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He smiles.
“Always and forevermore.”
Epilogue
Sienna
For the first time since this whole nightmare began, I actually have something worth telling Max today. Something that might finally give her a little peace after all she’s been through.
It took longer than I would’ve liked, and I had to call in more favors than I care to admit.
Between the Fairhope Police Department, the Maine State Police, and the FBI, we finally had enough to put Peyton in handcuffs.
Five counts of murder. Arson. And that’s just the beginning.
Turns out, setting fire to an old paper mill and killing five people in the process wasn’t the only thing Peyton had to answer for. After the fire, Crowley Industries accepted full responsibility for what everyone believed had been an industrial accident. After paying out millions in settlements to the victims’ families, Peyton saw an opportunity she couldn’t pass up—making the conglomerate her next target.
She spent the following years leveraging that tragedy for her own gain.
Money for redevelopment. Money for community projects. Money to help a town supposedly ruined by the disaster.
And, according to the investigation, a healthy chunk of it found its way into her own pocket.
She built an entire grift on a lie she created herself.
After nearly a year of investigations, federal agents finally had enough evidence to pursue wire fraud and related conspiracy charges against Peyton, on top of the homicide charges she’d be facing at the state level. And judging by the mountain of financial records they’d seized, her lawyers had their work cut out for them.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
Still, of everything that came out of the investigation, nothing gave me quite as much satisfaction as being there when Peyton finally got her comeuppance.
I can still picture the look on her face when we showed up to arrest her. Technically, I had no business being there. Financial crimes aren’t my area of expertise, and I wasn’t part of the team handling her murder case. But since I’d been the one to tip off the investigators and point them in the right direction, they extended to me the professional courtesy of being present when they finally slapped the cuffs on her.
“This is a fucking joke, right?” she’d demanded, looking between the officers gathered outside her home. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Oh, we’re well aware of who you are,” I replied. “That’s kind of why we’re here.”
“You can’t arrest me! I’m the fucking mayor!”
“Were the mayor,” I corrected. “Kind of hard to get reelected when no one can stomach the sight of you anymore.”
She looked ready to spit nails.
I was almost disappointed when she didn’t.
“You’re making a huge mistake, Hartley. My lawyers are going to have a fucking field day with this.”
“Then I suggest you give them a call. They’re going to be pretty busy for the foreseeable future.”
I stepped closer, lowering my voice so she could hear every word.
“By the way, I thought you might like to know that fraud isn’t the only thing you’re being charged with. Not after I asked the authorities to reopen the investigation into the Crowley Mill fire. And with Max’s testimony, something tells me you won’t be seeing the light of day again anytime soon.”
Peyton went very still for a split second before bursting into laughter.
“Max?” she sneered. “You’re seriously going to put that crazy bitch on the stand? She’s fucking insane. Literally. She’s wasting away in the loony bin. Nobody’s going to believe a word she says.”
“Maybe,” I conceded with a shrug. “But I think she could make a pretty convincing witness, considering she killed nearly everyone involved because of what happened that night.”
