Page 61 of Cold Case Murder Mystery

From far too close, a gurgling cackle echoed around her.

And she couldn’t see where to go. Or where to shoot.

Chapter Nineteen

Brooke forced herself to breathe. Terror and panic clawed through her. She was frozen in place—which wasn’t so bad when surrounded by nothing but a deep, black nothingness.

But she had a weapon. She had a gun. She didn’t know if it was loaded or even capable of shooting, but it was something to hold on to.

Once she’d calmed herself enough that she could hear over the roaring beat of panic inside her body, she heard the sound of shuffling. Of rattling breathing. She was still, but Leon was moving around.

Was he trying to find her? Did he have some sort of ability to see in all this black? Wouldn’t he stumble and fall in the dips and holes and cave growth? Or was he just so used to it, none of that mattered?

She took in her surroundings again. Surely it wasn’ttotallydark. There’d been an opening not too far away, right? The cave-in couldn’t have completely covered the entrance. If she could find that, she could orient herself.

She squinted. Was that a tiny pinpoint of light? Or was she hallucinating? Could that possibly be the caved-in entrance? If it was, then directly behind her would take her deeper into the cave and potentially to another entrance.

Did she dare risk it? Without a light?

Well, standing still and waiting to be saved hadn’t gotten her anywhere. She didn’t evenhearpeople trying to save her. Why notdosomething for once?

Carefully, she turned, making sure she did a complete one-eighty from the pinpoint of light. She paused, listening for Leon. He sounded... far away? Maybe? Or was that just wishful thinking?

You have a gun. You’re stronger. No matter what, you can survive this. You are a survivor. Maybe she’d endured more than survived, but she wasn’t about toendureher death. No way.

She used that as a mantra to keep her thoughts from spiraling to worst-case scenarios. She moved forward one step, carefully feeling the ground with her toe before putting any weight on her foot. It would be a meticulous, long process, but she was used to that kind of thing, wasn’t she?

After each step, she paused, listened, tried to ensure Leon wasn’t too close. After a while, on one of her pauses, she heard a scratch of something like... the flare of a match being lit. She whirled around, trying to find the light it should make.

She saw just the wink of flame and then it was gone. It had outlined something shadowy, but large. Taller than Leon. Was someone else in this cave with them, or was she losing her mind?

Brooke stopped moving. Held her breath, waiting for something else to happen as her heart pounded.

This time when a light flashed on, it wasn’t a match or a torch. It was the beam of a flashlight.

It illuminated the man in front of her—closer than she would have guessed. Bloody and wild-eyed. But Leon didn’t have a weapon, even as he smirked his horrible rotted-teeth grin at her.

“I am the god of the cave!” he shouted, raising his hands above his head. Then he sank to his knees. And someone was behind him, jerking his hands back.

A someone she recognized, even if it took a minute to understand what was happening in front of her.

“Granger.”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. The only man who’d ever been a father figure in her life was tying Leon’s hands and then ankles together.

He left him there and walked over to Brooke.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to take her arm.

She nearly collapsed into him. She didn’t even ask how he’d found her. How he’d gotten here. But she knew she was safe now. He’d saved her, and not for the first time.

“Come on, Brooke,” he said, pulling her around Leon’s laughing body. “Let’s get you out of here.”

The gunshot came out of nowhere.

Zeke hadn’t fired, and the noise wasn’t close enough to be Royal or Carlyle’s shooting.

Then Royal went down with a jerk and a stumble. Zeke whirled in time with Carlyle, but the shooter didn’t even try to hide. He walked through the trees with confident strides, gun held loosely. Zeke could have taken him out, but he had no doubt he’d earn three bullets from behind if he did.

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