Page 5 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
“We argued about it more than once,” she continued a heartbeat later. “He accused me of choosing the job over him. I told him I wouldn’t trade everything I’d worked for just to make him feel more in control.” Her mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “That comment didn’t go over well.”
Hallie gave a short exhale through her nose. “So when you finally did come back…”
“It might’ve felt like unfinished business for him,” Emma finished for her. “Like the door opened again. A chance to punish me. Or a chance to fix what he thinks I broke.”
Ryker folded his arms, and he kept his gaze fixed on Emma. “Ethan’s been waiting.”
Emma met his eyes. “Or watching.”
Hallie looked between the two of them, then slowly leaned back in her chair. “So either your ex-fiancé faked his death and came back to mess with your head… or someone else is staging it to make you think he did.”
Emma didn’t blink. “And either way, they want me to believe I’m next.”
Ryker could feel it building again, that burn in his gut that always came before things went sideways. The kind of slow-build tension that meant someone was laying groundwork for something bigger. He’d felt it before, on ops that turned into ambushes. That same prickle along the back of his neck was here now.
“I’ll start digging into anyone who might’ve known about Ethan’s disappearance,” he said. “Old cases, known associates, PD personnel in Austin who might have had access to the flyer or his records.”
Hallie nodded. “Do that.” Then, she turned to Emma. “You sure you’re good to stay on this?”
Emma’s jaw ticked. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Ryker didn’t say it out loud, but he wasn’t letting her go anywhere alone either. Not now. Not with someone out there setting the stage for her to fall.
“Maybe it wasn’t just the move back to Outlaw Ridge that triggered him,” Ryker threw out there. “What about your last case in Austin?”
Beside him, Emma’s head turned. “You know about that?”
He shrugged, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “What can I say? I like to be informed about my partner. Makes it easier to watch your back if I know what kind of trouble tends to follow you around.”
His tone was easy, almost teasing, but his eyes held something steadier, a quiet promise that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Hallie looked between them. “What case are we talking about?”
Emma hesitated, just for a second. Then she exhaled and leaned her hands on the back of one of the chairs in front of the desk. “It was one of Ethan’s old cases. A homicide that he investigated just before he disappeared. A guy named Lionel Ruiz was charged and then convicted of stabbing his girlfriend to death in their apartment.”
She paused, gathered her breath, and then added, “Three months ago, I reopened the investigation. Something about it always felt off, even back when we were together.”
Ryker stayed quiet, but he could hear the tension tightening behind her words.
“I found evidence that had been overlooked or ignored,” Emma went on. “A blood smear behind the dresser that didn’tmatch Ruiz or the victim. It led to a new suspect. We got a confession. The case was overturned.”
Hallie’s eyes narrowed. “I remember now. That made the news.”
Emma gave a humorless smile. “Yeah. It made a lot of headlines. The department tried to bury it, but the media ran with the narrative, how a decorated detective, Ethan Ross, rushed the case, missed the signs, and sent the wrong man to prison. His reputation as a cop was shredded. Even in absentia.”
Ryker nodded slowly. “If he’s alive, and he saw all that… it could’ve pushed him over the edge.”
Emma’s voice dropped. “It wouldn’t be the first time he couldn’t handle the fallout of his own decisions.”
“So now we’ve got motive, maybe. And a warning with that masked mannequin. Next step?” Hallie asked.
Ryker looked at Emma, then back at Hallie. “We figure out if Ethan’s still breathing, and if he is, we find him. If he’s not, we figure out who’s pulling the strings on this sick game.”
Hallie leaned back in her chair, tapping a finger against the edge of the desk as her gaze shifted between them. Then she nodded once, decision made.
“Use the cold case office,” Hallie instructed. “You’ll have access to the digital wall screen. It’ll help to lay everything out. Files, maps, timelines. Start fresh and build it from the ground up.”
Ryker gave a small nod, already running through what they’d need to pull. Ethan’s personnel file, the case Emma overturned, everything tied to his disappearance.
