Raven Falls

by Jill Sanders

  The truth was, Cade was happy for them. It was obvious there was something between the two of them. He’d often wondered why his mother had started being happier in the past few years. He assumed it was thanks to his uncle.

  “Old?” Sean laughed and tightened his grip, and Cade had to hold back a wince as pain shot up his arm. “I can still take you down.”

  “Is that a challenge?” Cade asked playfully.

  “Boys.” His mother stepped back into the room. “As entertaining as it is to see the two of you argue, I’m just not in the mood today,” she said dryly.

  When she sat back down, he realized just how tired she looked. He dropped his uncle’s hand and reached over and took his mother’s hand.

  “Why don’t you head upstairs and lie down in the guest room?” he suggested.

  She smiled at him. “I think I’ll head home.”

  Sean stood up. “I’ll take you.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him. “I can drive myself.”

  Sean glanced over to him for help. He knew that his uncle was thinking the same thing he was. Neither of them wanted her to be alone at the moment.

  “I’ll be fine.” His mother laid a hand on both of their shoulders.

  “Of course you will. I raised a strong independent woman.” His grandmother stood up suddenly. “As you head that way, you can drop me off at home.” She winked at Cade.

  His uncle left shortly after his mother and grandmother did.

  The moment Cade and Raven were alone, he pulled her onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around her.

  “What do you say to spending the rest of the day on the sofa, watching movies?” he said, holding onto her.

  “That sounds amazing.” She sighed as she put her feet up on the sofa. Blue jumped up and, after spending almost a minute trying to get comfortable, finally settled at their feet with a slightly annoyed groan.

  “I think he’s upset I took his spot,” Raven said.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, he’s spoiled and normally lays up here with me.”

  He turned on the television and flipped through several channels before finally settling on a Clint Eastwood movie that was just starting. When he’d been changing channels, she’d mentioned how Eastwood was one of her favorite actors and the movie was one of her favorites.

  A few minutes after the movie started, she turned to look up at him.

  “Who do you think wanted to kill Kim?” she asked a few moments later.

  He glanced down at her. She was leaning with her back towards his chest. His arms were wrapped around her. He couldn’t see her face, but he’d known that her mind wasn’t on the movie.

  “I’ve been asking that same question.” He sighed and turned the volume down. “Not just Kim, but Rachelle and Joseph too. I agree with my uncle that whoever is doing this is trying to frame you.”

  “But why?” She shook her head. “It’s not like I have many enemies.” She was silent for a moment. “I mean, sure, some people in town still believe I started the fire, but I can’t imagine any of them murdering three people to… what? Pay me back in the hope that I’ll be implicated?” She shook her head. “I just don’t see it.”

  “Right,” he agreed. “Okay, so then that theory is out. So… what? Coincidence that the three people murdered worked for you?”

  “I do run the largest business in town.”

  “True. But if it’s just coincidence, then what do Kim, Rachelle, and Joseph have in common besides working at the resort?”

  “Well, Rachelle and Joseph knew my aunt and uncle. Joseph lost his job when they took over the resort.” She shifted so she could look at him. “Rachelle worked under them for years. Who knows what bad blood they had between them?”

  “And Kim?” he asked.

  She frowned. “Rachelle had hired Kim a week after I kicked my aunt and uncle out.”

  He sighed heavily. “So, no link?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe it’s totally random? I mean, it could be a drifter?” She motioned to the movie they were watching. “The killer in here has zero connections to the people he murdered.”

  He glanced at the screen and, after thinking about the plot, nodded in agreement.

  “Are there any drifters in Cannon Falls?” he asked, more to himself than to her.

  “Even though the resort is technically shut down, we still have a few rooms rented out,” she supplied.

  “You do?” he asked with a frown. “Does my uncle know?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many rooms?” .

  “Six. The Garrisons, who have been renting the same room for three weeks every summer for the past twenty years. They’re in their late seventies. I doubt either of them are strong enough to… well, you know.” She shifted again as Blue started sneaking up towards them. Raven’s hands ran over his soft fur, and he doubted she realized his dog had maneuvered her to get belly rubs. “Then there’s a single woman.” She narrowed her eyes. “I forget her name. Stephanie or Stacy.” She shook her head. “She’s in town writing a book. I’m told she orders all her meals and never really leaves her room. There are two families that know each another. They spend most of their days hiking and biking through the countryside. A single businessman who just came into town a few nights ago and…” She frowned. “I’m not sure who the last person is. I only saw the name, Pat Parsons.” She leaned her head back.

  “How many were in town when Joseph was killed?” he asked.

  “Just the Garrisons. The rest came later.”

  “Okay, so if we exclude all of them…” He thought for a minute. “Who in town had motive or gained something from all three deaths?”

  “That’s a question your uncle will hopefully find an answer to.” She shifted back to lean against his chest. “I’m suddenly very tired.”

  “We did only have a few hours of sleep.” He pulled her closer to him, feeling a little overwhelmed and tired himself.

  Her turned the sound for the movie back on and, less than fifteen minutes later, they both fell asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Everything inside is on fire, when I am with you.

