Page 29 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
Reed glared at the man, and he was sure Hallie was doing the same. “No,” she repeated.
Luther’s jaw tightened, and his eyes flashed with frustration. “You can’t just throw me out. I have a right to be here,” he snapped. “Your mother entrusted me with this, and I’m not leaving until I’ve done what she asked.”
“Oh, you’ll leave,” Hallie assured him. “Either voluntarily, or I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”
The rest of Luther’s usual mild-mannered demeanor vanished. His eyes narrowed to slits, and his jaw muscles went to war with each other. But the man didn’t say another word. He turned on his heels and left.
Reed kept his eye on Luther as he stalked away, and Hallie pressed in the code to the storage unit. He lifted the door and was greeted by the sight of dozens of cardboard boxes stacked haphazardly against the walls. There was only a sliver of walking space between them, and none of the boxes appeared to be labeled.
“Hell,” he grumbled. Reed’s stomach tightened at the sheer volume of stuff that could be in here. How in the name of God were they supposed to find anything useful in this mess?
“Was your mother a packrat?” he asked, slipping on some plastic gloves that he took from his pocket.
Hallie sighed, and like him she was looking at the towers of boxes while she, too, gloved up. “I didn’t think so. In fact, I don’t recall her having a lot of photos or such around the house. Maybe she stashed them all in storage.”
That was possible, but if so, it wouldn’t have been here. This unit had only been around for the past fourteen years, and that would have been six years after Hallie had left home.
“She could have had another storage place before this one. I’ll have Griff dig for more offshore accounts,” Reed said, sending another text to Griff. Though he suspected that Griff was already digging into that.
Reed took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and he took down two of the boxes close to them, setting them on the floor.
“We’ll have a cursory look and then get the CSI team in here,” Hallie said, ripping off the tape from the box. “And I want a search warrant for Luther’s residence. It’s possible he’s already removed something useful.”
He couldn’t agree with that more, and Reed texted Jesse to get him started on the warrant before he opened the second box. Not photos but clothes and some wigs. The now squished up wigs were in just about every natural hair color possible, and the few items of clothes weren’t of any one particular style. He spotted a caftan-type, flower print dress, a slim short black skirt, a tank top, and a sweater with a Christmas motif.
“Disguises?” he asked Hallie.
“Probably.” She sighed. “There’s more of the same in this box.”
He leaned over and had a look for himself. Two more wigs, both brown, and conservative clothes that wouldn’t have looked out of a place at church.
It sickened him to think these had perhaps been used to set up the deadly con game that Tami and Kip had played. With the couple convicted, the items likely wouldn’t be needed to bring more charges against them, but it was possible there was proof of other murders in here.
Yeah, definitely sickening.
Reed hauled down two more boxes and frowned when he heard Hallie make a soft sound of pain when she stooped to examine the contents.
“I’m okay,” she insisted, no doubt because she had noticed that frown. And the long look he was giving her.
He didn’t push her on that obvious lie but continued the search. This box was filled with books that he was betting had been used for research. There were medical texts, a true crime book on brainwashed victims, and another on geriatric psychology. He was a looking at a blueprint for murder.
“Some pictures in here,” Hallie said, getting his attention, and he saw her lifting out a thick photo album. She thumbed through it. “Of their wedding.”
She quickly went through that one, set it aside and took out a second one. “These pictures of when they were growing up.”
That seemed odd to him that a serial killer would keep this sort of sentimental stuff, but then Hallie tapped one of the photos of an elderly stern looking woman. “My father’s grandmother,” she said. “She died before I was born, but I heard gossip that her relatives were eager for her to die so they could inherit her estate. When she did die though, they learned she’d given away all of her money to charity.”
That could have been the reason Kip had decided to start the robberies and murders.
Reed reached for another set of boxes, but he stopped when Hallie’s phone rang. “It’s Jesse,” she relayed to him, and she took the call on speaker.
“Boss, we got a problem,” Jesse was quick to say. “Corman Pierce just called the station and said he’s being held at gunpoint.”
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Chapter Eleven
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