Page 13 of Cold Case Discovery

And still he fished his phone out of his pocket. Still he brought up a text message to Chloe.

He shouldn’t do this. He knew he shouldn’t. That was the wildest part of everything that had happened with Chloe since he’d let his guard down at that ridiculous party last year. She had touched him, wearing that excuse for a dress, and it had upended something inside.

Every finely tuned, rule-following, controlled, upstanding rule he’d set for himself, killed himself to follow...

He’d break, every time, when it came to her. Just like he was doing right now, typing out the text.

You want to go for a drive?

She didn’t respond, but not two minutes later the door to the cabin opened, and she stepped outside. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but she smiled at him and walked toward his truck, her cat in her arms.

And weirdly, he could breathe again.

Chapter Four

Chloe hopped into the passenger side of Jack’s truck, Tiger in her grasp. The minute she was settled, the cat immediately escaped and made a beeline for Jack’s lap.

He looked rough. Oh, he hid it well. The stoic expression. The way, somehow, even though he likely hadn’t slept at all, he looked as alert and in control as he always did.

But she saw the little things. The way his hand gripped the steering wheel. The impossibly tense clench of his jaw.

She wanted to reach across and rub her palm against it until he relaxed. But she didn’t. Not yet. She wasn’t quite sure what this was yet. Truth be told, she was always waiting for him to drop the hammer. End this. Just because he hadn’t yet didn’t mean he never would.

But he had a lot more thanheron his mind right now, and she doubted he had the mental capacity to finally come to his senses when it came to whatever they were doing.

“So, where we driving to?” She didn’t explain Ry was staying at her cabin. If he hadn’t already known it, he would have come up to her door.

“I... I’m not sure,” he said.

Worry slithered through her. She wondered if she’d ever once heard Jack say those three words. She tried to sound cheerful and unbothered, though. An anchor to how lost he seemed. “How about up around the scenic viewpoint?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.” He started driving, never once looking over at her. He drove with one hand on the wheel and one hand on Tiger, down the highway toward the turnoff that would lead up and around one of the smaller peaks, with pretty views out over the larger mountain range as a whole.

But not long after they’d passed the main entrance to the Hudson Ranch, he took a sharp and unexpected turn off the highway. Chloe had to grab on to the dash to keep from slamming into the door.

“Uh, where are we going?”

“Just a different place I know.” His expression was grim, and even though he was making her a little nervous, she didn’t say anything or ask any more questions. She just sat back and tried to figure it out herself.

It was a side road, but she was pretty sure they were on Hudson property. Confirmed when they drove past Palmer’s new house that he and Louisa had finished about the time they’d gotten married.

Then the road changed from gravel to dirt and started going...up. Chloe’s grip on whatever she could find tightened. She looked over at Tiger, whose eyes were half-closed as if it was naptime.

Meanwhile, Chloe’s throat constricted, and her entire body tensed as it began to feel like they were driving straight up. Up the mountain. Chloe didn’t consider herself squeamish about much, but narrow mountain roads weren’t her favorite. That was why she’d suggested the overlook—the road up to it was paved and well maintained.

When he came to a stop and shoved his truck into Park, at such an angle gravity had her practically pressed to her door, she realized she’d been holding her breath. She let it out shakily, and Jack looked over at her.

For the first time today, she saw that grave, expression in his eyes turn to humor, which made her entire beingflutter.

“Sorry. Forgot you get panicky about heights.”

“Not panicky. Just not keen on tumbling to my death in a truck.”

“Yeah, that’s not panicky at all. Come on.” He got out of the truck, Tiger in his arms like it was normal to carry a cat around. But for some reason, that cat looked content as could be wrapped up in Jack’s arms.

Yeah, you know the feeling, don’t you?

He grabbed a blanket from the back of his truck, tucked it under his free arm and then began marching toward some unknown point. He never said a word. She scurried after his long strides. She didn’t mind heights when she was on her own two feet—or at least, that’s what she tried to tell herself. Especially when Jack kept walking right up to the edge of what looked a hell of a lot like a cliff.

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