Page 48 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
“It’s Griff,” he muttered, answering the call. “You’re on speaker, Griff. Lauren’s with me.”
There was a slight pause on the other end before Griff spoke, his voice carrying a hesitant edge. “Am I… interrupting?”
Jesse smirked faintly, shooting Lauren a quick glance. “No. Not at the minute.”
Lauren sat up slightly, pulling the sheet with her, her instincts already bracing for whatever was coming next.
Griff didn’t waste time. “I just got a call from Austin PD. Isabel found her gardener’s body on the grounds of her estate. The guy’s been shot in the head. Looks like he’s been dead for hours—maybe even a day.”
Lauren felt a cold rush sweep through her. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Could it?
“The guy’s name was Clyde Herbert,” Griff continued. “He had a small cottage on the estate. The cops searched it and found dozens of pictures—of you, Jesse, Lauren, Reardon,Belinda, Isabel, Abilene, and Nicky. It’s like the guy was tracking everyone connected to this case.”
Jesse sat up straighter, his jaw tightening. “You think he was Reggie’s accomplice?”
“That’s what it looks like,” Griff replied. “They found a receipt for a spike strip and ammunition in the cottage. And there’s more—a burner phone. Turns out it was used to call the real estate agent in Outlaw Ridge.”
Lauren’s heart raced, the pieces clicking together in her mind. “The call that sent the agent to the shop… where she found Nicky’s blood.”
“Exactly,” Griff confirmed.
Lauren’s mind spun. Clyde Herbert.The man had been right there—close to Isabel—and according to Isabel, Clyde had been the one who’d hired Reggie.
She exchanged a look with Jesse, the same thought flashing between them.
Reggie hadn’t been working alone.
Lauren’s mind raced as she processed Griff’s words, the tension in her chest tightening like a vice. “Is there something that connects Clyde to Reggie?” she asked Griff. “Are they related?”
“No,” Griff replied quickly. “But it’s possible they served time together. Clyde was in the same prison as Reggie about eleven years ago. They could’ve met then.”
Lauren’s stomach twisted. That connection felt too direct to be a coincidence. Before she could respond, Griff’s voice cut back in, sounding distracted. “Hang on—I just got another text.”
Jesse glanced at Lauren, his jaw tight, while they waited in tense silence.
A few seconds later, Griff returned. His tone was different this time, more focused, the weight of something new behind his words. “You’re not going to believe this. Clyde had counselingsessions with Dr. Graves after he was released from prison. That’s part of his parole records.”
Lauren’s breath hitched.Bingo.That wasn’t just a coincidence—it was a direct, suspicious link.
Jesse muttered a single word of profanity under his breath, “That’s a connection we need to check out.”
Griff agreed. “Yeah. And there’s more. The cops found some old pictures in Clyde’s cottage—of another woman. She’s blindfolded, with her hands duct-taped, just like the ones of Lauren and Isabel.”
Lauren felt a cold chill spread through her, her mind flashing back to the bunker, to the voices she’d heard but never seen.
“It’s possible that she’s the third victim,” Griff spelled out. “The one who was in the bunker with you and Isabel.”
Lauren swallowed hard, her pulse thudding in her ears. Oh, God. The nightmare wasn’t over—not even close.
“I’m at the station now, but I’m going to start going through all this data and the photos that Austin PD is sending me,” Griff went on. “And, yeah, it’s past normal duty hours, but I talked to Isabel before I called you, and she’s coming into the station to see if she can help ID the woman. She should be here in about a half hour.”
Lauren’s mind was spinning with everything Griff had just told them, but she knew what needed to be done.
“I want to go into the station,” she was quick to say. “I have to hear what Isabel says about the blindfolded woman. When I was in that bunker, I never saw Isabel or anyone else, but maybe she saw something—anything—that could help identify her.”
Jesse was already sitting up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his expression tight with determination. “I want to come in, too.”
Lauren had known he would. And she was glad that he’d be by her side. No, not just because they’d had sex and she feltcloser than ever to Jesse. But having him there with her would keep her steady, and right now, she desperately needed that.
