Wade stared at him with raw hatred.
“You happy now, old man?”
Walter looked at him for a long moment.
Then answered softly:
“No.”
That confused Wade instantly.
Walter’s voice remained calm.
“Happy would mean this fixes what you turned this town into.”
Silence.
Then:
“But it’s a start.”
Wade said nothing else.
Because there was nothing left to threaten.
—
Outside, rain poured across Oak Hollow in silver sheets as the courthouse doors opened.
And for one suspended moment, the entire town seemed frozen.
People stood beneath umbrellas.
Beneath awnings.
Beside pickup trucks lining the street.
Watching.
Waiting.
The sheriff emerged in handcuffs between federal agents.
A collective breath moved through the crowd.
Not cheering.
Not celebration.
Something quieter.
Disbelief.
Because tyrants always seem permanent right until the second they fall.
Wade looked around desperately.
Searching for fear.
For lowered eyes.
For obedience.
Instead, people met his stare openly for the first time in years.
June.
The ranchers.
The mechanics.
Veterans from Ruby Lane.
Even the deputy who once laughed too quickly at his jokes.
Nobody looked away.
And that terrified him more than prison ever would.
Tessa stepped out behind the agents into the rain.
Water soaked through her sweatshirt instantly, but she barely seemed to notice.
Walter joined her slowly beneath the courthouse steps.
For a moment, neither spoke.
The town watched them quietly.
Finally, Walter looked at his daughter.
“You knew all this already?”
Tessa stared out at the rain-covered streets.
“No,” she said softly.
“I suspected.”
“And now?”
Her eyes moved toward the federal vehicles lining the road.
Evidence teams.
Investigators.
People carrying boxes from town hall.
The system turning.
Finally, she answered:
“Now we find out how many people helped him.”
Walter felt a chill unrelated to the storm.
Because suddenly he understood something enormous.
Wade Hollister had never truly been the disease.
Just the symptom people could see.
Thunder rolled overhead again.
And somewhere deep inside Oak Hollow—beneath years of silence, fear, buried reports, vanished complaints, and ruined lives—
the real investigation had finally begun.