by B. J Daniels
She watched them all share a look around the campfire and felt the atmosphere change as if they were finally starting to question why someone had wanted them here. One of them had purposely gotten the others back here. Finn was right. Someone had an agenda. But what?
Jen laughed as if wanting to ease the tension. “Interesting that we all came back.” She took the wine bottle from Shirley and took a drink. “So you’re all good with this? It’s really happening? Three nights, two days, here in a supposedly haunted and now-abandoned hotel.” She looked at Casey. “You are going to let us stay, aren’t you?”
“I only came here to sell my grandmother’s property,” Casey said as she felt everyone waiting for her reply.
“That doesn’t exactly answer my question,” Jen said, looking from her to Finn. “On the invitation, it said we were all to stay in the hotel for the weekend.”
“Casey said she is fine with it, but we all have to fend for ourselves,” Jason said, again as if she’d really said that.
“Like you’ve ever had to fend for yourself,” Benjamin mumbled under his breath.
She’d been determined to throw them all out in the morning. But by morning, she hoped that she no longer owned the hotel and it was someone else’s problem. “That will be up to the new owner.”
“But you’re taking part in the festivities, right?” Jen said, her focus still on Casey.
Festivities? “No, I’m just picking up a few things of my grandmother’s, selling the place and leaving. Like I said, it will be up to the new owner as to how long you all can stay.”
“What? You have to take part in the reunion,” Jason said, reaching into a cooler to get another beer and toss one to Devlin. “You’re a part of all this, just like the rest of us.”
Claude hadn’t spoken until now. He’d been staring into the fire but clearly following the conversation. “We haven’t even talked about Megan yet.” He brushed a lock of surfer-blond hair back from his forehead and looked at each of them around the campfire. He was like her, younger than the rest. Megan had called him the boy genius, but when she’d said it, there was mocking in her tone. He hadn’t looked like a medical genius. He looked like the surfers at the beach back in California.
“That is why we’re here, right?” Claude asked. “To talk about Megan?”
“That and an excuse to drink,” Jason said and laughed. Clearly, he’d already had a few. “I’m thinking games, truth or dare, and how about a Saturday night reenactment—just like old times?”
Casey felt as if he’d hit her in the chest with a baseball bat. “You can’t be serious.” She couldn’t imagine anything worse.
“Who gets to die this time?” Jen asked, as if getting into the chilling suggestion.
“No one’s going to die,” Shirley said as she took the wine bottle from Jen and took a gulp.
Claude was shaking his head. “I didn’t sign up for fun and games. I thought we were going to deal with our feelings about Megan and the effect she had on us.”
Gone was the party atmosphere from earlier, as if a gust of wind had blown it away. The campfire flickered.
“‘Feelings’?” Jason said, scoffing. “You can’t be serious. We all know how we felt about her.”
“I think what Claude is getting at is that it’s high time we got to say out loud here in this place how we felt about Megan,” Benjamin said. “What better place than among people who also hated her?”
“Except not everyone did. Right, Jason?” Claude said, glaring across the campfire at him.
“If you think I’m going to wax poetic about her, you’re wrong,” Jason said, sounding petulant. “You think you were the only one she twisted into a pretzel?” He shook his head and took a gulp of his beer.
“Go ahead, Claude. You should go first since you were her first,” Jen said with a chuckle. “But she wasn’t your first, was she.” The last was tinged with bitterness.
The doctor’s jaw tightened as he looked into the fire. “We all let Megan manipulate us. Why did we do that?” He shook his head. “We have only ourselves to blame for not standing up to her. She’s still manipulating us, or we wouldn’t be here.”
The group let out a roar of dissent, Jen’s voice rising above the others. “Come on. She was a miserable bitch who enjoyed making the rest of us miserable. Stand up to her?” She scoffed. “She would have made us pay, and we all knew it.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Shirley said and looked at the ground again as if embarrassed to be speaking of the dead. “We probably shouldn’t even be talking about her like this. If she’s really still here...”
“What? Her ghost?” Benjamin demanded. “Megan’s gone. She isn’t here. So admit it. No one here was sorry when she died.”
“She didn’t die,” Jen said. “She was murdered.”
Casey couldn’t help being surprised at how vicious they all sounded. It must have shown on her expression, because Jen said, “What, Casey? You thought you were the only one who hated her? Nothing could protect any of us from Megan. Isn’t that really why we all came back? To show her that we all survived and she didn’t.”
“Casey could have gone to her grandmother,” Patience said quietly.
