Chapter 24
Of Strange Moon Rising
Previously: The second shot at the runner goes awry and leaves Riley fuming; she gets the runner’s name—Peter Chappell—but Luke orders him on his way before Riley can get a decent answer out of him on anything else. Luke attempts to smooth things over and is locked into an interrogation for his trouble.
Luke’s full attention sat heavy on Riley’s skin. If he wanted out of her car, he’d have to break the window. Or get past her to the lock switch. She shifted as much as her seat would allow to face him head on, propping a knee against the center console.
Brow raised, he said, “Child-locks don’t work on the passenger side door.”
“Mine do.”
Luke flicked a glance at the lock panel. “Even if I pull three times?”
Damn. “Go for it,” she bluffed. “Police upgrades.”
Taut as a bow string in his seat, he sighed, “Riley—”
“A couple of questions and you can be on your way.” She’d let him out if he asked. Nothing he said would be usable in court. They both knew that. “Let’s keep it simple with some yes or nos. Are you hiding things about this case from me?” A soft ball, because she already knew the answer.
Luke took time to mirror her, back slumped against the door, knee cramped against the center console. Riley imagine wheels spinning as he debated whether he would answer, and if he would answer truthfully. Finally, he said, “Yes.”
“Why,” popped out of her mouth. A knee-jerk response.
He shook his head slowly, mockingly. “That’s not a yes or no question.”
Riley kept her face blank of the scowl that fought to form. “Am I the only one in Woodrun PD that doesn’t know?”
“No.”
“Ross knows.”
Luke squinted.
Through gritted teeth, “Does Ross know?”
“Yes.”
Again, expected answers. With how tight Luke seemed with the Logans, she’d bet only Kellen remained in the dark with her—he’d warned she’d get the run-around on local matters. “Is the reason illegal?”
“No.”
Riley frowned. “Not illegal, but you can’t tell me?”
“Not yet.”
A non-answer. Not yet could mean when-hell-freezes-over for all her weaker senses in truth-seeking could tell her. “When?”
He thunked his head back against the window. “I don’t know yet.”
“Is that your decision to make?”
Luke nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Again with the open ended questions.”
Riley huffed. “How and why?”
The corners of his lips twitched. “That’s not any better.”
“Are you an asshole?”
His low laugh sliced through the air. “Yes.”
“Is Wolfrun a part of this case?” Riley observed his full-body tense with interest.
Luke zeroed in on the lock panel again. “You know, you’re locked in here with me, same as I’m locked in here with you.”
Riley felt an acute awareness of her own body as she calculated how quick she could get to her Taser. “Would you really hurt me to get out of this car?”
Eyes flashing wide, he jerked. “What? No—God no—I meant I could ask you uncomfortable questions.”
“Oh, right.” She nodded to herself. “That’s fair.”
Luke took that to mean he had free reign. “You called Greg about the arson before dispatch. How’d you know?”
Right for the jugular. “That’s not a yes or no question.”
His tone went as wry as his answering smile. “Did you know about the arson before it’d been called in?”
Their combined body heat and the A/C had fogged the windows enough to render the passing train a blur. How long was the thing? Riley turned the temperature down while she figured out a misdirect. “I’d planned on staking out Tristian’s home when he returned.”
Luke failed to take the bait. “That wasn’t a yes or a no.“
Riley crossed her arms. “I’m aware.”
“So?”
“Yes,” grated out of her throat. He wouldn’t get any more. “Are you in any form of law enforcement?”
“No.” He tipped his head to the side. “How good a lie-detector are you?”
Riley dug her nails into her palms, trying to keep her body language from betraying signs of panic. “Decent—I’m a cop. Did you kill the John Doe in the motel?”
Luke’s quick, “No,” came across clear.
“Do you know who did?”
“No.”
She’d had to ask for her own peace of mind. “Back to the Wolfrun thing. Is it a part of this case?”
“Yes.”
She’d prepared to pounce on a lie, but he’d shocked her with the truth. Riley stared in the middle distance, trying to regroup. “It’s not really about location.”
“Is there a question in there?”
“If there were, would you answer it?”
“No.” Luke crossed his arms, mirroring her again. “Do you intend to stay in Woodrun awhile?”
“I’m not leaving this case open, if that’s what you mean.”
“We’re not just a sabbatical from the city?”
It echoed something Andy asked on her first day, when she’d unthinkingly stated Old Mooney knew she’d needed a break from the urban sprawl. Was that part of the communication problem? It made sense. Why trust someone who had no long-term ties? Almost to herself, she said, “Kinda’ hard to put down roots when people are actively salting the earth around me.” Luke’s answering snort and nod of reluctant agreement bolstered her to go on. “I like it here. I like a lot of the people I’ve met so far. I like the fresh air and the silence when I step out on my deck in the morning with my coffee. I’d like to stay, but that’s going to depend on if I can do my job. Right now, that’s in question. You seem to need assurances, but I need information from you to determine if I’ll be able to give you those assurances. We’re at a crossroads and I’m not inclined to take the first step.” The freight train had passed, leaving only the sound of their breathing and the first patters of rain against the windshield to fill the space between them. Her skin felt tight in the way of too-much-said.
Luke eyed her. “A crossroads. That’s a good way to put it.”
Riley moved to sit properly in the driver’s seat and disengaged the locks.
“Finished with the interrogation already?”
The levity in his tone made her twitch. “For now.”
Luke hesitated with a hand on the door handle. He waited for her to look his way before asking, “Will you know if Tristian’s in danger again?”
The choking noise she made in the back of her throat could’ve been humor or disbelief.
He nodded thoughtfully like she’d answered with actual words instead of inarticulate gurgling. “Crossroads,” he muttered and opened the car door.
As the sound of his truck’s engine faded, Riley slumped until her forehead rested on her steering wheel. In a high-stakes game of truth-or-truth, she always came out on top. This time, she had the distinct feeling she’d been playing two steps behind.
Obligatory Legal Stuff:
This chapter is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidences are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, locals, and events are coincidental.
No generative AI used. No AI training or scraping allowed.
All rights reserved.
Chapter Title Image created in Canva. Background image from Canva Pro.