From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,99
his temples. Stooping down, he picked up a Scrabble piece. Y.
I have fallen for you.
He tried to tell himself that the piece could have been there at the back of the step for years. But he knew better. Had Casey picked up the Scrabble pieces? She must have. And put them in a pocket?
Finn knew it was a long shot that one had dropped out when she’d fallen. Or been pushed. He glanced down the stairs that ended at a side entrance. If she’d gone out that way, she would have been seen by one of the deputies.
That meant she was either still in the hotel or...
He tried her phone again. He heard it ringing—in the stairwell below him. With a chill running through him, he descended the stairs to find her purse where it had fallen.
He canceled the call and went racing back toward the main stairway with only moments to spare. As he came rushing down the stairs, he saw the marshal waiting for him, looking anxious.
“She’s not here,” the marshal said. “We need to get out now.”
Based on the marshal’s expression, he knew there was a need to get out of the hotel as quickly as possible. Finn had no idea why, just that the lawman looked scared.
“There’s one place we haven’t checked,” Finn said and headed for the door to the basement, but when he reached it, he saw that it had been barred. And not with just crime-scene tape. Several boards had been nailed over it. “What the hell?” he demanded, turning to the marshal. “I need to go down there.”
“No one is going down there.” There was steel in the marshal’s tone and what looked like terror in his eyes. “Casey isn’t down there. It’s been sealed since before I pulled the fire alarm. Let’s check outside and pray that she’s shown up.”
Finn wanted to tear the boards from the door, but if the alarm hadn’t been pulled until after the door had been barred... They rushed out the back. He saw that the deputy had cleared the parking lot of cars and people, so Finn was surprised to see that another deputy was standing at the parking-lot entrance with Jason Underwood. They appeared to be arguing.
When Jason saw Finn and the marshal approaching, he pushed past the deputy and ran toward them. “I saw Casey. In a back hallway. She was acting strange. She took off like someone was chasing her, and then she fell...” Jason’s voice broke. “I was hit from behind. That’s the last I remember before I found myself out here on the sidewalk, but I had to tell you. Whoever hit me...” He didn’t have to finish. Finn already knew that Casey was in trouble.
“How’d you get those scratches on your face?” the marshal asked Jason.
He looked away for a moment. “I stumbled into a wall earlier when I went down to the kitchen for a drink. I was trying to explain to Casey. I guess she thought...”
Finn had a sudden urge to beat the man senseless. “Why were you chasing after Casey?” he demanded, sensing there was a whole lot more to his story.
“She saw me holding Patience’s broken necklace, and I guess she thought...”
Finn swore. He could guess what Casey thought.
Jason looked worried. “I tried to stop her and explain, but that damned fire alarm was so loud.” Finn saw that the man was close to tears. “I didn’t hurt her. I swear.”
“When you saw her,” Finn asked, “did she have her shoulder bag with her?”
Jason seemed to think for a moment before he nodded. “She did.” So she had her phone.
“You say someone hit you from behind?” the marshal asked.
“I couldn’t have been out long, but when I came to, I was lying in the stairwell. Casey was gone. I thought she’d already be out here, too.”
“You were also the last one to see Patience Riley, who is missing as well,” the marshal said. Jason started to put up an argument but was cut off. “Go to the motel and stay there. If you leave town, I’ll have you arrested. I’d hold you now in a cell until both Casey and Patience were found, if Buckhorn had a jail.”
“I didn’t hurt either of them. Patience left, and Casey...” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to her.”
The marshal reached for the necklace in the man’s hands. “The clasp is broken.” His gaze rose to Jason’s.