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  Courage. Danger. Faith.

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  Cave of Secrets

  by Shannon Redmon

  ONE

  Carli Moore stared at the pile of rocks inside the cave and shivered away the damp feeling of dread building within her. The last time she visited the cavern on her family’s ranch was two years ago, before her best friend, Sadie, disappeared.

  Volunteers from the small town of Crystal Creek, North Carolina, had scoured every inch of acreage nearby for the twenty-two-year-old beauty, including a thorough combing of Carli’s property.

  But Sadie’s body was never found.

  The cave, empty.

  Now here Carli stood, moisture from the stone ceiling dripping on her head. She stared at the pile of rocks stretching about five and a half feet long. The same height as her best friend. A swatch of pink poked up from a space between the stones.

  The garment was knitted, dirty.

  Familiar.

  Pressure from her five-year-old nephew’s hand patted her leg. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Carli. I didn’t mean to run off. I was excited about playing in the cave today.”

  She’d told Eli about the hideout after her brother left on his business trip. She wanted the boy to experience the same quiet shelter that offered a welcome reprieve from pop-up thunderstorms and southern heat waves like she did as a child.

  Now she was rethinking that decision.

  Carli forced a smile to her face. “It’s okay, bud. I’m glad you yelled for me. Your father and I used to play in here all the time when I was your age. You didn’t touch the rocks, did you?”

  “Nope.” Eli’s gaze lifted to hers. “What is it, Aunt Carli?”

  She had to spare him from the possibilities coursing through her mind, the dark ideas that took innocent lives from her. She’d never return to this one-red-light town if Eli and her brother, Tyler, didn’t live here.

  She lifted the boy into her arms and carried him to the other side of the cave, then handed Eli her battery-powered lantern.

  “Probably an animal. Let me take a closer look. You hold the light for me, okay?”

  Red curls bobbed on top of his head as he accepted his task. She couldn’t resist tousling the cuteness with her fingers before returning to the revelation awaiting her.

  Carli scanned every superficial detail, but no other clues to what was underneath presented themselves. She knelt onto the cavern floor. Moisture seeped through the fabric of her riding pants and her fingers shook as she reached out, knocking a couple of stones away. Their clamor a soundtrack to the horror unfolding before her.

  A human skeleton.

  Dirty blond hair still attached to the scalp.

  Nothing but bones left elsewhere.

  Every muscle in Carli’s body tensed and she fell backward. Eli ran toward her. She pushed to her feet and grabbed him, clamping a hand over the boy’s eyes and pulling him to her side.

  “Come on, bud.”

  “Can I see?”

  “No.” She spat out a little too harshly. “Let’s go get someone to help clean up.”

  She lifted her nephew and held his head against her shoulder, the lantern still swinging in his small hand.

  Light brushed across a heart-shaped wall carving, framing a pair of initials. Carli tried to ignore the marks as they exited the smaller room. She had loved Zain Wescott at one time, but that was a few years ago. A time when her parents were still alive and Sadie was still her best friend.

  Right now, her main focus was to protect Eli from the ever-present realization creeping into her brain.

  Sadie was dead.

  Unless she was wrong, which wouldn’t be the first time. They’d searched this cave before and found nothing. Could a body remain intact this long, after two years had passed? And if so, how did Sadie get here?

  Maybe the body belonged to someone else. Another missing person Carli didn’t even know. Still a sad situation, but she could hold on to hope Sadie was still alive, somewhere on a faraway beach, living her best life. There were plenty of missing girls with blond hair and pink sweaters.

  Carli swiped away a tear. If only she could convince the gnawing in her gut the same thing.

  The clop of a horse’s hooves stamped with impatience near the main opening of the cave. Cocoa, her favorite horse, expressed displeasure at being tied up. Carli lifted Eli into the saddle, mounted behind him and gave Cocoa a pat. “You get to gallop this time, boy.”

  The black Arabian chomped at the bit to run and took off at the click of his owner’s tongue. What were her next steps?

  Zain needed to know.

  He was Sadie’s brother and sergeant of criminal investigations for the Henderson County sheriff’s department. His team would investigate no matter the identity of the body.

  She hadn’t seen him since she left two years ago, having chosen to leave Crystal Creek without a proper goodbye. When she did visit for holidays and special family occasions, she kept her distance from town. The people she’d grown up with weren’t too kind when her brother was accused of murdering her best friend.

  “Where we going, Aunt Carli?”

  “Sergeant Wescott’s house. He always eats lunch at home and he’s the closest neighbor we have.”

  She wrapped an arm tight around her nephew and steered the horse toward Zain’s road.

  Maybe she should wait for the medical examiner’s autopsy before drawing any conclusions about the body’s identity and opening old wounds. That would be the wise thing to do. The body could be someone else.

  She still had to tell Zain.

