Page 1 of Outlaw Ridge: Reed (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #6)

Sheriff Hallie McQueen tried to ignore the stares and the behind-the-hand whispers from those on Main Street as she made her way from the parking lot and into the Outlaw Ridge Police Station.

Tried and failed.

She didn’t want it to bother her, but she knew what more than a few people thought and whispered about when they spotted her. Some saw the badge. Or their new sheriff. Or the woman who’d been born and raised here before leaving to join the military at eighteen.

But most saw her as the daughter of serial killers.

Her parents, who had been born and raised here in Outlaw Ridge as well, had been locked away for a nearly decade now, convicted of more than a dozen murders, but that wasn’t nearly enough time for people to forget their grisly crimes.

Not long enough either to wonder if she had inherited murderous traits from them or had known what they were doing and hadn’t stopped them.

Yes, she knew what people thought when they looked at her.

Steeling herself up—something she’d had a lot of practice doing—Hallie stepped into the police station.

Straight into that chaos of sounds and activity that always excited and soothed her.

She might be the serial killers’ daughter, but she was a cop to the core, and the station immediately felt like home.

With the small cardboard box of her office stuff cradled under her left arm, she stood in reception and glanced around at the five deputies in the bullpen.

Their desks were in a semicircle with the sheriff’s office, her new office, positioned at the top of the arc.

Hallie didn’t see the former sheriff, Owen Striker, but she spotted men she recognized in the bullpen.

Shaw and Declan Brodie were two of those familiar faces. They’d been operatives with the elite security company, Strike Force, and Hallie had worked as civilian consultants with her on a couple of cases. Ditto for the deputy with the dark blond hair who was seated at one of the desks.

Reed Winston.

He’d assisted her, too. In a way after she’d made detective at San Antonio PD. Reed had been the one who’d launched a search for a missing woman that had ultimately turned into the investigation that had led to her parents’ arrests and convictions.

Since those arrests had potentially stopped more murders, Hallie was beyond thankful to Reed, and there was no bad blood between them. However, there was a whopping amount of unease, discomfort, and awkwardness. He was a living, breathing blast from a past that she worked hard to keep behind her.

To complicate things even more, Hallie still felt those needy, unwanted tugs of attraction that had landed Reed and her in bed for a one-off during their short investigative time together. There’d been no additional trips to the bed though after her parents’ arrests.

Seeing him back then and now swamped her with memories. Good and bad ones. Of the heat between them and the miserable pain of the aftermath of coming face to face with what her parents had done.

Reed had thankfully slipped out of her life so as not to be a visual reminder of the trainwreck that had threatened to destroy her both personally and professionally.

And it seemed he was slipping out of her life again since he had apparently already put in his notice that he’d be turning in his badge in a couple of days and returning to his job as an operative at Strike Force.

As if he’d known someone was thinking about him, or sensed she was there, Reed’s head whipped up, and even though he had looked to be engrossed in something he was reading on his laptop, his gaze went straight to hers. He got to his feet and started walking her way.

“Sheriff McQueen,” he greeted. It sounded way too formal, considering that she had firsthand knowledge of a longhorn tat just above his left butt cheek, but she appreciated the decorum that acted as a don’t get too chummy with me barrier.

Since Reed hadn’t been on duty when she’d come in for her initial interview with Owen a month earlier, it had been nearly a decade since she’d seen him, and Hallie had to admit that those years had done even more justice to his already handsome face and athletic body.

At thirty-nine now, he had some character lines which only added, well, more character.

And his body appeared to now have a been there, done that, can still do it just fine vibe.

“Deputy Winston,” she responded, going the formal route as well.

Reed stayed totally professional, full military bearing, except for one slight flicker of his gaze to her mouth.

Maybe, he was also taking a short trip down a memory lane filled with a hot mess of the sex and the nightmare finish that’d ended with her father trying to murder them when they’d apprehended him.

Yes, Reed and she definitely had a mixed-bag history.

“We didn’t think you’d be coming in until tomorrow morning,” Reed said, glancing over his shoulder at Shaw and Declan, who were approaching. Both greeted her with smiles, nods of greeting, and only a smidge or two of hesitation.

“Owen’s testifying at a trial over in Justice Creek. Not sure when he’ll be back,” Reed added.

“It’s all right,” Hallie assured him.

She was indeed early. The nerves had gotten to her and she hadn’t been able to force herself to stay put in the new house that Owen had arranged for her.

“I just thought I’d come in and get started,” she added.

“No problem,” Reed assured her. “Your office is ready.” He went through the small gate next to the full body scanner to detect weapons.

Hallie knew it was top-of-the-line equipment, which could be said of just about everything in the station.

That was thanks to Owen and his massively deep pockets.

A year ago when most of the Outlaw Ridge cops had been killed, Owen had stepped up as interim sheriff and had completely revamped the place.

It had better resources and cop toys than huge city forces.

Taking the cardboard box from her, Reed led her out of reception and into the bullpen where he introduced her to the two other deputies.

