From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,15

then. So, lost and at loose ends, I decided to solve her murder by coming to the hotel, and if I got to see her ghost, well, that would be something, too, wouldn’t it?”

Casey laughed before she realized he meant it. “You’re serious.”

CHAPTER SIX

“WHEN I WANT SOMETHING, I go after it,” Finn admitted, enjoying being with Casey. While he hadn’t thought he wanted an old, haunted hotel, he definitely was intrigued by the owner.

“That at least answers one of my questions,” she said. “You really thought you could accomplish what the state investigators couldn’t? Just like that? You decided to solve the cold case that no one else could. I suppose you thought you’d find the killer hiding in the hotel?”

Finn laughed. It wasn’t the first time a woman had questioned what they took as conceit. Except with Casey, he wasn’t insulted. “Megan’s killer was never apprehended. I thought the answer might be here.” He shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

Worth a try? “You’re telling me you spent months looking for clues?”

“I had some time on my hands. Anyway, I loved exploring the hotel, looking in lots of nooks and crannies, learning about the hotel—and you—from your grandmother’s journals.” She blinked in obvious surprise. “You knew that your grandmother kept journals, right?”

She shook her head as if to clear out the cobwebs. “I knew my grandmother was old-school. She used registration books instead of a computer because she liked doing things the way they’d always been done. But she kept journals?”

“There was a journal for every year that she ran the hotel. And an entry for every day at that. I found a stack of diaries in a cabinet in the office, kind of hidden in the back. It was interesting reading on those lonely nights. Through those, I learned about the hotel, its history, your grandmother’s love for it—and about you and her love for you.”

“I was wrong. This could get worse,” she mumbled under her breath.

He could see that all of this had hit her hard. He didn’t know how to soften the impact. She hadn’t expected to find him in the hotel—let alone discover the staff from that summer planned to spend the weekend with her.

“The hotel’s history is fascinating,” he said, hoping at least to prove to her he wasn’t a threat. “The more I read, the more interested I became.” In the hotel, but mostly in Casey. But he’d also been looking for answers to Megan’s murder and some other mysteries that had turned up. “I haven’t spent all my time wandering around the hotel looking for a ghost like I first led you to believe. I contacted libraries, museums and historical societies around the area for even more information. The locals provided old newspaper articles and stories.” And Megan’s ghost hadn’t bothered to show herself in all that time. So like Megan, he thought.

Casey didn’t look all that relieved by the news.

He thought about the notebook and the other information he’d found. This was definitely not the time to tell her about that—or his suspicions.

During his extensive research on the hotel, he’d found that every few years, a young girl connected to the hotel would go missing in Buckhorn. Megan, though, was the only one whose body had been found.

“You seemed to have attacked this with the same intensity I suspect you had with your business,” she said. He smiled in answer as the waitress brought their meals and drinks. They didn’t speak until the young woman left them alone again.

“I’m sorry I scared you earlier.” She looked as if she was going to deny it, but he rushed on. “I’d been looking forward to meeting you.” He picked up his fork and knife and cut a piece of chicken-fried steak. He took a bite, then cut a piece and slid it onto her plate with a grin.

He knew the smell alone had to have her mouth watering, but she still pretended she didn’t really want it even as she picked up her cutlery, cut a piece off and popped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she chewed, making him chuckle at her expression.

“It’s as good as it smells, huh?”

Those blue eyes flashed open. “This steak is wonderful.” He couldn’t help but grin. He liked looking at her. She had a very expressive face. He wanted to ask her if she still was interested in art, but then he’d have to tell her that her grandmother had saved a lot of