  If only she could trust him not to come after her brother again. Tyler was the last person to see Sadie alive and this became the foundation of the sheriff’s department’s case, but with no other evidence found, Tyler was released without charges. Didn’t matter. The townspeople had already convicted him...and her. They all gossiped about her drunken state the night of Sadie’s disappearance. Carli had talked her best friend into going to the Summer’s End party. It was her fault that Sadie was dead and this town would never let her forget.

  At least life for Tyler had finally calmed down over the past year and her brother had made a good life for himself and Eli. The ranch business was booming from customers across the country wanting his well-bred horses, like the one she rode now.

  Cocoa rounded the bend onto the Wescotts’ long gravel drive. Zain’s farmhouse came into view, across a pretty wooden bridge covering Crystal Creek. She slowed Cocoa to a trot, his horse’s hooves clamoring on the wooden slats. A wisp of coolness arose from the waters beneath.

  She tugged on the reins and slowed her horse to a stop.

  Hinges on the front screen door creaked their disapproval when Zain stepped from his two-story home, sky blue eyes fixed on hers and a curious expression on his face. The lines in his forehead deepened with her intrusion. Not exactly how she planned to reunite after all these years.

  His toned arms folded across the chest of his uniform as he leaned against the post, and a gentle breeze blew the waves of his dark hair. A bit longer than she remembered. He was always hard to resist in his uniform, but time and hurt had faded the temptation.

  Sunlight gleamed off his sergeant’s badge. A recent promotion according to her brother. He’d been a deputy in the police department when they dated. Now, he was twenty-eight years old, four years her senior, and being groomed for a promotion when Lieutenant Black retired.

  H
ow was she supposed to tell him about his sister’s body buried in the cave? The news would destroy any hope of finding Sadie alive. A hope unfaded even as the seasons passed.

  Carli leaned toward Eli’s ear. “Hey, bud. Why don’t you go play on the tire swing? I need to talk to Sergeant Wescott for a minute.”

  Her nephew slid from the saddle and skipped over to the large oak tree. Carli dismounted and forced her weakened legs to approach the bottom porch step, while shoving her hands into her back jean pockets to hide their trembles.

  Zain’s gaze never left her face. “Long time since you’ve been to my place.”

  Waves of regret and pain rolled through her. “I need to talk to you.”

  He probably wouldn’t believe her. Most people in town counted her a liar, a sister protecting her brother’s life.

  “We haven’t talked in two years, Carli. You ran off to Atlanta and never looked back. What could you possibly have to say to me now?”

  If only he knew how many times she’d wanted to talk to him, or dreamed of walking in open pastures by his side. Many lonely nights she pulled up his phone number, letting her thumb hover over his name, then swiped it away for lack of words. A justified silence out of respect for Sadie...at least that’s what she told herself, until now.

  “I found a body. I think it might be her.”

  He straightened at her announcement, the words tightening his facial muscles. “You mean Sadie?”

  She nodded.

  “We’ve searched this entire county three times over for my sister. Why do you think a body you found is hers?”

  Carli flashed a quick look at Eli, laughing as the tire swing twirled him in circles. So innocent. What she wouldn’t give to return to those days. Her eyes lifted back to Zain’s.

  “Because the pink sweater covering the corpse I found...is mine.”

  * * *

  The rumors were true. Carli Moore was back in town and stood only a few feet from Zain.

  Just like the good ole days.

  Almost as if nothing had changed. That the past two years of absence and his sister’s disappearance hadn’t destroyed their relationship.

  Carli’s beauty struck his heart with a familiar ache. Seeing her now replaced his daily memories with the real, updated version. Kind eyes, green, framed with long black lashes, and full lips pressed together.

  Suppressed issues, never discussed, filled the space between them, trumped by Carli’s discovery of a dead body. After all this time, she returned claiming she had found Sadie’s corpse.

  Zain had buried any hope of ever finding his sister when the case closed, unsolved. He wasn’t ready to reopen old wounds, but Carli had a way of stirring up their troubled past.

  “A lot of girls wear pink sweaters,” he said, relying on years of learned discernment with the sheriff’s department.

  Logical thinking was key, despite the turmoil fermenting inside him. Emotions only clouded a person’s judgment. He had to be objective and differentiate truth from false information. Most witness accounts were greedy people trying to capture reward money anyway.

  But not Carli. She didn’t need any extra cash. Their thriving family ranch, managed by her brother, Tyler, plus four ranch hands and one nanny named Marta, brought in a substantial wealth for them both.

  Most of Tyler’s customer base came from out of town, not from the people who lived in Crystal Creek. Carli’s savvy marketing skills helped her brother build a huge internet following. People from all over the world purchased his horses.

  Plus, she collected a substantial salary from her high-paying marketing job in Atlanta, another reason their relationship ended. She chose her career and money over him, while he struggled to provide for his sick mother who grieved each day for his sister.