  Word about Kim’s murder changed the entire town. It was strange. When Joseph had been found with his head missing and Rachelle had been poisoned, people in town hadn’t really blinked an eye. But hearing about Kim strung up in the middle of the town square somehow shocked everyone to the core.

  Everyone in town was finally taking the murderer seriously, something Raven had done from the moment the elevator doors had slid open and she’d found Joseph.

  Since that first night, she had only been able to get a few hours of sleep here and there. Now that she was staying at Cade’s most nights, she realized she was able to get more uninterrupted sleep.

  She didn’t know if it was thanks to the extra physical activities or if it was because she felt safe with Cade’s arms wrapped around her in slumber.

  Whatever the reason, the few nights that she returned to her hotel room alone were restless ones. There had been a few nightmares, like she’d had after the fire. Dreams that woke her or kept her up until late at night, worrying.

  Because of them, she’d moved a few things to Cade’s place and spent more and more nights with him. It was only a few changes of clothes, some makeup, and shoes. Nothing major. But enough that she was self-conscious about keeping her things tidy at his place.

  It wasn’t as if he was a total neat freak. She’d lived with one of those before. Her mother had been your typical type A personality. Everything had its place and if it wasn’t in its place, someone was bound to hear about it. Usually, her and her dad.

  Still, Cade’s place was always clean and organized, which made her want to be better than she’d been. Ever since her things had been destroyed, she’d only had a handful of things to keep track of. Now, at least half of her stuff was over at his place.

  Which, of course, instigated another round of gossip in town. Thankfully, accusations about her murdering Kim
had been cut down quickly thanks to Sean and Cade, who adamantly told anyone who would listen that Raven was with Cade all night.

  Most people had witnessed her leaving that night with Cade, anyway. Still, it didn’t stop the rumors that she’d killed Joseph because he was an ex-lover of hers from her high school days.

  Rumors of the grainy image that her uncle had sent her was circulating around town and, somehow, even the image was floating around.

  Of course, her friends could immediately tell the girl in the image wasn’t her. Darby even brought one of her old yearbooks to the diner to prove to everyone that Raven’s hair had been shorter than the girls in the photo back then.

  Her friends were sticking by her side wholly, which made her feel happy and guilty at the same time. Her friends shouldn’t have to put their reputations on the line. Then again, no one in town should be accusing her of murder when the police had completely cleared her.

  Still, she’d lived in a little town long enough to know how they worked.

  As days turned into weeks, she stayed focused on the repairs around the resort to keep her mind from the murders.

  Unlike the first two, there had been some DNA evidence left behind with Kim’s death. What appeared to be blood was found on the rope that had been tied around the woman’s neck, as if whoever had strung her up had cut their hands doing so.

  Cade’s uncle was convinced that this murder had nothing to do with the first two, since Kim’s ex-boyfriend had been released on parole in Redding for drug charges two days prior to her death.

  They were having the DNA checked against his, but since they were a small town and it wasn’t a high-profile murder case, it was going to take two weeks to get the results back.

  Still, the ex-boyfriend was dragged into the police station and questioned. Since she was friends with Sean, she knew firsthand that the man claimed to have been in Redding at the time of the murder. Sean had confirmed with one of the man’s friends that he really had been in Redding that evening, but he was still waiting to hear back from the girl the guy claimed to have spent the night with.

  As far as the resort went, the work in the dining room was finally going to be finished by the end of that weekend. Raven was so excited to see the finished product that she kept sneaking peeks at the place once all the workers left.

  Since they hadn’t put up the walls of plastic, she wasn’t as nervous as she’d been shortly after Joseph’s murder.

  Still, every time she stepped out of the elevator on her floor, she saw Rachelle’s crumpled body lying on the rug.

  When a knock sounded at her door, she glanced up and waved Fiona into the room. Cade’s mother was a true asset to the resort and to Raven’s mental stability.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I am heading out,” Fiona said with a smile. “Sean has the evening off, and we’re heading into the city for dinner.”

  “Oh? Hot date.” Raven smiled back at the woman.

  Fiona’s smile slipped slightly. “The man’s been trying to figure out how to propose to me for months.”

  “Really?” Raven jumped up from her seat. “How exciting.”

  Fiona laughed. “I hate to revel in his anxiousness. But the fact is, I love seeing him like this. The man is always so sure of himself.” She shook her head. “It’s nice to see him sweat.”

  “Does Cade know?” Raven asked.

  “No.” Fiona’s smile slipped again. “I hadn’t planned on telling him until… later.”

  “I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled.” Raven hugged the woman.

  “Sean and I… we go way back. To be honest, if Henry hadn’t died, I think Sean would have left Cannon Falls long ago.” She glanced towards the window. “Fall is just around the corner.” She shook her head. “How did time go by so fast? One day Henry and I were welcoming Cade and Reggie into our lives, then I lost Henry and a few years later, Reggie.” The sadness in Fiona’s eyes showed a distant fondness instead of full sorrow. “Sean was instrumental in helping me get out of the funk after losing my men.” She smiled again. “We’ve been seeing one another for two years this week.”

