Page 43 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
The door opened a little wider, and Jay stepped out, his hands raised to shoulder height. His face was pale, his hair damp and plastered to his forehead, likely from the rain. His clothes were smeared with something dark—mud, maybe, or something worse.
“There,” he said, his voice tight. “See? No weapon.”
Reed’s gaze swept over him. “Turn around. Slowly.”
Jay did as instructed, his movements jerky but compliant. Reed stepped forward, keeping his gun trained on Jay, while Hallie held her position.
“What happened?” Reed demanded. “Start talking.Now.”
Jay swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I got a call from Mrs. Robey,” he said, his voice cracking. “She said she had to talk to me, that she had some proof that Hallie knew about her parents’ murders.”
Hallie groaned and belted out some profanity.
“I know now that it was a trick,” Jay blurted before Reed or she could say anything. “Someone made her say that. Probably while holding her at gunpoint. It was all a trick meant to bring me here so I’d be charged with her murder.”
“Keep going,” Reed ordered when Jay fell silent.
“When I got here, the power was out, and the door was open. I went in and found her…in the kitchen. I took out my phone to call for help, and through the window I saw someone in the backyard. I couldn’t see the person’s face, but I ran outside after them.”
“You ran out unarmed after a person you believed had just murdered someone and set you up?” Reed asked, and he didn’t bother to tone down the skepticism.
“No. I had my gun with, but I lost it. The ground was pure mud from all the rain, and I slipped and fell. The gun flew from my hand. Then, someone hit me with a stun gun. I didn’t see who. And I lost consciousness. The next thing I know, I come to up here, and I can hear Hallie and you downstairs.”
“Convenient story,” Reed muttered. “If that’s what happened, then where’s your car?”
Jay shook his head. “I parked it off the road. That’s what Mrs. Robey told me to do when she called me,” he tacked onto that when Hallie and Reed groaned. “She said she didn’t want anyone to know she was talking to me, that it could get her killed.”
If any of this was true, then it meant Mrs. Robey might be able to tell them who’d orchestrated it. Well, she could if she lived, that is. But Reed wasn’t about to buy Jay’s story. The man had motive to come after Hallie, and he might not care who else he had to kill to get to her.
“We’ll ask Mrs. Robey if that’s what happened,” Reed let Jay know. “She’s alive, by the way,” he added, and as if on cue, there was the wail of an ambulance siren in the distance.
Jay’s gaze darted to the stairs, and that was possibly guilt or panic that Reed saw on the man’s face. “I found her like that in the kitchen. I swear. Whoever jumped me must have done it. I-I didn’t even untie her because I was afraid I’d leave my prints on the rope.”
Reed exchanged a quick glance with Hallie. “It already looks bad,” she stated. “Let’s find out just how bad. Come downstairs with us, and keep your hands where we can see them.”
Jay didn’t budge. “You set this up, didn’t you.” He aimed a hard glare at Hallie. “This way, you silence me behind bars, and no one ever learns the truth about you. You lying—”
Jay stopped his rant when the door to his left flew open. Reed couldn’t see who’d done that, but he pivoted in that direction. Hallie did, too. And Jay started to run. He didn’t make it even a single step before the gunshot blasted through the hall.
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Chapter Seventeen
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Hallie heard and saw the bullet slam into Jay’s shoulder. He made a sharp sound of pain, his eyes already wide with shock, and his legs buckled. Jay sagged to the floor just as Hallie saw something else.
“Gun!” Hallie shouted, her voice echoing down the narrow hallway.
Someone had stuck out their hand, and that hand was holding a weapon. One that took aim at Reed and her.
And the person pulled the trigger.
The shot slammed into the wall right next to where they were standing, forcing them to dart back into the sewing room.
“Did you see who fired?” Reed asked, his voice dripping with fresh adrenaline and the fierce tension of the fight.
“No. Only the hand.”
