Page 19 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

She walked through the cabin, looking for anything that struck her as wrong. Her suitcase was where she’d left it yesterday morning, organized and open. She poked her head into the bathroom. Her toiletries were lined up along the counter just as she’d left them.

“If anyone has been through my things, they were very careful.”

Zeke nodded, studying the cabin. He poked at light fixtures, pushed on windows. She didn’t ask what he was doing—another lesson she’d learned. She would keep herself... separate from his attempts at keeping her safe.

No teamwork. No North Star to bind them. He wasjusta bodyguard. She was determined to think of him that way. Besides, when it came to her other options—telling the detectives or staying with the Hudsons as Zeke’s sister had suggested—surely figuring out how to deal with her ex-boyfriend from four years ago was better than that.

So she packed up her belongings and brought everything out to the front door. She hadn’t packed heavy because she didn’t have a lot of worldly possessions, even now that she was more financially stable.

Because she was too used to moving, and because her job called for so much travel, she’d convinced herself it was fine not to have a real home base. Fine to be a bit of a nomad and have a small collection of belongings that could be bundled up in less than an hour.

But it always made her far sadder than it should to see her life sorted into a single suitcase and nothing else.

In silence, Zeke hefted the bag—because why would a stubborn, ego-driven man ever let herhelp—and took her things outside. Brooke followed, locking the cabin door behind her. She wouldn’t getridof the rental just yet. Maybe it was a waste of money, but it was always good to have a place to disappear to if needed.

She had a bad feeling she was definitely going to need that. An escape hatch, right within reach.

Zeke tossed her bag into the bed of his truck. “Let’s leave your car here tonight. It might throw some people off. You’ve got a routine down, and we want to shake it up in the eyes of anyone who might be following.”

Brooke didn’t trust herself to speak and not argue, so she just nodded and headed for the truck’s passenger side. She’d gotten herself into this mess. She had to take the consequences of her actions in stride. Because maybe it had been four years, but she knew Zeke too well to have thought this would go any other way.

He got in the driver’s seat and she hefted herself into the passenger’s, but just as she did she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over her shoulder. There was a gravel road out beyond the cabin. Brooke hadn’t done any exploring to see where it led, but along with a minor cloud of dust, she saw a flash of silver before it disappeared into the tree line.

Her heart seemed to stop for a moment, and her legs wouldn’t keep her up, so she sank into the seat, Viola hopping in behind her. “Did you see—”

“I saw it,” Zeke said, his voice detached and verymilitary. A little North Star déjà vu. “Get out of the truck. Go back in the cabin and lock the door.”

But that would take time, because he wouldn’t leave until she was safely tucked away and the car already had too big of a head start. She pulled her truck door closed. “We both know there’s no time. Just go.”

He slid her one irritated glance then he hit the accelerator.

Brooke held on to Viola as they took off toward where they’d both seen the flash of a silver car.

Zeke focused on driving as fast as he could while also being mindful of the woman clutching the handle of the door for dear life. He didn’t want to scare her, but he sure as hell didn’t want to miss his chance to get to the bottom of this.

“What do we do if we catch up to him?” Brooke asked, her cool, calm voice a direct opposite to the way she clutched the door and how wide her eyes were. She always had been able to maintain that seemingly calm voice in the face of all sorts of danger.

But he was the one equipped todealwith all that danger. She did not have that kind of training. “You’ll stay in the truck. I’ll handle it.”

He ignored her sigh, concentrated on taking a curve in the gravel road without flipping the truck. He saw another flash. They were gainingsomeon the car, and it helped he was in a vehicle that could handle the rough terrain and the stalker was in a sedan that was just as likely to rattle apart as it was to make it over the next gravel hill.

Zeke lost sight of the car as it crested the hill first. And he didn’t like that tactical disadvantage. Still, he could hardly let the guy just disappear. Answers were within their reach, and he had to get them.

“Get my gun out of the glove compartment.”

Not a sigh this time, just a noise unique to Brooke that he recognized all too well, full of disapproval. Why that made him want to smile in this tense moment was something he was going to have to excavate... some other time.

Still, she did as told, opening the glove compartment and pulling out the gun, not hiding her distaste.

“Can you hold on to it for a minute?” He had to maneuver the truck into a defensive position as he crested the hill. One that would keep Brooke out of the line of potential fire.

And quickly. The minute Zeke took his truck over the hill, the driver of the silver sedan was parked and getting out.

Zeke screeched to a stop on an angle to keep some distance, to keep Brooke not directly in the man’s line of sight.

“Stay in the truck.” An order for the dog... and the woman.

She didn’t mount an argument, just handed over the gun.

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