Page 26 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
Lauren got straight to the point. “Why are you here?”
Belinda kept her gaze down and pinned to her hands, which were trembling. “Uh, I know some things about your abduction.”
Jesse’s spine locked up. This was it. He caught Lauren’s glance, reading the same thought in her eyes. Was Belinda one of the others?
“Were you there?” Jesse asked, keeping his voice even. “In the bunker with Lauren?”
Belinda’s head snapped up, her eyes wide and haunted. “No.” She swallowed hard. “I was the one who killed the man who took her.”
The room went dead silent.
Jesse’s pulse pounded, and he barely registered the sharp breath Lauren took beside him.
“What did you just say?” Hallie asked, her voice calm while her expression was all cop.
Belinda’s throat bobbed as she looked at Lauren, her voice thin but steady. “I killed the man who abducted you.”
Chapter Ten
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Lauren’s mind was spinning. Everything was spinning. And her pulse was a dull roar in her ears.
Belinda had killed the man who took her.
The words felt too big, too impossible to process all at once. But Lauren was certain she hadn’t misheard Belinda. The woman had just confessed to killing her abductor.
Belinda shifted in her chair, fingers wringing together, her knuckles pale. Tears spilled down her cheek. “After seeing you last night, after hearing about Nicky and Abilene… I couldn’t keep this secret any longer.”
You shouldn’t have kept it a secret at all!Lauren mentally shouted. But she couldn’t say that. Not to this woman who was clearly as traumatized as she had been.
Reardon’s expression was carved from stone, his jaw tight. He didn’t look happy that his wife was talking, but his hand settled firmly on her shoulder. A silent show of support.
Jesse was showing some silent support, too. Not for Belinda but for Lauren. He moved closer to her, the back of his hand brushing against hers. She needed that touch. Needed him. And was beyond thankful he was right by her side.
Lauren swallowed, her voice hoarse when she was finally able to speak. “Who was he?” she asked Belinda.
Belinda closed her eyes for a second, then opened them, raw and full of something Lauren couldn’t quite place. Guilt. Relief. A storm of emotions barely held back.
“My brother,” Belinda whispered. “Reggie.”
Lauren’s stomach dropped. “Your brother?” she muttered though her question had no sound.
Belinda’s breaths came shallow, and she nodded. “He was twisted. Wrong. Sadistic. He was six years older than me, and my earliest memories are of him trying to hurt me. Reggie always wanted to… to play games. Hunting people, hurting them. He was obsessed with the idea.”
Lauren shivered, a deep unease crawling over her skin. Had that been his plan? To use her and the others as human prey?
“My parents have passed away now, but back then, they couldn’t handle Reggie,” Belinda went on. “He terrorized them. Me, too. So, to try to keep the peace, they basically just turned a blind eye to him. They didn’t question him when he dropped out of school and would disappear for days in the woods. I can’t blame them,” she added in a whisper. “We lived in fear whenever he was there.”
“But your parents never reported him to the cops?” Jesse snapped, and Lauren saw he was looking at Reardon for that answer. Belinda’s family’s ranch would have been in the county’s jurisdiction.
Hisjurisdiction.
“I arrested Reggie a couple of times,” Reardon spoke up. “Shoplifting, getting into fights, that sort of thing. I damn sure had no idea he’d abducted young women.”
Lauren’s mind was whirling too much to try to figure out if he was telling the truth about that. But Jesse touched her hand again, and this time, his arm brushing hers, and Lauren felt his tensed muscles. Maybe he wasn’t buying into what Reardon had just said.
Had Reardon known and turned a blind eye?
