12. Ridley

12

RIDLEY

The words Colt had hurled in my direction clung to me like smoke from a campfire. It was as if they’d been baked into my flesh. After he’d left, I’d tried yoga, meditation, even going for a quick run. None of it had helped.

Because there was a tiny voice inside my head that wondered if I was hurting others in my quest for the truth. I sure as hell was hurting Colt. Because that’s what was fueling his verbal lashings—pain. The agony that came from losing a sister. I knew that pain well. It was just that he’d found his again. I never had.

I guided my bike around a curve in the road, letting the wind try to wash away his accusations. Or at least help me push through them so I could take the next steps I had to for the podcast—for the investigation. I wasn’t going back to Cowboy Coffee, at least not yet. I wanted to give Ezra time to cool down, to consider that I might have something to offer.

So instead, I headed for The Whiskey Barrel. It was lunchtime now, and I hoped I might find a few day drinkers who’d be willing to give me background on the story. Maybe they’d remember players at the time who had been overlooked by law enforcement. Anything that might give me a lead. Because if this was the perpetrator’s first crime, a bungled one at that, there was a good chance they’d left more clues behind here than anywhere else. There was even a possibility the unsub had lived in Shady Cove at the time. Maybe they still did.

I parked my bike outside the bar and locked it, heading for the thick wooden door. The moment I stepped inside, I had to blink. The sun outside was bright, but in here, it might as well have been midnight. The low glow of bar lighting made people forget they were drinking their days away.

As my eyes grew accustomed to the low light, I took in the crowd, or lack thereof. A woman and man sat at the bar a few stools apart, while another guy sat at one of the tables with a burger and fries in front of him. My stomach rumbled. All I’d had for breakfast was an energy bar, and I’d been too pissed off to eat anything after Colt’s visit.

Gray eyes lifted from a worn paperback and locked on me as I approached the bar. They were assessing eyes. They didn’t have the anger Colt’s had carried, but they weren’t exactly welcoming either.

I didn’t let that stop me. I headed straight for the bartender. “I take it you’ve gotten a warning message about me.”

Trey stood there, his form at ease but somehow still appearing ready to strike as he set the book down. “Small town. News travels.”

“You want me to leave?” I asked. It was better to know now.

He studied me for another long moment. I had no idea what he was searching for, but he seemed to find it. “Lunch, booze, or both?”

Relief swept through me as I pulled out the stool and sat. “Food please, and I wouldn’t hate a Shirley Temple.”

Trey’s lips twitched, making the dark-blond scruff there move in a comical sort of way. “Shirley Temple?”

I shrugged, resting my bag on the stool next to me. “Don’t judge. It’s a happy drink, and I think we could all use some happy now and then.”

“Fair enough.” He slid a single-paged menu across the bar and got to work on my drink.

“Plus, who doesn’t have a weakness for maraschino cherries?”

Trey chuckled. “I’d say the majority of the population. Most pluck ’em out of their drinks and leave them behind.”

“They’re missing out,” I mumbled as my gaze scanned the menu. “Any recommendations?”

“I’m partial to the barbeque chicken wrap and you can never go wrong with the fries.”

“Sign me up,” I said, setting the menu down.

“You got it, boss.” Trey placed a tall Shirley Temple complete with cherries and an umbrella on a napkin. Then he set a small dish full of more cherries next to it.

I stared at them for a long moment as I heard Trey holler my order back into the kitchen. When he turned back to me, I was still staring at the two items.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

I blinked a few times, trying to clear the burn in my eyes. “Why are you being nice to me? Pretty sure your bestie is googling ways to have me evicted from town limits or how to dissolve a body in acid.”

Trey barked out a laugh and leaned against the back bar. “Colt takes the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he’ll do anything to keep his sister or anyone else he cares about from harm. It’s the kind of duty that’s burned into a person.”

All of that read true. I’d seen it flare to life at Emerson’s house. But also in his concern for every person that crossed his path. Even me.

“All right. But shouldn’t you have his back and be giving me the boot?” I lifted the drink and put the straw to my lips, the sweet combination of Sprite and grenadine playing on my tongue.

Trey was quiet for a moment. Even in the short interactions I’d had with the man, I could tell he wasn’t afraid of silence, and he wouldn’t be rushed. This time it was as if he was deciding whether I was worthy of the truth. “Emmie says you linked her case to others.”

My brows pulled together for a split second before the confusion cleared. “Emerson?”

He lifted his chin in assent. “You’ve found other similar incidents?”

