Page 24 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you. I just...”

“You’re going to sit down and eat, and then you’re going to get some sleep. We can talk through next steps in the morning.” Because she needed those things.

And he needed some space to get a hold of himself so he could be what she needed. So she would be safe, and when everything was all said and done, go back to whatever life she had out there that didn’t involve him.

And rightfully so.

Chapter Eight

In the morning, Brooke left.

Not for good. Just early enough thathopefullyZeke wouldn’t know what she’d done. Of course, she’d had to take his truck, so it was unlikely she wasn’t going to have to explain herself, but she had to do this first.

At the sheriff’s department. Maybe Zeke would know she’d donesomething, but she didn’t have to tell him exactly what. It was none of his business. Royal was none of his business. No matter how kind he’d been about the whole thing yesterday.

Brooke had never had anormallife. Nothing had ever really been easy or routine or settled. The only routine was that unexpected change would inevitably come knocking.

Zeke.

Her brother.

Herfather.

She still couldn’t quite believe what Royal had told her. She should have told Zeke. The guilt was eating her up. Staying in his house, eating his food, and keeping this huge secret.

Yet she would also feel guilty if she told Zeke something Royal didn’t want shared.

And at the end of the day, she wasn’t sure who the right man to place her loyalty with was. They’d both hurt her in different ways. She’d failed them both in different ways.

Maybe you should just bail.

Tempting. So tempting. Retreat. Isolate. She wanted to. It was the right thing. Everyone was getting too deep and too complicated and too hard.

But she had a job to do. So she didn’t choose Zeke or Royal. She’d decided to choose someone who had norealconnection to her. It was hard to ask for help. It made her feel sick to her stomach. A burden and a bother, when she wanted to handle everything herself.

Nonetheless, she couldn’t handle this. So she walked into the sheriff’s department and asked for Thomas. She was pretty sure he had an early morning shift to cover her morning cave work, and when the administrative assistant took her through the security measures and then directed her to his office, she let out a slow, steady breath.

This was going to work. This was going to be okay.The police were there to help, and Thomas had been nothing but kind. Besides, she wasn’t asking for anything difficult.

His office door was open and he sat at his desk, writing something down on a piece of paper.

“Thomas.”

He looked up from his desk, no doubt surprised to see her. He glanced at the clock. “Did I miss a schedule change?” he asked with some concern.

She managed a smile and shook her head. “No. I have a favor to ask you. As a detective. Not related to the cave or the remains.”

The concern didn’t leave his expression. He pointed to the seat in his office. “Sit.”

Brooke didn’t let her nerves show. There was nothing to be nervous about. She was only asking for a favor.Information. And once she had it, she could decide what to do about Royal’s theories. What to do about Zeke.

Thomas was not the kind of guy to hold it against her, and if it hurt Zeke’s feelings that she was asking someone else for help, that was his problem. And if Royal was going to get bent out of shape over her finding the truth... Well.

The only thing that mattered was the truth. The facts. The data from which she could then make an educated choice.

“I don’t know what kind of background you guys did into me when I was hired for this case,” she began, because she’d been internally practicing this interaction ever since the idea had occurred to her last night.

“Not much. We needed a forensic anthropologist ASAP. I think maybe someone looked into your credentials, but that was all bureaucratic red tape I’m not involved in. So I can’t say as I know much.”

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