An hour later, Maggie found herself sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair in an interrogation room, one-way glass separating her from the rest of the world.

Facing a deadly calm Thomas Collins, whose face was largely held together by butterfly stitches and bruised skin.

She had Alex to thank for it, though she figured that she didn't look too good herself. It almost felt ironic, like she was looking in a mirror.

Chloe had been rushed to the hospital, and Maggie had forbidden Alex to go anywhere without being cleared by doctors first, so Alex had taken it upon herself to stay in the hospital for updates.

Every now and then, Maggie felt her phone buzzing in her pocket, so at least there was news. But she couldn't focus on that now. She had a job to do, and a case to close.

"I told you before. I want to understand what you did." She finally spoke after a brief silence. "You're going down for a long time, Collins. Double homicide, assault on a federal agent, attempted murder of a cop… Not to mention the things you were complicit in. I'm offering you a way out – if you tell me what he did to you, what made all of this happen, then I can help you."

The man raised an eyebrow, as far as the stitches allowed him, and leaned forward gingerly. "There is nothing left to talk about, Maggie."

"So that's it? You're just going to bow your head and rot away in a jail cell?" Maggie chuckled weakly, shaking her head. "You're smart, Collins. You know that this isn't the way to go."

"You'd never believe me if I told you the truth." He leaned back again, his shoulders sagging. "I'm not even going to waste my breath on it. Just take me down the line, pin everything on me and forget about Blue Springs."

"It's not that easy-…" Maggie began, but he cut her off quickly.

"It is."

"Well, even if I don't believe you, I'd be more than happy to waste some paper on getting your testimony in the public record. You know – in case you ever change your mind and want a judge to hand you a 'get out of jail free' card." Maggie tilted her head. "Tell me, Thomas."

The man took a deep breath, cracking the knuckles in his fingers. "You're persistent, I'll give you that."

"Kind of necessary in my line of work."

The man laughed. "Oscar was right about you. I was sceptical when I heard his stories, thinking that he was just exaggerating as usual… But it seems that his words didn't do you justice."

Maggie didn't respond, instead waiting for the man to start talking, a pen clutched between her thumb and index finger, ready to take notes.

"The Lockman murder was staged."

Maggie's eyes shot up to meet his upon hearing that first sentence. She found herself unable to write it down, her gaze locked on his sorrowful expression.

"… Chloe had an affair with David Grant when she was still married to Jeremy. She was at the Grant farm that night, telling David about how Jeremy had figured the affair out. That she was scared that Jeremy was going to snap, and hurt her. I have to give it to her – she played the part really well."

Maggie felt sick.

"She convinced David that Jeremy would hurt her, and then faked a 911 call. She knew that Jeremy was on duty, he responded alone, and David was waiting behind the door with a shotgun. Shot him point blank. David's wife came home too soon, became an accidental witness, so they had to shoot her too. Chloe's been playing the victim card ever since."

"But…" Maggie opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to make sense of it. "But Evans changed the file…?"

"Evans did what he thought he had to do. He realized what had happened immediately, and kept Chloe out of jail by pinning everything on David. With him and Jeremy out of the way, he had no more competition."

A big part of Maggie refused to believe that Chloe really was the black widow that Collins was making her. Having her husband killed off, then getting her lover out of the way and taking Evans…

Collins must have seen the confusion on her face, because he nodded his understanding. "Like I said, Maggie. I don't expect you to follow. It's a truth you can't handle, and I accept that. Just write it down so we can move this along – I'm sure you're worried about her."

She filed her response away for now, writing a few key words down before looking up again. "What about the night of the murder? That was you, wasn't it? You killed them?"

"I killed Oscar, yes. And I went upstairs to Katherine, but I didn't kill her."

"And who was the other person there?"

"That was Evans." Collins replied. "He was there already when I arrived. I didn't expect him to be, but he made my job easier."

"Your job." Maggie repeated.

Collins smirked. "You know that I… edited the crime scene. I tried to send you messages. I put that Lucky toy in the truck, I told Chloe that you should drive around in it while you were here."

"Why?!" Maggie shot back. "All that did was make me more mad."

"No, it reminded you of why you were there, and what your job was. To get justice."

Maggie flopped back down into her seat. Collins was contradicting himself – admitting to the murders but demanding justice either way…?

