Page 11 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

Zeke clicked End on his phone.

But Granger’s laughter seemed to echo in his head for a long time after.

Chapter Four

Brooke had slept, and when she woke up blinking at a bright sunny morning outside the window, with that gorgeous view rightthere, she didn’t quite know how to get her bearings.

She sat up, scratched her hands through her tangled hair and blew out a breath.

It was perfectly normal to sleep well when you knew you were safe, and she hadn’t felt safe in quite some time.

And it wasn’t silly or foolish to feel safe in Zeke’s house. He was a former soldier, a former North Star agent, and while things hadn’t exactly ended well between them, it wasn’t because he’d been abadguy. He’d been, and was, in fact, incredibly honorable. And he’d been upfront and honest about all he couldn’t give her.

She could be hurt about that and still know that she was in perfectly good hands when it came to him helping to keep her safe from a potential threat.

So, no reason to sit here in this nice bed, brooding over the fact her ex-boyfriend made her feel safe and how much she liked his house.

She sucked in another slow breath. Let it out. She went through the rest of her slow-breathing morning ritual. She even managed a few yoga poses in the small room while the sun gilded the mountains outside.

Sunrise, Wyoming, and the surrounding Bent County was a pretty place to be even if the work that had brought her here was gruesome. It was agroundingkind of pretty and awe-inspiring, really. Man’s capacity for evil could be soul-crushing. The world’s capacity for beauty and miracles was the only antidote she’d ever found for that.

She hadn’t brought anything to Zeke’s house besides her work bag, so she had to get dressed in her clothes from yesterday. She used her fingers as a comb and tried to tame her wild bedhead back into the clip that had luckily been in her bag.

Once satisfied, she left her room, only to be greeted by the dog from yesterday, lying there in the hall.

“Good morning,” she murmured to Viola, who thumped her tail and looked up at Brooke adoringly. As much as she dreaded facing Zeke, the dog’s greeting made her smile. “Come on then,” she said, gesturing for the dog to follow her downstairs.

She could hear the faint noise of movement in the kitchen, and the smell of coffee hit her once she made it to the bottom of the stairs. She paused a second, did a little more deep breathing while Viola waited at her feet with a seemingly quizzical look on her doggie face.

Brooke put on a polite smile, aimed it at the dog, and was determined she’d aim it at Zeke too. But when she stepped to the threshold of the kitchen, he stood at the stove, cooking eggs in a skillet.

He wore a T-shirt that was old, faded. And perfectly outlined the impressive structure of hisverymuscular body that had not lost any of its strength even though his operative days were over. Almost as bad, he wore loose sweats low on his hips and his feet were bare.

Like every ridiculous domestic fantasy she’d ever had about him all those years ago. Futures and forevers andfamily, when she’d always known those things were not in the cards for her. It was hardly his fault she’d fooled herself into thinking they could be.

Had she made a noise? An embarrassing kind of hum or sigh, or both? Probably.

He glanced over to her and he didn’tquitesmirk, but there was a knowing kind of glint to his eyes that just...

She couldnotdo this. She had to go back to her rental tonight. No matter what he said, no matter what happened. She would not survive being in his orbit without embarrassing herself all over again. He was justtoo much. And it didn’t matter if that was unfair, because it just was.

She’d stood on her own two feet for most of her life. She’d learned, time and time again, it was the only thing to do. Keep to herself. Rely on herself. And only herself.

“Made some breakfast,” he offered. He nodded toward the table. “Have a seat.”

She might have argued that she didn’t need to be fed and that she didn’t have any plans to listen to his orders, but in this moment of jittery heart and some very unwantedlust, she decided it best not to speak and to just do as she was told.

So Brooke sat at the table as Viola arranged herself at her feet and Zeke put a plate and mug in front of her. She stared at the contents and did not pay any mind that it was filled with things she liked. Everyone liked toast with butter. Everyone liked scrambled eggs with cheese. And it was hardly any great leap to put the exact right amount of cream in her coffee when she knew he took it the same way. He hadn’trememberedwhat she liked.

This was all a coincidence.

But then he slid into the other seat at the table, and his eggs didn’t have cheese and his toast had jelly on it.

Her inhale was shaky at best, but she studied her eggs rather than look to see if he was looking at her. The bottom line was, it didn’t matter what he thought or felt about her. What he might remember or not. She knew it wasn’t that he’d hated her or been disgusted by her or anything. They’d had a very serious relationship for a handful of wonderful months four years ago. It had come to an end because they hadn’t wanted the same things out of life.

Maybe it had crushed her, but it wasn’t... horrible. He wasn’t horrible and she wasn’t horrible and...

She really had to get off this roller coaster she’d created. She shoved a bite of eggs into her mouth and they ate in silence for a few minutes. Uncomfortable silence toher, but she’d learned that what she felt didn’t always translate to Zeke.

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