Page 45 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Hallie stopped just shy of the tape, her eyes cutting toward Catherine’s body, then back to them. “The ME says she hasn’t been dead long, probably less than an hour. You can probably guess that the cause of death is strangulation.”
“Yeah,” Griff muttered. He’d seen her neck.
“There’s blunt force trauma on the back of her head,” Hallie went on. “So, maybe someone clubbed her and then strangled her.” She glanced around. “No idea what she was doing out here in heels, a pencil skirt, and no coat.”
Griff had to go with another, “Yeah,” on that. The site wasn’t that far from the Langston Holdings’ building, but this wasn’t the weather for a literal stroll in the park.
“There’s no purse or a phone on her,” Hallie explained. “That’s the same as Hannah. And we’re not getting a ping on Catherine’s phone so the SIM card’s probably been removed.”
“Who found the body?” Lily asked.
“A dog walker. Herman Mercer,” Hallie added. “He’s not a suspect. Mid-80s, limited mobility. He lives just on the other side of those trees.” She tipped her head to some towering live oaks. “Walks this way every day, even when it’s this freezing cold.”
Griff was wondering if the killer knew that. If the killer had known it wouldn’t be long before poor Herman Mercer spotted the body.
“Tell me,” Hallie went on, “did either of you get even awhiffthat something like this was coming?”
“No,” Griff said, his voice clipped. “We knew Catherine was holding back, but we didn’t see this coming.”
Lily folded her arms. “She was a suspect, Hallie. In Hannah’s murder and in the attacks on us. We were prepping for a formal interview with her tomorrow morning.”
Hallie made a low sound in her throat—frustration or agreement, it was hard to tell. “So maybe someone killed the killer.”
Griff followed her line of thought instantly. “That points to Margo.”
Hallie nodded. “She had motive. And if she really believed Catherine murdered her sister, staging the body like this… it’d make a twisted kind of sense.”
Griff didn’t need to backtrack and fill her in on the details. He and Lily had already briefed her on the stolen photos, the confrontation with Margo, and everything they’d learned during the drive over from the station. Hallie had taken it in quietly, processing fast like she always did.
Now she was putting the pieces together just as fast.
Lily glanced back toward the creek, her jaw tight. “We need to find Margo.”
Griff agreed, but deep down, he couldn’t shake the feeling that even if Margo had killed Catherine, she wasn’t the only one still holding secrets.
And one of those secrets had just left a body in the exact same place Hannah Cole died.
They all turned at the sound of tires crunching against gravel, the low growl of a heavy engine pulling up behind thecruisers. Griff recognized the silver truck immediately. So did Hallie.
Hallie groaned under her breath. “Damn it. It’s Everett. I’ve been trying to call him, to tell him. He didn’t answer.”
The door of the truck flew open before the engine even shut off. Everett Langston barreled out, suit coat flapping, his face red with fury—or panic. Maybe both.
“Is it Catherine?” he shouted, eyes wild as they locked on Hallie. “Is it true what I heard? Tell me it’s not Catherine.”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He started running toward the crime scene, toward the tape and the body beyond it.
Griff moved fast, intercepting him just before he could duck under the perimeter line. He caught the man by the arm, digging in just enough to stop his forward momentum without sending him to the ground.
“Hold on,” Griff said. “You can’t go over there.”
“Let me see her!” Everett struggled, almost slipping in the mud, his voice raw and rising. “Let me see her, damn it!”
Hallie stepped in, her voice calm but firm. “Everett. Stop. Youcan’tgo closer.”
He twisted toward her, his breathing ragged and his eyes pleading for an answer he might not actually want to hear.
“Yes,” she said gently, meeting his eyes. “It’s Catherine.” She waited a beat, then added, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
