Chapter 3
Brooke
Brooke leaned against her SUV, grateful for the solid metal at her back.
The parking lot felt surreal in its normalcy.
Gravel crunched under her feet, the sun warmed her face, and birds sang in the nearby trees.
Everything looked as it should. No hint that the world had tilted sideways a few miles back on the trail.
Her hands finally stopped shaking. Mostly. Though she didn’t dare close her eyes. If she did, she’d see them again. The women.
Or woman. The thought of one body divided between two caches made Brooke's stomach churn. She took another sip of water and tried breathing through her nose.
This was wrong. All wrong. She should’ve stayed home. When Gina called the night before to cancel because the hospital was shorthanded, Brooke hadn’t worried. Joe and Steph would still be going.
Not even half an hour later, Joe called. Some kind of emergency had come up, and he had to leave town. He was driving to Billings to catch the first flight to LAX.
She’d called Steph, who, of course, had already heard from both of their friends.
Steph said it was fine, that the two of them could still go and she’d borrow her neighbor’s dog to act as their third person.
Never hiking alone in bear country was a given, though Steph often ignored the rule when she was in the wilderness during the winter months and the bears were denned up.
This time of year, though, they were much too active, and Brooke knew better than to be out here alone.
Her friends were bound to bring this up again and again, and she couldn’t really blame them for it.
Brooke always followed the rule of going out in a group. Until today. Steph called at five thirty. She’d caught her toe on the bedstead, and she was almost certain it was broken. It was already swollen and purple. “Let’s try for next weekend,” she’d said.
“Sure,” Brooke had answered before telling Steph to take care of herself.
“See you Wednesday,” Steph had added before hanging up. “Even if I can’t run, I’ll be there to keep you all going.”
No doubt about that. Steph was the organizer of the Basin County Running Club and was an expert at motivating everyone during their weekly gatherings. Unless she was out of town, Steph didn’t miss a Wednesday. She was the main reason the club kept going after what happened in May.
“You need a snack?”
Brooke looked up, startled. Tyler stood a few feet away, holding a granola bar in her direction.
“I’m good.” She reached for her pack, trying to calm her nerves. “I brought things.”
He smiled and nodded, and she let herself relax a little. She hadn’t really looked at him on the trail. Now she noticed his height, the solid set of his shoulders, the calm green of his eyes. And his hands, streaked with grease, caught her attention.
Brooke grabbed her water bottle and took a quick sip, turning away as she realized she’d been staring.
Robert was still on the phone with dispatch, his voice carrying across the quiet lot as he answered questions and gave directions. Sue stood beside him, occasionally adding details. Their Subaru sat twenty feet away, gate open, revealing a neatly organized cargo area.
“You rode with your friends?” she asked Tyler.
“I did. Made more sense than bringing two cars up.”
“Yeah, I guess it does.”
His voice was easy, unhurried. The kind of voice that could talk someone through a crisis without ever raising its pitch. She’d noticed that on the trail, too, though at the time she’d been too rattled to fully register it.
He paused a beat, then said, “Why were you off the trail?”
“Pardon?”
“Where you found the, um, cache. There wasn’t a trail.”
“Rattlesnake. I heard one and . . . I guess I freaked.” She let out an embarrassed laugh. “I know better, but I ran, and, well, that’s where I stopped.”
“You’ve had quite the day.”
She met his gaze again, certain she’d see mockery or pity. Instead, she found warmth and genuine understanding looking back at her.
“Yeah.” Tears stung her eyes as she took another sip of water.
Tyler gave a nod, seeming to understand both her emotions and her embarrassment. “I’m going to check and see if Sue and Robert need anything.”
She watched him go, noticing he glanced back about halfway toward their Subaru. The gesture made her smile.
He was right about one thing: it had been quite a day. Her life had always been quiet, almost boring, the kind of life she liked. Work, running, friends, family. Nothing ever out of the ordinary.
Until recently, that is.
The past few months had been difficult, but she was slowly finding her footing again, little by little returning to the Brooke she used to be.
