Marsh read six drowning files before the pattern hit him. Six dead people, all from Saltcreek. Six identical claims: water damage to a beach house none of them owned. Each one filed exactly three days before they drowned. He printed all six, lined them up on his desk, and stared until his coffee went cold.

Marsh stayed at his desk and pulled the phone records from each file instead. He wanted to know who these six people had called in their last week alive. The answer might already be sitting in the paperwork.

Every one of the six victims had called the same number in their final week. Marsh dialed it. A calm voice answered, 'Saltcreek claims, you're three days out,' then hung up. His own phone now had that number in its recent calls.