Chapter 34
The news of Richard's arrest spread through town like wildfire. According to an update from Vargas, Richard had finally started talking—and once he started, he sang like a bird. He had sworn up and down that he hadn’t laid a finger on either of the Chief Givens’.
He had given them enough information to become a key witness in the case.
Vargas delivered the news in person when she stopped in for lunch at Miller’s Bistro. She complimented the food, took another bite, then looked at Colin as she left.
“You'll be seeing more of me,” she said with a wink.
Colin raised an eyebrow.
Kara couldn't help but wonder why Richard had finally come clean after all this time. What stumped her was that he admitted to starting the fire but denied knowing anything about the body they had found.
She didn't dwell on it for long. Whatever his reason, the important thing was that he was talking, and maybe, finally, justice would be served.
It was the biggest thing to happen in town in years. Everyone had an opinion. Half the town seemed convinced Richard couldn't possibly have done everything he was being charged with, while the other half believed he was guilty from the beginning.
For once, Kara didn't care who believed what. The truth was finally coming out, and justice was being served.
A BOLO had been issued for Elias, but by the time the police began searching for him, he had already disappeared. Kara didn't expect to see him again.
Kara was clearing a table when the conversation at the counter caught her attention.
“You hear about the Governor?”
“I heard them folks ‘round the way got ’em.”
“Yeah. FBI finally got him.”
Kara slowed, keeping her back to them as she gathered the empty plates.
“Racketeering, human trafficking, conspiracy, and a whole long list of other charges. They’re saying it’s been going on for years and years.”
“Good Lord.”
“And apparently it reaches a lot farther than the Governor. They’re looking into local law too. Old Chief, new Chief. The whole thing sounds rotten if you ask me.”
She kept her expression neutral, pretending to be busy with the table.
“I always thought something was off with Daryl,” one of the men continued.
“Because of the old man?”
“Sonny shows up, and he just up’n dies.”
“They said natural causes.”
“That man was the bill of health the last time I saw him. Told me he was doin’ fine.”
Kara glanced toward them before quickly looking away.
She remembered it too. His father had seemed perfectly well when they’d visited. Nothing about him had suggested he was close to death.
“Could’ve just been his time,” the other man said.
“Could’ve.”
Neither sounded convinced. Kara carried the plates into the kitchen, her thoughts already racing.
She might never know what had really happened to Daryl’s father. Maybe it had been nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence. Maybe Daryl had simply been there when his father died.
But after everything else, she couldn't shake the suspicion.
The investigation was reaching people who had once seemed untouchable. Kara didn't know the whole truth. Maybe she never would. But she was glad justice was finally being served.
Outside, the sun had begun to dip, casting long beams through the diner windows. She wrapped her hands around her mug again—not for the warmth of the coffee, but for something to hold onto.
Maybe, just maybe, she didn’t have to do it all alone.
The last of the lunch crowd had cleared out. The diner was quiet now, humming with only the faint sounds of the dishwasher and the occasional clatter of a utensil behind the counter. Kara stirred her coffee again, though she had no intention of drinking it.
“I keep thinking,” she said softly, “If I’d just stayed gone—none of this would’ve been stirred up.”
Colin leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. He studied her for a moment. “You stayed because it mattered. That says something.”
Kara let her head tilt against the booth cushion, staring up at the ceiling fan circling slowly above them. “Sometimes I wonder if it was guilt more than courage.”
“Guilt doesn’t carry you this far, Kara,” he said.
She didn’t know what to call it—the compulsion to untangle what had happened, to look truth in the face no matter how ugly. Maybe it wasn’t bravery. Maybe it was survival.
“You always believed in me more than I believed in myself,” she murmured.
“Still do,” Colin said. “Even if you never let me say it out loud.”
Outside, the sky was deepening, streaked with hues of orange, red, and purple. Kara didn’t feel the urge to run anymore.
Not from the town, herself, or from Colin.
They sat in a companionable quiet for a while. Eventually, Kara glanced out the window, the setting sun catching the edge of her reflection.
“I thought it might be you,” she said finally.
Colin paused across from her, studying her face.
“Back at the beginning,” she added, voice quieter now. “The way you kept showing up. Pushing.” She swallowed. “I thought maybe you had your own reasons. That you were using me.”
“Fair,” he said simply.
That made her turn.
“Fair?” she echoed, almost disbelieving.
He shrugged. “You didn’t know this version of me. And nothing about this situation screamed trustworthy.” A pause. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t accuse me out loud.”
“I almost did.”
“I know.”
That caught her off guard. “You knew?”
Colin glanced at her then, something faintly amused in his expression—but softer than she’d ever seen it.
“Kara,” he said,“You don’t exactly hide what you’re thinking.”
She huffed a quiet breath, looking away again. “Could’ve fooled me.”
“No,” he said. “You hide what you feel. That’s different.”
Her voice thinned. “Everything I thought about my father for years—”
“He didn’t pull the trigger, but he is just as guilty.”
Kara wanted to arrange a visit with Richard at the prison.
He’d spoken about her mother that day of the cabin fire as though he knew more about what had happened than anyone realized—as though there was something between them he hadn’t told Kara.
She needed to hear the truth from him, whatever it was.
A plan was already forming in her mind, but she kept it to herself for now.