Page 21 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
Hallie and Reed shared a long look, and she saw in his eyes they were on the same page here. If Corman or Elenore had been involved with Kip, then this was possible motive for Corman to have killed his sister if he’d wanted to silence her about them knowing their mother’s killer. Then again, it could be motive for Luther, too, if Elenore had known something that would hurt the sob story that Luther was trying to create to get her mother that appeal.
“I’m assuming you have the code for the storage facility,” Reed stated. “We want that now. And we also want those pictures texted to us.” He motioned for Luther to hand over his phone.
Luther didn’t hesitate this time. He reached into his pocket and extracted a small slip of paper with the handwritten numbers for the code while Reed took the man’s phone and forwarded the pictures to both Hallie and him.
“I hope you find something there that’ll help your mother,” Luther added as Reed handed him back his phone. “She truly is innocent.”
Hallie didn’t bother to respond. Or to work out if she could charge Luther with anything. She’d decide that later. For now, she wanted a look at the things her mother had supposedly squirreled away.
“Luther could have planted something for us to discover,” Reed muttered to her as they walked out.
True. Which meant this could all be a ruse. Still, it had to be checked out now. Ditto for questioning Corman about being in that photo with her father.
First though, the photos would have to be analyzed to make sure they were authentic so Hallie started that process by forwarding them as priority to the crime lab. When she was done with that, Reed and she went to the bullpen and came to a quick stop when she saw the look on Jesse’s face. He was on the phone but turned toward them.
“What’s wrong?” Hallie immediately asked.
Jesse dragged in a hard breath. “There’s been another murder.”
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Chapter Eight
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Reed felt the sickening dread building inside him as Hallie and he drove to the crime scene. And not just any crime scene either. Another murder, and it was apparently at the house currently on the property where Hallie had been born and raised at 112 Sadler Street.
Thankfully, not the same house though.
That one had been torn down shortly after Tami’s and Kip’s convictions, and a new place had been built. That was something at least. This would be hard enough for Hallie without adding the nightmare of memories at her childhood home to go along with it.
Of course, it’d still be a nightmare. And there was no way to dismiss the location. The killer was taunting Hallie, and that caused the anger to slam through him. He wanted to make this sonofabitch pay, but for that to happen, they needed an ID and an arrest.
Maybe there was something at this scene that would lead to that.
“The owner of the house is Marsha Landers,” Reed relayed, reading from the background that he’d just pulled up. “Aged 68, retired school teacher.”
“I don’t think I know her,” Hallie muttered. “The name doesn’t sound familiar.”
Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. Her eyes stayed locked on the road, but the way she pressed the gas pedal just a bit harder revealed the storm brewing inside her.
“She’s not local. Marsha moved from San Antonio to Outlaw Ridge six years ago to retire and take care of her older sister who’d had a stroke. Her sister died shortly after Marsha had the house built and moved in, and then Marsha was apparently diagnosed with lupus,” Reed explained. “I’ve never met her.”
And he apparently never would. Well, if Marsha was truly their latest victim, that is. The anonymous caller who’d reported the dead body hadn’t supplied any other details other than the address. An address that the killer knew would twist Hallie up in knots.
Yeah, Reed wanted to get this sonofabitch.
He heard Hallie’s breathing kick up as she pulled to a stop in front of the Craftsman’s style house at 112 Sadler Street. “I haven’t been back here to this neighborhood since I left when I was eighteen,” she murmured.
Reed’s chest tightened at the quiver he heard in her voice. Hell. He reached over and took her hand, his fingers gently curling around hers.
“You’re not that eighteen-year-old girl anymore,” he reminded her. “You’re a kickass cop. And you’re not facing this alone. I’m right here with you.”
“Kickass,” she repeated, and he wasn’t sure if she was dismissing that or using it to steel herself up. “Thanks,” she said, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze before she let go and stepped from the cruiser.
Reed got out, too, and he fired some glances around them. The houses were fairly close together on the street, but when Marsha had bought the place, she’d apparently purchased the vacant lots on each side of her property and behind it. That hadgiven her a lot more space, complete with a massive backyard that led out to a greenbelt. So, with no neighbors behind her or on the sides, they’d have to hope that someone in one of the other houses had seen someone coming and going.
Reed went to the cruiser’s trunk and took out two pouches that contained protective shoe covers, and he handed Hallie one before they approached the house. The street wasn’t empty, he noted. There were several vehicles parked outside some of the homes, and he even spotted someone across the street. A woman, peering out through the curtains in the front window.
