Aria wasn’t here. Please be safe at home, Sawyer thought as she returned to the main room. “I talked to Nancy Lay,” Sawyer told him, glad to see he hadn’t moved. “She told me how you were bullied.” She walked past him as she talked.
He followed her into the main room.
“You burned down the Children’s Home of Sacramento, didn’t you?” she asked.
“I did.”
Surprised by his admission, she stopped to look him over.
His gaze met hers.
He didn’t look like a killer, but since when did a killer look like a killer? How many women had walked off with Ted Bundy? The BTK Strangler had installed security alarms. People had opened their doors and let him right inside.
But still, there was something about Corey Moran that made her believe he was telling the truth. Her phone vibrated. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw a text from Aria: Call me when you get a chance. I met with Corey again and I need to talk to someone. My heart is broken.
Her sister was alive. Brokenhearted, but alive. Corey Moran had not harmed her sister. He’d gone after the men who had abused him, just as the Black Wigs had done.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket. She was about to ask him straight out if he had killed Nick Calderon and Bruce Ward, but then thought better of it. She knew the answer. But what she didn’t know was what she would do with the information if he answered her truthfully. She also wondered about Felix Iverson. Who really killed him? But again, did she want to know the answer?
“Bringing the dog to the shelter was your downfall,” she finally said.
“Maybe. But then I wouldn’t have met Aria.”
“So everything you did was about revenge?”
“Something like that.”
“Why now?” she asked, but had a feeling she already knew. The Black Wigs had started a movement. That hadn’t been their intention, but that was exactly what had happened. Lexi’s niece, The Slayers, females everywhere were tired of being assaulted and then watching the perpetrators walk free. Corey Moran had been no different. An opportunity had presented itself to him, and he’d jumped at the chance to finally get even.
“They needed to be punished for what they did,” he said.
“It was the Black Wigs, wasn’t it? They went after the people who had harmed them, which drove you to do the same.”
“Inspired me, would be a better word.” He looked sad, but also resolute in his actions. “If only I had met your sister last month or the month before.”
She couldn’t stop staring at him. He had a boyish face and friendly eyes. Sadness fell over her at the thought of everything that had happened. “That would have changed things?”
“It would have changed everything.”
Sawyer noticed a suitcase off to the side. “Going somewhere?”
He nodded.
“So what did you say to my sister?”
“I told her I was leaving town and wouldn’t be back.”
Sawyer said nothing.
He exhaled. “She deserves better.”
“Yes,” Sawyer said, “she does.”
His phone buzzed. “Looks like my ride is here.”
Through the front window, Sawyer saw a car with an Uber sticker pull up outside. She looked at him. They both knew it was up to her to make the next move. “You better get going,” she said.
He nodded, then grabbed his suitcase and headed out. Sawyer watched him climb into the car. She waited until the vehicle drove off and disappeared before she stepped outside and walked back to her car. It wasn’t her job to call the police. How many times had Detective Perez told her to mind her own business? More times than she could count.
So that’s exactly what she would do—mind her own business.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Two days later, at exactly five o’clock, Sawyer finished writing the article about Lena Harris and how her inability to get justice had likely pushed her over the edge.
Overall, Sawyer talked about vengeance and society and how people who have been humiliated or harmed sometimes looked for ways to restore their self-worth. One way to do that was, of course, to punish the offending party, but any gratification would most likely be short lived. Another way to deal with rejection or bullying, for example, was to use compassion and forgiveness, which wasn’t always easy. She talked about how two-thirds of attackers in school shootings had been bullied. Bottom line: a child who bullies needs the same support and compassion as the person who is being bullied before a culture change could happen.
She ended her story with a quote attributed to Gandhi: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Next, she wrote her letter of resignation, printed it off, and carried it with her as she made her way down the hallway toward Lexi’s office.
She was ready to move on.
Aria’s idea to open Forever Sunshine, a place where old dogs could live out their lives in peace, had prompted Sawyer to think about her own goals and dreams. She already knew she wanted to help solve crimes, not write about them, so she’d decided to use her share of the inheritance to start her own investigative agency.
From a distance, she could see that something was going on just outside Sean Palmer’s office. As she drew closer, she saw storage boxes piled high.
“You’re just in time,” Lexi said when she spotted her.
There were plastic champagne flutes and a couple of bottles of champagne on Palmer’s desk. Lexi filled one of the glasses to the halfway mark, then handed it to Sawyer. “Are you okay? You look like someone who might have just written a Pulitzer Prize–winning story.”
Sawyer smiled. “I guess you never know. I just finished my piece and emailed it to you.”
“Perfect.” She clinked her glass against Sawyer’s. “Did you hear the news?”
Sawyer shook her head.
“Sean Palmer has officially retired, and I was just informed that I’ll be taking his place.”
Sawyer congratulated her. “I’m happy for you, Lexi. You deserve the promotion.”
“Did you just fall and hit your head? What’s going on?”
“You’re good at what you do, and I’ve enjoyed working with you.”
“But?”
Sawyer handed her the letter. “I was coming to talk to you to see who I should give my letter of resignation to. Looks like you’ve answered my question.”
Lexi pulled out the letter, read it, and set it on her desk. “I cannot pretend to be happy about this. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I’m sure.”
Lexi’s brow furrowed. “You know what’s strange?” she asked.
“What?”
“Lena Harris confessed to killing all those men on her own, and yet Ian Farley told us there was more than one woman wearing a wig when he went to Brad Vicente’s house.”
“I reported what we learned to Detective Perez, but he wasn’t interested. Maybe there really is no justice.”
Lexi frowned. “Why would Ian Farley lie?”
Sawyer shrugged. “Maybe he was looking for attention.”
“Speak of the devil,” Lexi said under her breath.
A booming voice came from behind Sawyer. “I hear congratulations are in order.”