She’d lived in Irma her entire life. Thirty-two years in a town where everyone knew everyone, where the biggest crime was usually teenagers spray painting the wall of a building or the occasional rogue cattle moseying through town.
At least, that’s what she used to think before she learned her friend Kelsey was being blackmailed into stealing confidential files from her employer. Brooke had been so naive.
That day had changed everything she thought she knew about not just their little town, but also about herself. Even so, owning a coffee shop meant she saw a good part of the town regularly and knew their orders, their routines, their families.
But she didn’t know Tyler.
Her eyes drifted to where he stood near the other car.
Instead of looking at his friends, he was scanning the tree line, like he expected something to emerge from the forest. Even from this distance, she could see the tension in his body, the way he held himself alert and ready.
Like he wasn’t convinced the danger was entirely behind them.
She’d been too panicked earlier to really look at him. Her brain had been locked in survival mode. Get away from the bodies, mark the location, don’t die from a bear attack or become the next cache herself.
Now, standing in the relative safety of the parking lot with her heart rate finally returning to normal, she could actually see him.
He was tall, around six feet, with the kind of athletic build that came more from actual work than a gym membership, but she suspected he worked out too.
His dark hair was cut short and practical, a hint of silver around the temples.
Strong jaw, serious expression. He was older than her by a few years, she guessed, though it was hard to tell for certain.
He was handsome, which felt wrong to notice given what they’d just found.
But it wasn’t just his looks that caught her attention. It was the way he’d handled the situation. When she’d been spiraling in panic, ready to bolt into the forest, he’d been calm and confident. He’d assessed the danger, made a plan, and executed it without drama or hesitation.
He had positioned himself between her and the caches while they marked the trail. He shot out his hand to steady her when she stumbled on the hike back. He did small, protective things without making a fuss about them.
And the way he looked at her when their eyes met, attentive and unreadable even in the middle of a crisis . . .
Heat crept up Brooke’s neck. This was ridiculous. Completely inappropriate. There was a dead person—possibly two dead people—less than two miles away, and here she was cataloging some stranger’s attractive qualities like she was scrolling through a dating app.
What kind of person did that?
She forced her attention back to Robert, who was still on the phone, but she kept looking back at Tyler.
Enough, Brooke, she told herself. You are too messed up right now to even be thinking about getting involved with someone.
She let out a sigh and turned away, her eyes moving over the forest as she took a few steady breaths.
Calling herself messed up was no exaggeration.
She’d been trying to keep things together, throwing herself into work, and she’d had a good race two months earlier.
Not the one she’d planned, but the one she needed.
Still . . . she knew herself well enough to recognize that her tendency to obsess was at an all-time high.
And when that happened, she didn’t make the best choices.
Better to get through today and forget all about the tall, handsome Tyler Gillis.
Movement caught her eye. Robert was off the phone, and he and Sue were heading toward their Subaru. They moved to the back and started pulling out what looked like a cooler.
“They’re sending someone,” Robert called out. “Could be a while. Half an hour, probably longer.”
Longer was more likely unless they already had someone patrolling in the mountains. She considered where they were: near the Wyoming-Montana state line but still inside Basin County, Wyoming.
Sue approached, carrying sandwiches wrapped in plastic and a handful of granola bars. Robert followed with bottles of water.
“Figured we might as well eat while we wait.” Sue offered her some food. “It’s going to be a long afternoon.”
Brooke hesitated. Eating felt wrong. Disrespectful when someone was lying dead on the mountain. But her body was crashing from the adrenaline spike, and she knew she needed fuel. Her stomach agreed with a growl, reminding her she’d only had coffee and a bagel before leaving the house that morning.
“Thank you,” she said, accepting a sandwich and water. When she unwrapped it, she discovered turkey and swiss on wheat bread. Simple but welcome.
Tyler took a sandwich as well, and Brooke noticed he looked just as conflicted about it as she did.
Stop it, Brooke. Just don’t even look at him.
“I know it seems strange,” Sue said gently, reading their expressions. “But we’re going to be here for hours once the police arrive. We need to keep our strength up.”
