Page 2 of Outlaw Ridge: Shaw (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #5)

Ava was having to work hard to keep her breathing and her heart from racing out of control. A necessity. Because she knew that was her best chance at staving off a panic attack.

Hard to stave it off though when she could feel it trying to unleash inside her.

“Ava and you go in a cruiser,” Owen instructed Shaw and her, his order thankfully cutting through some of the pulsing and hammering in her head.

It was happening again. God, it wasn’t over.

“I’ll follow behind with more deputies,” Owen went on. “Way behind so I’m not spotted. And I’ll get a drone up to see what we’re up against.”

Ava didn’t tell him to be careful, not to let anyone see him or the other cops or the victim would die. No need. This wasn’t Owen’s first rodeo with the Riddle Killer.

Except this wasn’t actually Dell Corbin.

No way it could be with him behind bars. But whoever was doing this was likely working on Dell’s behalf. Dell had a sister that might have stepped up to fill his shoes. But this could be some twisted SOB who wanted to copycat Dell’s crimes.

“Vest up before you go. And here,” Owen went on, pulling a gun from his desk and handing it to her.

She took it, her fingers trembling around the cold steel. Ava hated guns, but she would gladly accept this one and hoped it would help save a life or two.

“This way,” Shaw said, motioning for her to follow him.

Ava did, wishing that she hadn’t worn a dress. But then when she’d left her house in San Antonio earlier, she hadn’t known she’d be playing yet another sick game with a killer.

Shaw led her to a supply room where he snatched two Kevlar vests from a well-organized cubby. Just putting on the vest gave her a slam of more flashbacks. More dread. Because the last time she’d had one on was when Shaw and she had been caught up in Dell’s second riddle.

The moment they had on the vests, Shaw grabbed two communication earbuds, handing her one as they hurried toward a side exit. Within a handful of seconds, they were outside and in an Outlaw PD cruiser, and Shaw was speeding out of the parking lot.

One glance in the side mirror, and she saw that Owen was right behind them, and he had a female deputy with him that she didn’t recognize.

“That’s Deputy Jemma Salvetti,” Shaw said, obviously noticing what Ava was looking at. “Hayes’ fiancé.”

No need for him to spell out who Hayes was. Hayes, along with Aiden and Declan, were Shaw’s brothers.

“What can I do to help you?” Shaw asked a heartbeat later.

She silently cursed that he was having to devote even a sliver of thought to how she was handling this kind of pressure. “I’ll manage,” she settled for saying and prayed that was true. She wouldn’t be much help to the victim if she couldn’t stop this damn panic attack from claiming her.

Shaw made a sound that could mean anything, but she thought he had his doubts about her managing this. Which meant he’d almost certainly heard about her panic attacks.

Of course, he had.

Her panic attack/meltdown had been captured on a cell phone after she’d come out of the courthouse from testifying against Dell. The video had ended up on social media and now most folks treated her like fragile glass. One careless flick of a finger and they thought she would shatter.

She wouldn’t.

But there was hell to pay to keep everything tamped down.

Something she’d done for seven years—shove it down deep inside her so she could do her job.

What helped with that at the moment was focusing on the drive.

A familiar one that she made several times a year.

Not at this breakneck speed though, of course.

And not with a potential victim waiting for them at the end of the journey.

“There might not be anyone at the cemetery,” Shaw said, the sound of his voice anchoring her to the here and now. “All of it could be a hoax.”

Ava hoped it was, but she couldn’t help thinking of worst-case scenarios. There were some horrible places for a victim to end up in a graveyard, and Dell had enjoyed “entombing” his victims. Lorelei and Melissa in the plaster. Another in an abandoned well.

And Ava in that drainage pipe.

Dell had sealed up both ends, trapping her, essentially burying her alive, and she had been dead certain she was on her last breath when Shaw had finally hacked his way through the concrete.

“You’re breathing too fast,” Shaw let her know. “Look at me. Focus just on me.”

She did turn toward him. Did pin her attention to him. Even though she’d never believed something so simple would actually help.

But it did.

That was partially because of the mixed bag on memories that she had with Shaw.

The best and the worst. The best when Shaw and she had started dating and become lovers.

The best when Ava had thought this incredibly hot man would be a big part of her future.

Unfortunately, that hope and happiness were short-lived because Dell had managed to kidnap her and set up his own little hell for her to experience.

Ava continued to watch him as he drove, and she sighed.

Not because of the flashbacks but because this incredibly hot guy had managed to get even hotter over the past seven years.

That thick black hair. Those smoke-gray eyes.

The face that made you do a doubletake, wondering if he was some rugged film star.

Not a star though, but an actual hero.

Shaw didn’t have that label only for saving her but for the others he’d rescued when he’d been in military special ops, and in the years he’d worked for Strike Force. Apparently, he was now continuing his heroics as an Outlaw Ridge deputy.

“I’m okay,” she managed to assure him and was glad that it was at least partially true.

Or at least it was true until the sound shot through the cruiser. It gave her a jolt until she realized it was just Shaw’s phone ringing.

“Reed,” he said when the name popped up on the dash screen.

She remembered him as well. Shaw’s close friend, but according to the info on the dash, he, too, was now a deputy.

“You’re on speaker,” Shaw told Reed when he took the call. “Ava’s with me. We’re on the way to Hartwell Cemetery.”

“You got another riddle,” Reed said, tacking on some profanity to that.

“We did, and we’re less than five minutes out from the possible crime scene,” Shaw verified.

“Hartwell Cemetery,” Reed repeated. “That’s the one out on the old farm road by the creek?”

“It is,” Shaw verified. “No other houses around, but there’s a small church.”

He was right, and over the years, Ava had rarely seen anyone else in the church or the cemetery.

