From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,109
danger.”
He studied her for a moment before he pulled out his radio and made the call. “Is everyone still over at the motel?”
“All here.”
“You’re sure?”
“Two of them are sitting outside. A couple of them went in earlier.”
“I think you’d better check on them. I’ll wait.” He looked at Casey. She held her breath, the deputy seeming to take forever to get back to him.
When the officer came back on the line, Leroy heard the bad news. “Don’t touch anything. I’m on my way.” He looked at Finnegan and Casey. He couldn’t very well leave them here. Motioning to a deputy, he said, “Take them to the motel, and get them a room. I’ll get their statements as soon as I can.”
Casey grabbed his sleeve, tears in her eyes. “Who’s dead?”
Leroy swore under his breath. They would know soon enough. “Jason Underwood.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
LEROY PUSHED PAST the deputy standing guard outside the motel room. As he did, he saw the man hanging from the light fixture in the middle of the room. A chair lay on its side beneath him. The breeze caught a loose strip of bedsheet and lifted it into the air.
“We didn’t cut him down after we checked, and there were no vitals,” Hepner said. “Might be a suicide. He left a note.”
Leroy stared at Jason Underwood’s swollen face and protruding tongue and the overturned chair below him before turning back to the deputy. He held out his hand. Hepner put a clear plastic evidence bag into it. Inside he could see the handwritten note.
I’ve ruined my every chance of happiness I’ve ever had. Patience, please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to hurt anyone.
“Still no sign of Patience Riley?” Leroy asked Hepner, who shook his head. “Coroner called?”
“On his way. Again,” the deputy said.
“Right. Take photos. Then you can cut him down,” Leroy said and stepped outside.
In the distance, the smoke and dust had started to settle. The once-famous landmark no longer stood against the western horizon. The Crenshaw Hotel was gone. He rubbed a hand over his face before settling his gaze again on the three standing outside the motel.
He kept thinking about Casey Crenshaw. She was convinced he had more than one killer. As he walked toward the now-even-smaller group huddled outside, he asked, “Any of you know Jason’s handwriting?”
Their eyes all widened as they took a look. “Is he...?” Jen asked, and Shirley began to cry.
“It’s his handwriting,” Benjamin said, and seeing that Leroy obviously needed more than that to convince him, he added, “Here. He wrote me a donation check for some research I’m doing.” He opened his wallet and took out the check.
Jason had signed his name and also added in the notation section that it was a donation for research.
Leroy checked it against the alleged suicide note. They matched. He handed back the check and turned as Casey and Finn exited from the patrol car that had just driven up.
* * *
CASEY STOOD UNDER the warm spray of the shower and closed her eyes. She’d been through a nightmare, and it wasn’t over. A killer had lured them all back to the hotel. She kept thinking about what Emery had said, about an evil that lived in the hotel, an evil that made bad things happen.
She didn’t believe in that any more than she believed in ghosts. The evil was in people—not in the walls of a building or even in the basement.
The door of the bathroom opened, startling her for a moment before Finn stepped in. The marshal had gotten them adjoining rooms and let them clean up before they had to give their statements.
Casey knew that Finn had wanted to give her some space—just not too much, from the look on his face. He’d showered, a towel wrapped around that slim waist.
“I just wanted to be sure you were all right,” he said.
She smiled and motioned for him to join her. It took little persuading. He dropped the towel and stepped into the shower, pulling her to him. She leaned into his warm body as the water rippled over them. He smelled good; he felt even better.
Casey looked up into his handsome face. “You saved my life. I haven’t thanked you.”
He shook his head. “No thanks necessary.”
“Finn, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
“But I am here.” He kissed her gently. “I’ll be here as long as you need me, as long as you want me.”