Page 20 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
“Good,” he said, keeping his tone easy. “Because that makes two of us. And for the record, I like this version of you way better.”
She gave him a look, but her lips almost twitched.
Ryker reached for his phone, intending to pull up the grainy photo Janette had sent, the possible Ethan lurking outside her house, but before he could tap the screen, it started to buzz in his hand.
He checked the caller ID and when he saw it was the crime lab, he answered immediately on speaker. “Caldwell.”
The voice on the other end was brisk. “We’ve got a hit on the blood used to write the message on the mask, the one on the dummy.”
Ryker straightened. Emma looked up at him, alert again.
“It’s a match to Charlotte Ross,” the tech said. “It’s hers. No doubt.”
Ryker’s grip tightened on the phone.
So it wasn’t just a theory now. Ethan’s sister wasn’t on the sidelines.
She wasin this.
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Chapter Five
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Emma stared at the cold case board, the pictures and words blurring together. She blinked to refocus, and that helped. But the bone-weary fatigue was trying to claim what was left of her energy.
She suspected it was the same for Ryker.
They’d taken their showers, ordered in greasy tacos from the diner up the street, and set up camp in the cold case office like they were preparing for battle.
Emma felt like she’d already lost a few rounds.
A dozen files were spread out across the table. The digital wall glowed softly, displaying their evidence map, timelines, and the photos of every body, every mask, every threat. She leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, frustration crawling beneath her skin like a rash she couldn’t scratch.
They weren’t getting anywhere.
“Nothing?” Ryker asked from across the table, his voice low, half distracted as he scrolled through call logs on his laptop.
“Voicemail,” Emma muttered. “Again. That’s three missed calls and four texts. Charlotte’s not answering.”
Ryker didn’t look surprised. “Maybe she’s in hiding.”
Emma made a sound of agreement. “If I found out my blood was used to write a threat on a dummy meant to scarethe hell out of my brother’s ex-fiancée, I’d at least call someone back.”
“She’s either terrified,” Ryker said, “or involved.”
Emma didn’t want to admit how much that second possibility made her stomach twist. Charlotte adored Ethan, which meant the woman had plenty of reason to hate Emma.
But had Charlotte been the one behind the trigger at the oil field? The one who set the explosive beneath the body?
Emma shook her head, jaw tight.
“I just don’t see her doing that kind of damage,” she admitted. “She’s bitter, sure. But shooting at cops? Planting a bomb? That feels like something else.”
“Or someone else,” Ryker added.
Emma’s gaze drifted back to the evidence board. Ethan’s photo stared down at her like a ghost who never really left. She didn’t know if he was alive. She didn’t know if he was pulling the strings or if he was just the face someone else was using to tear her life apart.
