Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(106)

“I’m sorry, Iris,” he said. “I’m so—”

“Stop. Stop. It’s okay. It’ll all be okay. But sweetie, you have to go back out there now. You have to, but I’m here with you. You are not alone, Billy. I am here with you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” I put our end on mute.

“Sheriff Hancock, it’s Agent Hudson,” Luke said on his own phone. “We have an active hostage situation occurring at a place called Grey Manor. Mathias Morning and two more armed individuals have at least four hostages, including Billy Ballard.” He listened as I heard Billy flush the toilet. “We have open comms to the situation, that’s how. You need to get people…”

I took my phone off speaker and listened to my brother. Luke had the other stuff well in hand. Billy opened the door. “I really don’t feel well,” my brother said.

“Shut the fuck up,” Ken snapped. “You’re just lucky you’re here, asshole. I voted to leave you at the farm. Come on. Move your ass.”



“Shit! Well, we’re on our way. We’ll keep an eye out,” Luke said before ending his call. He looked at me. “All available units are at the farm. It’ll be twenty minutes before anyone can get there.”

“We’re less than five minutes away,” I said.

He met my eyes and nodded. “Okay.” No other words required. I loved that about us.

“Turn here.”

Without hesitation, he did. I kept listening to my brother’s nightmare.

“Feel better, son?” I heard Mathias ask.

“N-Not really,” Billy said.

“Sit down. We’re almost done here, right, Elliot? You don’t want us to think you’re stalling, do you? That last bullet should have been an effective teaching tool. The next one I put in your stomach. I was stabbed there once. It’s painful as fuck. Worse than a foot, let me tell you. Your son saved you from that gut shot when you tried to send that email; I won’t listen to him a second time.”

“You said it had to come from multiple accounts,” Elliot said through gritted teeth. “That takes time…”

“They definitely don’t have twenty minutes,” I whispered to Luke.

He put the pedal to the metal, dodging and weaving at eighty miles an hour through the streets of Grey Mills.

“Just do what they say,” Billy said sheepishly.

“I am!” Elliot snapped. I heard hand hit flesh before Elliot groaned in pain.



“Don’t speak to him like that,” Mathias chided. “He’s your son. He’s looking out for you here, Elliot. Appreciate that. And him.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” my father said. “I appreciate him. I do.”

“The only reason you and your wife will be breathing in an hour is because your son wants you to,” Mathias said.

A total lie. He blew up that house to make us think he was in there. That he was dead. It would have taken weeks of sifting through the forensic evidence to realize he wasn’t. He wasn’t going to leave three witnesses no matter what he told Elliot.

I pointed Luke down Elliot’s street, then to the house on the small hill. From the outside, everything appeared normal. The lights were on. No signs of forced entry. The only odd elements were the open gate, the drawn curtains, and an old Sonata sitting parked beside the BMW and Porsche. Luke parked one house down and shut off the engine. Things were quiet over the phone as Elliot got back to work, and Billy panted.

“Layout?” Luke asked.

“Uh…” I had to think for a moment. I’d been in there only once, when we had our blackmail meeting twenty years before. “I think living room, parlor, dining room, study, kitchen, and bathroom on the first level; I’m not sure about the second. I never went up there. Betsy has the maid and Judith Grey in the study, uh…maybe second door on the right? The others are upstairs in his office—no idea where that is.”

“Okay. You wait—”

“If your next words are ‘in the car,’ I will knock your teeth out,” I said.

“You don’t have a weapon,” Luke said.



“Betsy does. We take out Betsy, disarm her, and—”

“You are not going in there,” Luke snapped.

“And you’re not going in without me!” I roared back. “I dragged you into this! You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me! If you go in there and get shot and killed because of me, I won’t live to see the goddamn morning either! I can’t lose you, you asshole! Anyone but you. Better together, remember? I’m going. I’m watching your back like always. Forever.”

I slipped my phone into my pocket and opened the car door. I was about to get out but turned to face him. I had to say it before I changed my mind and lost my nerve. “And I love you. Of course I love you, you moron. I am in love with you. How the fuck could I not be? You’re one of the strongest, smartest, bravest people I’ve ever met. You’re my best friend. You’re my partner. You know me better than anyone and haven’t gone screaming for the hills. And even when I was married, there were times I wanted to kiss you so bad I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to stop myself. God knows I have wanted to kiss you every fucking minute since you came to North Carolina. And I should have said it sooner. I should have. I’m just scared I’ll fuck us up. That one day you’ll wake up and realize I’m not worth the trouble. That I’m the Abortion Whore of Grey Mills whose own father didn’t want her. Whose own mother doesn’t like her. Because she’s still here. She’ll always be a part of me. And I can’t lose you. Like I said, anyone but you. So…I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been for years. I just…had to say that. And if it’s come too late…then that’s on me. You’ll be the biggest regret of my life. But I’m sure I will love you until the day I die. So I love you, Luke Hudson. Always. Forever. I love you.” I looked away. “Okay. Let’s do this.”