Chapter 9 - Greg’s first lie
Greg finally admitted he met Peter Dane before he met Emily.
Three years earlier.
Not at the fundraiser.
At a marina.
Greg’s boat-repair business was failing.
Peter offered cash work.
Storage.
Deliveries.
No questions.
One delivery was the county marine box.
Greg claimed he did not know what was inside.
Maya did not believe him completely.
“What were you told?”
“Keep it dry.”
“For how long?”
“Until Peter asked.”
“He never did?”
“No.”
“You stored evidence from a dead man’s case for three years without opening it?”
Greg looked ashamed.
“I opened it once.”
“What did you see?”
“Aaron’s name.”
“So you knew.”
“Yes.”
“Before meeting Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Then when Peter seated you next to Aaron’s widow…”
Greg closed his eyes.
“I knew who she was.”
Emily left the room.
She could not hear more.
Thomas found her in the hallway.
“I married him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I let him into Leo’s life.”
“You didn’t know.”
“He tied my son to a chair.”
Thomas did not say it was not her fault.
That was not what she needed.
He said:
“What matters now is what you do with what you know.”
Emily looked through the glass at Leo eating toast.
“I never leave him with someone I haven’t checked again.”
“That’s understandable.”
Then she laughed bitterly.
“I checked Greg.”
Background clear.
Employment verified.
No criminal record.
References.
All real.
Peter had helped make him look safe.
Greg continued confessing.
Peter encouraged him to date Emily.
Not explicitly at first.
“Be friendly.”
“Help her.”
“Don’t mention Aaron.”
When Greg and Emily genuinely became close, Peter shifted.
He began paying Greg through consulting work.
Greg told himself the payments were separate.
They were not.
“Did you love her?” Maya asked.
Greg cried.
“Yes.”
“Then why participate?”
“Because Peter said the land sale wouldn’t hurt them.”
“And when Emily refused?”
“I was already in too deep.”
“You forged her signature.”
“Yes.”
“You helped have her committed.”
“Yes.”
“You locked Leo in a shed.”
Greg looked down.
“Yes.”
Love had changed nothing about accountability.
Maya asked:
“Did you know about Aaron’s death?”
“Peter said Nolan scared him and Aaron fell.”
“Did he say they left him?”
“Yes.”
“So you knew there was a cover-up.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell Emily?”
“Because then she’d know Peter used me.”
There.
Self-preservation.
Again.
Greg also explained why Leo’s tablet mattered.
Aaron’s files included Caroline Brooks’s name and the water-rights evidence.
Peter feared exposure.
Nolan feared homicide scrutiny.
Greg feared Emily discovering he had known all along.
So one child with a dead father’s password threatened three adults.
“Did Nolan tell you to restrain Leo?”
“He told me to keep him from communicating.”
“That’s not the same question.”
Greg stared at the table.
“I tied him first.”
Own it.
“No one told me to do that.”
Maya appreciated the clarity.
“Did Peter know?”
“Yes.”
“Nolan?”
“Yes.”
“Did either stop you?”
“No.”
“Did they help?”
“Nolan brought food the second night.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“He brought food to a child tied in a shed.”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Sandwiches.”
That mundane detail somehow made it worse.
Nolan saw the boy.
Fed him.
Left him confined.
The state suspended Nolan from duty pending investigation.
Peter remained jailed.
Greg was charged.
Emily’s guardianship and trust authority were restored fully.
The North Bluff sale was frozen.
For the first time, the immediate conspiracy stopped moving.
Then Caroline Brooks read Aaron’s recovered field notes.
One map contained coordinates.
Not North Bluff.
Offshore.
A small cove near Cape Morrow.
“What is that?” Emily asked.
Caroline looked puzzled.
“Aaron marked it ‘backup.’”
State police searched marine databases.
At those coordinates, divers found a submerged waterproof case wedged beneath a rock shelf.
Aaron had hidden evidence in the water.
Inside:
Copies of Peter’s land deals.
Nolan’s county records.
And one old photograph.
Greg.
Peter.
Nolan.
Together.
Date stamp:
Six months before Aaron died.
Greg had said he first met Peter three years ago.
Aaron died four years ago.
Greg had lied again.
Maya confronted him.
His face went empty.
“You knew Aaron.”
“No.”
The photograph sat between them.
“You were with the men who confronted him.”
Greg looked at it.
Then whispered:
“I never spoke to him.”
“Why were you there?”
Greg’s attorney told him not to answer.
He did anyway.
“Because I worked for Nolan before I worked for Peter.”
“What did you do?”
“Boat maintenance.”
Maya stared.
“Did you repair the patrol boat after Aaron died?”
Greg looked down.
“Yes.”
The bow repair.
The missing maintenance record.
Greg had repaired the evidence.
May you like
Then four years later, he married Aaron’s widow.
👉 Greg had not simply been recruited after Aaron’s death—he had repaired the sheriff’s damaged patrol boat immediately after the fatal collision, tying him directly to the cover-up years before he entered Emily’s home.
