Three months later, I sat in the same chair, watching the summer sun set over an orchard heavy with ripening fruit. The harvest would be good this year—perhaps our best ever. Not that I would handle it alone. The new manager I’d hired, Martin Adams’s daughter Lisa, had already proven herself more than capable.
My phone chimed with a text from Lucille.
“Front page again,” her message read. “Thought you’d want to see.”
The attached image showed the Philadelphia Inquirer’s business section. Platinum Acres CEO Indicted in Fraud Scheme. The subheading mentioned Canton Family Orchards as the case that had triggered the investigation, ultimately revealing a pattern of elder exploitation spanning three states.
I set the phone aside, feeling nothing but a quiet satisfaction. Justice, not revenge—though perhaps they were the same thing after all.
Another text arrived, this one from an unknown number.
