Page 54 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Griff didn’t flinch. “Dead serious.”
He recited the rights, watching the muscle twitch in Rhett’s jaw. As soon as the recorder clicked to log the end of the Miranda warning, Valerie Pike leaned forward, her voice slicing through the tension like a scalpel.
“This is harassment,” she said smoothly. “You’re targeting a decorated former officer who served this department for years.”
Griff didn’t blink. “We’re questioning a man tied to two homicide investigations,” Griff said, then reached into the folder and pulled out the document they’d just uncovered. He slid the page across the table to Rhett, letting it rest between him and his attorney.
Rhett stared at it—and cursed under his breath.
Griff didn’t give him time to recover. “Fifteen years’ worth of monthly payments. Two thousand dollars a month. You want to explain that, Hale?”
Valerie Pike’s brow furrowed, and she leaned in quickly, whispering something sharp in Rhett’s ear. It was clear from her reaction thatthis, this steady flow of money, was not something she’d been briefed on.
But Rhett shook his head, nudged her hand away, and spoke before she could stop him. “I was a consultant,” he muttered. “Security.”
Griff raised an eyebrow. “Two thousand a month. For fifteen years. That’s what—three hundred and sixty grand? Not a bad haul. So what exactly were you doing for that kind of money?”
Rhett’s eyes narrowed. “Vetting clients. Running background checks. That sort of thing. And when she traveled, I’d provide personal security.”
Lily didn’t say a word, but Griff saw the shift in her posture, the subtle way her jaw tightened. She didn’t believe it either.
Neither did he.
“You were retired. Officially off the force,” Griff said. “You mean to tell me Catherine Langston, CEO of multiple companies, didn’t have a professional security firm on retainer? She neededyou?”
Rhett’s silence was answer enough. The lie sat on the table between them, as obvious as the paper that proved it.
Griff didn’t need to look at Lily to know she was winding up. Her voice was smooth, clipped, and cool as polished steel.
“So,” she said, “since this was a business arrangement, I assume you filed taxes on the money.”
Rhett’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t answer.
“And of course,” she continued, “you would’ve reported it to the sheriff’s office at the time. You were still on the force when the payments started. Secondary employment requires disclosure.”
Rhett muttered another curse under his breath, more reflex than response, and shifted in his seat like the chair had suddenly grown spikes.
Beside him, Valerie Pike leaned in again, her voice a sharp whisper this time, low but urgent. Griff couldn’t catch the exact words, but the meaning was clear enough. Damage control.
Rhett didn’t look at her. Didn’t nod. Didn’t blink.
He was cornered, and he knew it. His so-called “consulting” gig just cracked wide open.
And now the question wasn’t just why Catherine had paid him.
It was what she’d been paying tokeep quiet.
Griff leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. His voice dropped, steady and cold.
“Start talking, Rhett. Right now.”
Rhett’s lawyer shifted in her seat, but Griff didn’t take his eyes off the man in front of him. He could see the sweat forming at Rhett’s temples, the way his mouth tightened like he was chewing on a thousand bad choices.
“You want me to tell you what this looks like?” Griff continued. “Because I can spell it out.”
He tapped the payment summary Lily had printed.
“Fifteen years of off-the-books payments from Catherine Langston. You didn’t report them to the IRS or your department. You didn’t file the paperwork for secondary employment. That’s tax fraud, at best. And at worst—”