  If only Carli had been responsible the night of the late summer party instead of drinking, then his life might be different. Sadie was the smart one in the family. A nurse manager at Dr. Candyce Frye’s office. She’d planned to go back to school and get her practitioner license. But then she disappeared. Life over in a matter of minutes.

  Carli brushed a strand of hair from her face. The noonday sun augmented the red highlights. “I dropped my pink sweater on the way to the car. Somewhere near the barn. Sadie went back to get it for me. That was the last time I saw her.”

  “I’m surprised you remember.”

  He regretted the words as soon as they tumbled out. Carli dropped her gaze and dug the gravel with her boot heel. Up until now, she’d been unable to remember any details to help with his sister’s case, a by-product of regretful intoxication.

  Not that it was all her fault. He should’ve done a better job too. The one thing they still had in common—blame and guilt for not protecting Sadie when either of them had a chance.

  Carli’s green eyes lifted back to his, the pain of his statement reflecting in their depths. Trying to apologize now would make the moment more awkward.

  “Wait here.”

  Zain reentered the cool of his home, grabbed his gun and keys from the table by the front door and exited again. He descended the porch stairs, his black boots hitting the gravel where she stood. “Where’s this body at?”

  She averted her gaze from his. “In the cave, under a pile of rocks. Smaller room off to the left.”

  Zain crossed the yard in three strides and jumped in his new SUV. He rolled down the window, allowing heat to escape. “You comin’?”

  “Let me drop off Eli with Marta. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Fine.”

  He started the engine, shifted into gear and pressed the gas pedal, leaving dust swirling in his rearview mirror. Carli grew smaller with the distance. At least she was the one watching his taillights fade this time.

  Things might’ve been different if she’d returned his phone calls or answered some of his texts after she left. They could’ve healed together, but silence was the only answer he ever received. How does someone leave a love like they had? There was only one answer, she didn’t love him as much as he loved her.

  Gravel crunched beneath his tires as he sped down the road, fresh air whipping around him. The radio played a sad country song. He punched the knob and cut the noise. Not really in the mood for music.

  The cave was up ahead. He’d have to cross the field at the first bend to get to the entrance. A place he knew well.

  Most of his childhood and teenage memories had Carli and the Moore family ranch in them. Not a day went by they didn’t have some adventure together, like making a rope swing and dropping into the refreshing creek behind their houses or conducting paint gun wars in the open fields and old buildings.

  The cave was where they all hung out when they needed a cool place to rest, eating snacks and discussing important life events, like the newest video games to play.

  His best memories came from the Moore family’s annual New Year’s Eve bash thrown for the entire town. Best fireworks show ever. Zain’s first real kiss with Carli was there, on top of the barn roof, with an array of colors bursting over their heads, a year and a half before his sister disappeared. All those celebrations stopped after Carli’s parents and her sister-in-law died in a crash on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She was devastated at losing them.

  Maybe that’s why her departure felt like a huge betrayal. Of all the people in town, Carli was the one person who understood his pain from losing a loved one. He needed her more than he realized, and her departure was a loss second only to the disappearance of his sister.

  A large rock face rose up from the field. Zain cut off the road and bounced through the humps and divots of the pasture, then pulled to the cave’s front entrance. He stared at the opening, a rush of adrenaline increasing his heart rate.

  Before today, the shady entrance was a welcome sight for someone looking for shelter, but the gray slate loomed like a giant tombstone above him.


  What if Sadie was inside?

  Zain exited his truck and entered the cavern. The glow of his flashlight bounced against the walls. He donned a pair of plastic gloves, then headed to the smaller room off the main cave. The rocks Carli described were piled in the corner, a swatch of pink fabric visible.

  He inched his way closer. A cold dread numbed his usual heightened impulses triggered by a crime scene. Not like he hadn’t seen a dead body before. But this one was likely his sister. Everything in him rebelled against the possibility.

  He knelt down and touched the sweater. The same one with the chipped plastic button Carli wore the night of the party. Most people thought redheads shouldn’t wear pink, but not Carli. She loved the color and wasn’t going to let other’s impressions guide her decisions.

  Zain pushed away the rest of the stones.

  Tears burned the corners of his eyes and pain stabbed across his forehead. Sadie’s dirty blond hair blurred against the backdrop of gray. Her favorite butterfly hair clip still clasped in the strands. He pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes in an effort to hold off the onslaught of anguish.

  “Zain?”

  He stood, his back to Carli, and swiped the wetness from his cheeks. “Yeah?”

  If anyone understood his pain, she did, but crying showed weakness. Not acceptable for a sergeant who must deny any emotional attachment during a case. Everything by the book. No more mistakes.

  He turned and faced her. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Carli stepped closer, her eyes locking with his. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

  “Most likely.”

  Before he could say any more, Carli pressed into his arms, wrapping her body against his, head to his chest, dampening his shirt with her sobs. He held her there, letting the common denominator of grief wash away all the betrayal from their past. At least for the moment.