Chapter 19 - What the Truth Cost Us
There was no verdict the next morning. Detectives interviewed witnesses, investigators studied the fire, and lawyers examined the transfers. Real life didn't move that fast.
Grant was charged in connection with the abduction and faced additional financial and fire-related investigations. The arson inquiry eventually traced the gray utility truck to an outside contractor who cooperated with authorities. His testimony and payment records helped investigators connect the fire to an attempt to destroy business records.
Harper agreed to speak with the prosecutor. She admitted taking the document-cage key, preparing an unauthorized medical form, and using the stolen notary seal. She also admitted she'd pushed Mom at the wedding after Mom refused to surrender the blue envelope. Her cooperation affected the eventual plea agreement, but it didn't erase the assault or fraud.
Dad had to answer for his own choices. He gave the investigators every email he had hidden, and he disclosed the deposit instead of trying to bury the debt. The civil case with Alder Ridge took months. He sold a commercial property he'd hoped to pass down to me, and the family refinanced part of the operating business. It hurt. Some people still lost hours at work while we repaired the finances.
One night I found him alone at the foundry, sweeping broken glass near a temporary plywood wall.
"You could've asked me to do this," I said.
"I needed to show up myself."
I leaned against the doorway. "I was so angry at you."
"You should've been."
"I'm still angry sometimes."
"You can be," he said. "Just don't stop telling me the truth."
Mom came in carrying sandwiches wrapped in paper. She handed one to Dad, then one to me. She didn't announce forgiveness. She sat on an overturned bucket and asked what we planned to rebuild first. Sometimes love starts again with ordinary questions.
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The morning the final financial settlement was signed, Nina called. The community land trust could still receive the west wing, but only if we raised enough private money to match the restoration grant. We had six weeks.
I'd spent months trying to save a dream from people who wanted to sell it. Now I had to find out whether anyone else believed in it enough to help us build it.