“Did you find out anything we can use to know what we’re up against?” Shaw asked Reed.

“Maybe. The prison officials insist Dell hasn’t had access to a phone, but they’re searching his cell just in case. Dell has had visitors,” Reed added. “His lawyers, a couple of reporters, and two blasts from the past. Lorelei Kane and former homicide detective Donovan Carrick.”

Shaw and she exchanged a puzzled look. Neither of those last two visitors made sense. Lorelei had been one of Dell’s victims. A survivor of the twisted game. And Donovan had been head of the team of SAPD officers who’d investigated the case.

“Lorelei and Donovan?” Ava repeated. “Why would they visit him?”

“Donovan went at Dell’s request,” Reed explained. “Don’t know for sure what they discussed, but it could have had something to do with Dell’s appeal.”

True, but that didn’t seem like something a cop would want to get involved in. Then again, maybe Donovan had just wanted to confront the demon who’d made so many lives a living hell.

“As for Lorelie, she told the prison officials that it was part of her therapy to confront the man who murdered her sister and tormented her,” Reed continued. “As for what she said to Dell, there’s no record of that. But I can contact both Lorelei and Donovan and ask what was discussed.”

Shaw didn’t jump right on that offer, and Ava figured she knew why.

If the Riddle Killer had started up again, everyone connected to the original investigation would need to be interviewed ASAP.

Added to that, if Reed contacted Donovan and Lorelei now, he’d likely have to spill about the new riddle.

About the possibility that there could be another potential victim.

That might create unnecessary alarm if this all turned out to be nothing.

Ava prayed it was nothing.

“Hold off on talking to Donovan and Lorelei,” Shaw finally said, and he had his attention pinned ahead.

Ava’s worry and fear spiked again when Shaw took the final turn to the rural cemetery.

Another glance in the side mirror told her that Owen didn’t take the turn with them.

He pulled off onto a trail, parking the cruiser out of sight, which meant Jemma and he would have to cover the last quarter of a mile or so on foot.

Shaw ended his call with Reed and drove past the sign that pointed to the cemetery on the left and the church on the right. Both immediately came into view, and Ava made quick glances around to see if she could spot anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

She didn’t.

In fact, it looked just as remote and peaceful as it usually did with the thick oak trees and wildflowers creating a backdrop for the tombstones and spattering of mausoleums.

Shaw parked right by the gate to the cemetery, and he took out some binoculars from the glove compartment. Except these didn’t look like ordinary binoculars.

“Infrared,” he explained, scanning the area with them. “I’m not picking up any heat sources, but the headstones could be blocking it.” He had a look at the church, too, and shook his head. “Nothing in there either.”

She pointed to her grandmother’s grave. It was only a few yards from the fence and in easy view. “Check there,” she instructed.

Shaw did, and he gave the binoculars an adjustment. “The beginning and the end,” he said, obviously reading what was etched there in the marble. “Rose Ava Satterly.” He gave another shake of his head. “No heat source there either.”

Ava wasn’t ready to relax just yet and call this a hoax. Especially since the victim could be buried and concealed to block the infrared. And that meant Shaw and she had to get out and check.

“Put in the earpiece,” Shaw instructed. “That way, if the drone picks up something, Owen will be able to relay it to us without texting.”

She did as he said and looked at him. “Dell never tried to gun us down when we went to a scene,” she reminded him, “but we might be dealing with a new killer who doesn’t fully play by Dell’s rules.”

Shaw nodded. “That’s why I want you to stay put.”

She was about to argue with that, to tell him she had no intentions of letting him shoulder the risk for this. But the sound of a text dinged through the earbud, and a moment later, a message from Owen popped up on the dash screen.

“Drone just detected something behind the mausoleum in the center of the graveyard. Looks like a mound of fresh dirt. And there’s a heat source.”

“Hell,” Shaw spat out, already reaching for his door handle.

“I’m not staying put,” Ava insisted, hurrying out of the cruiser with him.

Shaw cursed again, and while the profanity was aimed at her, she didn’t stop. Ava drew the gun Owen had given her, and while she kept watch around them, Shaw and she raced to the mausoleum.

Ava had never had a good look at the gothic style structure and had always thought it a little creepy with the dark stains cascading over the white marble.

It looked unkept and foreboding like an abandoned haunted house.

Still, it would make a good hiding place since it had obviously blocked out the binoculars, and the rear of the structure wasn’t in plain view.

They threaded their way through the headstones, and Ava looked for any signs of shoeprints. But there was nothing.

Not until they got to the back of the mausoleum. And her heart dropped when she saw what was indeed a fresh mound of dirt. There was a small tube sticking out of the top of it, and she hoped whoever was trapped beneath it was still getting enough air to stay alive.

“Owen will let us know if anyone tries to sneak up on us,” Shaw muttered to her as they ran toward the mound.

They both dropped down and started digging. Their movements were frantic, hurried. A race against time to save another victim.

Ava had to shove aside the déjà vu. The panic. The memories. She focused just on the digging, flinging away the dirt while making sure she didn’t rip out the breathing tube.

It seemed to take them an eternity, but she finally saw the shape of a head. It’d been wrapped in duct tape with the tube secured in the person’s mouth.

There was no movement. No sound. Nothing, making her wonder if this was a mannequin.

Shaw continued to dig out the rest of the person while Ava tackled the tape around the head. She peeled off the swatch on the nose.

And her heart sank.

This wasn’t a mannequin but a man, and from what she could see there wasn’t any color in his face. Still, praying, she pulled the tape off his neck and pressed her fingers there. It took several moments but she finally found what she was looking for.

“We need an ambulance now,” she relayed to Shaw. “He’s alive.”

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