Chapter 6
Tyler
The vehicles kicked up dust as they turned onto the access road leading to the trailhead. It was a game warden truck and another sheriff’s department SUV.
Tyler should’ve left. Should’ve gotten away when he had the chance, before more deputies arrived, before this whole situation became more complicated than it already was.
There was something about her that made him want to bridge the space she’d been putting between them since Edi arrived, and he hoped, against reason, that she wasn’t writing him off completely.
That hope felt foolish now.
Seeing Edi had thrown him more than he’d expected.
They’d known each other in high school—she was a few years behind him, part of the same small-town orbit where everyone knew everyone, whether they wanted to or not.
They weren’t close friends, but friendly enough.
The kind of acquaintances who’d nod in the hallways, maybe exchange a few words at a football game or in the cafeteria.
Back then, she’d been quiet and kept to herself mostly.
Not that she was given much of a choice.
Excess weight, above-average height, and the misery of being a teenager made for a cruel combination.
Add in her frizzy hair and the difficulties she had with acne, and it was an almost lethal combination as far as popularity went.
Edi’s family connections should’ve earned her a little consideration, or at least limited some of the teasing, but kids could be cruel.
Teenage girls can be downright brutal. He’d seen it happening, but he never participated and didn’t encourage it.
Truth be told, he went out of his way to be nice to her when he could.
That paid off after high school, when she worked at one of the county offices and helped him with business things. She’d see him walk in and make sure she took care of him, even if it meant a late lunch. Edi was always happy to help him get a title transferred over for one of his project cars.
Now she was a deputy sheriff. She’d lost some of the weight, though she was still on the heavy side. Her hair seemed to have mostly submitted to the tight knot at the back of her head, though not fully.
Most importantly, she had authority, a badge, and a gun on her hip.
That shift in their dynamic had been uncomfortable in ways Tyler hadn’t fully anticipated.
She wasn’t simply Edi anymore. She was Deputy Reeves, someone with the power to dig into his past, to ask questions he didn’t want to answer, to make his life difficult if she chose to.
But what bothered him more was the way she’d looked at him. Nervous. Almost skittish. Like she wasn’t sure how to act around him and wasn’t sure what to say.
He didn’t understand it. Before he left Basin County, Edi had sought him out. She’d told him she knew it wasn’t his fault, that she believed him when others hadn’t. Her support had meant something then, it was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dark time.
So why the nervousness now? What had changed?
But that was before, when she was still just Edi. Before she managed to get hired on as a deputy. Maybe that’s what changed.
Tyler shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and tried to push the question aside. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered because he couldn’t let it matter. He wouldn’t let it matter.
He knew the truth in more ways than one.
He’d made a mistake earlier, thinking he could get to know Brooke, thinking he could get involved with anyone in Basin County.
He couldn’t. Not Brooke. Not anyone. He’d come back here for one reason only—to face his past, stop running from what happened, and prove to himself that he could exist in this place without falling apart.
He hadn’t come back to start something new. Especially not with someone like Brooke, who had her life together, owned a business, and had deep roots in the community. She had friends, family, and a real life. She deserved better than him.
What he didn’t understand was how Brooke didn’t recognize him. Everyone else seemed to know what happened. The whispers, the suspicions, the way people looked at him when they thought he wasn’t paying attention . . . they’d done it before he left, and they’ve been doing it since he came back.
It wasn’t a secret he could keep. Eventually, Brooke would know too. She’d hear the stories, the rumors, the truth mixed with speculation and gossip. She’d look at him the same way others did—with wariness, with doubt, with the unspoken question of whether he was dangerous.
He was poison to the people he cared about. That was the truth he’d learned the hard way. Getting close to him meant getting hurt, and he couldn’t do that to Brooke.
The attraction he felt was dangerous. Not for him. He’d already paid his price, already knew what loss felt like. But for her. She’d gone through enough up at Bearwater. She didn’t need his baggage added to her load.
Maybe it didn’t matter anyway.
Tyler looked toward Brooke as she stared at the approaching vehicles. Since Edi had arrived, Brooke started pulling back. He’d seen it in her body language, in the way she’d stopped meeting his eyes, in the careful distance she’d put between them.
She was getting wary. Smart woman.
Did she finally realize who he was? Maybe something clicked. Maybe Edi had said something, or maybe Brooke was just good at reading people and had sensed the history between him and Edi.
Maybe she remembered how Tyler and her older brother, Phil, used to hang around together. They played football together, souped up their cars in the auto shop, spent countless hours talking about getting out of Basin County and making something of themselves.
So much for that. Phil was still in Irma after taking over his dad’s print shop.
Tyler had seen places and done things, but none of it had been what he wanted out of life.
Coming back to Irma had made sense, at least at first. The last few months had been good.
Great, even, as long as he ignored the stares and whispers.
He had a job he enjoyed, and Robert and Sue treated him well.
Finding the body was rough for all of them, Brooke especially.
Brooke was definitely no longer the little kid he remembered from visits to Phil’s house.
She’d grown into someone impressive. Strong, capable, resilient.
The kind of person who could find human remains in the woods and still have the presence of mind to mark the location.
The kind of person who admitted to fear but didn’t let it control her.
The kind of person he had no business getting close to.
Tyler watched as she finally looked at him, her expression troubled. Their eyes met for a moment before she looked away, and he felt the loss of that connection like a physical thing.
He’d already lost her trust, and they’d only just met.
The game warden’s truck pulled into the lot first, gravel crunching under its tires. A man stepped out, surveying the scene with the practiced eye of someone who’d dealt with plenty of wilderness incidents. Tyler recognized him but couldn’t put a name with the face.
The sheriff’s SUV parked beside it. When the driver’s door opened and the deputy stepped out, Tyler knew both the name and the face.
Deputy Adam Boverman. Of all the people who could’ve responded, it had to be him.
Boverman’s eyes swept the parking lot, taking in the vehicles, the people, the whole setup. When his gaze landed on Tyler, something shifted in his expression. Recognition mixed with something darker. Satisfaction, maybe. Or vindication.
He walked directly toward Tyler, his stride purposeful, his hand resting casually near his belt. Not on his weapon, but close enough to send a message.
“Tyler Gillis,” Boverman said, stopping a few feet away. His voice carried across the quiet lot. “Should’ve known you’d turn up where there’s a dead body.”
Tyler kept his expression neutral. “Deputy Boverman.”
“Funny thing, you being here.” The deputy’s smile was completely fake. Not surprising. “Real funny, considering your history.”
“I was hiking with friends. We helped the woman who found the remains in the woods. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” Boverman let out a harsh laugh. “See, the problem is, people around here remember what happened last time you were involved with a dead body. Remember how that turned out?”
The words landed like a punch. Tyler heard Brooke’s sharp inhale behind him, heard Robert’s muttered curse.
“Deputy Boverman,” Edi said, walking over quickly. “That’s not— ”
“Not what, Reeves? Not relevant?” His attention stayed fixed on Tyler. “He’s got a history with dead bodies. Seems pretty relevant to me.”
Tyler forced himself to stay still, to keep his hands visible, to not give Boverman any excuse to escalate this further. But inside, everything was crumbling.
This was why he shouldn’t have come back to Irma. He should’ve stayed away—built a life somewhere else and lived with the ghosts that haunted him. It was also why he couldn’t get involved with Brooke or anyone else.
Because in this town, he would always be a suspect. He’d always be the one they looked at first when something went wrong. The man whose past made people wonder if he was capable of murder.