Luke didn't sleep. He sat at the kitchen table until sunrise with the sheriff's badge in front of him.
Elias Patterson. A name that had always meant safety. A name people trusted. The man who had protected Belle Rive. The man who had helped his father.
The man whose badge was now sitting beside a missing letter.
Luke wanted to believe there was an explanation. But experience had taught him something. The hardest truths were usually the ones you wanted least to believe.
The sheriff's office was quiet when Luke walked in. Patterson looked up. He knew immediately. "You found it."
Luke placed the badge on the desk. The sheriff stared at it. Then slowly sat back. "Where?"
"My house."
A long silence.
"Who put it there?"
Patterson didn't answer.
Luke's voice hardened. "I need the truth."
The sheriff looked tired. "You sound like your father."
"Stop saying that."
Patterson studied him. "Why?"
"Because every time someone says it, I feel like I'm supposed to understand him."
A pause. "And I don't."
The sheriff looked down. "Your father was a good man."
Luke shook his head. "That's not enough."
No." Patterson nodded. "It isn't."
For the first time, Sheriff Patterson told Luke everything.
Not everything from twenty years ago. Everything from the night before.
"The badge was stolen."
Luke frowned. "By who?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Patterson looked at him. "Yes."
Something about the answer made Luke pause. Not defensive. Not angry. Just honest.
Patterson continued. "Someone wanted you to believe it was me."
Luke looked at the badge. "A setup."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because whoever did this knows you don't trust easily."
Luke almost smiled. "Sounds like they know me."
Patterson nodded. "They know your father too."
The sheriff opened a locked drawer. Inside was a small journal. Old. Worn. "Thomas kept notes."
Luke stared. "You had this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Patterson looked away. "Because I was afraid."
Luke was quiet.
The sheriff continued. "I was young. I thought doing the right thing meant following the rules."
He touched the journal. "Thomas taught me sometimes the rules were the thing standing in the way of justice."
Luke looked at him.
"What happened to Thomas?"
Patterson closed his eyes.
"The night he disappeared..."He stopped. Then finally said: "He came to me."
Luke leaned forward. "What did he say?"
"He said he had proof."
"What proof?"
"A ledger."
Luke froze. "The one from the locker?"
Patterson nodded. "The one your father found."
"Where is it?"
The sheriff looked at him. "Someone else found it first."
Across town, Virgil Crowe poured himself coffee and read the morning newspaper. He wasn't smiling.
That worried Deputy Simmons. "I thought you wanted the boy to find the truth."
Crowe folded the paper. "I do."
"Then why are things getting worse?"
Crowe looked toward the river. "Because Luke McCall is not his father."
Simmons frowned. "What does that mean?"
Crowe stood. "It means Sam would have stopped when he realized the cost."
A pause. "Luke won't."
At the edge of the Delta, beneath the old cypress trees, Luke found Maggie waiting.
"You know something happened."
She nodded. "I saw the sheriff leave your house last night."
Luke studied her.
"You were watching?"
"No." She looked away. "I was worried."
He believed her.
That bothered him. Because trust was becoming dangerous. "Maggie..."
"Elizabeth." She looked at him. "My name is Elizabeth."
Luke nodded. "Elizabeth."
She waited. "What happened to Thomas?"
Her face changed. The sadness returned. "Thomas didn't disappear."
Luke frowned. "What?"
"He was taken."
The river moved behind them. Slow. Quiet. Like it had been waiting twenty years to tell him.
"By who?"
Elizabeth looked at him.
"That's the question your father spent his life trying to answer.”