“She’s right,” Robert added. “I’ve been through something like this before. Years ago, when I was working construction in Colorado. Found a hiker who’d fallen off a cliff. The investigation took all day.”
They settled into an awkward circle near Brooke’s SUV. The food helped, grounding her in her body and in the present. She was alive. She was safe. The sandwich was good.
“You mentioned you’re from Irma?” Sue asked.
Brooke nodded as she swallowed her bite. “Born and raised. I own the coffee shop on Grand Avenue. Irma Brew.”
Sue’s face lit up. “Oh, of course. I knew I recognized you. We’ve been there. You make those amazing scones. I love the variety.”
“Thanks. We always have the plain but try to do a specialty scone or two each day.”
“They’re incredible,” Sue said. “We just moved to the area a few months ago. Robert bought the auto repair shop in town.”
“Morgan’s place?” Brooke remembered hearing the longtime owner had finally retired.
“That’s the one,” Robert confirmed. “Found the listing online and made a deal quickly. He said he was ready to spend more time fishing.”
Brooke glanced at Tyler. “Are you new to town too?”
Something flickered across his face, too quickly for her to read. “I work for Robert. At the shop.”
It wasn’t really an answer to her question. Brooke waited, expecting him to elaborate, but he took another bite of his sandwich.
“Tyler’s a fantastic mechanic,” Sue filled the silence. “We’re lucky to have him. He was part of the team from when Morgan owned the place.”
“How long have you been in Irma?” Brooke asked Tyler directly.
“Awhile,” he said, his tone pleasant but vague.
Brooke felt her curiosity sharpen. She knew most people in town, at least by sight. The coffee shop saw everyone eventually—morning regulars, tourists passing through, construction crews, ranchers coming in from the outlying properties. That or at the grocery store. Everyone had to buy groceries.
But she’d never seen Tyler before.
“We try to get out hiking most weekends,” Robert said, steering the conversation elsewhere. “Tyler’s been showing us good trails. He knows the area well.”
Tyler’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. Brooke caught it, though, before his expression smoothed back to neutral.
Interesting.
Sue was watching her with a sly smile. The kind that said she’d seen exactly where Brooke’s attention kept landing, and she found it amusing.
Brooke’s face heated again. She focused on her sandwich, but she stayed aware of Tyler in a way that felt hard to ignore. The way he moved, still alert despite the casual setting. How his gaze kept sweeping the parking lot and the tree line, never quite settling.
“Do you hike alone often?” Tyler asked, and there was something in his tone that wasn’t quite criticism but close.
“Not usually,” Brooke admitted. “I know better. But my friends canceled at the last minute, and I needed . . . ” She trailed off, not sure how to explain the desperate need she’d felt this morning to get into the mountains, to prove she could still do this, even if going out alone was a reckless decision.
“Needed what?” Tyler’s eyes were on her now, focused and intent.
“To not let fear win,” she said quietly.
Understanding crossed his face, like maybe he knew something about fear.
Brooke couldn’t deny there was something between them. Attraction, yes, but also a flicker of recognition, as if they both understood more than either wanted to say. Like they were both carrying weight they didn’t talk about, both pushing against things that wanted to hold them back.
Sue cleared her throat softly, and Brooke realized she’d been staring at Tyler.
“Well,” Sue said with forced cheerfulness, “I’m glad we happened to be here today. Even if the circumstances are awful.”
“Me too,” Brooke said, meaning it. She didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if she’d been completely alone when she found those bodies. If she’d had to hike out by herself, panic building with every step. If she’d had to wait there alone for law enforcement to arrive.
Tyler made it bearable. All three of them had, but especially Tyler.
She caught his eye again and saw something warm in his expression that unsettled her in a way she wasn’t ready to examine.
This was wrong. Not just wildly inappropriate when she should be focused on the victims, on who might have killed them, and on the danger that could still be lurking in these mountains, but it was risky on a personal level as well.
Her thoughts kept returning to how his voice had cut through the panic, how quickly he caught her when she stumbled, and how naturally he had taken charge without making it about himself.
Brooke took another bite of her sandwich and tried to ignore Sue’s smile.
The afternoon was going to be very long.