Page 9 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed
“Jay Warrington,” Hallie said without hesitation.
Reed knew that name. Knew the dickhead it belonged to, and he used his phone app to add it to the board. Within a couple of seconds, there was a photo and a brief background of the dickhead.
“Jay Warrington, forty-six,” he read aloud, noting the man’s address was still in San Antonio, about a half hour away from Outlaw Ridge. “Former detective at SAPD. Dismissed from duty ten years ago.” He stopped. “Is that asshole still blaming you for his being fired?”
“He is,” Hallie verified. “Jay hates me and thinks I basically screwed him over so he’d get fired and I could step into his job.”
Reed huffed. “I was there, remember. Jay screwed himself over by botching a surveillance operation of the serial killers where he tried to go in and make an arrest to get the glory.”
Instead, Jay’s unauthorized interruption had allowed Tami and Kip the chance to escape, and that had given the murdering duo a chance to try to kill Hallie and him as they’d tracked them down.
“Jay’s threatened you?” Reed asked.
“Not in a way I can prove. He’s run into me on the street a couple of times.” She putrun into mein quotes. “And he does frequent posts on social media. He’s let me know that he thinks I’m a lying, scheming bitch who tipped off my parents so they could evade him when he went in to arrest them.”
“That’s a convenient delusional spin on things,” Reed said. “Guess he doesn’t mention that he was running a rogue investigation that disrupted the authorized one we already had in place.”
“No mention of that.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “He believes, or rather wants to believe, we were there to cover my parents’ tracks. So, that’s why he’s referred to you a couple of times as a lying, scheming bastard from Strike Force.”
“I’ve been called worse. Sure you have, too,” Reed replied and got a fast sound of agreement from Hallie. “So, how much of a threat is Jay? Could he have murdered two people and tried to kill you by blowing up a house?”
This time, she wasn’t so quick to answer. Hallie was obviously still giving that some thought when Shaw stepped into the doorway. “Sheriff, you have a visitor. Luther Crowe.”
The name didn’t register with Reed, but it obviously did with Hallie. “The investigative reporter who interviewed Tami,” she clarified to him.
Oh, that guy. The one who’d printed an article about Tami being innocent because she’d been manipulated and coerced by her husband. Reed figured that qualified Luther as dickhead number two so he mentally put his name right by Jay, the disgraced cop.
“What does Luther Crowe want?” Hallie asked Shaw.
“Claims he might have some info about the murders and the explosion,” he replied with a shrug and a whole lot of skepticism.
Reed was skeptical as well. This could be a fishing expedition to get a scoop on the story that had to be spreading like wildfire. A scoop that dickhead number two could maybe use to get Tami some extra attention from those support groups.
“All right, I’ll see him,” Hallie grumbled, and Shaw headed off to fetch the man.
Of course, Hallie would see him. At this point of the investigation, it was all about evidence gathering, and this guy might actually have something. She couldn’t dismiss him simply because he’d written an article about her mother.
Reed pulled up a quick photo and bio on the reporter. Luther Crowe, aged 52. A freelancer who often wrote articles for amnesty groups. Former military. A minor criminal record for trespassing. Twice divorced with one grown son. Reed thoughthis picture looked more like an Einstein wannabe than someone who’d be out chasing down stories.
“You want me to stay or go while you talk to him?” Reed asked, using the remote to turn off the board.
“Stay,” she replied. “I probably shouldn’t confess this, but I’m a bit rattled at the moment, and I don’t want to miss anything he might say.”
“Understood. And FYI, I wouldn’t want to work with you if you weren’t rattled after what happened. Hell, it shook me up, too. Along with giving me some big assed bruises. My longhorn tat looks like someone punched his entire face.”
As he’d hoped, that offbeat admission seemed to make her relax a bit. And she almost smiled. Almost. “Yes, I got some big assed bruises, too.”
Reed liked the tug he got in his body from that almost smile. From this almost fun banter. They were reminders of the heat between Hallie and him. The reminder got a quick interruption though when Shaw came back in with the man who looked identical to his DMV photo.
“Sheriff McQueen,” the man immediately said, and he shifted his attention to Reed. “Deputy Winston.”
Reed wasn’t surprised that the reporter knew his name. After all, Reed had assisted in Tami’s and Kip’s arrests, so, much to his disgust, his name and face had landed in the news. Someone with a strong interest in Tami’s conviction would have instantly recognized him.
“Mr. Crowe,” Hallie said, not showing any of those rattled nerves right now. “I understand you have information pertinent to our investigation.” She motioned for him to take the chair directly across from her desk.
“Call me Luther,” he offered, “And, yes, I might have something that’ll help.” He took a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “Those are the names of the three people who’vesent me threatening emails or outright death threats for the article that I did on your mother.”
With her mouth going just a smidge tight, Hallie looked at it and then passed the paper to Reed. He didn’t need to ask who these people were. He instantly recognized two of them as the relatives of Tami’s and Kip’s victims, and the third name was already on their investigative radar.
