Page 16 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
But she did have suspicions about that man. Still… going with the whole devil’s advocate again, Lauren had to admit if Reardon had indeed been the one to kidnap Abilene, then why would he have used his own phone to call her? Why not use a burner?
Unfortunately, she could think of a reason.
Because here they were, talking to him, and that made him part of the investigation. Reardon could be getting a cheap thrill from that and coming face to face again with one of his former victims.
Lauren studied him, looking for anything that could suggest he’d been her abductor. A scent. A tilt to the head. Anything. But it just wasn’t there. Then again, she could say the same thing about Dr. Graves. Her abductor hadn’t given much of himself away while he’d had her captive.
“When we drove up, we saw your wife in the yard,” Jesse said, cutting through the silence. “She went inside when we pulled up. But she might have some ideas as to where you lost your phone.”
Reardon’s mouth twitched, and he shook his head. “Belinda wasn’t with me for the errands, and she went inside because she doesn’t like strangers.”
Lauren glanced to her right just in time to catch movement behind the front window. A pale hand pulling back the curtain just enough to peek out.
“She’s watching us,” Lauren murmured.
Reardon didn’t look back. “She watches everything.” His voice was neutral, but there was something else beneath it, something Lauren couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Belinda might not like strangers, but was she afraid of them? Or was she afraid of what they might find if they continued to investigate her husband?
“How did you and Belinda meet?” Lauren asked a moment later. “Because I don’t think she’s local.”
Reardon stared at her as if this were a game of chicken. “She’s not. She moved here when she married me. And you didn’t come here to talk to me about my wife. You want to ask me if I abducted Abilene and coaxed her into dying. I didn’t,” he insisted. “But you and I both know who could have done that.”
Lauren kept her expression neutral, though her pulse ticked up a notch. “Who are you suggesting?”
Reardon huffed, followed it with a smirk. “Come on, you’re smarter than that.” He shot her a knowing look, then flicked his gaze to Jesse. “Both of you know who’s got the mind for this kind of thing. Who’s spent his whole career studying killers, learning how they tick.”
“You’re talking about Dr. Graves,” Jesse said.
Reardon snapped his fingers. “Bingo.” He took a step forward, his posture shifting, his voice low and insistent. “Look, I don’t know what kind of hold that man has over you, Lauren, but I do know this—he’s always been too interested in you. More than he should’ve been.”
Lauren kept on her poker face, but she couldn’t agree more. But being “too interested” didn’t make him an abductor or killer.
She decided to push a little, to see what Reardon would say, how he’d react. “Dr. Graves volunteered his services to you as a profiler. And after I escaped, he stepped up to help me.”
“Did he?” Reardon shot back. “Or did hestep upso he could get inside your head so deep you can’t see him for what he is?”
Oh, she could see Graves all right. Could see Reardon, too, and both were suspects as far as she was concerned. Still, she played the cop game of not showing her distrust of the doctor while continuing to press the former cop for into.
“And as far as I know, Dr. Graves didn’t have access to your phone,” Lauren pointed out.
Reardon rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t get his hands on it. Hell, he’s a manipulator. Probably didn’t even have to steal it himself.”
“The same could be said about any number of people,” Jesse remarked. “The abductor could have had help. Any experience with tattoos?” he tacked onto that, not pausing before the question.
There. She saw it again. That coldness that went through Reardon’s eyes. “Yeah, I got a few, but I didn’t whip out a tattoo gun and use it on girls I abducted.” He stopped. “Wait, did the SOB markup Abilene the way he did Lauren?”
“Sorry, we can’t discuss that,” Jesse was quick to say. Quick to add, too, “Can you go over your whereabouts for the past four days? Any trips to Austin or San Antonio?”
Reardon’s mouth curved, like he’d been expecting the question. “No. I was at home. With my wife. And no, I don’t have security cameras or a GPS tracker to prove it. But Belinda will back me up.”
Lauren studied him, weighing his words. Reardon was confident, but that didn’t make him innocent. Or guilty.
Reardon glanced out at the sun that was barely visible now on the horizon. “I gotta go. Belinda and me always take the dog out for a walk before we eat supper, and it’s getting late.”
Jesse nodded and slipped his phone back into his pocket before he swatted at a mosquito. “We’ll be in touch.”
Reardon smirked. “Yeah, I figured.”
