From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,21
also a suspect. She thought of the night before Megan had been murdered. They’d all been around the campfire, drinking, talking, laughing and eventually arguing, when Megan pulled her aside and dragged her deep into the woods. Everyone had heard the argument between the two of them before Casey had returned to the fire alone.
She’d stood staring into the flames morosely and drinking too much, furious with her grandmother, with herself, but mostly with Megan, who’d made her summer hell on earth. She should have walked away then and never gone back to the bonfire.
But she’d gone back the next night. Her only other option had been to hide out in her room for the rest of the summer. She refused to let Megan intimidate her. She’d been standing by the fire when she heard the scream in the woods. She’d looked up, startled, and had been surprised to see people rushing into the trees.
She couldn’t remember later, when interviewed by the marshal, who’d been around the fire. She herself had gone into the woods to see if Ben, who’d been really drunk, was all right before Shirley’s scream. She hadn’t found him and had turned back.
But that night she’d rushed in, following the screams, and found the others. Shirley Langer had continued to scream until Jason put an arm around her and tried to calm her. Shirley said she’d found Megan covered with blood, lying in the dried pine needles. Megan had been bludgeoned to death with a rock, the marshal had speculated, even though no bloody rock had been found.
Everyone had been in shock, maybe especially Claude, who’d told them that he was in medical school, studying to be a doctor. She’d thought that odd since he looked so pale, as if he might faint. He’d leaned against a tree. She realized he must have checked Megan for a pulse, because he had blood on his fingertips that he was trying to wipe off on the bark.
Now some of them had come back and were down at the campfire as if reliving that night. What was wrong with these people? Had they come because of what had been written at the bottom of the invitation about anyone not attending being considered the killer?
Or was Finn’s theory not so far out of the realm of possibility? There’d been a lot of hard feelings that summer among the staff because of Megan.
“I don’t want to scare you,” Finn was saying, “but someone went to a lot of trouble to get us all here.”
“This reunion is morbid. Megan’s death was a tragedy, not something to resurrect over a campfire. I have no desire to relive the worst summer of my life. If I still own this hotel in the morning, I’m sending them all packing. Now, I’m going to take a hot bath.”
Finn didn’t move. “I’ll buy the hotel for twenty percent more than whatever Devlin offers you.”
Casey stared at him. “Just like that?”
“I want to see this through. Someone wanted me here, and I’m going to find out why. I don’t like being manipulated. Just tell me the amount you want, and I’ll make the call to have the papers drawn up and money transferred to your account first thing in the morning. After that, nothing will be keeping you here.”
Casey felt her heart lift. This was what she’d wanted. Devlin had been stringing her along for months. Finn was giving her a way out. “I have to collect some of my grandmother’s things from the hotel before I can leave.”
“No problem.”
He was serious? “Have you forgotten that I’m one of the suspects?”
“No.” He smiled. “I’m counting on you not being the killer. That’s why you should leave as quickly as you can. I’m not sure anyone is safe here.”
So just take the money and run? Run just as she had ten years ago? Why was she hesitating? This was what she’d wanted. “You really think the killer is behind this?”
“I think it’s a possibility I wouldn’t discount. Or someone who wants to find the killer even more than I do. Or someone with a grudge to settle. With any of those, it could get dangerous.”
“Yet you plan to stay?”
He shrugged as if he had no choice. “I’d prefer you not be here if I’m right.”
“This is still my hotel.” Why was she arguing the point? He was trying to help her. To give her what she clearly wanted. Or was he trying to help himself?