Page 6 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Mickey scoffed but it lacked conviction. “Same deal. Catherine Langston’s the kind of woman who throws charity galas and judges people for leaving weeds in their yard. She’s cold, yeah, but not the slash-your-tires kind.”
He paused, something shifting behind his eyes.
“But…” he said slowly, “if you’re looking at people close to the victim… Hannah had a younger sister. Margo.”
Griff narrowed his eyes. “Go on.”
“She was real quiet after everything went down. Barely spoke for months. Then she left town not long after Hannah’s murder. Think she was living with a cousin in Houston. But I heard she came back recently. Couple weeks ago, maybe.”
“Why?” Griff asked.
Mickey shrugged. “No clue. Just something I heard at the diner. Could be nothing.”
Griff nodded, storing the name. Margo Cole. Close enough to Hannah to be there that night. Close enough to carry that kindof grief for fifteen years. And maybe, just maybe, close enough to still want something buried.
Griff barely registered the last few words Mickey said. His focus shifted as Lily ended her call and stood, sliding her phone into her back pocket, her expression tight but composed.
“Hallie wants a full report on everything first thing in the morning,” Lily explained. “Photos, the note, the tire damage, the video footage. And she said that whoever did this?” Her eyes met Griff’s. “She wants them punished. Hard.”
Griff nodded once. He wanted the same damn thing. It ate away at him like acid to have Lily threatened because she was doing her job.
Lily exhaled, her shoulders dropping slightly. “I’ve only got one spare. Not enough to get me back on the road tonight.”
“Then I’ll drive you,” Griff insisted. “We’re on the same shift anyway. I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
She hesitated. “You don’t have to—”
“I know,” he said, keeping his tone even. “But I will.”
He didn’t add what he was thinking. That he’d get a look at her property. Check for cameras, motion lights, locks. If someone was willing to damage her car and leave a photo like that, they could take it further. And Griff had seen what happened when good people ignored warning signs.
She studied him for a second, then nodded. “Thanks.”
They both moved toward the exit. Jacob stayed behind at the monitor, while Mickey mumbled something about printing out a report. Griff led the way, pushing open the glass door with one hand, the other resting near his weapon.
The cold was sharper this time.
They stepped into the dark parking lot, the wind slipping beneath Griff’s collar. Across the street, the Christmas lights still blinked against the dark, out of place and out of time.
He scanned the lot as they walked, eyes sweeping the shadows, corners, rooftops. No movement. No sound. But he didn’t trust the quiet anymore.
Not with someone like Lily in the crosshairs.
They got in his truck, and Griff started the engine, the low rumble filling the quiet between them as he pulled out of the lot. He didn’t ask for directions. He didn’t need to. He’d driven past Lily’s place more than a few times over the last few months. A small house on the edge of town, tucked back behind a line of cedar trees with a porch that needed work. He didn’t know why he’d noticed, just that he had.
They rolled through the heart of Outlaw Ridge, headlights sweeping over closed storefronts. The barbershop with the striped pole still spinning out of habit. The hardware store with half the letters in the sign burned out. The feed store where Lily had said Bobby Ray once worked.
A quiet town on the surface, holding a whole lot of secrets just underneath.
He drove by a squat, weathered house with peeling paint and a dead porch light, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed Lily shift. Just a slight, stiff pull of her shoulders, and the way she turned her face toward the window.
“You okay?” he asked, though he already had a pretty good guess.
She didn’t look at him. “That’s where I grew up,” she said, voice low.
Griff’s eyes stayed on the road. “Rough place?”
“Rough people,” she said. “I don’t usually take this route.”