  “Two years?” Raven shook her head slightly. “That long?”

  “Yes.” Fiona laughed. “I think that half the fun in the relationship was keeping it from everyone.”

  Raven could understand what the woman meant. There’d been a little hint of excitement when she and Cade had started seeing one another.

  “Well, I’d better hurry up and leave if I want to be ready in time,” Fiona said, looking at her watch.

  “Have a wonderful time,” Raven said.

  “I will. See you on Monday.” Fiona turned and left.

  Raven turned back to her desk. Fiona had been right about time passing. Somehow Raven had blinked, and summer was almost gone already.

  The sky was dark and grey, and she knew that in less than two months, there would be enough snow on the hills to delight skiers and snowboarders alike.

  There was still so much to do, so Raven sat down behind her computer to get back to work.

  The new advertising from the marketing firm she’d hired had done its job. They had sent a professional photographer to take shots of the lobby and bar areas and some of the finished rooms. The dining room would have to be photographed later and added to the next round of ads.

  The marketing firm had paid for key spots in some of the best travel magazines in the city. Already, they were flooded with room bookings.

  With only two and a half months to go to the official reopening, they had the entire west building to finish besides the dining room.

  All the ski lifts had been updated and officially certified safe by the company that had installed them years ago. The ski resort still needed fresh carpet to be installed along with all new ski and snow rentals.

  She had been shocked to see the state of the rentals her uncle and aunt had allowed to represent their business. She had to admit that seeing all of the new equipment being unpackaged and on display excited her beyond anything.

  She’d realized that she hadn’t been on the slopes since before her seventeenth birthday. She wasn’t an expert at skiing, but she did really enjoy fresh powder.

  If the resort had been open all summer long, she liked to think that people would have enjoyed all the improvements she’d made. Now, the grounds flourished with bright flowers, neatly trimmed bushes and shrubs, cleared cleaned pathways to stroll on, and the occasional park bench for sitting and enjoying the view.

  She’d utilized those benches herself already. Most days, she would eat her lunch outside and enjoy the heat of the day.

  After running through the to-do lists and updating items, she realized that the only way they would be completely ready for the grand reopening was if she had David and his men concentrate on the upper floors of the west building first. She figured she could shut down a few floors while they continued updating the rooms on the lower floors.

  The upper floors were the bigger money makers anyway since they had some of the best views of the hills and ski slopes.

  She hadn’t expected to work overtime that evening, but when her phone buzzed, she realized it was an hour later than she normally left.

  She saw Cade’s face flash on her screen and smiled as she answered his call.

  “Working late?” Just his voice caused her body to fill with desire.

  “Yes, I suppose I got caught up,” she admitted as she stretched her neck and shoulders.

  “How about I meet you up there and we have dinner?” Cade suggested.

  She really wanted to finish the work she was doing before she left. If he drove up here, she would have just the right amount of time to do so.

  “Sounds perfect.”

  By the time Cade’s knock sounded on her office door, she had finished with the latest budget and was extremely anxious to open the doors again. It was coming down to ten thousand dollars. She knew that would seem like a lot to many, but to her, running a multi-million-dol
lar-a-year-business, ten thousand dollars was pennies.

  “Everything okay?” Cade asked, coming in for a hug.

  “Yes,” she lied. Cade pulled back and looked into her eyes.

  “You’re worried.”

  “I am,” she admitted with a sigh. “I was just working on the budget.”

  He nodded as his hands ran up and down her arms. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  She shook her head and felt her heart swell at his offer. “Not unless you have a tens of thousands of dollars lying around.”

  He chuckled as he patted his wallet. “Not especially.”

  “I didn’t think so.” She sighed. “We’ll make do.”

  “You’ll get through this. Soon enough, the doors will be open, and people will be flooding in to spend their money. Just wait and see.”

  “I know, it’s just… I know,” she agreed. “Dinner,” she reminded him. “I skipped lunch.”

  He frowned as a worried look flooded his eyes. “Again?”

  After locking up her office, they strolled down the hallway hand in hand. Instead of walking into the bar area, he tugged on her hand and pulled her towards the plywood wall separating the dining area from the lobby.

  “Cade, it’s not ready yet,” she said, remembering the last time she’d snuck behind the walls to get a look.

  “Dave called me earlier today.” He motioned as he opened the door.

  She stepped in and her breath sucked in with the surprise of seeing the work was completed. Then she noticed a single round table sitting in the middle of the room. The crisp white tablecloth, fine china, and lit candles added to the beauty of the room, as did the massive chandelier she’d purchased.

  The wood slat boards that had replaced the old ceiling not only were classy but warmed up the entire room. She couldn’t get over how new the large wood beams looked after some sanding and fresh stain.

  “This all looks…” She felt her eyes sting as a memory of standing in this very spot with her parents over ten years ago surfaced.

  “Mom, I don’t want a big party for my birthday,” she’d complained with the fervor of a seventeen-year-old girl. She might have even stomped her foot at one point.