Page 47 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
With their backs pressed against the wall, Reed and Hallie stood shoulder to shoulder in the hospital corridor. Hallie had her phone anchored between her ear and shoulder and was having a whispered conversation with Jesse, but like Reed, her gaze was pinned to the recovery room door where they would hopefully soon be entering.
To talk to Jay.
The former cop was out of surgery and would soon be awake to answer their questions to wrap up this case.
Reed was very much looking forward to that. Hallie no doubt was, too. He could practically feel the bone-deep exhaustion coming off her, but she wouldn’t be giving in to that exhaustion until she had all the investigative puzzle pieces in place.
After that, Reed was hoping he could talk her into going home for some downtime. He needed to be with her, to make sure she was truly all right.
Hell, he needed to hold her.
Just having her in his arms would no doubt settle the raw nerves and flashbacks that were clawing through him.
It was going to take a while for him to tamp down the images of what had gone on at Mrs. Robey’s house. Images of how damn close he’d come to losing Hallie. Mrs. Robey, too. But both werealive with Mrs. Robey recovering in a hospital room and with Hallie in the full sheriff’s mode right beside him.
Luther was dead. That was something at least. And Reed wasn’t one bit sorry that the asshole was no longer around to do Tami’s twisted bidding. There was no telling how much more damage Luther could have managed had they not stopped him. But the asshole would play a central role in some of those flashbacks, and Reed figured that was true for Hallie, Jay, and anyone else who’d crossed Luther’s murderous path.
Hallie finished her call with Jesse but didn’t put her phone away. Probably because she knew it wouldn’t be long before she got another call or text from one of her deputies or the CSIs. There were always a lot of moving parts when wrapping up a murder investigation, and as the sheriff, Hallie was at the center of those moving parts.
“Jesse spoke to Mrs. Robey again,” she relayed to him. “She’s got a serious concussion along with a lot of stitches on her head, but the doctors are optimistic that she’ll recover.”
Good. Luther had had a lot of “success” with his plan, but Reed was glad the man had failed to end Mrs. Robey’s life.
“Was she able to ID Luther as her attacker?” Reed asked.
She shook her head. “He kept the mask on the entire time he was with her. But she was able to tell Jesse how Luther got into the house. He mimicked a cat howling on her porch, and she opened the door thinking someone’s pet had gotten lost in the storm. Luther hit her with a rock and carried her to the kitchen where he tied her up and hit her several more times.”
Reed cursed and wished he could beat Luther to a pulp for that. Mrs. Robey was half Luther’s size, and, yes, the woman owned a shotgun, but she wouldn’t have thought to grab that had she been focused on saving a lost cat.
Hallie gathered her breath before she continued. “Jesse also let me know that the medical examiner confirmed that Lutherkilled himself using a sodium cyanide capsule. Sick bastard,” she added under her breath. “Since he had it with him, he must have known his plan could go south, and he wanted an easy way out.”
Yeah. It was easier than standing trial and being convicted of multiple murders and an assortment of other crimes. Easier than ending up in prison and maybe even on death row. But dead was still dead, and it left Tami without a champion for her cause. Then again, this might have been what Tami wanted.
“Your mother could have put that suicide thought into Luther’s head,” Reed pointed out. “She might have believed this was the way to prevent herself from being accused as the instigator for his crimes.” He stopped and managed a smile. “But Luther made that confession. He linked Tami to what he did.”
Hallie turned to him, and he saw a welcome sight. She, too, was smiling. It wasn’t a gloating victory expression but one of satisfaction.
Reed wished he could kiss that smile. Wished he could just pull her into his arms and savor the moment. But they were in a hall with visitors and medical staff coming and going. Hallie wouldn’t want people gossiping about the new sheriff doing any PDA stuff with one of her former deputies.
That’s why it surprised Reed when Hallie leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. And she did that while still smiling.
The kiss was hardly more than a peck, but, man, it was still hot, and Reed enjoyed every degree of that heat that went through him. It was also an effective cure for those flashbacks.
“Later, we’ll talk about…us,” she said, her voice cautious as if she were choosing her words.
He liked the sound of that “us” and wanted that talk. Wanted another kiss. Hell, he wanted all of Hallie, but now was not the time or place. The sound of the incoming text on her phone was proof of that.
“It’s from Shaw,” she let him know and then went silent while she read the text. “He’s finished talking with Corman, and Shaw doesn’t believe he had any part in what Luther did.”
Reed trusted Shaw’s instincts, and they matched his own. In the past five hours since Luther’s death a lot of cops and CSIs had been sifting through the evidence at Luther’s house, his car, laptop, phone records, and financials. They’d uncovered Luther’s purchase of the explosives, a sniper rifle and the ammo. His payment to the family of the man who’d murdered Kip, too. But Corman hadn’t been linked to any of it.
And neither had Jay.
Which meant Hallie wouldn’t be talking to him as an accomplice but to find out if he could fill them in on any more details about Luther and those pictures that’d been found in Tami’s storage unit.
“Are you planning on telling your mother in person what happened to Luther?” Reed asked, knowing he’d be going to the prison with Hallie if she did.
“No,” she said without hesitation which told him she’d already given this some thought. “I don’t want to give her even that. I want her to find out from the news. Then, she’ll know her plan has failed.”
