Page 5 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

“Yeah, the same happened to us,” Hayes supplied. He shook his head. “I thought it was someone after Petey here.”

Owen looked at Petey then, and his mouth tightened. “He’s the SOB who assaulted his grandmother.”

Hayes nodded.

“I don’t think the shooter was after Petey.” Owen stopped, shook his head, swallowed hard. “I went in pursuit of the truck and the person who shot at me, but when I lost sight of it, I drove to Marty’s place to tell him,” he said, speaking of the sheriff. He paused again. “Marty’s dead in the living room of his house. I could see him through the window, and he has a gunshot wound to the head.”

Jemma staggered back a step, and if Hayes hadn’t caught her, she almost certainly would have fallen. She had no strength left in her legs. In any part of her body. And her breath was jammed in her throat.

“I tried to call the sheriff’s office,” Owen went on, “and when there was no answer, I came here.”

“The two deputies who were on duty are dead,” Jemma managed to say.

Hard to speak though with no breath and her throat muscles so tight. She motioned toward the breakroom and realized her hand was trembling. Heck, every part of her was trembling.

“Clayton and Trace are back there in the breakroom,” she added. “And I can’t get in touch with Deputy CiCi Barker.”

Owen nodded. “Yeah, I tried to call her, too, on the drive over, and I got no response.”

So, something had likely happened to CiCi as well. Then, the thought flashed through her head. A bad thought that put more ice in her veins, and she took out her keys.

“I have to go to the other deputies. They could be targets, and I have to try to protect them,” Jemma insisted.

Owen lay his hand on her arm. “Let my Strike Force guys take care of that. You’re needed here.” He shifted his attention to Hayes. “I contacted your brothers, and they’re going to all the deputies and other reserve deputies’ residences to check on them and to try to locate that black truck.”

Good. That was a spot of relief in this nightmare that was unfolding.

“They need to check on the dispatcher, too. Kevin Granger,” Jemma added. “He’s not responding either.”

Just hearing that aloud gave her another slam of that stew of emotions. Panic, fear. Grief. And all three hit her hard.

“My family,” she muttered. She thought of them not out of fear for their safety. No. It wasn’t that. Just the opposite. “My stepmother could have done this,” she added under her breath.

That gave her an emotional jolt of another kind. Her stepmother, Cordelia, was the reason Jemma had become a cop.

So that she could bring the woman to justice for killing Jemma’s mother.

There was no proof of it, and Cordelia had repeatedly denied it, but Jemma was always pressing to find that proof.

“You really think your stepmother could have killed three cops and tried to murder us?” Owen asked.

“Yes, I believe she could have,” Jemma said, but then she stopped and muttered some profanity.

Because while she could see Cordelia killing her competition. Killing to get Jemma’s mother out of the way so shecould marry Jemma’s father, she couldn’t wrap her mind around Cordelia murdering the sheriff and two deputies.

“What about me?” Petey snarled. Obviously, some of his shock had worn off. “I don’t want to be here if someone is gunning for cops in this ass-end of nowhere town. And you can’t put me in that wet, smoky jail cell.”

That last part was true, and she handed her keys to Hayes. Along with the one for her Jeep, there was also one for the patrol car. “You can put him in the backseat of the cruiser.”

It was the best she could do for now. Petey wouldn’t be able to escape, and maybe Hayes could get someone from SAPD out here right away to collect him.

Hayes stepped away, leading Petey to the cruiser, while the responding firemen began barreling out of the engine.

“I’m not sure what to do,” Jemma admitted to Owen. She was still trembling, still battling the panic that was vising her lungs.

“Just be a cop,” Owen said, and it sounded as if he had way more confidence in her abilities than she did.

Jemma steeled herself up as best she could and went toward the firemen. Since Outlaw Ridge was a small town, she knew them all, of course. But she was also aware there was a lot of distrust for her because of her family.

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