“You know, at first, I defended you,” Peyton said, taking the file back and flipping through the pages. Each one that detailed the murder of Adam, then the murder at her shop, along with pictures that had made her throw up when she’d first seen them. “I couldn’t imagine that you would ever hurt Adam. It was just inconceivable that you would ever do that. But then we found this.” She reached the last paper, then handed him the document.
Justin examined the paper a moment, his lips pressing into a thin line.
She nodded, even if he wasn’t looking at her. “Apparently, you wanted to go into business with this guy, Mr. Lang”—she flicked the photograph across the table at him—“but you’d been keeping that fact on the down low. And that’s why, if the police ever looked into you, they wouldn’t have found that little bit of information out, because it wasn’t in the records.” She began handing over the rest of the photographs, one by one, to the man she didn’t even know anymore. “Sadly for you, the man you hired to kill me and Adam not only followed our every move, he also followed yours. Every meeting you had with Mr. Lang to talk shop is there, photographed, time stamped.” Maybe that was a security measure. To gather enough evidence on Justin that if he hadn’t paid Vasiliev, he’d use the evidence as blackmail against Justin. Peyton didn’t know. She also didn’t care about that. She only cared about having Justin by the balls. “And here’s what you don’t know. Yesterday, Detective Armstrong here…”
The detective raised his hand with a dark smile. “That’s me.”
She gave him a smile, then glanced back at Justin. “He questioned Mr. Lang, and wouldn’t you know that he told them you were seeking to partner with his company.” Turns out, Mr. Lang owns the second-largest commercial real estate company in Seattle, or so Boone told her after they investigated all this further. “But he said that he was concerned because he’d heard rumors that Adam didn’t want another partner. He wanted to keep the company as his grandfather had created it.” And that had been true. Justin had tried pushing another partner on Adam before to grow the company, but Adam had refused. He’d never been in it for the money. He’d kept the business surviving to honor his grandfather.
“And wouldn’t you know he was right,” Detective Armstrong interjected. “Mr. Lang said he thought the deal might be dead until you called and said you needed more time, but would come through.”
Peyton nodded and added, “You had hired Vasiliev to take Adam and me out so you would gain full ownership of the company. You thought I would be in the car with Adam the night of the accident, but I ended up taking a shift. I survived, I inherited half of the company. You were still stuck. And it turns out your life of luxury meant you didn’t have enough money to simply buy me out. So I still needed to be taken care of, didn’t I?”
Justin finally glanced up, cold eyes on her.
Feeling like she had a world of strength around her, she said, “Every payment that Vasiliev took from you was videotaped by him.” Boone slapped the USB sticks on the table, and she added, “It’s all there, Justin. You can’t run from this. You killed Adam and tried to kill me for control of the company, and we all know it.”
Justin inhaled and exhaled sharply, and then she saw it, the shift in his expression. There was no warmth, no affection. She wasn’t looking at the man whom Adam loved. She was looking at a man full of greed. This man before her was a complete stranger. “I want to talk with my lawyer,” he finally said.
Boone snorted. “All games until you’re trapped.” He rose and pushed his chair under the table, then glanced at Peyton. “I’ve had about as much as I can stomach. You?”
She stood and tucked her chair under the table, staring at the man she thought she knew wholly and completely. “On the flight here, I thought I’d have all these things to say to you when I saw you, but now”—she swallowed deeply—“now, I just pity you.”
Justin’s eyes slowly narrowed, dark rage burning in their depths.
“You’re going to spend the rest of your life in jail, for what?” she asked, feeling almost numb speaking to him now. “More money? You had nothing before Adam. He gave you half of the company, and this privileged life you’ve been living is all because he loved you.” She leaned in, pressing her hands against the cool metal table, and said, “You had your closest friend killed. And you know what the saddest part in all this is?” When Justin didn’t reply, she added, “If Adam were still here, he’d be the guy sitting behind you during court, supporting you no matter what you did.”
Justin just stared at her, not reacting.
And that coldness was the only thing she needed to see. Any affection she had for the old Justin she left right there in the interrogation room. She turned away and headed for the door then, realizing there was no good in any of this. Lives were ruined, forever changed, for reasons that would never make sense.
When she exited the room, she spotted two warm eyes, and felt the damn break open at the tears in those eyes. Adam’s mom had Adam’s eyes. Soft brown and
kind, though Amy’s held a sadness now that Peyton knew would never go away. “I’m sorry, Amy,” she managed to choke out, rushing forward. “I’m so sorry.”
Adam’s mother threw her arms around Peyton, bringing her against her slender form. “We can both be sorry.” She hugged Peyton tight for a while. When she finally leaned away, tears drenched her face. “I’m still having a hard time believing Justin did this to Adam. I don’t understand any of it.”
“Impossible to doubt him now, considering what we’ve just seen,” Dave, Adam’s father, said, taking Peyton into a hug next.
She squeezed him back a little harder. Dave felt like Adam. They had the same height, same build, even though Dave was a little softer around the middle. He even smelled like Adam. And she couldn’t help but think that Adam could rest now. Maybe her dreams would stop. This had never been the answer she’d wanted, but at least now they could all move forward with a sense that they’d done right by Adam.
When she broke away from the warmth of his hug, Dave turned to Boone. “You worked on this case?”
“Yes, sir,” Boone replied.
Dave offered his hand. “Then we owe you a great deal. Thank you for all your hard work to find these answers for our son.”
Boone returned the handshake before shoving his hand in his pocket. He gave Peyton a little smile before saying to Dave, “I’m not a one-man show. All of Stoney Creek PD solved this one.”
Peyton smiled in return, warmed by his kindness toward others, no matter the coldness this day brought.
“What will you do now?” Amy asked.
Peyton reached for Amy’s hands, holding them tight. “I’ll go back to Stoney Creek after we sort out what’s going to happen to the company.” The last thing she wanted was for Adam’s dream to crumble. But now with Justin going to jail, and her lack of experience with the company, the business was sure to fail.
“Actually, I’ve got an idea on that,” Dave said. “Remember George Logan?”
Peyton nodded. George was the CEO of an up and coming real estate company that showed interest in buying Adam’s shares after he passed away. Peyton hadn’t been ready to sell then and declined the offer.