Page 15 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
Emma answered before he could. “No need. We weren’t caught in the blast, just the debris.”
“Uh-huh.” Hallie gave them both a look that said she wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t argue. “You both need showers. And probably about eight hours of sleep.”
“Fair enough,” Ryker muttered. But he doubted they’d be getting the sleep any time soon.
Hallie’s expression didn’t change as she continued. “Bomb squad finished their sweep twenty minutes ago. Scene’s cleared. CSIs and the ME are heading in now to see if there’s anything left of the body that’s usable for an ID.”
“He was wearing Ethan’s ring,” Emma volunteered.
Hallie looked at her. “Do you think it was him?”
Emma paused. Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t look away. “I don’t know.”
The room went still for a beat. Then Hallie added, “I’ve got something else for your evidence board.”
That got their attention, and Emma and Ryker both looked up.
“Charlotte Ross doesn’t live in Santa Fe,” Hallie said. “That was true four years ago. Not anymore. She’s been living in Austin for at least the last six months. Forty-five minutes away. My advice is to get her in for a proper interview.”
Hallie turned to go, but then she paused at the door. “I’ll put together a team to bring her in quietly. You two, take that shower. You look like you crawled out of a ditch.”
“Just an oil field,” Ryker muttered.
The sheriff groaned at the lame joke, and then she was gone, leaving the silence to settle again.
Ryker leaned against the edge of the table, watching Emma. For a long second, the only sound was the low hum of the digital wall screen behind them, still glowing with case files and fragments of a life that kept circling back to Emma.
“Did you ever have the sense that Ethan was… around?” he asked. “After he disappeared, I mean?”
Emma didn’t answer right away. She dropped into one of the chairs and stared at the evidence board like it might offer her something new.
Then she nodded. “There were moments. Not anything I could prove. Just… things.”
“Like what?”
She hesitated. “A boyfriend I dated for a few months got mugged outside my apartment building. Nothing taken. He ended up with a concussion and a busted rib. The guy wore a ski mask. No one saw his face.”
Ryker felt a chill snake down his spine. “And you think it was Ethan?”
“I thought it could be.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, but the movement was tight. “Or someone acting on his behalf. Then there was another guy, just a casual thing. One date, dinner, and a movie. A week later, his car got set on fire outside his gym.”
Ryker’s jaw clenched. “Jesus.”
“I couldn’t prove anything. I told myself it was coincidence. Bad luck. But after a while… I stopped seeing people.”
Ryker stayed quiet a moment, then said, “Sounds to me like someone didn’t want you getting too close to anybody. Didn’t want you happy. Didn’t want you moving on.” His tonewas low, edged with quiet fury. “If that was him… then he wasn’t just watching you. He waspunishingyou.”
Emma didn’t look at him, but he saw the flicker in her expression. Saw how those words hit, like they landed on something too raw to hide.
“I think that’s exactly what he wanted,” she said quietly as they both sat at the desk. “To make sure I was stuck. Alone. Punishing myself for something I didn’t even do.”
Ryker crossed to her and crouched beside the chair so they were eye level.
“Well, he screwed that up too,” he assured her. “Because you’re not alone.”
Emma’s phone buzzed on the table. She didn’t reach for it right away, just stared at the screen like she was bracing for another hit.
Ryker leaned a little closer, caught the name:Mom.
