Page 126 of Hard Evidence
“Ma’am?”
I couldn’t speak.The lump in my throat blocked the words.But I didn’t want to go to Maine, and I wanted to be free of my wretched husband.So I shook my head.
“Let the lady go.”
“Butt out.This is none of your?—”
Ridge never finished his sentence because the stranger shot him.
Just pulled out a gun and shot him twice.Pop-pop.
My scream was swallowed by the wind, and Shiro ran for the trees as Ridge crumpled into a heap on the muddy ground.The man motioned to me with the silenced pistol.
“Walk.”
“Is he…?Is he…?”
There was no blood, but Ridge wasn’t moving, not even a twitch, and how could I walk when my knees were about to give way?
“Don’t get all emotional.You didn’t even like him.”The blond stranger nodded along the path, away from home.Away from safety.“Move.”
I had no idea who this man was, or why he’d overreacted with Ridge, or what he wanted with me, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I’d be joining my ex-husband in the afterlife if I made one wrong move.I should have followed Shiro into the trees.I should have run when I had the chance.
I walked.
Slowly.
“Why?Why are you doing this?”
“Because the men in your life make poor decisions.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand.”
Yes, okay, Ridge should have let me go, but shooting him dead was literal overkill.
“You don’t have to understand; you just have to do as you’re told.”
“Are you going to kill me too?”
“Not if Justin Norquist cooperates.”
“J-J-Justin?What does he have to do with this?”
But suddenly, I knew.
I knew Justin hadn’t killed Amie, but this man had.He’d killed her and framed him.Bile rose in my throat because I’d heard how Amie had been found, battered and bloody with a star carved into her flesh.
“It’s nothing personal.Once Justin accepts responsibility for Amie Carlson’s death, you can move back to Maine and forget this ever happened.”
Yeah, right.He thought I’d stay meek and quiet and let Justin spend the rest of his life in prison?Was he crazy?I mean, obviously he was, and yes, I’d stayed silent for years about Ridge’s abuse, but this…this was on a whole other level.
Which meant I was dead.
Today, tomorrow, or next week, I was dead.
Because this man wasn’t deranged.He was eerily calm, terrifyingly competent, and underneath it all, desperate.The worst possible combination.
“Did you let Shiro out of the yard?”
