Page 53 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

He figured the silence that followed the last shot was some kind of temporary standoff and that it wouldn’t last. And he was right. Because it was only a couple of seconds before Stefano spoke.

“Jemma, I’m to tell you that I’ll be allowed to go free and unharmed if Hayes and you will surrender.” Stefano’s voice was flat, but his eyes were cold and lethal. “Translation: he wants you to trade my life for yours. Of course, I don’t want you to do that. This sonofabitch is a coward who’d rather keep killing than own up to what he’s done.”

Stefano’s captor jammed the gun even harder against his head and growled something that Jemma couldn’t catch.

“Coward,” Stefano repeated, his voice even louder now. “He’s warned me if I say his name that everyone here will have to die.” He glanced at Cordelia again. “Including my wife. Cordelia, are you part of this?”

“No,” the woman shouted. “Never. I love you, Stefano.”

Stefano smiled. Actually smiled with a gun to his head. But Hayes couldn’t tell if that’s because he was touched by the woman’s words or if something else about this situation had amused him.

“If I say his name,” Stefano went on, “then he’s insisted he’ll kill me where I stand. But, oh, what a problem that will cause since my dead body will no longer provide him with cover, and Jemma and Hayes will blow out his fucking brains.”

Yes, that was a problem. And Stefano was right about Jemma and him delivering fatal shots. But then, her father would be dead, and Hayes didn’t want that happening, especially not right in front of her. Seeing him fall might cause her to launch to her feet, giving the killer one last shot at her.

“Who kidnapped you?” Jemma asked.

There it was again. That slight smile from Stefano. “I allowed myself to be kidnapped when this piece of shit rang my doorbell,pulled a gun on me, and killed my bodyguard. I knew this was about you, that he planned on using me, and I decided to bring all of this to an end.”

“You arrogant asshole,” his captor spat out.

And Hayes had no trouble recognizing the voice.

Royce.

“You murdered them,” Jemma blurted. “You murdered them all.”

“Not Hailey,” Royce shouted. “I didn’t kill her.”

The man sounded pissed but still in control. Not good. Because he did have an important bargaining card with Stefano. Still, Hayes couldn’t trade Stefano’s life for Dr. Logan’s, the CSIs, and Jemma’s.

Cordelia let out another of those wailing sobs. “It was accident,” she insisted. “I didn’t mean to kill Hailey. I was just trying to make her stop seeing Brooks.”

Hayes could see it playing out that way. Could see something else, too, and even though confirming it wasn’t a priority, it was still a loose end that needed to be tied off.

“Did Brooks threaten to rat you out for killing Hailey?” Hayes threw out there. “Is that why you shot him?”

The confirmation came in the form of a loud sob from Cordelia. Killing her own son probably hadn’t been premeditated, but self-preservation had been strong enough for her to pull the trigger.

“Two deaths explained,” Hayes said. “How about you, Royce? Care to fill us in on why you killed sixteen members of Outlaw Ridge PD and these five?”

“Fuck you,” Royce snarled. “The only thing I’ll say is that my offer still stands. Jemma can save her father’s life by trading herself for him.”

Hayes had a quick reply for that. “Bullshit. If you get the chance, you’ll kill every single person here. No witnesses leftbehind. That’s what the murders are all about, right?” He made sure that sounded like the taunt that it was.

“Jacob and Kyle deserved what they got,” Royce spat out.

“Yeah, because they were bullies,” Jemma said. “Last I heard, there was no death penalty for being assholes. But there is one for killing and killing and killing to cover up your crimes. Is that what you did?”

Silence for way too many seconds. Too much time for Royce to think. Or react. He could shoot Stefano and try to take out the rest of them in a death-by-cop scenario.

“You shouldn’t have digitized those records,” Royce growled. “You shouldn’t have mentioned what you were finding to your fellow cops.” His voice got louder with each word. “I was covering things up. Eliminating anyone still looking for Kyle or Jacob. I didn’t pass along the missing persons reports. I buried them.”

The burial wasn’t just for the reports but literally. He’d put five bodies in this pit and there could even be others.

“You killed, buried, and corrupted,” Hayes went on. “I’m betting it wasn’t hard to enlist Zander or a loser like Grady Thorton to help you.”

“They failed,” Royce spat out, confirming that he had indeed used them.

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