Page 25 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
“Keep an eye out for our shooter,” Hallie added, but Lily heard the hesitation in her voice. Maybe because Hallie, too, was considering that Rhett’s injury had been self-inflicted.
Lily followed Griff out the side exit of the station, her eyes automatically sweeping the lot. Griff was doing the same. Quiet, watchful. The cold hit her first, crisp and biting against her skin,the kind of morning chill that dug in deep. Her breath puffed in front of her as they paused just outside the door.
Her SUV sat where they’d left it. The tires had been replaced. Clean, full, no signs of the slashing from last night. The mechanic was gone, but the Strike Force tech was still there, crouched near one of the new camera mounts on the back corner of the building. He gave Griff a nod, then went back to wiring.
The lot was quiet otherwise. Definitely no sign of a shooter or someone ready to set another fire.
They didn’t linger. Climbing into her SUV, Lily started the engine, the warmth of the heater slowly kicking in. Griff slid into the passenger seat, his gaze still scanning the street through the windshield as she pulled out.
Everett Langston’s office was only six blocks away, close enough they might have walked on any other day. But not today. Not with her SUV already targeted, not with threats hanging over her head, and definitely not with Rhett bleeding in their bullpen from a shot fired just up the road.
They drove in silence at first, the streets of Outlaw Ridge slowly waking up around them. Most of the storefronts on Main Street had their lights on now, windows glowing warm behind frosted glass. A bakery opened its door just as they passed, releasing a wisp of steam and the scent of cinnamon into the air.
A few early risers were moving along the sidewalks, shoulders hunched, coats zipped high. Fewer than there would be if it weren’t so cold, but the town was still alive and moving.
Lily turned down the street where Everett Langston’s auto dealership sat, the lot sprawling wide across the corner like it owned the block. Rows of gleaming trucks lined the curb.
Just past the lot stood his main office building. Sleek, modern, all steel and tinted glass, a sharp contrast to the rustic charm of the rest of Main Street. The polished black sign near the entrance read Langston Holdings in bold, brushed-metal letters—clean, corporate, and designed to impress. Or intimidate.
As Lily pulled into the parking lot in front of Langston Holdings, the first thing she noticed were the papers.
Dozens of them.
They were scattered across the pavement and grass, fluttering like windblown leaves caught in the morning breeze. Some skated across the lot. Others were tangled in the hedges near the sidewalk.
She eased the SUV to a stop, her brows drawing together. “What the hell…”
“Someone drop a file?” Griff asked quietly.
“Maybe,” she muttered, but her gut was already telling her this wasn’t accidental.
They stepped out, the cold biting at her skin again as the wind caught another sheet and sent it tumbling toward them. Before they even stepped away from her SUV, they both glanced around, looking for the shooter. Checking for a threat. But she didn’t see anyone.
Lily bent to pick up one of the papers, flipping it over. And froze. It wasn’t a page from a file.
It was a photograph.
Hannah Cole. Smiling. Close up. A little grainy, like it had been taken from a distance or blown up from something small. Her head tilted back in a laugh.
Another gust of wind rolled one to Griff’s feet. He picked it up and stared, his expression tightening.
Lily turned slowly, taking in the others now, scattered like a breadcrumb trail. The photos weren’t all the same, but they told the same story.
Hannah, looking into the camera. Hannah, climbing into the passenger seat of a car. Hannah, pressed up against EverettLangston behind the dealership, his mouth at her neck, his hands on her waist.
Lily’s breath caught.
She reached for another photo, her fingers suddenly cold for an entirely different reason. Not just rumors anymore.
These wereproof.
It was definitely time for them to have a word with Everett Langston.
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Chapter Six
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