Page 128 of Statler

Eliza was not going to hold back.

She loved Statler, and while he made up his mind as to the depth of his own feelings, she wasn’t going to wait around for him to make a move. Knowing him as she did now, she understood that he’d be taking a slow path forward; making sure she’d recovered from all the hell she’d been through before he tried to discuss taking their relationship further.

And that was bullshit.

Right now, she needed to grab life with both hands.

If there was one thing she’d learned the hard way, it was that joy could be fleeting.

And if Statler thought all that had happened over the past few hours had either blindsided her or brought her to her knees, he’d be wrong.

Eliza’s eyes had actually been opened to the problems in Liminal years ago, even when she was a kid. She simply hadn’t been able to put her finger on what was actually wrong until that year before Holden’s death, when despite what her husband had ordered, she’d made the conscious effort to investigate her father right down to his rotten core.

Yes, she’d made the decision to stay in town, stick with Holden, and document her father’s perfidy, rather than escape all the madness.

Thank God she had. It meant that Eliza had all the information Statler, his covert group, and the FBI would need to put this whole situation to bed.

The only thing that bothered Eliza was, what would happen after the dust settled?

She wasn’t worried about herself, per se. She’d tucked away enough money to start over somewhere new, even without a possible relationship with Statler.

Granny, also, had assured Eliza that she had money tucked away for a rainy day.

But the same could not be said for the majority of the townspeople.

Their livelihoods were here. Their properties. Their families.

Once the aerospace instrument manufacturing facility was shut down, what would happen to them?

Eliza squared her shoulders and stopped perseverating on it. Worrying wouldn’t achieve anything, and she clearly had some plans to execute before she could even think about it, futher.

The first thing on her agenda would be to win Statler’s heart.

Eliza knew he was almost there. He’d already said he “thought” he might be in love with her.

She just needed to make him certain of that.

Eventually—once she ended up in a safe place free of bad memories—she’d find a way to help the people of Liminal. They were just as much victims as she was, with the rug being pulled out from under them so swiftly and unexpectedly.

The crunch of gravel popped her out of her thoughts.

Statler was walking her way.

Eliza stood up.

“Finished?” she asked.

“For now,” he said, still with a preoccupied look on his face. “But I’ll be holding a meeting with all those involved once we get back to the cottages; my team, SWAT, General Dark, and the FBI. Which means I’ll need all the information you have in order to help them prosecute the players they already have in custody, and locate the ones they don’t.”

Eliza nodded. “Perfect. We can stop by Granny’s place and get the thumb drives I compiled. We hid them⁠—”

“—in the secret room under the stairs?” Statler finished with a grin.

“Seriously?” Eliza laughed. “Granny must really like you to have told you that,” she concluded.

“I’m just that charming,” Statler threw back cheekily.

Eliza wasn’t going to disagree, even though he thought he was joking.