Page 72 of All Good People Here

“Oh. I didn’t actually. That’s good.”

A warm feeling of rightness spread through Margot at the news. She knew the evidence from his storage unit would be enough for any prosecutor anywhere to confidently put Wallace in front of a jury. It would take time, but he would go to jail for what he’d done, and every little girl across the Midwest would be just a little bit safer.

“And your article,” Adrienne continued. “I mean, Margot, I know you must know, but it’s fantastic.” There was an apologetic undertone to Adrienne’s voice that showed she realized the awkwardness of the situation. Here she’d fired Margot only days earlier for trying to pursue this very story, and now she clearly wanted to run it.

“Thanks.”

“Really. Your work here is—well, it’s the best I’ve ever seen from you. You systematically convince the reader of Wallace’s guilt, without ever actually saying the words. And the structure, the way you start with Natalie Clark, work your way back and open it up to the rest of the girls, then end with that speculation about January. It’s—it’s just really great reporting.”

“Thanks.”

Adrienne hesitated. “Right. Well, I suppose this is the moment when I apologize.”

“It would be nice,” Margot said, but her voice was teasing. She was still upset about being fired, of course, but over the past few days since, she’d come to realize that perhaps Adrienne had kept her around longer than she’d actually deserved. And Margot hadto admit, if she hadn’t been fired, she wouldn’t have had time to investigate January’s story. She wouldn’t have found Wallace.

“Well, I am sorry,” Adrienne said. “Really. You’re a great reporter and I wish I’d fought harder for you. But lucky for me, you fought hard for yourself. I’m assuming that’s why you sent your piece to me and not some other paper? Because you want us to run it?”

“And I want my old job back.”

The idea had been percolating in the back of Margot’s mind throughout the four hours it had taken to write her article. Despite her ego being bruised, she believedIndyNowwas the best publication for the story. Wallace was from Indianapolis andIndyNowwas the biggest, most respected paper in the city, probably the best across the state. And while she’d fantasized about taking her story and her résumé to somewhere like theTimes,she realized that she wanted to stay in Wakarusa with her uncle, wanted to work at a paper that served her community. Plus, recent events excluded, she liked working with Adrienne. She was a good editor. She made Margot better.

“I’d be thrilled to have you back,” Adrienne said.

“And I want a raise.” Margot told her the amount she’d come up with, one that would help cover her uncle’s bills as well as her own.

“I think we can arrange that.”

“And I want to work from here, from Wakarusa, and have more time and more autonomy over my stories. I’d like to cover Wallace’s arrest and trial. Take my time, do it well.”

“Working remotely won’t be a problem. And I’ll talk to Edgar about the other one, but I think he’ll go for it. You’ve proven what you can do when you have the time to do it.”

“Okay. Well…good.” Margot closed her eyes, her heartbeat steadying. Though she’d come out swinging, she’d been terrified to ask for what she wanted. “Let me know what Edgar says. Andin the meantime, I’m going to try to get a few more quotes for tomorrow’s piece.”

Margot had included quotes from her interviews with Annabelle and Elliott Wallace, but she wanted to reach out to Townsend, Jace, and Billy too, to give them an opportunity to address the latest developments.

“That sounds great,” Adrienne said. “And I’ll send over some notes too. That is,” she added a bit awkwardly, “if you’d like. It’s in really good shape as is, but we have the time and we want this one to go viral.”

Margot smiled. “I’d love your notes.”

After they hung up, Margot tugged on a pair of sweatpants and padded out of her room. From the hallway, she spotted Luke in his regular morning spot at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee, a crossword puzzle in front of him. The sight of him made her stop short, her throat unexpectedly tightening. After days of feeling estranged from him, Margot finally had her uncle back. And although he’d told lies and kept secrets like everyone else in this town, she now understood why he had. He may not have been perfect, but he was good.

That she’d ever doubted it, that she actually at one point suspected him ofmurder,made Margot seethe with guilt. Of course her uncle hadn’t killed anyone. January had been Elliott Wallace’s first victim, and although Jodie might not believe it, Krissy had taken her own life, just as everyone had always thought. Margot, for one, didn’t find this sad fact all that surprising. Krissy had lost a daughter, then a husband and a son. Even though they hadn’t all been killed, Elliott Wallace had robbed Krissy of her entire family, and the pain of that had grown too much to bear.

As Margot looked at Luke, a million questions ricocheted through her mind. She wanted to ask him when he realized he was the father of Jace and January, wanted to ask him what it had been like watching them grow from afar. She had so many thingsshe wanted to tell him too, about Elliott Wallace and what had happened to January. And perhaps they’d talk about all this one day, but for now, she just wanted to sit across from him and drink a cup of coffee.

“Morning, kid,” Luke said when she walked into the kitchen.

“Morning.”

“You slept late. You feeling okay?”

She smiled. “Yeah, just had a thing for work.”

“How’d it go?”

“Good. Really good.” She walked over to the coffee maker. “Hey, Uncle Luke, do you wanna do something tonight? Just, like, hang out or something?”

He smiled. “That’d be great.”

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