Page 7 of Cold Case Discovery

He couldn’t tell her it wasn’t serious like he wanted to. This was incredibly serious. “No one’s in danger. But this is important. For all of us. Once everyone wakes up—”

“It seems like this is something that requires waking everyone up.”

“It won’t change anything. To wait.”

Mary studied him for a few seconds. “Then it won’t change anything to wake everyone up.” She turned then, not waiting for him to agree or disagree.

Jack didn’t follow, but slowly and quietly—no doubt for the sake of the still-sleeping kids, since his family usually didn’t do anything quietly—his siblings began to arrange themselves in the living room.

Once everyone had settled, Mary nodded at him. She stood leaning against her husband, and Anna stood next to hers as well. Grant and Dahlia sat on the couch next to Cash. Carlyle stood behind Cash, clasping his hand at his shoulder. Palmer and Louisa settled themselves on an armchair.

Jack had gotten used to being a solitary figure long before his siblings had all coupled up. He’d been the man of the house. In charge. He’d needed that separation. To not be their brother anymore but to be the adult. To be in charge so he could keep everyone together until they were old enough to go on their own.

No one had. Oh, Grant had gone off to war; Mary to college; Palmer and Anna, the rodeo for a bit—but they’d all come back home. They’d all come back.

And now, in this moment, he was the only one who knew this terrible thing, and it killed him because he wanted to keep it that way. So his siblings would never have to feel this.

But it just wasn’t possible. So he jumped right in. “There was a body uncovered on the Brink Ranch. It had been there for some time. Bent County will take on the investigation and attempt to identify the body, determine a cause of death.”

“Why’d you wake us all up to tell us this, Jack?” Anna asked. With the kind of gravity like she knew exactly why.

“There was a ring with the remains. I recognized it right away. Mom’s wedding ring.”

There was a moment of complete and utter silence, everyone absorbing those words. Then Jack watched as every single member of his family turned to each other. Mary buried her head in her husband Walker’s chest. Anna turned away, but Hawk pulled her back into an embrace. Louisa wound her arms around Palmer’s waist, Cash’s grip on Carlyle’s hand tightened, and Dahlia rested her head on Grant’s shoulder.

Jack tried to swallow the obstruction in his throat to ensure his voice was calm and clear. It came out rusty. “This is not incontrovertible proof, but it’s—”

“What about Dad?” Anna demanded. Her voice was harsh, but there were tears in her eyes.

“I don’t have any answers, Anna. All I have is a ring.” He thought that admission might break him in two, but when his heart kept beating and his breath kept filling his lungs, he figured he’d survive. “Deputy Brink is handling it. We all know we can trust her to handle it.”

“Except this was found on her family’s ranch?” Palmer said, no doubt echoing some people’s thoughts on the matter.

But Jack didn’t need to defend Chloe. Mary did it first.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said, standing up for her friend. “I trust Chloe. No matter what.”

“The Brinks—”

Carlyle cut off whatever Palmer was going to say. No doubt something about the Brinks and their connection to crime, drugs and a hell of a lot of trouble.

“The Bent County detectives will be the ones handling it, right?” Carlyle asked. “Hart and Laurel? They’ll be doing the investigation, and we all know they’re damn good at their jobs.”

Thomas Hart and Laurel Delaney-Carson had worked with Cash and Carlyle a few months back, and their hard work had helped keep Cash from being blamed for his ex-wife’s murder. Hart had also been involved in helping to solve a case last year when someone had tried to kill Anna.

They were both good detectives, and Jack trusted them.

He had to.

“We’ll be investigating too,” Anna said.

“No,” Jack said firmly, looking at his baby sister and the stubborn set of her chin. “We’re staying out of this.”

All eyes turned to him, surprise slackening every single person’s features.

“Jack. You can’t be serious,” Grant said in his quiet way.

But Jack was very serious. He’d made this decision the minute he’d driven off the Brink Ranch. “This is a Bent County investigation. We will stay out of their way and let them investigate. There’s nothing for us to do here.”

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