29. Choosing Truth #2
She doesn’t look scared or angry. Just done. She walks with her shoulders back and her chin up. She nods at me once.
Cold comfort.
But it’s enough to make me calmer.
Ian does not let go until they reach the front.
Alvarez speaks beside me. “All right. We get back to the plan.” He moves to the front of the room.
The mayor steps to the microphone. “Tonight we’ll hear final comments regarding the waterfront cannery proposal before the town casts its vote. Mr. Danvers will make his remarks first.”
Ian steps forward first.
He is good. That is the infuriating thing.
He knows how to work a room. He throws around his empty promises about jobs, historic restoration, local contractors, small businesses, and a waterfront brought back to life. He gives them hope but nothing tangible.
Then he looks at Annie.
“And I’m grateful,” he says, “that people who care deeply about this community are on board and helping support our efforts.”
Annie doesn’t move.
The mayor thanks Ian and opens the floor for comments. He reminds everyone this is not a question-and-answer session. It is the last time to voice your opinions before the vote.
A council member gets up and speaks in favor, citing more jobs will help the community. A business owner speaks about the increased traffic and has concerns about what that will do to downtown. Another resident says Coupeville needs to grow or it will stagnate and die.
After the comments have stopped, the mayor calls Annie up.
The room seems to take a collective breath and hold it.
Annie steps forward.
This moment has finally arrived and it belongs to her.
She rests one hand on the podium. The lights catch her face. She looks tired. Beautiful. Furious.
“Most of you know me,” she says.
The room settles.
“You all know me. Watched me grow. Knew my parents.” She takes a breath and looks down for a moment. “You know how hard it was for me when I came home, but you opened your arms, gave me a place that made sense when nothing else did.”
Ian watches her with a faint smile. He thinks she is working the crowd.
“You held me up until I could stand on my own again and you welcomed me home again.”
She walks out in front of the podium.
“Coupeville deserves care,” she says. “It deserves investment. It deserves a future that does more than preserve what we have already lost. I believe that. I have always believed that.”
Ian’s smile grows.
“The cannery has been important to this town for generations. We should not let it sit empty forever. It should not rot while we argue about what it used to be or should become. It is part of us. All of us. Our Coupeville family.”
People nod.
“But progress always comes with a price,” Annie says.
The room quiets.
“And sometimes that price is not paid by the person making promises. Sometimes it is paid by the people who trusted him.”
Ian’s smile fades.
Annie steps away from the podium and walks to the edge of center stage.
“So before this town votes tonight, before anyone in this room gives Ian Danvers one dollar, one permit, one signature, or one piece of your trust, you need the whole truth. You need to know who Ian Danvers is.”
Ian moves.
Alvarez is at his side before he takes two steps.
“Is there a problem?” Alvarez asks, quiet enough that only those near the front hear.
Ian’s face flashes.
Annie doesn’t look at him. She looks toward the back of the room. “Now.”
The lights go down. The screen lights up.
Admiral’s first slide fills the wall.
Showtime.
IAN DANVERS: COUPEVILLE WATERFRONT CANNERY PROPOSAL
Names appear beneath it and she reads through them.
CHAD DANIELS, aka IAN DANVERS - Chicago, IllinoisA small restoration venture. It failed. He disappeared from the project.
DANIEL CHADWICK, aka IAN DANVERS - Lafayette, Louisiana. Old hospital property. Money was collected and the project stalled. He disappeared from the project. Partial funds turned up missing.
IVAN RIVERS, aka IAN DANVERS - Sausalito, California. Waterfront property. Investors were solicited. Money was collected when the project collapsed.He disappeared and all funds disappeared along with him. Lawsuits filed.”
DAVID VANDERSON, aka IAN DANVERS - Jacksonville, Florida. Concert Venue. Investors were solicited. Monies collected when the project collapsed.He disappeared and all funds disappeared along with him. Lawsuits filed.”
“And IAN THORN, aka IAN DANVERS - Portland, Oregon,” Annie says.
“Portland is where he appears to have perfected the art of his con, for a while. That is where I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet him. He was involved in a restoration project I believed in, much like the cannery. And, I hate to admit, I believed in him, too.”
The room starts whispering.
It’s the sound of people understanding.
Annie’s voice cuts through it, clear and even.
“The man standing here tonight conned me, and five other cities. I don’t want that to happen to Coupeville. If you don’t believe me, hear it from the man himself.”
The library video starts to play.
Ian’s face appears on the screen. His voice fills the room. So does Annie’s.
People start shifting in their seats and whispering to one another.
The video continues. Ian pushing her to support him at the meeting. Ian telling her to say the cannery deserved a chance. Ian believing he had already won.
When the screen goes black, no one speaks.
The lights come up and Ian laughs. It’s ugly and too late to be charming, but he tries anyway.
“This is absurd,” he says. “This is slander. She has an obvious bias against me, and the sheriff is letting her run a personal vendetta in a public meeting.”
Alvarez says nothing.
Ian points at Annie. “She was there in Portland. She was my lover. She was involved in the business. If you want to call me guilty, ask yourselves what does that make her.”
The room starts to develop anger. Comments start being thrown.
Not at Annie.
At him.
Annie turns to face him fully.
“No,” she repeats. “You do not get to use that anymore.”
Ian’s lips tighten.
“I trusted you once,” she says. “I believed you. But trusting a liar does not make me responsible for the lie.”
He steps toward her again. Alvarez’s hand lands on his arm.
Ian jerks back. “Take your hand off me.”
“No,” Alvarez says.
Two deputies move in from the side aisle.
Alvarez turns to the room. “For the record, Annie Lockhart was investigated and fully exonerated in Portland. She has no criminal responsibility for Mr. Daniels’s actions there.”
Ian’s face goes red. “You are lying to protect her.”
“I’ve been in contact with law enforcement connected to the other jurisdictions involved,” Alvarez says.
“Based on that information, evidence gathered locally, and outstanding warrants that are now being coordinated across jurisdictions, Chad Daniels, also known as his other aliases, is being taken into custody pending arraignment.”
The room erupts.
Ian lunges against the deputies. “You people are fools.”
Mrs. Avery stands up. “Get that piece of trash out of here, Sheriff. Please.”
The room erupts in clapping and cheers.
The deputies take him down the side aisle.
He fights enough to lose the last piece of false dignity he has left.
At the doors, he turns his head. His eyes find Annie and she turns sharply and looks away.
She is done with Ian Whomever.
Then the doors open, and he is gone. The mayor returns to the microphone, pale and shaken.
“I believe the town still has business before it.”
A murmur rises.
“All those in favor of approving the waterfront cannery proposal as presented by Danvers Urban Renewal Group, please raise your hand.”
Not one.
“All opposed?”
People don’t just raise their hands, they surge up from chairs, hands in the air, voices rising.
“No.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hell no.”
The word spreads through the room until it becomes a wall.
No.
Ellie is standing with Rhea, both hands lifted, tears on her face and fury in her eyes.
The mayor does not hide his emotion. “The proposal fails.”
The room explodes in relief.
I look at Annie.
She stands at center stage, shoulders back, eyes bright, breathing like someone who has just set down a weight she carried so long she forgot it was not part of her. She picks up the microphone.
“Friends. I need to say this. I’m sorry I could not tell you right away. We were working on a way to get enough evidence to stop him. I would never let Coupeville be in danger. I hope you can forgive me.”
The room erupts again. This time, cheering for Annie.
I can’t move fast enough. I reach the stage, and climb up.
I smile broadly as I walk over to her and take her in my arms and kiss her like I won’t ever stop.
The room erupts again.
Her town.
Her people.
Celebrating truth.