Page 7 of Not This Soon

"Shit," she muttered, fumbling for the device. The screen lit up with Ethan's name. Rachel's finger hovered over the decline button. She couldn't afford distractions. Not now.

The phone fell silent. Rachel exhaled, refocusing on the farmhouse. Seconds later, it buzzed again. A text message.

"Not now, Ethan."

She typed quickly, her jaw clenched. The reply came instantly.

"Emergency. Murder case. Rattlesnake involved. Need you ASAP."

Rachel's brow furrowed. Another buzz.

"On the reservation. It's bad, Rae."

Her partner's urgency was palpable even through text. Rachel's mind raced. A murder with a rattlesnake? That was unusual.

The phone rang again. Rachel hung up again.

Rattlesnake… She frowned. A murder case with a snake? On a reservation? Pieces clicked slowly into place. Her mind moved towards her aunt again. Aunt Sarah had always beenfascinatedwith snakes. In fact, as a child, Rachel had witnessed her aunt capture the creatures on more than one occasion. She knew how to extract venom, how to handle them without getting bitten. And she had more than one rattlesnake skin hung up as a trophy inside her cabin.

Rachel's eyes flickered back to the cabin. Her anger flared again, hotter than before. Was this another one of her aunt's games? Or was she just reading too much into it? Either way, she couldn't ignore Ethan's plea.

She pictured her partner and his shaggy hair and puppy dog eyes. It had been a week since she’d seen him. Ethan had the same personality as a golden retriever, and the two of them had grown close… Closer than partners over the course of their time together on different cases. He was one of the only people in her life she trusted, and after this experience with Aunt Sarah, she craved a friendly face. She didn't know who to trust in her own family, no less the rest of the world. Her usual self-reliance teetered, shaky and uncertain.

For a moment she considered ignoring Ethan's plea, but she reluctantly pushed off from her perch. Swiftly, she collected her things and shimmied down the tree. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and turned back one last time to glance up at the farmhouse.

Her eyes lingered on the darkened windows, etching the image into her mind. The haunting emptiness of the cabin left an almost palpable chill creeping down her spine. She knew she was leaving behind something significant, like a vital piece of a puzzle, still out of reach and hidden under layers of deceit and secrets.

But the clues she'd found so far didn't form a clear picture. The chain, the guns, Sarah's missing cooking pot - these were not answers but question marks punctuating an already convoluted situation.

Rachel paused at the foot of the tree, pulling out a small digital game camera from her pack. With experienced hands, she rigged it up to a thick branch that offered a clear view of the cabin's front door. A parting move against Sarah's castle of solitude.

With one last look at Aunt Sarah's cabin, Rachel navigated through the shadows with practiced ease till she reached her vehicle. Her keys jangled loudly in the still night air.

She hitched her bag over her shoulder, adjusting her white hat to shield her eyes from the rising sun. She cast a final glance back at the cabin before climbing into the driver's seat.

"Damn you," Rachel muttered under her breath as she turned on the engine.

CHAPTER TWO

Twenty minutes later, under the watchful morning sun which glinted off the desert dunes, Rachel arrived at the crime scene. She parked behind a line of police cruisers, their lights still flashing red and blue. She spotted the abandoned sedan immediately, surrounded by a swarm of officers. Yellow police tape cordoned off the area, fluttering gently in the breeze.

Rachel stepped out of her truck, slamming the door shut with more force than necessary. She squared her shoulders and marched down the small desert trail, her eyes scanning the surroundings with a trained gaze. As she approached the trailhead between two dunes, she saw Ethan waiting for her.

"Morning, Rae," Ethan greeted, his voice far too chipper for the early hour and the grim circumstances.

"Ethan," Rachel acknowledged with a curt nod. She came to a stop beside him, her gaze still fixed on the crime scene ahead.

"Rough night?" Ethan asked, his eyes flickering over her face, no doubt taking in the dark circles beneath her eyes.

"You could say that.”

Ethan's brow furrowed in concern. "Everything alright?"

Rachel finally turned to look at him, her expression unreadable. "Just peachy. What have we got?"

Ethan hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether to press further, but then seemed to think better of it. "Female victim looks to be in her late twenties. Gunshot wound to the chest. Rattlesnake bites. Coroner's en route."

Rachel nodded, her mind already racing with the scant details. "Any ID on the victim?"

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