"Oscar figured out what happened the night that Jeremy Lockman died. Saturday night, Evans went to Oscar's house to finally tell him the truth. Oscar didn't take it very well, and fired Evans right there and then. Evans blamed Chloe, basically throwing her under the bus, but Oscar was having none of it. When I arrived, Evans was just about to go head-to-head with him. I defused the situation."

"By murdering him."

"Evans knew my experience in forensics. The night of Jeremy's murder, he blackmailed me into cleaning up the crime scene, to alter the evidence to make sure that Chloe was in no way connected. I knew that Evans was blaming everybody but himself, and I knew that he told Oscar what had happened, because Oscar started screaming horrible things at me the second he saw me. So Oscar had to go."

Maggie felt her stomach churn at the thought of this man, murdering her father in cold blood to save his own skin.

"Evans froze. He just watched. When I was done, I told him to go find trashbags, to clean up the mess and get him out of there. But then…" He sighed. "Then Katherine was standing in the doorway, screaming. She'd heard the commotion. Evans completely lost it. He dragged her up the stairs, threw her into the room and beat her. I tried to stop him, but she'd already seen too much."

Collateral damage.

"Evans had dropped both me and Chloe like bricks to save himself from Oscar's scorn. So I told him that the only way he could get out of it was to listen to me, and obey my commands."

"You had him do your legwork." Maggie scoffed. "Blaming other suspects, scaring me and Alex off…"

"But he tried to help you." Collins shook his head. "The whole kidnapping thing was supposed to be enough, but Evans told your wife where you were. A big mistake, and it cost him. If he'd listened to me, and stuck to the plan, then none of this would have happened."

"I'd be dead."

"No, you'd be back in National City, where you belong. Chasing aliens and bad guys, and smooching with the DEO's finest agent."

Maggie froze. How did he…

"Oh, please, Detective. Like I wouldn't do my research on how to get to you. I meant what I said before – I never meant to seriously hurt you. Just to scare you off and have you leave us alone."

"Tell that to Chloe." Maggie huffed. "She's fighting for her life."

"And if she'd kept it in her pants, your parents would still be alive, so forgive me for not exactly cheering her recovery on." The man hissed. "That woman made a murderer out of me. All of this is her fault. She played you."

"So Bobby and his father were just a scapegoat?" Maggie pushed away the notepad. This wasn't an interrogation anymore.

"Willy hated Oscar, Bobby hated you. It was the perfect match. I gave them instructions to take you, and pummel you around for a bit, blaming it on your sexuality. It would strengthen the 'small-town-hates-gays' stereotype, and it would hopefully scare Alex enough to question whether all of this was worth it."

He really had planned everything perfectly – the only flaws in his plan were the parts where other people had screwed things up for him.

Everything made sense now.

"… There, now you know. Oscar had to die because Evans couldn't keep his mouth shut, and I had to murder him because Evans blackmailed me at the Lockman crime scene to clean up his messes. Now, believe of all of this what you must. For all I know, Evans told you the exact opposite thing. But this is the truth, and… Fuck it, you're right. If I'm going down, might as well go down doing the right thing."

Maggie glanced back at the mirror beside them, knowing that at least somebody was watching them.

She had to talk to Chloe. And Evans.

"Thank you. For telling the truth." Maggie said, sincerely. "But what made you change your mind? Just an hour ago, you'd have killed every person in that room if it meant keeping your secret."

"You putting a bullet through my head was justice. I wish you'd done it anyway." Collins licked his lips, looking down to avoid her gaze. "I was aiming for your legs, but she jumped in front of you."

Maggie realized that she was never going to know for certain whether the man was lying to her or not. Whether he had meant to kill her and was talking his way out of it, or he'd honestly never meant for it to escalate and come to this.

"I deserve this." Collins said. "I get that now. I made the mistake of getting myself roped into a situation that I could never get out of alive and free. And I can only hope that the same goes for Evans and Watson."

"I'm going to release Bosley, and return him to his post as sheriff." Maggie said. "Did you mean what you said about him? At the Rodas house?"

"He was a good friend to Oscar, but he'd been pining after his badge for years… Well…" Collins shrugged. "We're better off with Adam Bosley than we'd ever be with Gregory Evans."

