Page 45 of Cold Case Discovery

Because somehow all the Hudson kids had made it into adulthood, not unscathed but alive. Building lives and families all their own. Digging into old tragedies felt like begging for trouble.

Yes, someone deserved to pay for what had happened to his parents. He still hoped someonewould.

But what would be the cost?

It didn’t matter. Answers or no. Trouble was here, in the shape of skeletal remains, missing detectives, the woman he loved and her runaway brother. So he had to see it through.

They didn’t call Bent County. Jack knew they should. They were possibly going into something dangerous, and doing so without backup and without every local law enforcement agency having the information was risky. A risk neither of them should be taking. A risk he’d never take.

If it wasn’t for her.

He drove, and neither of them suggested calling it in. Neither of them suggested anything. Chloe was as silent as he was. She was no doubt dealing with her own demons. Because Ry taking offaroundthe same time Hart disappeared into presumably thin air felt ominous—connected, even if he couldn’t see how. And there was no doubt in Jack’s mind that Ry’s disappearance was why neither of them were calling it in.

Bringing in other people would make it harder to protect Ry, no matter how little he deserved protecting.

When Chloe finally spoke, it was to give him directions to follow different twists and turns in the dirt road to find Ry’s location somewhere within the preserve. Not too deep in it, or they’d be losing reception, and they wouldn’t be able to track Ry’s location if he didn’t have service either, so that was good.

“Maybe we should approach on foot,” Jack suggested when Chloe said they were getting close. “Gives us the element of surprise to really figure out what’s going on here before Ry or whoever knows someone is coming.”

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed. Jack pulled off the road on the dirt shoulder. He turned off the car. “Grab the flashlight. I’ve got the only gun, so I want—”

“Me to stay behind. I know, Jack.”

She didn’t snap it. She sounded so defeated, it was like a little stab to his heart. That so many people in her life had failed her and lead her to allthismess, and she’d held up so well to all of it, but when did it get to be too much?

Jack knew there was nothing he could say about Ry, about her father, aboutherthat could make this better. He hated that he couldn’t do something to make this okay.

But there was no way to fix it, so they got out of the truck. Quietly, she came around to his side. She had her phone on, and the screen illuminated her face. She didn’t lookaffectedby what was going on, but her usual cop face had an air of exhaustion to it.

She switched on the flashlight from his truck and moved the beam around in front of them. “I think if we follow this road, then take the first right we come across, it’ll lead us to him.”

She didn’t mention the possibility it wasn’t Ry himself. That they could stumble upon just his phone and nothing else. So Jack didn’t either. Why verbalize what they both knew?

“Got it,” he replied instead. He followed the beam of light she held, making sure she stayed behind him enough that he felt reasonably sure he could stop anything unexpected from hurting her.

They moved in quiet precision. Jack was sure they were both trying to keep their minds blank, pretend like it was any Sunrise Sheriff Department case. Nothing that involved his parents or her brother.

When the flashlight beam illuminated a turn in the dirt road, Jack took it. They quickly found it wasn’t actually a road, just a path to a parking area. Chloe came up next to him, sweeping her light around the dirt in front of them. Stopping when it landed on the lone car parked in the lot.

A car Jack recognized. Chloe’s car.

Jack lifted his gun, looking around what little of the parking lot he could see in just the flashlight beam. It seemed to be deserted aside from the car. He glanced over at Chloe, who would be hurt by this. No matter what it was. Her brother had left the Hudson Ranch—likely hot-wired her car, since Jack doubted she’d left her keys behind—and was quite clearly up to no good.

Jack could tell she was looking straight ahead, staring hard at her car parked there. Jack couldn’t make out her expression in just the glow of the flashlight, but he could feel the hurt radiating off her.

She audibly swallowed. “I’m calling Detective Delaney-Carson,” she whispered, reaching for her pocket.

Jack put his hand over hers before she could grab her phone. “We can handle this, Chloe. You don’t have to call it in if you don’t want to.”

She finally turned to look at him. He couldn’t make out her features in the dark. She was just a shadow, but her voice was convincing enough. Firm and determined. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

CHLOE’SHANDSHOOKas she held the phone to her ear, but she didn’t think Jack saw the tremor. He was busy watching all around them, making sure they weren’t sitting ducks.

For what, she didn’t know. Whatever was going on...nothing added up or made any sense. But she could feel danger in the air like an impending storm.

There wasn’t any movement from the car. No sounds but the rustles and chirps of an evening in the wilderness. Wherever Ry was, it wasn’t right here. Chloe refused to let her mind bound ahead to worst-case scenarios. Most likely, he was out here scoring a hit from some drug dealer.

Funny how shehopedthat was all it was.

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