by B. J Daniels
Her pulse began to slow. She blamed Finn. Honestly, between him and the ghost stories and this stupid reunion, she was jumpier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers, as her grandmother used to say. Did Finn really believe that Megan’s spirit still walked these halls? Or was he just trying to scare her like all the boys she’d ever worked with here?
“Megan, if you’re here, I don’t care,” she said, her voice seeming unnaturally loud in the empty hotel room. “You made my life miserable when you were alive, and now you’re here to torment me? Guess what? I don’t care. This hotel is going to be rubble soon. Still want to hang around? Be my guest, but I’m out of here soon, and I won’t be looking back.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Finn said, startling her. She spun around. He stood in her doorway. Hadn’t she closed and locked it? Or had she been so anxious that she’d forgotten to close it properly, let alone bolt it? Finn now stood leaning against the doorjamb.
She felt her cheeks flare hot, his look daring her to lie. “I was just talking to Megan’s ghost.” As if he didn’t already know that.
He nodded and grinned. “She say anything interesting?”
“Not that I ever heard.” Just like when she was alive. “I was getting ready to take a bubble bath and call it a night. I guess I forgot to bolt the door.”
“It was open when I came out of my room. Could have been the breeze if you didn’t close it securely. My windows are open across the hall.” He handed her the note.
She read the neat printing. “‘Bring Casey’?” she inquired incredulously as she handed back the note.
“I rolled my eyes at that part as well, but it might be a good idea.” She looked at him as if he were joking. Before she could argue the point, he rushed on. “I thought you might like to go down with me. I’ve had a lot more time to think about this...reunion than you have. Doesn’t it make you wonder who’s behind it? Someone put this together to get all of us here. Why? What if the reunion is a ploy?”
“What are you saying?”
“That I believe the person behind this got us all here for a reason other than saying goodbye to Megan and the hotel. I’d like to know what it really is.”
She rolled her eyes. “Maybe whoever did this saw it as a way to get all the suspects together again. Maybe the person is trying to find Megan’s killer. Let’s see—who just spent months in this hotel looking for the answers? Oh, what a coincidence that you just happened to be here doing that very thing and got an invitation even though you weren’t part of the staff, weren’t even here when she was murdered.”
He held up both hands. “I know it looks suspicious, but I swear I had nothing to do with this. But think about it. If the person isn’t someone determined to unmask Megan’s killer, then—” he met her gaze “—it could be the killer has another score to settle. I think we need to figure out why we’re all here—and as quickly as possible.”
She flinched at his use of we.
“I know why I’m here, and it has nothing to do with the reunion or Megan’s murder.”
“The person who sent out the invitations knew you would be here,” he pointed out. “I doubt that was a coincidence.”
Casey felt the gravity of his words. She was 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?
She narrowed her gaze at him. “Why are you so determined to solve the murder of a girl you hardly knew that you would buy a hotel you don’t want? You’d risk not only your money but also your life to find her killer because you’re at loose ends with nothing better to do?” Casey saw that she’d struck a nerve. “You didn’t just know Megan, did you?”
He was quiet for a moment as he looked down at the note in his long fingers. “I had a relationship with Megan.” His gaze came back to h
ers. “I was in love with her. Whoever sent the invitation knew about us even though we were keeping it a secret from our parents. It’s the only explanation for why I was invited. Which means Megan told someone here about me.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
CASEY FELT A CHILL. She finally understood why Finn had spent the winter in the Crenshaw looking for a killer. “You’re still in love with her. You’re in love with a...ghost.”
His laugh seemed to chase away the shadows in the room as he shook his head and locked eyes with her. “I was the same age as Megan, seventeen, when I fell in love with her. I’m not a teenager anymore.” He shook his head. “I knew in my heart she and I wouldn’t last. The only reason it happened at all was because Megan’s parents had grounded her, so we saw a lot of each other for a couple of months before she was sent away.” He looked shy. “She was my first love. I’m sure you had one and know how that is.”
She had, and she knew that the memory had only gotten sweeter over the years. First love was like that: a fantasy that ended with him moving away before it could bloom. And die. But she had no intention of sharing that with Finn.
“If Megan was grounded,” she said instead, “how did she end up working the summer at the Crenshaw? Wait. You said she was sent away?”
“Her father thought it was best if she had a job far away for the summer. He knew your grandmother and asked for her help. He sent Megan out here hoping she would grow up and start taking responsibility for her actions. He’d hoped your grandmother would have a positive influence on her.”
“My grandmother never mentioned that,” Casey said, feeling a jolt of surprise and anger. That explained a lot. No wonder her grandmother refused to take sides between her and Megan. Megan wouldn’t have been the first young person Anna had taken under her wing. It could also explain why Anna felt guilty about Megan’s death, Casey thought, her heart aching. Why Anna was positive that she’d seen her ghost.
“A few nights before Megan died, she called me,” Finn said. “She was crying. She wanted to come home, but her parents wouldn’t allow it. She hadn’t been in Montana all that long and was demanding they let her come home. They weren’t having it. She said she was scared. That she didn’t feel safe. I was trying to reassure Megan when she said she had to go. Someone was at the door. I heard her say, ‘Oh, it’s you,’ and then the phone was disconnected. I tried to call her back numerous times over the next two days, but each time it went straight to voice mail. I never spoke to her again.”
Casey met his gaze. “You shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“She’d wanted me to go to her parents and plead her case. Like I said, her parents didn’t know about the two of us.” He shrugged. “I guess I knew they would disapprove of her dating the gardener’s son, especially behind their backs. I regret not having the courage.”
“You really don’t believe that they would have listened, do you?”
