Page 1 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
Chapter One
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Sheriff Hallie McQueen tried to ignore the stares and the behind-the-hand whispers from those on Main Street as she made her way from the parking lot and into the Outlaw Ridge Police Station.
Tried and failed.
She didn’t want it to bother her, but she knew what more than a few people thought and whispered about when they spotted her. Some saw the badge. Or their new sheriff. Or the woman who’d been born and raised here before leaving to join the military at eighteen.
But most saw her as the daughter of serial killers.
Her parents, who had been born and raised here in Outlaw Ridge as well, had been locked away for a nearly decade now, convicted of more than a dozen murders, but that wasn’t nearly enough time for people to forget their grisly crimes. Not long enough either to wonder if she had inherited murderous traits from them or had known what they were doing and hadn’t stopped them.
Yes, she knew what people thought when they looked at her.
Steeling herself up—something she’d had a lot of practice doing—Hallie stepped into the police station. Straight into that chaos of sounds and activity that always excited and soothedher. She might be the serial killers’ daughter, but she was a cop to the core, and the station immediately felt like home.
With the small cardboard box of her office stuff cradled under her left arm, she stood in reception and glanced around at the five deputies in the bullpen. Their desks were in a semicircle with the sheriff’s office,hernew office, positioned at the top of the arc. Hallie didn’t see the former sheriff, Owen Striker, but she spotted men she recognized in the bullpen.
Shaw and Declan Brodie were two of those familiar faces. They’d been operatives with the elite security company, Strike Force, and Hallie had worked as civilian consultants with her on a couple of cases. Ditto for the deputy with the dark blond hair who was seated at one of the desks.
Reed Winston.
He’d assisted her, too. In a way after she’d made detective at San Antonio PD. Reed had been the one who’d launched a search for a missing woman that had ultimately turned into the investigation that had led to her parents’ arrests and convictions.
Since those arrests had potentially stopped more murders, Hallie was beyond thankful to Reed, and there was no bad blood between them. However, there was a whopping amount of unease, discomfort, and awkwardness. He was a living, breathing blast from a past that she worked hard to keep behind her.
To complicate things even more, Hallie still felt those needy, unwanted tugs of attraction that had landed Reed and her in bed for a one-off during their short investigative time together. There’d been no additional trips to the bed though after her parents’ arrests.
Seeing him back then and now swamped her with memories. Good and bad ones. Of the heat between them and the miserablepain of the aftermath of coming face to face with what her parents had done.
Reed had thankfully slipped out of her life so as not to be a visual reminder of the trainwreck that had threatened to destroy her both personally and professionally. And it seemed he was slipping out of her life again since he had apparently already put in his notice that he’d be turning in his badge in a couple of days and returning to his job as an operative at Strike Force.
As if he’d known someone was thinking about him, or sensed she was there, Reed’s head whipped up, and even though he had looked to be engrossed in something he was reading on his laptop, his gaze went straight to hers. He got to his feet and started walking her way.
“Sheriff McQueen,” he greeted. It sounded way too formal, considering that she had firsthand knowledge of a longhorn tat just above his left butt cheek, but she appreciated the decorum that acted as adon’t get too chummy with mebarrier.
Since Reed hadn’t been on duty when she’d come in for her initial interview with Owen a month earlier, it had been nearly a decade since she’d seen him, and Hallie had to admit that those years had done even more justice to his already handsome face and athletic body. At thirty-nine now, he had some character lines which only added, well, more character. And his body appeared to now have abeen there, done that, can still doit just finevibe.
“Deputy Winston,” she responded, going the formal route as well.
Reed stayed totally professional, full military bearing, except for one slight flicker of his gaze to her mouth. Maybe, he was also taking a short trip down a memory lane filled with a hot mess of the sex and the nightmare finish that’d ended with her father trying to murder them when they’d apprehended him.
Yes, Reed and she definitely had a mixed-bag history.
“We didn’t think you’d be coming in until tomorrow morning,” Reed said, glancing over his shoulder at Shaw and Declan, who were approaching. Both greeted her with smiles, nods of greeting, and only a smidge or two of hesitation.
“Owen’s testifying at a trial over in Justice Creek. Not sure when he’ll be back,” Reed added.
“It’s all right,” Hallie assured him.
She was indeed early. The nerves had gotten to her and she hadn’t been able to force herself to stay put in the new house that Owen had arranged for her.
“I just thought I’d come in and get started,” she added.
“No problem,” Reed assured her. “Your office is ready.” He went through the small gate next to the full body scanner to detect weapons.
Hallie knew it was top-of-the-line equipment, which could be said of just about everything in the station. That was thanks to Owen and his massively deep pockets. A year ago when most of the Outlaw Ridge cops had been killed, Owen had stepped up as interim sheriff and had completely revamped the place. It had better resources and cop toys than huge city forces.
