Page 13 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
She saw him trying to bite back a laugh. “You think he was so busysmooth-talkingthat he botched the case?”
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “But if there was pressure to close it quickly, I can see him going along with it. Or maybe he saw something and kept quiet. Either way, he’s worth talking to.”
She set the glass on the coffee table and rubbed her hands together, more to give them something to do than for warmth.
“But here’s what I don’t get,” she said. “If someone wanted to warn me off… why leave me that photo of Hannah? It doesn’t just scare me. It points to someone else. Someone who was actually there when she died. That photo didn’t come from the case file. So why show me that?”
Griff was quiet for a moment. “If Bobby Ray wasn’t the killer… maybe the real one left the photo. To rattle you. To push you back.”
Lily frowned. “Why not just stay hidden?”
“Fear,” he said. “Fear of what you might find. That photo, maybe it was a misstep. Maybe it was meant to shock you into stopping.”
She let that sit for a second. “You think someone close to Bobby Ray could’ve had the photo? Could’ve been helping him all along?”
Griff’s eyes stayed on hers. “Could be. Someone who believed in him. Someone who had access, or found something after.”
She shook her head slowly. “I can’t think of anyone. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t someone. He was quiet. Didn’t have a lot of friends. But maybe someone was watching from the sidelines.”
She looked back toward the mantle, toward the photos of Griff’s past, of people who had stepped in when others didn’t.
“Maybe someone kept the truth because no one else would,” Lily added in a mutter.
The silence stretched for a few moments, not uncomfortable, just thick with thoughts neither of them had the energy to say out loud. Then Griff’s voice cut through it.
“Why did Bobby Ray send the letter to you?” he asked.
Lily didn’t answer right away. She stared at the empty glass on the table.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “We weren’t close. Barely spoke to each other.” She paused, then gave a tired shrug. “Maybe he thought we were kindred spirits or something. We came from the same kind of broken.”
The frustration welled up again, sharp and raw. She pushed both hands through her hair and let out a groan. “There are too many question marks. Too many dead ends. I don’t even know where to start.”
Griff stood, calm as always. “We’ll talk to Rhett Hale in the morning. First thing. But for now, you need to sleep.”
She started to protest, but he was already walking toward the hallway, motioning for her to follow. On another heavy sigh, Lily started moving and joined him when he pushed open the door to a clean, spare guest room. A simple bed, folded blankets at the foot.
“Here,” he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a soft, worn T-shirt. He handed it to her. “You can shower and change into this. I’ll toss your clothes in the wash.”
Lily blinked at him. “You don’t have to—”
“I’ve got it,” he said. “You’ll need something clean to wear in the morning.”
She looked down at her jeans and soot-streaked jacket and didn’t argue.
“There’s a bathroom through there,” Griff said, nodding to the en suite. “Toiletries in the cabinet. My foster sister stays over sometimes, so you should have everything you need.”
That surprised her, but she didn’t ask. Instead, she stepped into the bathroom, the door clicking softly shut behind her.
She exhaled slowly.
The fire might’ve taken everything she owned. But not everything she had. Not yet.
She stripped off her clothes and got into the shower. The hot water helped, but only a little. She didn’t linger, she stayed in just long enough to make sure she no longer smelled like smoke and ash. She dried off and pulled on the T-shirt Griff had given her. It hung past her knees, soft and worn and definitely his. It smelled like soap and cedar and something she couldn’t name.
Still, she felt exposed. No underwear, no armor. Just bare legs, bare skin, and that ever-present feeling like the ground had been yanked out from under her.
She took a breath, opened the door, and stepped back into the bedroom. Griff was waiting there, leaning against the wall. His eyes flicked up as she approached, just once, but she felt the weight of his gaze all the same.
