From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,59
find Devlin. Jason went to his room, but he wasn’t there.”
“Haven’t seen him,” Finn said, his thoughts more with Casey. She’d just been about to tell him something. From her tone, it was important. “Is he missing?”
Patience shrugged. “He was hitting it hard at the bar, and now nobody can find him. Oh, well, more food for us.” Finn noticed that she seemed jittery, revved up somehow. She was fingering the necklace at her throat.
Finn shot a look at Casey. He could see relief on her face as she said, “Taco salad sounds good.” Whatever she had been about to tell him was going to have to wait. She’d just found an excuse to put it off. He didn’t want to push it, not now, not in front of Patience, but he wouldn’t let it go.
“New necklace?” Casey asked.
Patience let go of the turquoise charm at the end of the chain. “You like it? I found it at the antiques barn. Jen said it’s supposed to ward off evil.”
“Some people will believe anything,” Jason said as he found them. Finn saw the exchange between Jason and Patience. Something was definitely going on there. “No Devlin, though. I’m sure he’ll turn up.”
“Well, Shirley’s dishing up, so we’d all better get in the kitchen,” Patience said and led the way in, Jason behind her and Finn and Casey bringing up the rear.
“Just like old times,” Jen said when she saw them. “Except the food is better than what we used to make ourselves. Wish I could say the same for the company,” she joked and smiled across the table at Benjamin.
“Didn’t know I could cook, did you?” Patience said, giving Jason a hip bump before taking a seat at the table.
“You’re full of surprises,” Jason said as he sat down next to her. “I never know what to expect.”
Casey moved to one of the four empty seats, and Finn joined her. Patience was toying with the turquoise charm at her neck again and clearly flirting with Jason and vice versa. Finn didn’t like the weird vibe in the room.
As he looked around the table, he could see that everyone appeared tired, some a little sunburned from their day exploring town and most a little tipsy. Jason looked as if he was feeling no pain. Finn suspected he’d spent more time at the bar than even the others.
“So what’s everyone been up to all day?” he asked. Someone had come back to the hotel to not only leave the note but also set up the perfume stunt.
“We took in Buckhorn,” Patience said. “That took us, what, ten minutes?” She laughed a little too hard and exchanged a grin with Jason.
“Oh, come on. It took longer than ten minutes,” Jen said. “Stop bad-mouthing Buckhorn.”
“It only took longer than ten minutes because of the ice-cream shop,” Jason said.
Patience chuckled. “I did love the ice-cream shop and sitting outside watching the early tourists. That was fun. Then we shopped some at the antiques barn and general store, before meeting up with everyone else at the bar and having a few beers,” Patience said, possibly explaining why she was so talkative.
The taco-salad bowl came to him. Finn let Casey take some before he helped himself and passed it on.
“What about you?”
Casey looked up as if surprised Patience had directed the question at her. “I spent the day collecting a few things of my grandmother’s.”
“You could have come along,” Jen said. “We needed someone who could beat Patience at pool. She and Jason hustled up all the old men in the bar.”
“We made eighty dollars.” Patience pulled out a wad of money from her jeans pocket. “Not bad for a day on the town.”
Casey’s smile never reached her eyes, Finn noticed. “So you two are pool sharks?” He got the feeling that she’d noticed Patience fingering the necklace and had picked up on her odd behavior.
Patience shook her head and finished chewing the bite she’d taken. “We have a pool table in the man cave at home.”
“You’re married,” Finn said, realizing for the first time that she was wearing a wedding ring. He’d just assumed they were all single or divorced.
“I’m practically a newlywed.”
“You didn’t bring your husband,” Casey said.
“Gracious, no,” Patience cried. “He’d be bored to tears. Anyway, it was only for the staff...” Her gaze landed on Finn. “And Finn,” she added quickly and then frowned. “You never really explained why you were invited, though, did you? Or did I miss it?”