Book 3, Part 4 Summary

A chance encounter starts an investigation into Lucas' Cross' disappearance and evidence turns up implicating either Joey or Selena or both. Joey wants to confess but Selena refuses to let him and she tells the sheriff the story.

A sensational headline in a small newspaper "PATRICIDE IN PEYTON PLACE" attracts massive media attention to the town. One particular reporter, Thomas Delaney, arrives and manages to ingratiate himself with gossipy Clayton Frazier, eventually getting around to asking him about the origins of the town's name. Clayton shows him the Peyton Castle and tells him the story of how it was named "for a friggin' nigger"—an escaped slave, Samuel Peyton. Peyton, Clayton says, made his way to England, made a fortune in shipping, married a white woman, tried to settle in Boston (where he proved to be unwelcome), and ended up...