That buzz was back. Trey was one of the last people I’d expected to be my in. The fact that he was close with Colt being high on the reasons why not. But it also made sense that he’d know Emerson for that very reason. “Twenty-three of them.”

Trey’s fingers tightened on the bar behind him, knuckles bleaching white. “Holy hell.”

“I want to follow the trail, but I have to start where I think it all began, and that’s with Emerson’s case.”

Trey’s gray eyes flashed. “You don’t know what you’re asking. Digging up that sort of pain.”

“I do know.”

The spark of anger in those eyes shifted to curiosity.

I knew what I had to do. There was no way the people of this town would trust me enough to talk unless they knew my own scars, understood that I was one of their own, that we were members of a club no one wanted to be a part of.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself. I pulled that layer of numbness over me so I could say what I had to without losing it. “My twin sister went missing the night before our college graduation. One moment we were at a party, the next she was simply gone. Nothing left but her key chain smeared with blood. Police never had any leads.”

Trey didn’t move or speak, that silence he was comfortable with wrapping around us both for a few long moments. “You never found her.”

It wasn’t exactly a question, but I answered it anyway. “No. And trust me, I’ve tried. I’m still trying. But in the meantime, I’m also trying to help others. I’m not always successful. Life doesn’t guarantee grand movie endings. But every once in a while we get one. We put the bad guys away so they can’t hurt anyone else. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Trey let my speech wash over him, taking in each revelation. I thought he’d say something about that loss, about my mission, but he didn’t. He gave me something else entirely. “I was the one who found her. Emmie, I mean.”

My jaw went slack. That hadn’t been in a single article I’d read. All they’d shared was the road she’d been discovered on. “How?”

Trey’s throat worked as he swallowed. “I’d been camping. Spotty service. So I didn’t get the text from Colt that Emmie was gone until an hour or so after he’d sent it. But the moment I did, I packed up and got back in my truck. Everyone was out searching, and I told them I’d do the same. Pure dumb luck I hit the road she was walking down.”

He let out a shuddering breath, and suddenly it was like he wasn’t looking at me at all. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live, my headlights hitting her. She was limping, blood staining one side of her clothes, holding her arm close to her body the best she could. Terrified out of her mind.”

He worked his jaw back and forth as the memory played out in his mind. “People think she’s weak, even Colt sometimes, no matter how much he doesn’t mean to. But they’re all dead fucking wrong. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known.”

“You’re right. Because she got out. Got free.”

Trey blinked a few times, clearing his vision. “Yeah.” His voice was more of a rasp now, laced with the pain the memory brought on.

Colt’s accusations filled my mind. I was causing pain. There was no way around it. So in some ways he’d been right. But I also knew that sometimes pain in the here and now was your only chance for true healing. I’d seen it in Marsha and John. Seen it in countless others.

And more than that, wasn’t some pain worth it if there was a chance we could keep innocent lives from being lost in the future? A chance that we could stop others from having to mourn their loved ones?

“Can you tell me where exactly you found her?” I asked. “I want to retrace Emerson’s steps from that night.”

Trey stiffened. “Not sure she’s ready to share that with you.”

I met his stare dead-on. “I’m not asking her to. I’ve got enough information to piece it together. I just didn’t know the exact final spot. I won’t press Emerson. She’ll talk to me if and when she’s ready. If she never wants to, that’s okay too. It’s whatever she needs.”

Some of the tension left Trey’s muscles. “It was on Country Road 33. Between Pine Butte and Cattle Run Road.”

I pulled out my phone and plugged in the information. “Thanks, Trey.”

He nodded, mulling something over. “Go easy on Colt.”

My brows lifted at that. I’d expected a warning to stay away from Emerson, not Colt.

Trey met my gaze, not looking away. “Colt was the one who was supposed to pick her up that night. He was late.”

A heaviness settled in my stomach, as though it was suddenly filled with liquid metal. I’d felt for Colt before. Understood what it was like to watch someone you loved disappear. But we had even more in common than I’d realized. The noxious monster that was guilt, eating everything around it alive.

Trey swallowed hard as he pushed off the bar. “If he comes off as an ass, it’s just because he thinks he already failed Emmie and doesn’t want to do it again.”

And wouldn’t I do the same damn thing if I found Avery now? I’d be a bulldog keeping away anyone who might cause her any sort of harm or discomfort.

Only I knew deep down that I wasn’t going to find Avery breathing. I just wanted to find her at all.