Chapter Twenty #2
Griff stepped into the bullpen with Lily just behind him. Mickey and Jacob were at their desks, files open, phones charging, both of them looking up as the door clicked shut behind Griff.
“Everything quiet?” Griff asked.
“As quiet as it can be when half the town’s still buzzing from what went down,” Mickey said. “CSIs are still combing through the antique shop and the sewing shop. Nothing new on the rooftop shooter yet.”
“We’ll follow up with the hospital later,” Griff said, nodding.
Jacob glanced toward the hallway. “Margo’s in Interview Two. Hasn’t said much. Her lawyer’s with her. Guy named Bennett Krauss. Out of Rock Springs, I think.”
“Thanks,” Griff said, then started down the hallway with Lily.
They entered the interview room to find Margo sitting at the table.
She looked nothing like the woman who had once glared and snapped at them in public.
Her shoulders were hunched, hair pulled back in a tight, messy knot.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her hands fidgeted in her lap. Defeated. Hollowed out.
Her lawyer, Bennett Krauss, stood when they entered. Late forties, gray suit, thin build with a foxlike sharpness to his gaze. He gave a stiff nod, then sat again.
Griff and Lily took their seats. Griff turned on the recorder, the red light blinking to life.
“This is Deputy Griff Abrams with Deputy Lily Oliver. It’s 9:42 p.m., and we’re in Interview Room Two at the Outlaw Ridge Police Department.
Also present are Margo Cole and her attorney, Bennett Krauss.
This interview pertains to the ongoing investigation into the homicide of Catherine Langston, the previously unresolved murder of Hannah Cole, the recent abduction and endangerment of a minor, and additional charges which will be specified and addressed as the investigation progresses. ”
Griff looked across the table. Margo barely raised her eyes to meet his.
“Ms. Cole, you were read your Miranda rights earlier. Do you need me to go over them again?”
Margo shook her head, voice barely above a whisper. “No. I remember them.” She looked up, voice barely audible. “How’s Caleb?”
Griff kept his tone even. “I’m not at liberty to share that information with you.”
Margo nodded, her lower lip trembling. And what was left of her composure crumbled.
She broke into sobs, the sound raw and jagged, echoing off the sterile walls of the interview room.
Her lawyer reached out, murmuring her name, but she shook him off and pressed a hand over her mouth like it could contain the flood.
“I was desperate,” she gasped between sobs. “I didn’t know what else to do. I just— I was out of my mind when I took him. Caleb must hate me.”
Griff didn’t respond. Neither did Lily. They just watched her, both of them knowing better than to rush the moment.
When Margo finally lifted her head again, tears still spilling, Lily leaned forward slightly.
“Start at the beginning,” she said quietly. “Tell us what you did.”
Margo wiped her face with the back of her trembling hand. Her voice was hoarse. “Where do I even start?”
Griff didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. He could feel Lily tense beside him, her attention locked on Margo, her pen still against the notepad though she wasn’t writing a word.
Then Margo said it, her voice as hollow as it was horrifying.
“I killed Hannah.”
Bennett Krauss shifted in his chair beside her but didn’t object. Not now. Not with what was pouring out.
“I’d just found out I was pregnant,” Margo went on, staring down at her hands. “I told Hannah, and she laughed. She said I was stupid. Said Bobby Ray was screwing both of us.”
She swallowed hard and pressed her palms to her knees as if bracing herself. “She said he was only with me because she told him to be. Like I was some kind of charity case. She picked up the phone, called him, and put it on speaker. Told me to shut up and listen.”
Griff felt his jaw tighten. Lily didn’t move.
“The way they talked… it was all there,” Margo went on. “Everything. Hannah—she was cruel. She told Bobby Ray I was pregnant and he laughed. Said, ‘You sure it’s mine?’ Like it was a joke. Like I was the joke.”
Margo dragged in a ragged breath. “Hannah ended the call, and I walked out. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her. But she followed me. Down to the creek. I don’t remember everything after that. Just the rage. Just how she smiled like she was proud of it.”
Her shoulders shook again.
“I didn’t plan it. I didn’t go down there meaning to kill her. But when I picked up the rock, when she looked at me like I was nothing… I just—” She exhaled sharply. “I hit her. Over and over. Then, my hands were around her throat, choking her, and I didn’t stop until she wasn’t moving anymore.”
Silence fell.
