Page 8 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
“You reported him missing the following afternoon,” Ryker said.
“Yeah. And from that point on, the town decided I killed him and dumped the body somewhere in the canyon.”
She didn’t say it bitterly, just matter-of-fact. Like a fact she’d lived with so long it didn’t sting anymore.
But Ryker could see the sting anyway, just beneath the surface.
He leaned a hip against the edge of the table, arms crossed, eyes still on the glowing screen, but his focus had shifted to Emma.
“So, here’s where I land,” he said, his voice lighter than the weight in the room. “We’ve got two options.”
Emma looked over at him, one brow raised, waiting.
“Option one,” Ryker continued, holding up a finger. “Ethan’s alive, and he’s being a dick.”
Her mouth twitched. Not quite a smile, but close enough to count.
“Option two…” He held up a second finger. “Ethan’s dead. And someone really wants to mess with your head about it, and in the process is being a dick.”
Emma gave a small nod, thoughtful. “And you’re leaning toward…?”
He shrugged. “Not sure yet. But either way, someone went to a lot of trouble. A mannequin, a wallet, a custom mask, a threatening message. All of that sure as hell wasn’t impulse.”
Ryker pushed off the table and turned toward her. “So let me ask the obvious question. Who would want to get back at you that much?”
Emma hesitated, then frowned. “A few defense attorneys, maybe. Couple of ex-cons I helped put away.”
“What about the naked woman in the photo?” he asked. “I mean, hey, you catch her mid-affair, call Ethan out in public, and maybe she decides you’re the reason he left town. Or the reason he didn’t stick around forher.”
Emma gave a quiet scoff, but he saw the gears turning behind her eyes. She wasn’t dismissing the idea outright.
“She wasn’t the first,” Emma muttered. “But she was the one who broke everything open.”
Ryker watched her closely. “Do you remember her name?”
Emma hesitated, then nodded. “I do. It was in the message thread. Janette Ward.”
Ryker scanned the screen and spotted the “Persons of Interest” tab in the upper right corner. He tapped it, but shook his head with a smirk. “They really oughta give this section a better name.”
Emma gave him a side glance. “Like what?”
He went for something light, hoping it’d help with Emma’s clearly non-light mood. “How about‘The Usual Suspects and Other Pains in the Asses’?”
“Catchy,” she said.
“I thought so,” Ryker replied, already clicking it open. “Let’s see who makes the cut.” And he added Janette Ward’s name to it.
Ryker scrolled through the Usual Suspects and Other Pains in the Asses, okay, thePersons of Interesttab, eyes tracking the familiar layout of photos and names tied to the original missing persons file. He tapped open the expanded list, flipping through each entry.
“All right. Who else would want to make your life a living hell by tormenting you with Ethan’s memory?” he asked.
Emma didn’t answer right away. She was standing still, arms crossed again, her expression unreadable.
He looked over. “You’ve been asked that before, haven’t you?”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah. The Austin cops asked it when he vanished. So did my uncle, Sheriff Bonetti. They asked me over and over: ‘Who hates you enough to want you destroyed?’”
Ryker tapped the tablet controls beside the digital wall, pulling up the original investigator’s notes. “Let’s see what your uncle had to say.”
