Page 43 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
“Why keep them at all?” Lily asked. “Why not just burn them after Hannah was murdered?”
Margo blinked at her, caught off guard. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked down at her shoes.
“Because they were the only thing I had that proved she wasn’t perfect,” she said, the venom coating her words. “That I wasn’t just jealous or bitter. That I wasn’t crazy. Those photos weremine, and for once, I wanted the truth to belong to me.”
Lily didn’t speak. The silence stretched out, heavy and tense. She still didn’t know if Margo was telling the truth. But one thing was certain. Someone had taken those photos—and turned them into a weapon.
Maybe Margo had done that. Or maybe someone else.
Margo rubbed her hands down the sides of her jeans, the defensive energy starting to fade into something rawer, more fractured. “I thought the photo of Hannah and Bobby Ray kissing would hurt his case,” she said, her voice quieter now. “That people would see it and assume they had a real relationship.”
She looked up at Lily and Griff, her gaze sharp with something that wasn’t quite anger—something closer to regret.
“But they didn’t,” Margo insisted. “That kiss? It was just Hannah being Hannah. Manipulative. She knew Bobby Ray liked her, probably loved her, but she didn’t feel the same. She used him for the photo and then moved on like it meant nothing.” She paused, muttered under her breath, “It hurt him. Itcrushedhim when he found out.”
Lily felt something shift in the air, the pieces moving again, just enough to make space for a darker question. She turned toward Griff at the same moment he looked at her.
His voice was even. Measured. “That’s motive,” he said. “Bobby Ray had feelings for her. She used him. Humiliated him. Lied.” He looked at Margo. “Did he kill your sister?”
Margo stared back, lips parted, but she didn’t say anything, and in the silence that followed, Lily felt her chest tighten. Because the more they dug, the more complicated the truth became.
And the more she feared that Bobby Ray’s last words—”I didn’t kill her. Prove it.”—might not be as clear-cut as she’d thought.
Margo looked down again, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’twantBobby Ray to have done it… but I’m not sure.”
She swallowed hard, her arms crossing tightly over her chest like she needed to hold herself together.
“Bobby Ray was hurt,” Margo went on. “Crushed. After that kiss, when he figured out she’d just used him, it wrecked him. I saw it. He didn’t talk to anyone for days.”
Lily felt the weight of the silence settle again. The grief. The doubt. The ache of not knowing who to believe anymore.
“Then why,” Lily asked softly, “would Bobby Ray send me a letter? Why askmeto clear his name?”
Margo didn’t answer. She just stood there, staring at the floor for several long seconds before shaking her head slowly. “I have to go,” she murmured, suddenly turning for the door.
She was almost through it when she stopped in the open doorway, one hand braced against the frame. She looked back at Lily, eyes tight, searching.
“Are you going to arrest me?” Margo asked.
Lily considered it, even if the answer came fast in her gut. “No,” she said finally, her tone level. “There’s not enough evidence. The photos don’t have a clear chain of custody. No fingerprints. No witness to who left them at the scene. It’s possible someone stole them like you said. Made copies.”
She paused.
“Of course, it’s also possible you’re lying,” Lily added. “That you’re behind everything—including Hannah’s murder. But I can’t prove it. Not yet.”
Margo flinched at that, her expression unreadable.
“You’re free to go,” Lily spelled out. “For now.”
Without another word, Margo turned and rushed down the hallway, her footsteps echoing until they faded into silence.
Lily let out a slow breath and looked at Griff. There were still too many questions. But now, at least, they had somewhere to look for the answers.
Footsteps approached again, brisk, purposeful. And a moment later, Jesse appeared in the doorway, his expression tight and pale, lips pressed into a grim line.
She straightened immediately, and beside her, Griff did the same. One look at his face, and Lily knew something was wrong. Apparently, so did Griff.
“What happened?” Griff asked, taking the question right out of her mouth.