“Probably not. Megan had a tendency to overdramatize everything, so I didn’t really think she was in danger, either. But I still should have tried. I think I knew that once they found out about the two of us, it would be over. Not that Megan and I could have lasted over the long haul anyway, but they wouldn’t have liked that we’d been together while she was supposed to be grounded. I thought it would make things worse for her in the long run.”
He felt guilty for not believing Megan was really in trouble. Casey understood the weight of guilt he’d been carrying around. She’d been carrying around her share from that summer for years, too.
The reminder that one of these people was probably a killer made her shudder. “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Finn nodded. “I have some idea. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why I want to buy the place. All you have to do is pack up your grandmother’s things. I’ll take care of everything else.”
“You think you know me because of my grandmother’s journals, but I’m not that girl anymore.”
“I’ve noticed.” He smiled at that, making her remember the way he’d looked at her earlier when he was half-naked. “I wouldn’t mind getting the chance to know the woman you are now. But, unfortunately, I don’t think this is the right time. I thought you’d sent the invitations and knew what you were getting into. When I realized you hadn’t—”
“Hey, you two!” Jason called directly behind Finn. Neither of them had heard him approach. She saw the way Jason was studying the two of them, too inquisitive, too amused, given the smirk on his face. Clearly, he thought something was going on between them.
Casey took a step back, surprised at how close she and Finn had been just a moment before—and not just physically. They’d been looking into each other’s eyes. She’d felt something that scared her. He was a stranger she wasn’t even sure she could trust. But she could understand why Jason thought he’d seen something...intimate between them.
“We’ve got a fire going at the old firepit,” Jason said. “The beers are on me. Come join us. We’re going to be talking old times, and it wouldn’t be the same without you, Casey.”
She could feel Finn’s sharp gaze on her. He’d been watching her and Jason earlier. No way had he missed the look Jason gave her or how uncomfortable it made her.
“If what we have to say about Megan doesn’t make her ghost appear, then I don’t know what will.” Jason laughed. “You won’t want to miss this,” he said, grinning at Finn as if they, too, shared a secret. She realized they had both been in love with Megan, probably still were.
Jason turned and headed back down the stairs. She and Finn hadn’t moved. Neither of them spoke until they heard him on the lower level.
“I wouldn’t go down to the campfire if I were you,” Casey said. “The things that will be said about Megan...well, they might hurt your feelings.”
Finn laughed. “I said I was naive at seventeen. I wasn’t stupid. I know she had trouble getting along with people.”
“That’s putting it mildly. But fine—suit yourself.”
“I’ll make the call to my bank in the morning,” Finn said. “Sleep on it. You might change your mind about selling.”
That wasn’t happening. But she nodded, not sure she believed any of this.
“I’m going down to the fire, but I can understand if you don’t want to.”
Her head hurt. She yearned for the oblivion of sleep—as if that would make any of this go away. She thought of the promise she’d made her grandmother—the one she’d had no intention of ever keeping.
“You really think you can solve the murder?” She looked into his eyes and felt the full impact of them. “Why?” she asked, surprised at the emotion she felt. Jealousy? That a man could care that much this long about another woman? “You said yourself that you knew the two of you would have never lasted.”
Finn smiled, almost sadly. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but your grandmother always blamed herself for Megan’s murder. Maybe knowing the truth will give you both some peace.”
She felt tears burn her eyes. Wasn’t that exactly what her grandmother had wanted for her? For both of them? After ten years, she’d given up hope that Megan’s killer would ever be found. Her grandmother had known that the murder had been like a dark cloud hanging over her and always would as long as it went unsolved.
“If Jason brought enough beer, I just might get some answers tonight,” Finn said.
Casey thought about telling him not to believe anything Jason said but saved her breath. She watched him turn back to his room and told herself that she wasn’t afraid to go down to the campfire. That she wasn’t afraid to relive that summer and Megan’s murder. That she hadn’t been afraid all these years that the truth would come out.
She nearly laughed out loud. Who was she kidding? She was terrified to even look too closely at the memories. Now someone wanted to dig it all back up, each of them with
their own ugly stories and bad memories. Could she trust her memory of the events of that summer night after all this time? Could any of them? Worse, could she trust her own lies to stay a secret?
She stood in the middle of the room, knowing what she had to do. If she didn’t go down to the fire, she would feel like a coward who had something to hide. She laughed, since both were true.
Worse, Finn was right. She, too, wanted to know who’d put this reunion together. She feared that person’s motivations. Did one of them want revenge? All she knew was her own pain from that summer. No one had saved her from Megan. Had the vindictive teenager been tormenting the others—just as Megan had Casey? If that person had felt even more alone and abandoned than she had, would they still be feeling angry enough to kill again?
Or was the person behind this merely looking for the truth?
Either way, Casey knew she had reason to be afraid.
* * *
DEVLIN WRIGHT HAD been on the fast track and about to make the biggest deal of his life when he’d picked up his mail and seen the Crenshaw Hotel on the return address. His heart had dropped. He’d been playing it cagey, hoping to stall and get Casey Crenshaw to take less for the hotel and land. What if he’d overplayed his hand?
“This had better not be what I think it is,” he’d said and had hurriedly ripped open the envelope.
The invitation definitely wasn’t what he’d expected.
He’d stared at the card, turned it over, then finally read it through. For a split second before he’d pulled it out, he’d thought it would be a note from Casey telling him that she’d decided to keep the hotel and land. Or that she’d gotten an offer from someone else.
His pulse had pounded as he’d tried to make sense out of the invitation. Why would Casey do this? Was she kidding? She hadn’t mentioned anything about this the last time they’d talked. Why in the world would she send these out—right before they were supposed to finally make a deal on the hotel and land?