Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 44

Julie opened her mouth to reply, but all the air had fled from her lungs.

"You lied?" she said, once she had regained the ability to speak. She looked over her shoulder, through the window in the wall that gave them a view of the infirmary. Ellis had left and Austin appeared to be sleeping. "Why?"

"She asked me to."

Julie shook her head. Ridge had always been a bit different – some called him 'mad', Julie preferred 'eccentric', but he wasn't stupid. "That can't have been enough. You barely even knew her."

"That's true." For the moment, he didn't offer an explanation. Instead, he moved over to his desk and leant against the front of it, slipping his hands into the pockets of his white coat. "When she asked me to lie for her, I could tell she was scared. And I knew – not in a rational way, but instinctively – that whatever the truth was, it was worse."

To Julie, that argument was weak at best. But then she was used to basing everything off reason. Instinct didn't quite cut it for her.

"So what is it?" she asked. "The truth?"

"O, I wouldn't know. She hasn't told me."

Ridge might not have been stupid, Julie wasn't either. "You wouldn't have lied for her if you didn't have an idea about who she was."

"Maybe." A slight smile played on his lips, as though somehow, despite everything, he saw some humour in the situation. "I have no proof, though. Only suspicions. Look, I know I lied, and I know it wasn't right, but it's done. We can discuss it later. Right now, you need to understand that if Ryleigh indeed washed up on the wrong side of the river, she'll have no clue where she is. She'll be completely and utterly lost. She's never going to find her way back."

"And if they find her, who knows what they'll do to her," Julie said, slowly, processing as she went along. "You have to tell Austin."

"No. He'll freak out."

"Of course he will. But what do you suggest? She's going to die out there, Ridge."

"No, she won't." He straightened up, trying to give her a look of calm confidence, while in fact it was clear that even to himself he was raging mad. "I'm going to find her."

Julie blinked. "What?"

"That's why I'm confiding in you. In case I don't come back. I need to go find her."

"You're crazy."

"Maybe, but it's the only logical thing. You won't hear me say that I'm old, but I'm certainly past my prime. I'm replaceable. Besides, I know the territory better than anyone. I grew up there."

"No. They're dangerous, and you're not a fighter, Ridge. You'll never make it."

"I can hold my own just fine. Who else is going to do it?"

"Me," she said, without thinking. Maybe she was as mad as Ridge.

"Definitely not! Need I remind you how high up in the ranks you are? You can't afford to disobey Ellis."

"I don't care," she said, and for the first time since she had come to Midnight Moon, it was true. In fact, knowing she'd be pissing off Ellis was one of the reasons she wanted to go. She was done following orders when they didn't make sense.

"Ryleigh is not your friend. You owe her nothing."

"But I owe Austin a lot. You're right. Someone needs to do it, and that someone is not you. I'll ask Sky to come with me."

"O, sure! Send the two people I love most in this world on a suicide mission! If I had known you were going to take my plan and put yourself in it, I never would've told you a thing. I'm going and that's final."