Jemma Salvetti and Caitlin Barker. Hallie had studied the files on both, and even though they hadn’t worn the badges for long, they were still both highly qualified, with Jemma being a former lawyer and Caitlin having a master’s degree in forensic science.

Owen had obviously chosen the best of the best when revamping the station.

“I’ve heard good things about you and look forward to working with you,” Hallie said, knowing that might not ease the doubts they had about her. After all, top cops like them would have studied her file, too.

They knew she’d had a damn good solve rate as a detective, and the rate had continued steady and strong with the detectives that she’d supervised as a lieutenant. But a sparkly track record didn’t overcome the smelly trail of crap that her parents had left behind.

Reed showed her to her new office where, again, everything was top-notch.

The gray slate floors, mahogany desk, and dark blue leather chairs.

It still had that feel of a cop shop but one with class.

A high-tech one, what with a digital evidence board that Hallie knew was linked to an assortment of software and databases.

It looked like a clean sheet of glass now, but she knew it could ultimately display many facets of an investigation.

“Have you had a tour of the station?” Reed asked.

Hallie nodded. “It’s impressive. I think I remember where everything is.”

She paused, took the box from him and set it on the desk before she looked straight into Reed’s blue eyes. So far, this conversation had been oh-so polite and had the feel of trying not to step on a whole bunch of eggshells.

That was about to change.

“How much flak did Owen get when he insisted on hiring me to replace him?” she pressed.

The corner of his mouth did a slight upturn, but it was gone in a flash. “Some. But it was flak he handled just fine. You know Owen.”

Yes, she did, and he wouldn’t have let anything like flak get in his way. Even if it’d been a massive amount of it.

“I know Owen’s been trying to recruit you for the job for months now,” Reed went on. “What made you finally accept?”

“Temporary insanity,” she muttered. Then, she waved that off. “I was looking for a new challenge, and Owen was…persistent.”

Owen had wanted someone local. Someone with ties to the former much-loved sheriff, Marty Bonetti, who’d been murdered.

Marty had been her godfather, the father of her heart, and the reason she hadn’t gone into the full meltdown mode when her parents had been arrested.

Because of Marty, Hallie felt as if she owed him, and this town, plenty.

“I’m also hoping this job will be an air clearing of sorts for me,” Hallie went on. “A way to prove that I’m not my parents. And maybe make up for what they did.” She glanced around. “That won’t be easy.”

“No,” he agreed, “ but at least being around me won’t be a problem for you. I have two days before my replacement comes in. After that, you’ll hardly see me.”

“You live in Outlaw Ridge,” she pointed out.

“Yeah. Just outside of town.” He had a nostalgic look in his eyes when he glanced around the station. “But I don’t usually have reason to come here. You’ve worked with Strike Force ops enough to remember how busy things can get.”

She did. It was a feast or famine kind of pace. Usually a mission or two a month when it was all a race against time to save, find or stop someone. Missions that often involved life and death situations and confrontations.

The missions were often followed by at least a week of downtime. Not especially relaxing downtime since the assignments, and especially the failure, could eat through you like acid.

“It won’t be a problem,” she assured him.

Well, not a major one anyway. She could dodge lust. Probably. The really hard part though would be convincing folks that she wasn’t a demon spawn or some damaged goods because she’d been raised by serial killers.

Reed stared at her, as if trying to decide if what she’d just said was true. Or maybe he was testing that old heat level between them. Either way, he didn’t get to keep up the stare long because his phone rang, and he looked away to yank it from his pocket.

She saw Deputy Aaron Stringer’s name on the screen before he answered it. Hallie didn’t hear what the deputy said, but whatever it was, it caused Reed’s forehead to bunch up.

“Yes, Sheriff McQueen is here,” Reed said.

That got her attention. She wasn’t officially on the job yet and people were already calling for her?

“I’m putting the call on speaker so she can hear this,” Reed added. “Repeat what you just said.”

The other deputy didn’t waste any time in replying. “I said I think Sheriff McQueen needs to come out to Walt Garner’s place and see this. We responded to a 911 call for a domestic disturbance, and we discovered two bodies. A male and a female.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and she got that familiar slam of adrenaline. She just hadn’t expected to get the slam so soon here in Outlaw Ridge.

“I think one of the DB’s is Walt Garner.

Maybe anyway. I never met the guy. Don’t have a clue who the other one is, but it’s a woman, and I don’t believe she’s from around here,” Deputy Stringer went on.

“And there’s a note for the sheriff taped to the back of the female victim’s head. I’m sending a picture of it now.”

Hell. That did more than catch her breath. All the air in her lungs tried to escape. She didn’t even attempt to speak. Or speculate. Or question what the heck was going on. Hallie just waited for the sound of the next text. Waited a heartbeat more for it to load.

“Shit,” Reed spat out.

And that’s when she knew to go into maximum steeling up mode. She swallowed hard, leaned in and looked at the words on the note.

Welcome back to hell, Hallie .