Page 5 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

When it came topersonalmatters, she wouldn’t trust Zeke Daniels as far as she could throw him. But when it came to this sort of thing? Investigations and danger and searches for the truth?

She could trust him implicitly. It was why she’d called him. Why she’d come here, despite wanting to keep as far away from Zeke as she’d been doing the past month of being in Sunrise. He was right, shehadto explain it to him.

And still... “Can I have something to drink? Some water, maybe?”

He frowned at the diversion but motioned her to follow him and led her into a pretty little kitchen. The furniture was bachelor terrible, but the cupboards were nice—clearly new and part of his renovation—as were the appliances. And a huge window dominated the wall over the sink and looked out over a beautiful mountain view.

She stood a moment, just taking it in. It needed some lace curtains to flutter in the breeze when the window was open, but other than that, it was absolutely, stunningly, perfect. A cozy kitchen with an awe-inspiring view.

That reminded her this ranch, this house he was renovating, was everything he’d once said he’d never want. Bitterness threatened to rise up, and this wasn’t the place for that. Their “back then” didn’t matter to the present. Sherefusedto be bitter over something long gone. Her own mistake for thinking she could change a man like Zeke.

She took the glass of water he handed her and then took a seat at the small kitchen table when he gestured at the chair. He sat across from her—which might as well be right next to her as small as the table was. As big ashewas.

Well, at least he hadn’t filled this house with a wife and children. That might have actually sent her over the edge. Not that she knew forsurethere wasn’t a wife wandering about, but no signs of a woman or children so—

Put the past aside, Brooke.

She sucked in a breath, carefully let it out. “I’ve been excavating the bones in the cave in the preserve for weeks now, right?” she said, focusing on work, because that was what she did best. Slowly, carefully, methodically pick apart the tiniest thing to create a picture, an answer.

He nodded. He had that intense investigator look on. Paying attention to every word. Filing it away. Like she’d reversed time and landed them back at North Star.

“There’s... a lot. A lot of remains. A lot ofvictims, essentially,” she continued. “I know that rumor has made its way around Bent County, and it’s true. It was clearly some kind of... mass burial. Except, not all done at the same time. Bodies over the course of years.”

“So Jen Rogers killed more than just the Hudson parents?”

Here was where it got tricky. Jen Rogers was the current suspect and had confessed to the murders of the first two people Brooke had excavated and identified. Because she’d been living in the cave for a portion of the past few years, the assumption was the other victims had been killed and buried by her hand as well.

But Brooke had a different theory. A more complicated one. “Jen Rogers is forty-six years old. Some of the bones I’ve found... based on what I’ve tested, what I’ve observed... I think they’ve been there for closer to fifty years.”

Zeke absorbed that information. Jumped to the conclusion immediately. “There’s another murderer? An older murderer?”

“It’s one possibility. It could also be innocuous. Fifty years is a long time. I haven’t been able to study all the bodies, determine causes of death. These could be... accidents or have other reasonable explanations behind them.” She tried to tell herself that, but she understood too well what she’d found.

“If it was innocuous, you wouldn’t be being followed.”

“We don’t know for sure that I am, or that it connects.” But she was gratified that it was his immediate conclusion as well. Even if she felt honor-bound to argue with him.

An investigator had to look ateveryangle. That, he should know, considering he’d been one in his own right. More than the “shooting the bad guys, running into danger” kind and less of the “sending highly scientific reports to law enforcement agencies” kind.

He clearly didn’t agree with her that there might be multiple possible answers here, but it was true. Inherinvestigations, she had to weigh every possibility, and there was always the possibility that these older bodies were a coincidence. Something innocent from a long ago time.

“Why haven’t you told the detectives?” Zeke asked.

“I’m waiting on test results to ensure my observations are correct, or at least more plausible than not. I can’t work on supposition, and neither can the detectives. We need facts. I should have answers in the next few weeks and then... maybe.”

He stood, that old energy she remembered—and shouldn’t—pumping off him. He’d always been this way.Vibrant. It had thrilled her back before it had flattened her. So she’d rebuilt her life around the old tenants that had gotten her into adulthood. Peace, calm, the careful unearthing of teeny-tiny facts that lead to bigger pictures.

Never being too big of a burden. Never hoping for too much from anyone. She was an island, and she had to remember that. She had to remember that no matter whathewas, she was Brooke Campbell.

“Where do these tests get run?” he demanded.

She didn’t like beinginterrogated, but she supposed she only had herself to blame since she’d been the one to contact him. And she knew him. Maybe he’d changed in four years—hence the ranch and the settling down. She’d certainly changed herself. But right now he seemed very much like the Zeke she’d known. No use not answering his demanding questions.

“The state crime lab in Cheyenne.”

“That means what you send them passes through a lot of hands.”

“It’s a murder investigation. Of course it does. I doubt anyone has drawn the conclusions I’ve drawn yet. But they will if someone’s looking to connect things. The detectives will, once they have all the facts.”

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