A thought struck Maggie. "When you voted for sheriff…"

"Evans was the only one that voted for me, because he figured he could keep the heat off himself. I voted blank. The rest of the force seemed to like his odds. I was surprised – I didn't know that many people saw a sheriff in him. Lord knows he didn't." Collins chuckled.

The corners of Maggie's mouth curled up in amusement, though she knew that the situation was far from funny.

"Are you going to be okay?"

The question surprised her. Because the look in the man's face was nothing but concern and worry.

She didn't know what to respond. "I…"

"I'm sorry you had to go through this. If you hadn't been here, then things would have never been cleared up like this. So… Thank you. For allowing me to speak my piece. For listening to me. Nobody here would have, and the truth would have never come out." He nodded slowly. "It feels… liberating."

"You're welcome, Thomas."

She meant it, too.

A last grateful nod, and then Maggie got up and walked out the door.

She checked her phone, seeing a few texts from Alex.

Clean bill of health, cleared by doctors. Waiting for updates on Chloe.

She's still in surgery, will be another few hours, probably. They sounded optimistic.

You doing okay? Call me as soon as you can.

Just spoke to Evans. He's a mess.

Call me.

Maggie dialed her number, and raised her phone to her ear. After she heard the click, she started talking immediately. "Hey. I just got out of the interrogation."

"And?"

"… And I know enough to wrap up the case and go home."

"Wait, what about the funerals?"

"Bosley can arrange those. He was better to them than I could have ever been, I'd just get everything wrong anyway. And I don't owe them anything, just like they don't owe me anything."

"What made you change your mind?"

Finding out that everything she'd heard about them had been a lie to manipulate her.

"Just… It's been a long day. I'm done with Blue Springs. I'm just going to talk to Bosley, and pick you up from the hospital."

"But… Don't you want to wait for Chloe? See how she's doing? And what about Evans?"

"We've handed the investigation over to the Gage County PD, a few officers should be on their way towards the hospital soon."

She knew that she was being cryptic, but she honestly didn't feel like repeating the entire story. Not now, at least. And definitely not over the phone.

"Hey… I'll be there in half an hour, alright? I just have to do something first."

"… Okay. Whatever you need, babe. I'll be here."

Maggie smiled. "I love you."

She waited for Alex's reply, before hanging up the phone, and walking towards the door to the sheriff's office, and rapping her knuckles against it.

A week later, Maggie and Alex were strolling through the park, arms linked.

The bruises on Maggie's face were healing, and the swelling was almost gone, making her presentable enough to get back to work. Though she hadn't been eager to jump back on any cases the second she'd returned, and Alex had ordered her to get a few days of rest first, she was ready to get back to her routine, because that was the fastest way to leave all of the events of Nebraska behind her.

Alex hadn't asked any questions when she arrived at the hospital, flanked by three officers who arrested Evans immediately, and took the agent's place in waiting for updates on Chloe. Maggie had shot her a look that begged no questions, and she'd given her the space she needed.

In the car on their way to the airport, Maggie had finally told her everything that Collins had told her. Alex had listened patiently, connecting dots even before her wife had explained most of the story. But when Maggie was finished, the only question on her mind had been clear.

"Why are you so sure that he's telling the truth?"

Maggie had thought about it. For a long time. And honestly, she didn't have the slightest idea. The entire case had been a rollercoaster of suspects, motives and lies. But she'd been certain the moment the words left his mouth.

She blamed it on instinct, on gut feeling. Because she couldn't explain it. But something inside her desperately wanted her to believe that her father had been watching over her, helping her, and telling her that she was doing the right thing.

It was stupid – but it eased her mind.

"Hey… Where did you go?"

Maggie snapped out of her thoughts to see Alex's worried frown in her direction.

She cleared her throat quickly, and flashed her a smile. "Nowhere. I just… got lost in thoughts, that's all."

Alex nodded, glancing up at the sky. "We should head back, it looks like it's going to start raining, and we should go get ready for game night."

Maggie nodded, and laughed as Alex untangled their arms and brought her fingers to her mouth, whistling sharply. "Hunter! Let's go, buddy!"

A large golden retriever barked loudly, and turned his head from being pet by one of the kids on the nearby playground. Alex raised her hand, and the dog barked again, running towards them.

"Come on, babe." Alex smiled. "Let's go home."

Maggie didn't hesitate.

The End.