Page 81 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
Together, they walked toward the station—toward this final showdown with the person who’d tried to kill them and put a kid through hell. As far as Griff was concerned, he hoped Margo never saw the outside of a jail cell again.
Griff stepped into the bullpen with Lily just behind him. Mickey and Jacob were at their desks, files open, phones charging, both of them looking up as the door clicked shut behind Griff.
“Everything quiet?” Griff asked.
“As quiet as it can be when half the town’s still buzzing from what went down,” Mickey said. “CSIs are still combing through the antique shop and the sewing shop. Nothing new on the rooftop shooter yet.”
“We’ll follow up with the hospital later,” Griff said, nodding.
Jacob glanced toward the hallway. “Margo’s in Interview Two. Hasn’t said much. Her lawyer’s with her. Guy named Bennett Krauss. Out of Rock Springs, I think.”
“Thanks,” Griff said, then started down the hallway with Lily.
They entered the interview room to find Margo sitting at the table. She looked nothing like the woman who had once glared and snapped at them in public. Her shoulders were hunched, hair pulled back in a tight, messy knot. Her eyeswere red-rimmed, and her hands fidgeted in her lap. Defeated. Hollowed out.
Her lawyer, Bennett Krauss, stood when they entered. Late forties, gray suit, thin build with a foxlike sharpness to his gaze. He gave a stiff nod, then sat again.
Griff and Lily took their seats. Griff turned on the recorder, the red light blinking to life.
“This is Deputy Griff Abrams with Deputy Lily Oliver. It’s 9:42 p.m., and we’re in Interview Room Two at the Outlaw Ridge Police Department. Also present are Margo Cole and her attorney, Bennett Krauss. This interview pertains to the ongoing investigation into the homicide of Catherine Langston, the previously unresolved murder of Hannah Cole, the recent abduction and endangerment of a minor, and additional charges which will be specified and addressed as the investigation progresses.”
Griff looked across the table. Margo barely raised her eyes to meet his.
“Ms. Cole, you were read your Miranda rights earlier. Do you need me to go over them again?”
Margo shook her head, voice barely above a whisper. “No. I remember them.” She looked up, voice barely audible. “How’s Caleb?”
Griff kept his tone even. “I’m not at liberty to share that information with you.”
Margo nodded, her lower lip trembling. And what was left of her composure crumbled. She broke into sobs, the sound raw and jagged, echoing off the sterile walls of the interview room. Her lawyer reached out, murmuring her name, but she shook him off and pressed a hand over her mouth like it could contain the flood.
“I was desperate,” she gasped between sobs. “I didn’t know what else to do. I just— I was out of my mind when I took him. Caleb must hate me.”
Griff didn’t respond. Neither did Lily. They just watched her, both of them knowing better than to rush the moment.
When Margo finally lifted her head again, tears still spilling, Lily leaned forward slightly.
“Start at the beginning,” she said quietly. “Tell us what you did.”
Margo wiped her face with the back of her trembling hand. Her voice was hoarse. “Where do I even start?”
Griff didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. He could feel Lily tense beside him, her attention locked on Margo, her pen still against the notepad though she wasn’t writing a word.
Then Margo said it, her voice as hollow as it was horrifying.
“I killed Hannah.”
Bennett Krauss shifted in his chair beside her but didn’t object. Not now. Not with what was pouring out.
“I’d just found out I was pregnant,” Margo went on, staring down at her hands. “I told Hannah, and she laughed. She said I was stupid. Said Bobby Ray was screwing both of us.”
She swallowed hard and pressed her palms to her knees as if bracing herself. “She said he was only with me because she told him to be. Like I was some kind of charity case. She picked up the phone, called him, and put it on speaker. Told me to shut up and listen.”
Griff felt his jaw tighten. Lily didn’t move.
“The way they talked… it was all there,” Margo went on. “Everything. Hannah—she was cruel. She told Bobby Ray I was pregnant and he laughed. Said, ‘You sure it’s mine?’ Like it was a joke. LikeIwas the joke.”
Margo dragged in a ragged breath. “Hannah ended the call, and I walked out. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room withher. But she followed me. Down to the creek. I don’t remember everything after that. Just the rage. Just how shesmiledlike she was proud of it.”
