Page 46 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Everett stared at her, blinking hard. Then the sound that came from his throat was part sob, part gasp, wounded and guttural. His knees gave out, and he dropped to the cold ground like something inside him had broken.
Griff kept hold of his arm, steadying him even as Everett sagged under the weight of whatever this moment meant.
Was it grief?
Or guilt?
Griff couldn’t tell. And that bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
Everett covered his face with both hands, shoulders hunched and trembling, the kind of raw grief that echoed through the cold morning air. Groaning, maybe sobbing—it was hard to tell through the noise of it—he rocked slightly where he knelt in the mud.
“Who did this?” Everett rasped. “Who did this to my beautiful wife?”
Hallie crouched beside him, not touching him, but close. “We don’t know yet,” she said softly. Then her voice shifted, just a touch firmer. “Who wanted her dead, Everett?”
Everett lifted his head slowly. His eyes were red, wet, but something in them didn’t quite match the rest of his face. He gave a slow shake of his head, the motion just a beat too controlled.
“I-I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t think—”
Griff watched him closely, jaw tight.Lie.It had to be. Catherine hadtoldthem they had enemies. Plural. And Everett had acted like it was an everyday nuisance. Not a threat. Not a danger.
Now he was acting like the idea was brand new.
Everett let his head fall again, shoulders heaving. “I can’t do this right now,” he said. “I just lost my wife.”
Hallie stood, brushing her latex gloves off with slow precision. She glanced at Griff, then Lily before she stepped a few feet back and motioned them to follow.
Once they were out of earshot from Everett, Hallie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Why don’t you two head over to Catherine’s office? See if anything stands out. I’ll call in a warrant in case anybody there gives you a hassle about getting in.”
Griff nodded. That had already been on his to-do list, and hopefully somewhere in that office would be the names of the enemies that Catherine had said she’d send.
“We need to find out how she got here, too, so check the parking lot at Langston Holdings and see if her car is there.” She hesitated, scanning the trees, the path, the wide-open spaces that suddenly felt too exposed. “And for God’s sake,” she muttered, “be careful. There’s a killer loose in Outlaw Ridge.”
Griff stayed close to Lily as they made their way back up the gravel path toward his truck, the cold pressing harder now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.
They didn’t talk.
Instead, both of them scanned the tree line, the parked vehicles, the distant walking trail that cut through the park like a scar. Griff didn’t see anyone—no movement, no sign of a lingering threat.
But that didn’t mean no one was there.
He’d seen enough ambushes to know the worst ones came when things looked the quietest.
They reached the truck, and Lily didn’t hesitate before climbing in. Neither did he. It was only a short drive across town, but with a killer mimicking a fifteen-year-old murder, Griff wasn’t in the mood to take unnecessary chances.
They pulled into the parking lot at Langston Holdings, and Griff didn’t see Catherine’s car. Only a blue Ford Focus parked in the spot reserved for employees. He made a mental note to put out a BOLO for the vehicle.
They made their way inside, and unlike their earlier visit, the receptionist’s desk wasn’t empty. Holly Duran, he presumed, sitting stiffly behind her computer. Late twenties, maybe, with a sleek ponytail and the kind of perfect posture that usually came from years of dealing with demanding people. She wasn’t crying,but her face was pale, eyes rimmed with the kind of strain that didn’t come from a morning of answering phones.
When she looked up and saw them, her attention slid to their badges, and the breath she took sounded shaky. “Is it true?” she asked. “Is Mrs. Langston… is she really dead?”
Lily stepped forward, voice gentle but steady. “Yes. I’m sorry, Holly. It’s true.”
Holly’s lips parted like she had another question, but what came out instead was a whisper, raw and stunned. “Who killed her? Do you know?”
“No,” Lily said gently. “Not yet. That’s why we’re here. We need to see Catherine’s office.”
Holly’s expression tightened. She shook her head automatically. “No one’s allowed in there without Mrs. Langston’s permission. She doesn’t—” Her voice caught, and her eyes widened slightly as the words turned to dust in her mouth.
