Page 75 of Shadow Justice

“I figured you’d say that.” A muscle worked in Hopper’s jaw. “She thinks I’m a monster now, doesn’t she?”

Reid didn’t answer. Holly had defended him more than once because she’d seen a wounded man where Reid had seen a possible threat. “She knows the evidence points toward you, but she wants you to be innocent.”

Hopper looked down the street, his throat moving as if he were swallowing something hard. “She’s always kind to me. I barely spoke to her. Most days I came in, ordered coffee, sat outside, and tried to remember how normal people act in public. She let me do that. Didn’t ask why I watched the door. Didn’t ask why I left if the room got too loud. Just gave me coffee like I was a person instead of a problem.”

The quiet honesty in that annoyed him. He didn’t want Hopper to be human right now. He wanted the obvious suspect to stay obvious until Claire could tie the bow. “You’ve been watching the shop. Why?”

Hopper’s gaze came back to him. “Because Allen told me I needed to get out of my house. He said Emma wouldn’t want me living like a ghost.” He sighed sharply as if the idea pained him. “He said grief had turned my house into a shrine and I was mistaking isolation for loyalty. He wasn’t wrong.”

“You joined his support group.”

“Not joined.” Hopper’s mouth twisted. “Showed up a few times. Sat there, listened, and left. That was about all I could manage.”

“And the other times you came here?”

“It felt safe enough to try being normal again.” He gave Reid a humorless glance. “Which is a hell of a thing to say now.”

Reid didn’t let his attention drift from Hopper, but his mind had begun sorting the pieces differently. Allen urging Hopper into public. Hopper at Sanctuary. Jurors walking into the same shop. Allen knowing the old case better than anyone. Allen angry at Claire for taking Hopper in. Allen at Sanctuary that morning, furious and wounded and too quick to lash out at Holly when his moral ground slipped.

“What brought you back tonight?” Reid asked.

“Agent Dawson showed me the punch card. She asked if I wrote it and if it meant anything to me.” Hopper rubbed both hands over his face, exhaustion dragging at him. “‘Some people don’t deserve sanctuary.’ I didn’t write it, but it’s been circling my head all day because I’ve heard something like it before. Not those exact words. Close enough that it bothers me, though.”

“Who said it?”

“I couldn’t place it. Not until I was standing here debating if I should talk to Holly and if it might scare her.” He stared down at his shoes. “That’s when I noticed Allen.”

Reid went still. “Allen? Where?”

“He cut down the alley maybe five minutes before you came out, and that’s when I remembered. After the trial, after the verdict, Allen came to my mother’s house. He said procedure had given Calvin Dodge sanctuary. Said some people didn’t deserve the mercy of the law.”

The shop behind Reid exploded with barking, downstairs behind the front window.

Reid turned. Blue had his front paws braced against the glass, barking with his whole body, claws scraping the window as he tried to get Reid’s attention. His eyes were wild, ears forward, breath fogging the glass.

Blue should have been upstairs with Holly. Reid moved before the thought fully finished. Cold fear grabbed him by the chest, and all the pieces fell into place.

He shoved the key into the front door with hands that didn’t feel like his own, turned the lock, and pushed inside. Blue barreled into him, whining and barking, then spun toward the rear stairwell.

“Hopper, call 911,” Reid ordered. “Tell them Allen Davies is in Holly Bristol’s apartment and she’s in danger.”

He didn’t wait to see whether Hopper obeyed.

Blue hit the stairwell ahead of him, nails scratching on the steps as he lunged upward. Reid followed, taking the stairs two at a time. The sound of Blue’s frantic barking echoed in the narrow space with the pounding of Reid’s own blood. He reached the apartment door and found it shut.

He twisted the knob. Locked. “Holly!” He hit the door with the side of his fist. “Holly, answer me.”

Blue clawed at the bottom of the door, whining, then barking again.

“Holly!”

Her scream came from inside, sharp and terrified. “Re⁠—”

It cut off.

The silence that followed stripped every careful thing out of him. Reid threw his shoulder into the door. The frame held. Pain cracked down his arm. He backed up as much as the landing allowed and hit it again, harder, hearing wood splinter but not give.

“Allen!” he shouted. “Step away from her.”