately forwarding a copy to Rebecca before Marissa had time to reconsider what she'd just put in writing. He didn't respond again, didn't gloat, and didn't give her any reason to suspect she had just handed him a signed confession.
Confident that Wade's yard was now empty and his business crippled, Marissa moved straight into the next phase of her plan without pausing to think it through. She believed that with the vehicles gone, Wade would have no way to defend the strip of land she still wanted and no ability to stop her from claiming it outright. So, she ordered the association's entire maintenance division to head for his property and begin installing temporary fencing along the exact boundary line she intended to seize.