Page 33 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
Emma watched the change happen in real time. Charlotte’s face went pale. Her breath caught. Her fingers went slack. The phone slipped from her hand and hit the table with a soft clatter.
Ryker was already leaning in. Emma reached for the phone, turning it just enough so they could both read the message that lit up the screen.
Watch your six, baby sis.
Emma’s heart thudded once, hard and low.
Charlotte stared at them, stunned. Her lips parted, and her voice came out barely above a whisper, raw and certain.
“He’s alive.” A beat. “It’s from Ethan. He’salive.”
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Chapter Eight
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Ryker stood at the digital board in the cold case room, arms crossed, eyes on the pinned photos and evidence files like he could will them into forming a clear picture. He heard Emma behind him, rustling through a folder.
They’d cut Charlotte loose, for now. She’d stormed out with her usual flair, still pale, still shaken from the text. But until they could prove anything one way or the other, she was just another unstable variable in a case that already felt like a live wire.
“We’ll have Colvin in soon,” Emma said, glancing at the wall clock. “Might not get much of a break between now and then.”
Ryker nodded. “Let’s use the time.”
The message to Charlotte was still fresh in his mind, seared in bold white text on that glowing screen.Watch your six, baby sis.It was the signature, Ethan’s, and it had landed like a match in dry brush. Now, they needed some answers to go along with all the questions the text and everything else had triggered. Too bad those answers weren’t pouring in as fast as the questions were.
Ryker picked up his phone and checked for updates. And frowned. There was one, but it fell into that category of no help whatsoever.
“Burner phone was used to send the text to Charlotte,” he said, adding the info to the board. “No name, no history, no GPS. It’s a dead end.”
Emma sighed, but he could tell it was exactly what she’d been expecting. If Ethan had indeed sent the text, why make it easy for them to track him? Ditto for someone who could be posing as Ethan.
“Griff’s working the traffic cams near Charlotte’s place,” Ryker added. “There’s one at the intersection by her street. He wants to see if anyone shows up around the time she claims she blacked out. Could be someone slipping in, drugging the wine, taking the blood.”
“She said it was the last of the bottle,” Emma muttered. “And she threw it away.”
“Convenient,” Ryker said. “Too much time has passed to test her for anything now.”
Silence hung between them for a moment. “Think she’s telling the truth?” Emma asked.
Ryker rubbed the back of his neck, eyes still on the board. “I don’t know. It’s possible. The whole using-her-own-blood thing, it’s too theatrical. Why frame someone with theirownDNA?”
“Unless it’s reverse psychology,” Emma offered. “Make it look too obvious, so we think she’s innocent.”
“Or maybe she’s just enjoying the game,” Ryker said. “Taunting us. Feeding us pieces she wants us to chase.”
Emma was quiet for a beat. “She looked rattled when she got that text.”
“Yeah,” Ryker said. “She did.” He looked at Emma. “Or she’s one hell of an actress.”
Emma stood, her movements slow and tense, and she moved to his side, just inches from his arm. She stared at the board, her gaze catching on the crime scene photos from the oil field.The twisted metal. The blurred, lifeless form that had once been Lionel Ruiz.
She made a frustrated sound low in her throat, one that twisted something deep in Ryker’s gut. Then she opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but stopped herself.
Didn’t matter. He already knew.
“You were about to apologize,” Ryker said quietly, his voice more gravel than breath. “For something that’s not your fault, weren’t you?”
