Page 20 of Outlaw Ridge: Shaw (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #5)

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With everything in motion, Ava sat at the desk in Shaw’s office and tried to focus on solving the riddle. Hard to do that though, but the urgency was slamming into her. This desperate need pushing her to save this latest victim.

She was pulling apart the riddle, word by word, while the final details of their plan were being hashed out.

There was an ambulance with flashing lights in front of Shaw’s house.

A cruiser, too. And Owen, Reed, and two EMTs were inside the house, with the EMTs waiting in the guestroom where they would remain until… well, this ordeal was over.

Until the over part happened, everyone was at work and had been for the last fifteen minutes or so since the ambulance, Owen, and Reed had arrived. Owen was on the phone setting up security and backup for the plan, and Reed, Shaw, and she were working on the riddle.

Because after all, the ideal endgame would be to save the victim while also catching a killer.

To do that, the EMTs definitely wouldn’t be in the ambulance when it finally left the house for the hospital. Shaw and she would be, and Reed, who’d be driving and dressed as an EMT, would be with them. Owen would be posing as the second EMT.

Since the idea was to draw out the killer and not scare him or her off with too much of a police presence, the cruiser would stay put for a while as if Owen and Reed were wrapping up the aftermath of Ava’s death.

Yes, her death .

As soon as they had an inkling of what the riddle meant, Owen would get teams to the possible sites, and she’d be carried to the ambulance on a stretcher.

Her body would be completely covered, first with a heat-blocking blanket and then with the sheet that EMTs used to cover someone dead.

A visibly outraged Shaw would then climb into the ambulance with her and fire off another text repeating his threat to kill all three of the suspects now that she had died.

To complete the charade of her death, Ava was staying away from the windows. Out of sight. There was no need for them to worry about someone using an infrared scanner to try to figure out what was going on because Shaw had assured her that his security system would block such a scan.

Ava could only imagine how Grant, Lorelei or Valerie were reacting to that last text he’d sent.

Whichever one was the killer was no doubt scrambling to end Shaw’s life, to silence him for good.

None of them had tried to call or text Shaw or anyone else at Outlaw Ridge PD, but then that would be an admission of guilt since only the killer was using that burner phone.

Owen ended his latest call and instantly speared them with his intense gaze.

“All right, give me some guesses about this riddle.” He glanced down at it and read it aloud.

“Two hearts once fought, yet couldn’t prevail, seven years of guilt now tips the scale.

The past unburied, truths untold, to find the victim, the clock takes hold.

Where the sun sets, the answer lies. Solve the riddle, or another dies . ”

Ava had a page of notes and was ready to respond.

“The two hearts could refer to Shaw’s and my struggles with the earlier cases.

The couldn’t prevail could mean we got the wrong man, that Dell wasn’t the killer.

Or it might have something to do with the people who died.

In other words, not important to helping us narrow down possible locations. ”

“Agreed,” Shaw said. Obviously, he was ready to respond as well. “I think most of the entire riddle is bullshit except for the past unburied and where the sun sets .”

“Agreed,” Ava repeated. “And that means I think you should send someone out to every site of the previous attacks, but focus on the depot since it’s the only one west of town.”

Owen got back on the phone again, arranging for teams to be sent out to those locations. Of course, it was possible the killer would be there and just end the victim’s life because they hadn’t followed the rules. But Ava was betting the killer would be on the way to deal with Shaw.

And that brought on some fresh fear.

She wanted Shaw safe. Didn’t want this killer anywhere near him. But the fastest way to ensure safety was to try to eliminate the threat.

As if he was aware she was thinking about him, Shaw looked at her. As expected, there was concern in her eyes. Concern for her. And she knew what was coming before he even spoke.

“You could stay put inside, and we could load a dummy into the ambulance,” he insisted.

It was indeed exactly what she’d expected. “This is our fight,” she reminded him.

“And I’m a cop, and you’re not,” he fired back, and he seemed to be already working up that outrage he was going to aim at their suspects.

Ava went with one of those worst-case scenarios that she was sure Shaw had already considered. “If the killer gets to you in the ambulance, realizes I’m not there, then he or she comes after me here at your house. I’d rather us be together if we’re attacked. I need us to be together,” she amended.

