Page 45 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
So, Luther had intended on walking away from this. But it was a bad plan since it hinged on her killing someone she considered an enemy.
“Did you do all of this for my mother?” she shouted.
She heard the bitter rage and disgust in her voice and had to fight to put a leash on it. It wouldn’t do for her to lose it. Not when so much was at stake.
“Of course, I did,” Luther yelled back. There was rage, too, and not a leash in sight. He was letting it spew out like venom. “You should have done it for her. You should have tried to save her.”
“She didn’t need saving,” she was quick to let him know. “My mother is guilty of every single life that she and my father took.”
“Liar,” Luther snarled. “Lying bitch. Tami was abused, and she was forced to do what she did.”
“Tami picked out the victims,” Hallie reminded him. “And she conned you. Did she tell you to kill me?”
“She didn’t have to. I understood that someone had to eliminate the threat to her appeal. And that’s what I did.” There was pride now mixed with the rage. A bad combination. “I’m eliminating anyone in those pictures. Anyone who can claim they heard or saw something at that party to dispute Tami’s appeal. That included your worthless father.”
“The pictures,” Jay muttered. His eyes were glassy now, and he sounded shaky as if he was going into full shock.
“Yes, the pictures,” Luther spat out like the profanity that he added to it. “Tami thought anyone there might have…misinterpretedher relationship with her husband. He was a vile, abusive man who beat her into submission.”
Ah, Hallie got it then. Tami hadn’t been submissive at that party. Just the opposite. Something must have happened that could have been used to have her appeal denied. So, she had wormed her way into the heart and mind of this reporter and sent him on a quest to do her dirty work.
“You had my father murdered,” Hallie stated.
“Easy to do if you know the right people. Or the wrong one,” Luther bragged. There was an arrogance in his tone now. He was proud of what he’d done for the woman he believed he loved. “He deserved to die.”
“Easy to set up Corman going to visit Kip and Mrs. Robey, too,” she added.
“Damn right. That loser is so eager beaver to find out any dirt about you that he jumped at that fake message from your father. And the one leading him right here. Having Corman show up at the prison and here took some of the focus off me. You know it did.”
It had, and it ate away at Hallie like acid to think that her mother had managed to instigate more murders using Luther. As if Tami hadn’t already killed too many before she’d landed in jail. Now, she had Luther killing on her behalf and would continue that if they couldn’t stop him.
But how?
The hallway was too narrow, and there was no cover. Any wrong move could get Jay or them killed.
“Let Jay go,” Reed said, his tone low and dangerous, while his gun remained steady in his grip. “This doesn’t end well for you.”
Luther yanked off his mask and sneered. “You shoot, you hit him. You don’t shoot and back the fuck off, and I walk out of here.”
They couldn’t let that happen. Luther would regroup and come after them again. Or someone else.
“Throw out your guns,” Luther ordered, jamming his gun even harder against Jay’s head. “Tell your other deputies to stand down. Jay and I are leaving, and after I’m outside, I’ll let him go.”
No, he wouldn’t. Jay was a dead man if they let Luther drag him out of here at gunpoint.
Hallie’s heart pounded as she searched for a way to bring this to an end. Her gaze flicked to Reed, who gave her a subtle nod. “Toss out your gun,” he mouthed. “I’ll do the same.”
“Luther will know we have backup weapons,” she reminded him in a whisper.
Another nod. “But we need to let him believe that he’ll stand a chance of walking out of here with Jay. He’ll want to believe it,” Reed amended. “So, we’ll throw out both of our guns.”
Hallie felt the fresh fear slam through her. She didn’t want to face down a killer unarmed, but Reed was right, their guns weren’t going to help them right now. But once Luther was moving with Jay in tow, then they would have the chance to overpower him.
She hoped.
“I’m tossing out my weapons,” Hallie said, her voice steady despite the tornado of emotions slamming through her. She slowly crouched, setting her primary and then her backup on the floor.
“Now, mine,” Reed added, sliding his guns across toward hers.
