From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,91

he’d realized he was lucky that it hadn’t been him.

The deputy who’d ordered them to stay by the fire had said the marshal would be speaking to each of them before the night was over. Jason had been one of the first to go inside. He’d answered a few questions about why he was at the closed hotel and then the last time he’d seen Claude, then Devlin.

He’d answered the marshal’s questions, before being told to not say anything to anyone else. He’d been asked his room number, and a deputy had escorted him to it.

Sprawling on his bed, he couldn’t get Megan out of his mind. He was sure Devlin and Claude were dead because of her. He thought of the night he’d gotten his hand caught in the scarf she’d had tied around her neck. She’d actually dressed up to come down to the campfire each and every time as if she wanted everyone to know that she was special.

But that night, alone with her, both of them breathing hard, he’d pulled back from a kiss, and his hand had gotten tangled in that damned scarf.

When he tried to jerk it free, it had tightened around her neck. He remembered the way her eyes had widened in alarm—and something else. It was the something else that had excited him.

He’d twisted the scarf, tightening it around her throat as her eyes widened further. He’d been scared that he might keep tightening it, but even the thought excited him. He’d kept twisting until she writhed on the bed beneath him and clutched at him, digging her fingernails into his shoulders.

That had been the best sex he’d ever had, and Megan had come back for more, each time saying she didn’t want it rough.

But the truth was, she did. Until she didn’t. Just like Patience.

* * *

FINN FOUND CASEY in her room. The moment he walked in, she ran to him. He took her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as she cuddled against him.

“It’s just so...awful,” she said as she pulled back to look at him. All he could do was nod. There weren’t words. He’d feared something had happened to them, just as he feared it wasn’t over yet. “Is it true Patience is missing?”

“Jason says she left.” He could see that she didn’t trust Jason’s word on anything. He felt pretty much the same way.

One of the windows was open a crack. He could smell the campfire and see the glow of the fire. But everyone had been brought in and questioned before being sent to their rooms. The deputy had tried to get Finn to go to his room, but Finn wasn’t having it. “I’ll be in Casey’s room. I’m not letting her out of my sight.”

“A deputy told me that we’re not allowed to leave our rooms tonight. I told him I wanted to stay with you.” She hugged him harder. “I don’t know when we’ll be allowed to leave.”

“None of that matters,” she said, pulling back to look at him. “Who killed them?”

Finn thought any number of people, including the investors who’d trusted Devlin to make the deal on the hotel, but he only shook his head. Past her, through the window, he could see deputies searching the woods and the outbuildings, their flashlight beams flickering in and out of the trees as they moved.

“I was going to ask you to stay in my room tonight,” he said.

She smiled. “I’ve seen your room. Glad you decided to stay in mine.”

“I’m usually neat and organized.” She laughed in answer to that but quickly sobered. Tears filled her eyes. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be all right, that the marshal would find out who had killed Claude and Devlin. But the law had never found out who had killed Megan. Wasn’t that why they were all here right now? Except for Casey. She’d come back only to sell the place and move on. But someone had other plans. He still didn’t know who that other person was, but he suspected now more than ever that it was the killer and Casey still wasn’t safe.

* * *

THE MARSHAL HAD just finished questioning Benjamin Travers when one of the deputies stuck his head in the door and motioned that he needed to speak to him outside the room.

Leroy knew bad news when he saw it coming. He excused himself and stepped out into the lobby. He figured it would be another