Shaw continued to stare at her a moment and then cursed.

Because one of his worst-case scenarios had no doubt included her having a panic attack so serious that it rendered her incapable of protecting herself.

Ava didn’t think that would happen, but she couldn’t be sure.

Apparently, neither could Shaw because his next round of profanity let her know the plan was still a go.

“All right, the teams have been dispatched,” Owen relayed to them once he’d finished his call. “They’re all armed and have thermal scanning equipment with them. The drones are on the way, too.”

Good. Maybe they would get there in time to save whoever had been taken though that fear would be weighing on Ava’s mind until she knew for sure they didn’t have another dead body on their hands.

Owen checked the time. “It’s been thirty minutes since Shaw sent those showdown texts to the unknown number. Are you ready to go?”

Reed, who was already wearing one of the EMT’s uniforms, immediately got to his feet.

So did Shaw and Ava. They were all already vested up and had weapons and backup weapons.

All the precautions that could be taken were in place, and instead of skyrocketing nerves, Ava felt at peace that this might finally be closure for this seven-year nightmare.

She lay down on the stretcher that had also been prepped for her, and Shaw gave her one last look before the covers were placed over her. The moment that was done, she felt Owen and Reed lift her and start moving out of the house.

Shaw moved, too, and he started his part of the pretense as they made their way to the ambulance.

“You chickenshit coward,” he shouted. “You’re going to pay for this.” And she heard the swoosh of the text that he’d composed when they’d been inside.

“ I’m going to kill all three of you. I swear to God, you’re dead .”

Whoever was on the receiving end of that message might just ignore it.

Might ignore the other threats Shaw had made as well.

To expose Grant. To contact Dell and tell him that Valerie had betrayed him.

To announce to the press that Lorelei’s sister was a murderer.

Those things might not hit a nerve with their suspects, but Ava believed it would.

Yes, they were dealing with an organized killer. But motive was the key here, and the threats might rattle him or her enough to make a huge mistake.

If it was revenge for her sister’s death, Lorelei would become enraged at the accusation. Ditto for Grant. And no way would the loyal Valerie want her brother to believe the worst about her. Any one of them would want to stop Shaw, especially if they felt threatened that he would murder them.

The seconds ticked off in her head, and Ava shut out Shaw’s fake rantings and listened for any unusual sounds. She couldn’t hear anything, but she doubted the killer would come after them until they were away from the cruiser.

She felt herself being lifted into the ambulance, and someone, Shaw no doubt, slipped in next to her. He moved down the top blanket since it was no longer needed for the pretense, but the thermal covering stayed in place. Not quite smothering her, but Ava had to fight that particular sensation.

The ambulance started to move, and she felt Shaw move. “I want a better look out the back windows,” he let her know. “You okay?”

“I’m good,” she managed.

If she hadn’t been, she would have lied. No need to add anything else to the mental hell that Shaw had to be going through. But she was going through it, too. The fear of losing him had her by the throat and wouldn’t let go.

“Only a mile,” she heard him mutter.

A reminder that this would be a short trip one way or the other. If the killer didn’t come after them now, then Shaw would have to make himself solo bait. He’d have to continue to pursue the trio of suspects until one of them did something to incriminate themselves.

“Any other vehicles on the road?” she asked.

“None.”

Not a surprise since it was past one of the morning. In a ranching area like this, most people were in bed. She hoped they stayed there because she didn’t want any innocent bystanders caught up in this.

From the cab of the ambulance, Ava heard the sound of an incoming text. “The drone is picking up a heat source at the Dawson’s landfill,” Owen relayed to them.

The site they’d dismissed with the last riddle. It wasn’t to the west as the depot, but it was possible there was another connection to it in the riddle.

“Shit,” Owen spat out.

That got her attention. So did the fact that Reed slammed on the brakes. The ambulance went into a skid, and she heard a strange sound as if something was being ripped apart.

“Spike strip on the road,” Owen called out.

And the ambulance had obviously hit it because they came to a jerking stop. That happened a split second before she heard something else.

A gunshot.

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