He ripped out the door handle.
When he hops into the driver’s seat, I pounce, but Grant is ready for me. He grips my hands and tugs, pulling me over the center console. Grants grips my hair and slams my head down onto the dashboard.
Pain rips through my skull.
My vision blurs, an abyss creeping in from the edges.
Unable to keep my eyes open any longer, darkness becomes my world.
The last thing I hear is Grant whispering into my ear, “I’m sorry I had to do this, but you need to know the truth.”
CHAPTER 53
WALKER
The fluorescent lights of the sheriff's office give way to the biting Wyoming cold as Levi and I step outside through the back door.
Santiago stands outside the employee entrance with both hands shoved into the pockets of his Carhartt jacket. The floodlights wash the color from his face, leaving him looking almost ghostly against the snow.
The second he sees us, he shakes his head. “It’s bad out front.”
He’s right.
We couldn’t go out the front door because that’s where the reporters are, the ones who were covering the grand opening. I’m sure many of them think they just got their career-making story with what happened today.
Abbott sits in a holding cell inside. The ski resort has been evacuated. The crisis should be over.
Instead, it feels like it's only beginning.
Abbott isn’t the Debt Collector, but he isn't innocent either.
The distinction matters.
One man acted out of desperation.
The other meticulously plans.
I feel like I’m back at square one.
Levi leans against the wall next to Santiago, staring off into the trees. I don’t need to ask to know what he’s thinking. Abbott has been his vet tech—his friend–for years. Then the man walks into Silver Pines Resort with a rifle. He’s lucky the first shot missed Neil or else he’d be dealing with a whole other shit storm.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and part of me wishes I could throw it into the snow and forget it ever existed.
But I can’t.
I answer the call without greeting.
“Walk,” Jolene clips. Her tone is all business.
"We've got another one."
Everything inside me goes still. "Where?"
"Maintenance crew found a body at Silver Pines.”
Thankfully, Santiago’s car is parked here in the back, so we get to bypass all the camera crews. Ridge stays behind at the station with Abbott since Tessa is still at the hospital.
We speed through the streets, racing toward the mountain that looms ahead, its lights still glowing against the night sky. Families should've been laughing inside the hotel tonight. Instead, the parking lot is flooded with red and blue emergency lights.
