Page 49 of Cold Case Discovery

It was funny how she could appreciate the gesture but not want it all the same. “No, I’d like to answer all the questions I can right now. I want my brother found. No matter what.”

Jack moved to the side, still standing beside her but no longer blocking the detective, and it was the combination of sticking up for her and being able to stand aside that gave her the ability to lean on him, when she usually didn’t want to lean on anyone.

“Do you have any reason to believe your brother could have killed your father?” the detective asked.

Chloe let that question settle over her. It was the natural one to ask, and it was one she’d been asking herself since Jack had broken the news to her. “My father was a cruel man. He was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive toward Ry. But in the way of abusers, Ry might have spoken badly about him, he might have even hated him, but he did what my father told him to do. Is itpossibleRy had a moment of snapping? Of finally refusing and that resulted in some kind of altercation that left my father dead? Sure, it’s possible. Is it plausible? No. Because he’s still an immature boy seeking the wrong people’s approval.”

And he was out there. Somewhere. Probably in this forest preserve. And maybe her brother was capable of murder. Maybe that was in him, and she was blind to it. Maybe her father had pushed and pushed, threatened, started it. Maybe Ry had finished it and panicked. Possible. So possible.

And yet she just couldn’t visualize it. She couldn’t buy into it. Not with Hart and that scrapbook missing. There was some thread they were missing. Eventually, the detectives would find it, and normally she would step back and let them.

But she couldn’t do that with Ry missing.

“Deputy Brink, I’m going to ask you to go home,” the detective said. “Or to the Hudson Ranch. I’m going to ask you to leave this up to Bent County to investigate.”

“Are you going to expect me to listen?”

There was a pause. The detective looked at the scene around them. Flashlights and cops and a vast wilderness that could hide so many answers. Then her gaze returned to Chloe, and she shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“Good.”

“Just try to stay out of my guys’ way. And keep me in the loop. I think the timing is too coincidental. I don’t know how it doesn’t connect, but if Hart and that scrapbook have nothing to do with your brother and father, that means we’ve got two cases to solve instead of one. I need your cooperation.”

Before, Chloe might have hesitated, being worried about Ry and trouble. But they were in the same position, really. The detective’s partner was missing, someone she probably cared about from years of working together. Someone she was responsible for due to the nature of their jobs. Chloe’s brother was missing, and she loved the little rat bastard.

Connected or not, they were problems that needed solving no matter what. So they’d have to work together. “You’ve got it.”

Someone hailed the detective, and she excused herself. Chloe turned to Jack and took a deep breath. She met his gaze—not cop-blank but worried. About her.

“I’m going to ask you to go home, Jack.”

“Chloe—”

“Hear me out. This is... This place has meaning to you. Bad meaning. You shouldn’t have to scour it and be reminded. You can send Baker or Clinton out to help me. I can ask Carlyle to come out—she’s got the skills to help me look for Ry. Or even Zeke would probably help. It doesn’t have to be youhere.”

“It doesn’t have to be, no. But it’s going to be.”

She’d known that was going to be his answer. She’d known she wouldn’t be able to talk him into leaving. And still, she’d needed to hear him say it. To get that stern, irritable look from him at her even suggesting he left her to this.

“I love you, Jack.” And who the hell cared if there were cops all around them. She loved him, and no matter what horrible things were happening, they were going to make this one thing work.

She was determined.

Chapter Sixteen

Jack didn’t bother to try to convince Chloe to go home and rest and eat first, though he wanted to. It would be the smart thing to do. He knew this rationally.

But he’d also been in her position before. He knew too well what it felt like to have a family member in danger. There’d be no rest, no taking care of herself, until they’d exhausted every resource in finding Ry.

Because it was one thing for Ry to be missing, running off on his own volition, but to be missing with one body already found was something else. Something urgent.

But where to begin? The cops were crawling all over the parking lot and crime scene, gathering clues, compiling evidence. Of course, their focus was on a dead Mark Brink and a missing detective, not Ry. Not yet. Not when they had one of their own missing.

“What if we follow that trail past where my father was found?” Chloe suggested. “Ry didn’t come back to the car, and I’m not sure I buy that he and my father were out here if they weren’t together. Especially withmycar. Ry had to go somewhere. Somewhere in the preserve.”

Jack didn’t want to burst her bubble, but they had to analyze all the facts. “Your father might have had a vehicle. Ry could have taken that.” Or been takeninthat, though Jack didn’t point it out. Maybe they didn’t need to analyzeeverypossibility. “Whoever killed your father could have had a vehicle.”

“Did you see evidence of anyone else?” Chloe returned.

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