Page 47 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

“He’d lick your boots, Chick. That’s the only reason I’m under this roof, the only reason I haven’t messed with him. He’s only mixed up in this to save you from it. For whatever reason, that’s your deal, but it’s true.”

That left her feeling too... something. Hopeful, probably. “We really do need to get some sleep.”

He nodded. “That’s fine. As long as we have a deal.”

Brooke blew out a breath. Was there any point arguing? Maybe it was really best that everyone knew everything. “Fine.”

“I’ll talk to Hart tomorrow.”

She nodded and then left him in the room, not sure what else to say. What else to do. Everything felt like such a jumble. One she couldn’t list or organize or data point her way through like she had with studying the skull.

Still, she got ready for bed. Crawled into the nicer one than her brother’s. She was exhausted andneededrest, but her mind whirled.

She thought about Zeke in his bedroom downstairs. Far away from Royal. Far away from the heavy things weighing her down.

He’d always been a safe place to land.

Except that whole time when he broke up with you and left you to pick up the pieces on your own.

But she wasn’t that girl anymore, was she?

She could practically hear her old therapist’s voice.Beware self-destructive tendencies brought on by overstressing yourself to be perfect in everything and make everyone around you happy while ignoring your own happiness.

That’s essentially what Zeke had accused her of as well. Because she did one of two things. Contorted herself for people or isolated herself from people.

She didn’t think she’d done either with Zeke the past week. Wasn’t that funny? And if she were to put her own happiness in the mix, wouldn’t that include a late-night trip down to Zeke’s bedroom? Because she was well versed in the ways that could make her happy.

Temporarily.

Like ice cream.

The ice cream he’d bought, thinking of her, whether he’d been conscious of it or not.

Zeke tossed and turned. Even though he’d been the one to suggest sleep, it felt too much like sitting around waiting for something to happen. Something to happen toBrooke.

He sat up, and the only reason he didn’t reach for the gun on his nightstand was the little flash of something red he saw in the moonlight.

Brooke.

He pushed into a sitting position as she entered his room, and then she just stood there, a foot or two away from his bed.

Meanwhile his heart clattered against his chest like its own independent being.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his voice rusty.

“Yes,” she said calmly. Firmly. “I was just talking to Royal when we went up, one-on-one, and we made a deal. He’d tell this all to Thomas, if I told it all to you.”

Zeke wasn’t sure what to expect “this all” to entail, but he was more taken off guard by the fact Royal had suggested such a deal. “Why did he want you to tell me?”

“Well, he seems to think you’ll protect me.”

Zeke didn’t think Royal had a particularly high opinion of him, so this was interesting. “He’d be right.”

“I know. Thatiswhy I called you in the first place with this whole mess.” She moved closer to his bed and then, to his great surprise, took a seat on the edge of it. Her hip touched his knee. Only a sheet between them.

He knew he couldn’t sit there and ruminate onthat, so he tried to focus on the facts. “So, what is this whole thing you have to tell me?”

She relayed Royal’s involvement with the Sons before he’d gone to jail. Royal’s relationship with their father and why their dad might make Royal, and thus Brooke, a target. It felt a bit like being back in North Star. Trying to untangle the petty infighting in the Sons. Make sense of where the real issues stemmed from.

---