Page 56 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

Zeke looked out the window to see Carlyle’s truck. He wasn’t sure why she’d returned so soon, but maybe she’d forgotten something. “Be right back.”

He got up and went outside.

Royal followed him. “Your sister’s hot,” he offered as Carlyle hopped out of the truck.

“I don’t even have to threaten you to shut your mouth, because even if her fiancé could take you, even if our older brother would beat him to it, Carlyle would take you out in a heartbeat.” But any humor Zeke had for the situation died at the look on Carlyle’s face as she jogged over to them.

“There was some kind of cave-in while Brooke was working,” she said with no preamble. “Chloe got a call to come in for backup. I’m obviously not supposed to tell you that, but I was there when it happened and I thought you would want to know.”

Zeke was halfway to his truck before she’d even finished speaking.Cave-in?What the hell did that mean? How could that happen? More importantly, how could he help?

“I’m coming with,” Royal said, leveraging himself into the passenger side of the truck just as Zeke climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Me too,” Carlyle said.

Zeke opened his mouth to argue with his sister then shook his head. What was one more person? Particularly someone sneaky and on his side. Because he knew as well as anyone that he, Royal and Carlyle had no business being down at that cave.

But they were damn well going to be.

He began driving for the preserve, the wordcave-inrattling around in his mind. “Anyone else stuck in there with her? The detective or the deputies?”

“I don’t have all the details. Chloe didn’t want to tell me. Probably for this reason right here,” Carlyle said, gesturing at the three of them hurtling down the highway.

It curdled in his gut like acid that Brooke might be alone. That she might be hurt.

Or worse.

He refused to take that thought onboard. He’d tear every rock out of the way with his bare hands if he had to.

“I’m sure the park rangers or naturalists know what to do. They’re like cave experts or whatever,” Carlyle offered, though Zeke knew her well enough to know she was saying this for his benefit and not that she trusted anyone to be an expert on anything. “I’m sure they’ve dealt with cave-ins before. They must be a natural occurrence.”

“We don’t know that itwasa natural occurrence,” Zeke returned, keeping his grip tight on the steering wheel as he sped down the highway. “She’s investigating mass murder. She’s been a target thanks to her brother over here.”

Carlyle didn’t have anything to say to that, and if Royal had a reaction, Zeke was too focused on the road to notice it.

“Remember when we were looking for Jack and Chloe?” Carlyle said, leaning between the front seats. She pointed at the road ahead. Last month he and Carlyle had helped the Hudsons search for their missing brother.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“They found Hart on the west side by the highway, right? After that woman knocked him out and dumped him. I remember there was a little access road for state employees on the map we looked at. I think it’s coming up on the left.”

Zeke nodded and, once he saw it, took the turn probably a little too hard. There was a No Trespassing sign posted, and a half-gate that was easy enough to off-road around.

“We have to be careful about how we approach, or we’re going to get kicked out,” Carlyle warned him. “They’ll be set up at the cave entrance. We can’t go there directly. At least, not all of us. They won’t let us help. That, I know.”

“I’d like to see them try to kick me out,” Royal grumbled darkly.

“Noble and all, but they’ll be wasting precious time and resources focused on you when we want them all focused on Brooke,” Carlyle said, doing a much better job than Zeke was of staying calm. “There’s a map at that trailhead we were at, do you remember?” she asked Zeke. “It had the whole cave system mapped out. With different entrances.”

“I also recall the warning that trying to make your way through the cave system has resulted in death.” But he followed the service road to the main road and, instead of heading straight to the cave entrance, took a turn that would lead them to the trailhead Carlyle was referencing.

He parked the truck, but left it running, and they all got out to look at the big board with the cave system map. They peered at it.

“Four natural entrances, and that’s just what they put on the map,” Royal said. “I did some exploring on the west one, to see if I could meet up with her inside and out of sight, but I didn’t get very far.”

“Scared of the dark?” Carlyle asked with a smirk.

“No doubt they’ve got cops at all these entrances now,” Zeke said, ignoring them both. He’d poked around the east entrance when he’d been watching Brooke. Funny—or not—how he and Royal had essentially been following her in the same way.

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