“We’ve got this,” she said quietly.
Tyler wasn’t sure if she was reassuring him or herself. Either way, it helped.
The deputy pulled the vehicle to a stop, and Tyler forced himself to stay exactly where he was—for the investigation; for Robert and Sue, who’d offered him a way out and deserved his honesty; and for Brooke, who looked at him like maybe he was someone worth knowing.
Even if he wasn’t entirely sure that was true.
Chapter 5
Brooke
The Basin County Sheriff’s Department SUV kicked up a small cloud of dust as it rolled to a stop. Brooke wasn’t looking forward to what would come next. Statements. Questions. Hours of reliving what she’d found in the woods. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push away the image of the waxy leg.
The driver’s door opened, and a woman stepped out, hair pulled back in a low bun, sunglasses hiding her eyes until she pulled them off and hooked them on her shirt collar.
Brooke recognized her.
“Edi,” she said, relief washing through her. At least it was someone she knew.
Deputy Edi Reeves had gone to Irma High School, graduating a couple of years ahead of Brooke, which meant Edi had been one of those intimidating upperclassmen when Brooke was still figuring out how lockers worked.
She came into the coffee shop sometimes and always ordered the same thing—large dark roast, black, and whatever sweet muffin they had left. She was friendly but professional, the kind of regular who knew your name but didn’t overstay their welcome.
Brooke wasn’t even sure if Edi remembered her from school. If she did, she never said so. She never brought up those teenage years and never attended the multi-class reunions held every summer over Irma Days.
Brooke asked her about it a couple of years ago when she saw her in the coffee shop the day before the event. Edi simply said she usually ended up on the duty roster and never felt comfortable requesting time off for something like that.
Seeing her here felt very different from seeing her in the coffee shop. Everything seemed so much more official. More real.
Brilliant, Brooke,she thought to herself.It is real. That was a real dead body you found. A real person.The thought stung her nose.
“Brooke.” Edi’s greeting was warm, but her eyes were already scanning the scene, taking in the four people gathered, the trailhead, the entire space. “You okay?”
“I’ve been better.”
“I bet.” Edi turned to Robert and Sue. “I don’t think we’ve met officially, but you bought Morgan’s auto shop, right?”
“That’s us,” Robert said, stepping forward to shake her hand. “Sue and Robert Toles.”
Brooke noticed that Edi was not just taller than Sue but taller than Robert as well. She had always been tall, even in school, towering over the other girls and some of the boys. Being overweight didn’t help, and it had earned her cruel nicknames like “Sasquatch” and “Brontosaurus.”
“My condo is on the other end of your neighborhood,” Edi said, her tone smooth, almost comforting. “Looks like you’ve been doing a lot of work on your place.”
Sue smiled despite the circumstances. “Slowly but surely. We saw pictures of what it used to look like. Stunning. We hope we can bring it back to that someday.”
Edi’s expression softened briefly before her cop face returned. She turned toward where Tyler stood near thetrailhead marker, and Brooke saw something shift in the deputy’s demeanor. Not unfriendly exactly, but definitely more guarded.
“Tyler,” Edi said, and there was a wealth of history in that single word.
“Edi.” Tyler’s response was equally loaded. His shoulders had gone rigid, his jaw tight.
There was weight in their exchange, something unspoken that made the air feel charged.
Brooke assumed Tyler was hanging back because he didn’t know the deputy. That made sense—he was new to the area, or at least new enough that Brooke didn’t know him. But watching them now, watching the way Edi’s expression shuttered and Tyler’s whole body language changed, Brooke realized she’d been wrong.
They definitely knew each other.
And whatever their history was, it wasn’t comfortable.
