Everything inside me screamed that this was not going to end well. Life was about to take a hard right turn, and the whole fucking town would feel the aftershocks.
44
RYDER
Pacing the hospital waiting room,I racked my brain for anything that might help the police.
So far, they had no leads as to who would attack them on the side of the road. It could be random, but the guy had a gun. He shot Jeff and took Ellie. That couldn’t be random. It wasn’t a carjacking, and he didn’t take anything from Jeff. This was all about taking someone hostage.
But why?
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I checked the caller ID, I cursed under my breath. I’d forgotten all about Bianca at the airport.
Shooting off a quick text, I got JR to pick her up and take her to the ranch, ignoring his scathing reply at my orders.
“Hey,” Michael said, interrupting my thoughts. “We can see Jeff in a few minutes.”
I nodded, still stuck on my current line of thinking. “It couldn’t have been random.”
“What?”
“The attack wasn’t random. It couldn’t have been.”
He was silent for a moment, and I glanced up, seeing the truth in his eyes. He already knew.
“Wyatt said there were nails in her tires. Too many. She just had her tires changed.”
“I know. I took her for them.”
“And you didn’t drive through any construction sites or?—”
“Wyatt replaced them.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is this Wyatt? Some part of the feud?”
“Ellie isn’t part of the feud,” he reminded me.
“No, but she was with Liam,” I argued.
“Okay, hold on,” he hissed, grabbing my arm and dragging me aside. “Before you start accusing people of this, let’s look at the facts. Jeff and Ellie were attacked on the side of the road by a man with a gun. Wyatt was back at his shop. He was called to the crime scene and examined the tire. He’s the one who came here and told me he didn’t think this was an accident. Now, either he’s the stupidest criminal ever, or he didn’t do this.”
I shoved my fingers through my hair in frustration. Maybe he was right, but that didn’t mean this wasn’t a targeted attack.
“Okay, but someone was still after Ellie.”
“I agree, but until we talk with Jeff, we have nothing to go on.”
Unless this wasn’t a one-time crime of passion.
“It’s an escalation,” I murmured.
“What?”
“The rock through the window. The graffiti on her Jeep. Then the shop was destroyed. We assumed it was someone in town with a grudge against Ellie because of her involvement with Liam.”
“Right,” he agreed. “The attacks stopped after you cleaned up the shop. Bailey walked in and made the town see that she didn’t hold a grudge.”
“Exactly, but what if whoever this was?—”
“Was just biding his time,” he finished for me.
