Page 42 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Margo nodded once.
Lily sat slowly, her mind spinning with this new thread unraveling in front of them. Across from her, Margo sat rigid, a bundle of guilt and resentment wrapped in layers of old hurt.
“Hannah said she needed the pictures to blackmail Everett,” Margo explained, her voice flat now. “Said she was going to use them to get money for school. Tuition.”
Lily blinked, stunned. “She was blackmailing him?”
“Shewas going to,” Margo corrected. “Said it’d just be a push. Everett had money, and she needed it. Said he owed her.”
Lily exchanged a glance with Griff, whose expression was unreadable. Her own pulse throbbed at her temples.
Margo stared down at the floor, her voice growing sharper. “Hannah wasn’t a saint, okay? Everyone always talks about how sweet she was, how perfect. But she was manipulative. She knew exactly how to twist people to get what she wanted.”
There it was again—that bitterness. Thick. Raw.
And dangerous.
Lily couldn’t help it, the question whispered through her thoughts, sharp as a blade:Did Margo kill her sister?She looked down at her hands, willing the suspicion to stay quiet for now.
Griff, standing near the corner of the desk, stepped in with calm precision. “Why’d you take the one of her kissing Bobby Ray?”
Margo’s lips curled in disgust. “That one was for Everett. Hannah said he’d gotten too comfortable, that she wanted to make him jealous. Rattle him a little. So she had me follow her and Bobby Ray, told me when they’d be walking out behind the feed store.”
Lily’s gut twisted.
“She kissed him just for the camera,” Margo added, shaking her head. “Bobby Ray had no idea. She used him, like she used everybody.”
Her voice cracked at the end, just a little. And in the silence that followed, Lily knew one thing for sure. Margo hadn’t let go of what her sister did.
Not even close.
Lily reached into the drawer beside her and pulled out her notepad, her expression flat, professional. Her heart thudded, but her voice was steady as she looked Margo dead in the eye.
“Margo Langston, I’m advising you of your rights,” she began. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
Margo’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait—what? Are you serious?”
Lily didn’t stop. She finished reading the Miranda warning as Margo slowly got to her feet, her hands lifting slightly, palms out.
“I didn’t kill Hannah,” Margo said, her voice sharp and trembling.
Lily stood too, watching her carefully. “This is standard procedure,” she said evenly. “You’re not under arrest. But that photo of Hannah and Bobby Ray? It was left at a crime scene.Ourcrime scene. Someone opened fire on Griff and me—and leftthatas a message.”
The words hung heavy in the room, the weight of them impossible to ignore.
Griff stepped forward, his tone cool but pointed. “Did you leave the photo in trees where shots were fired at us?”
“No,” Margo said quickly, voice rising. “I didn’t leave the photo.”
Griff’s jaw tightened, his voice snapping out before Lily could respond. “Thenwho did? They’re your photos.”
Margo groaned, running both hands through her hair. “Someonestolethem, okay? I had them hidden—in my oldbedroom, under the floorboards. After my mom died and I came back to clean out the house, I realized they were gone.”
Lily raised an eyebrow, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. The timing was too convenient. “You’re saying someone just happened to find the photos you hid as a teenager and used them to target me and Griff?”
“Yes!” Margo snapped, then exhaled hard. “I don’t know who took them or when. But I didn’t give them to anyone, and I sure as hell didn’t leave one in the woods while someone tried tokillyou.”
Lily studied her, watched the darting eyes, the tremble in her fingers. There was emotion there—but whether it was fear, guilt, or both, she couldn’t tell. Margo was good at layering her truths in just enough desperation to muddy the water.