“I had that photo,” she whispered. “The one of her dying. I don’t even remember grabbing my phone. But I took it. And then I… I cleaned up. I planted the tire iron in Bobby Ray’s burn barrel. Got blood from Hannah’s sweater and smeared it in his truck. Made it all fit.”
Griff could feel Lily’s breath catch beside him.
Margo finally looked up, tears clinging to her lashes. “I needed the world to believe Bobby Ray was guilty. I needed him to suffer for making me believe I mattered to him.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And he did. Every damn day until the day he died.”
Griff didn’t speak. He couldn’t. There were no words for what sat between them now—just the weight of a truth too long buried.
Griff gave her a few beats. Let the silence settle. Let her breathe.
Then he asked, voice low, even, “What happened after you heard the case had been reopened?”
Margo’s head dropped slightly. Her lawyer shifted beside her, raising a hand as if to stop her, but she waved him off, her tone sharper now—clearer than it had been all morning.
“No,” she said. “No more hiding. I want it all out. I’m so damn tired. The secrets have eaten my soul alive.”
Bennett Krauss sighed and lowered his hand.
Margo wiped under her eyes, then lifted her gaze to Griff and Lily. “I panicked when I found out. When I heard that the case was being reopened, I thought… maybe with all the new forensic testing, maybe they’d find something. Something I missed. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t.”
Lily’s voice cut in, firm but quiet. “So you tried to stop us.”
Margo nodded, her expression crumbling all over again. “Yes.”
The confession kept pouring out like she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I hired those two men. First one, then the second after the first was killed. I gave them burner phones and instructions. I sent the note. I left the photo on your SUV. I scattered the photos outside Everett’s office.”
Griff leaned in slightly. “Why do that? Why point the finger at Everett?”
Her eyes met his, bleak and tired. “Because he was part of it. Not Hannah’s murder, not directly. But he used her. He helped turn her into the girl who laughed at me. Who crushed me like I was dirt. And if the heat landed on him… maybe the rest would blow over.”
Griff kept his expression steady, but the sick weight of what they’d just heard settled deep. It had all spiraled from that moment. A teenager’s fury, a sister’s cruelty—and a silence that had festered for fifteen years into murder, manipulation, and a town full of ghosts.
And now, finally, the truth sat in the middle of the room like a stone.
“Tell us about Catherine.” Lily’s voice was steady, controlled.
Margo’s hands twisted in her lap, her nails pressing into her palms. Her voice was quieter now, more frayed.
“When I found out she was paying off Rhett… I didn’t know what she knew.
Maybe she had details about the murder—something buried in his notes, something Catherine saw or heard. I couldn’t risk it.”
“So you killed her,” Lily said, not a question.
“Yes. I waited until I knew she’d be alone. I lured her out. I… I staged it just like Hannah. I needed it to send a message. I wanted people to believe someone was targeting anyone tied to the case. I hoped they’d arrest Everett. Or Rhett.”
Griff leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. “Did Rhett have any part in your sister’s murder?”
Margo’s mouth twisted. “Only through his incompetence. He questioned me once. I started crying. He backed off like I was made of glass. Never even asked if I’d done it. Not once.”
She looked at Griff now, raw with contempt. “And he spent all his energy trying to cover for Everett. I don’t know why—maybe loyalty, maybe money, maybe both. But he never looked at me. Never looked at any of the women close to the case. He should be in jail.”
Griff didn’t respond out loud, but in his mind, he agreed. Rhett Hale had broken enough laws to warrant a long list of charges. Maybe he hadn’t killed anyone—but he’d protected the wrong people, obstructed justice, and made damn sure the truth stayed buried.
Not anymore.
Griff watched Margo for a long moment, then finally sat back, the weight of the truth settling hard across the room.
They were almost at the end of it now.
Almost.
Griff let the silence stretch for a moment, letting Margo breathe before he asked, “Tell us about Caleb.”
The question cracked something in her. Margo’s breath hitched and then gave way to a ragged sob. She buried her face in her hands, shaking. When she looked up again, her eyes were red, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I took him,” she said. “I went to the Davidson house, waiting for a chance. When he came outside, I stunned him… tied him up. I didn’t want to hurt him—I just needed leverage. I thought if I could force you to destroy the files… this would all go away.”
Margo wiped at her face with trembling fingers. “I hired a hacker to try to wipe the system. He failed. That’s when I sent the photo and made Caleb read the instructions. But I can’t talk more about him. Not now.”
She looked away, her voice breaking again. “But I’ll write it down. All of it. I’ll make a full confession.”