Page 11 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
When he heard the voices in reception, he glanced at the office door and saw their visitor. “Speaking of the devil, Graves is here.”
That brought Lauren to her feet, and together, they went to the doorway and watched as Dr. Graves made his way through security.
Jesse had seen photos of the profiler/psychologist before, but in person, Graves looked less like a seasoned psychologist and more like an aging rock star. Long silver-streaked hair tied back at the nape of his neck, a faded black leather jacket over a My Chemical Romance tee, and rings flashing on his fingers as he pushed his designer sunglasses up onto his head.
Graves glanced around, a sort of cocky amusement on his face, until his attention landed on Lauren. Jesse watched himcarefully for any signs that he could indeed be the sick bastard who’d abducted Lauren, but he didn’t see it. Graves didn’t have a flash of any kind of emotion. In fact, he seemed to purposely put on a poker face.
Which could or could not mean something.
“Lauren,” Graves greeted. “Or should I say Deputy Whitman?” he amended, his attention shifting to the badge she had clipped to the waist of her pants.
Graves finished going through security and made a beeline toward them. He stuck out his hand to Jesse. “I’m Dr. Ethan Graves.”
“Deputy Jesse McCain,” he replied.
Graves opened his mouth and then seemed to do some sort of mental doubletake. “Jesse,” he repeated. “I recall Lauren mentioning you.”
Now, it was Jesse doing the mental doubletake, and when he glanced at Lauren, he could tell she was a little uncomfortable that it’d been brought up. “Dr. Graves and I went over a lot of things,” she murmured to him. “Including you.”
“Yes, I think you’re one of the reasons Lauren was able to hang on while in captivity,” Graves supplied. He stopped. “But that’s probably not my info to tell. Sorry. But I didn’t break any professional confidences,” he was quick to add. “Lauren was never my patient. I only interviewed her so I could refine the profile I’d done on her abductor.”
Maybe he hadn’t broken any professional confidences, but spilling that felt wrong to Jesse. It felt like some kind of power play, and Jesse could understand why Lauren said there was something off about the man.
Graves took in a deep breath and smiled. “I’m guessing that’s why the sheriff asked me here. To go over the profile and maybe do an updated one for this latest incident. I heard about it on the news. Terrible stuff.”
Jesse didn’t even glance at Lauren before shaking his head. “No, you’re not here to do a profile.”
Graves raised an eyebrow. “You sure? Because from what I understand, this is hitting pretty close to home for you, Deputy Whitman.” His gaze flicked to Lauren, watching her reaction like he was analyzing her right there on the spot.
Lauren’s jaw tightened. “The county has a profiler. We’ll be using her for this.”
Graves let out a low whistle and rocked back on his heels. “Suit yourselves, but it seems a waste of time to bring in someone new when I’m already so familiar with the investigation.”
“You’re familiar with what happened sixteen years ago,” Jesse pointed out. “Not with what’s going on now.” He speared the doctor with the iciest stare he could manage. “Or are you familiar?”
“Well, no, not exactly, but they have to be connected—”
“We’re going to need your whereabouts for the past four days,” Lauren interrupted.
The question wiped the smirk off Graves’ face. For a second, something cold flickered in his eyes before he let out a rough chuckle. “Oh, I see. I offer to help, and suddenly, I’m a suspect?”
“You’re someone we want to interview,” she stated, and before he could respond, Lauren fired off another question. “Do you know Abilene Joyce?”
“The woman who was abducted,” Graves supplied. “No, I don’t know her. Should I?”
Jesse leaned in, still watching the doctor’s expression. “Possibly. Someone abducted her, and while the person had her, he showed her a picture of Lauren and told her to give Lauren a message.”
Graves let out a sharp laugh, shaking his head. “And you think that someone was me?” He scoffed. “I’m a respectedprofiler and psychologist. Not a kidnapper.” Then, his smile faded, and he huffed. “Wait a minute,” he said, his words trailing off before he snapped toward Lauren. “This is about your visit, the one where you grilled me about the date I’d put on the profile. And about that asinine allegation that I’d had an inappropriate relationship with a patient.”
“It’s about finding out where you were for the past four days,” Jesse insisted.
Graves’ eyes narrowed. “I was at home and work,” he spat out. “My assistant can give you those details. And if there’s anything else you want from you, you’ll have to go through my lawyers. I won’t be called in here like some common criminal—”
“Tomorrow morning at nine,” Jesse interrupted. “Be here with your lawyer, and we can have a formal interview. We’ll use one of the interview rooms and record everything. You know, keep it all very official.”
Jesse could practically feel the anger bubbling up in the man. With his whole body like a coiled spring, he turned to leave but then whirled right back around to face them.
“If you’re looking for someone with an obsession over Lauren’s case, maybe you should be asking Tim Reardon,” Graves spat out like profanity.
