Page 31 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

Jemma was about to press him on that, but one of the students spoke first. “Hey, you’re that guy who’s been on the news,” the man said. Correction: the kid. Now that Jemma could get a closer look at him, she figured he was still in his teens. “You rescued that kidnapped woman a couple of months ago, and your picture and the story were everywhere.”

Hayes growled. Actually, growled. Clearly, he wasn’t pleased about having that kind of media attention. But that particular case had indeed garnered plenty of buzz.

“You work for Strike Force,” the kid went on. He thrust out his hand to Hayes. “I’m Zander Emerson.”

Jemma immediately recalled that Zander had been a student at the same time Caleb Preston had died. He would have also been here when the hikers went missing.

“Wow,” Zander remarked, still focusing on Hayes. There was some hero worship in his tone and expression. Maybe it was fake, but Duane obviously didn’t care much for that.

“The deputies are here to poke around the school,” Duane snapped. “To poke into our lives. They think we’ve done something wrong.”

That had Zander’s enthusiasm waning some, and he pulled back his hand. “You mean because of all those dead cops? Yeah, you’d have to investigate that,” he added, sounding far more cooperative than Duane. “And the shooting, too, of that guy who’s head of Strike Force.”

“They’re looking for a scapegoat,” Duane went on. “And I’m not going to give them one.” His eyes narrowed when he looked at Hayes and her. “Both the school’s and my reputation have been shot to hell and back. Over half the parents are coming today to collect their students.”

“That seems wise, considering the shooting that took place here,” Hayes remarked.

“My students aren’t in danger,” Duane snapped. “Owen was the target, not any of them.”

“Yeah, he was the target,” Hayes verified. “But stray bullets can hit anyone. You should close down the school until the killer is caught.” Even though Hayes didn’t mention anything about Duane being that possible killer, his expression still got his point across.

And that pissed off Duane even more. “Do what you have to do, and then get the hell off my property.”

With that, Duane stormed off, and two of the students followed him after giving Jemma and Hayes a nervous glance, that is. Zander didn’t budge.

“Mr. Gorman’s not usually like that,” Zander said. “But all this has messed with his training schedules and shit. Stuff,” he corrected, blushing a little.

“How is he usually?” Hayes pressed.

“Good,” Zander was quick to say. “A good teacher. Shows us a lot of sh—stuff. It’s better here than being in a regular school.”

“And you feel safe here?” Jemma wanted to know.

“Safer than at home,” Zander grumbled. “This is a solid place, and it’s why I’ve been here since I was fourteen.” His gaze drifted toward Duane and his fellow students who were going inside one of the hangers. “You’re not like going to arrest Mr. Gorman, are you?”

“Why would we need to arrest him?” Jemma pressed.

Zander lifted his shoulder. “I don’t know, maybe because Owen Striker was shot earlier out by the gate. Mr. Gorman didn’t have anything to do with that though. He was out on the firing range at the time.”

Hayes jumped right on that. “Alone?”

“No. He was training some of us,” Zander muttered.

“Was there someone with Mr. Gorman at the exact time of the shooting?” Hayes pressed.

“Maybe not at the exact time,” he admitted after a short pause. Zander then looked uncomfortable that he’d just spilled that bit of info. “He wouldn’t try to kill anybody. Yeah, he hates hikers ’cause sometimes they trespass and try to climb the fence. They leave trash and shit by the fence. Sometimes, actual shit.” He shook his head in disgust. “No respect for private property,”he muttered, no doubt using verbiage that he’d heard from Duane.

Jemma made a mental note to do some research to see if there were any records of Duane having run-ins with hikers. Cordelia and Brooks, too.

“Mind telling us where you and Mr. Gorman were last night and this morning?” Jemma asked.

Zander didn’t seem to get defensive about the question. He shrugged again. “I was here. Lights out at nine. Yeah, that can be a pisser, but I’m always pretty tired on the day of maneuvers so I crashed before nine. Mr. Gorman probably did, too. He does the maneuvers with us.”

She had no idea what that entailed, but she suspected it was some kind of war games. “Since you fell asleep before nine, you can’t be sure though if Mr. Gorman did, too.”

Another shrug from Zander. “No, just guessing he did. I mean, he’s sort of old to be running in the woods like that with fifty pounds of gear on him. Don’t get me wrong. He keeps up, but I think it takes a lot out of him.”

Maybe, but Jemma was betting if Duane had actually been the one who’d done all these murders, then he would have gotten the adrenaline surge he needed to carry through an attack.

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