“No, she couldn’t,” Finn said. “Megan was at the hotel because her father had asked his friend Anna to see what she could do with her.”
“You know this how?” Patience demanded while Casey cringed that he was taking up for her.
“Anna left a journal,” Finn said. Casey could see how reluctant he was to explain all this because it would seem as if he were taking up for her—which he was.
She quickly interrupted. “My grandmother couldn’t do anything with Megan any more than the rest of us. She hoped that it would work itself out over the summer.”
“Oh, it worked itself out,” Jason said.
“Anna blamed herself for not sending Megan away,” Finn said.
The only sound for a moment was the popping and crackling of the fire. Claude kicked at one of the logs sticking out of the fire ring. Benjamin stared down into his beer. Devlin drained his can and helped himself to another one from the cooler.
Finn was the first to speak. “I’m surprised you all felt this way about Megan. I remember reading the things that you all said printed in the newspaper after her death.”
“Lies,” Benjamin said. “We just didn’t want the cops thinking we killed her. She treated me like I was gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe.”
“She enjoyed hurting people,” Jen agreed quietly. “But, ultimately, she paid the price for it.”
“You all hated her?” Finn asked. There was general agreement around the campfire. “So why come back for this...reunion?”
“Maybe we need closure,” Jason said.
Claude broke the long silence that followed. “You all seem to be forgetting that the marshal still thinks that one of us killed her and got away with it. This will always be hanging over our heads until the killer steps forward.”
The breeze stirred the flames. Casey felt fatigue settle deep within her. It had been a really long day with way too many surprises.
Jen let out a nervous laugh. “We all had our reasons for wanting Megan dead, that’s for sure. The question is...is she still here?”
Jason made a scary ghost sound, apparently going for the laugh. The joke fell flat.
“Is it just me, or does this feel like a bad idea?” Shirley said, her face glowing in the firelight. “Whoever got us all back here might want...not just a confession but revenge.”
“Seriously?” Jen shook her head. “Revenge? But we didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly,” Benjamin said. “We did nothing to stop Megan.”
“Until one of us killed her,” Jason said.
“Not revenge for killing Megan,” Patience said, speaking up. “Revenge on the pe
ople who didn’t try to help us.” Her gaze went to Casey.
She suddenly felt all eyes on her. “If you must know, I went to my grandmother several times, even though I knew better. She told me to make the best of it and learn from the experience.” There was surprise around the campfire. “She never treated me any different than the rest of the staff. So keep me out of this.”
Jen shook her head. “Sorry, Casey, but you’re neck-deep in this. Megan treated you abominably. She seemed to make it her mission to come between you and your grandmother. That’s more unforgivable than anything she did to the rest of us. If anyone wanted her dead, it had to be you.”
Casey could feel everyone’s gaze on her, suspicion adding to the flames. She shook her head, threw her half-finished beer into the nearby trash can and headed for the hotel. She hadn’t wanted this. She hadn’t ten years ago, and she sure as hell didn’t now.
* * *
“YOU GOING AFTER your girlfriend?” Jason asked, sounding drunk and mocking.
Finn wanted to punch him. Instead, he simply finished his beer, threw the can away and excused himself. “Casey!” She kept walking. He caught up to her, grasped her arm and brought her to a stop just past the parking lot.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have encouraged you to do this. I didn’t know how bad Megan had been to all of you, especially you.”
She looked up at him, her face illuminated in the hotel’s exterior lamps. “You were in love with her. Yet you really had no idea what she was like?” she demanded in disbelief.
He sighed. “I saw it. I didn’t want to admit that there was a vicious meanness in her. I blamed it on her being unhappy because she was grounded. I wanted to see good in her because she was nice to me.”
“Of course she was. Look at you.” She broke free of his hold and continued toward the hotel.
“Will you please stop?” He caught up to her at the back door of the main building. When she turned to face him, he could see how close she was to tears. “I hate her for hurting you.”
She let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob. “She tormented me for a few weeks one summer when I was sixteen. Then she died. End of story.” He watched her look away from him toward the campfire, knowing there was much more to it. He could see the others silhouetted around the fire. “To think that I just wanted to be one of them. I didn’t want to be the owner’s granddaughter. I didn’t want to be the youngest. I kept telling myself that soon I would be eighteen—legal age—the same age as most of the staff. But it wouldn’t have made a difference.” She fell silent for a moment. “Why do they want to relive that summer? Why do they want to feel such awful emotions?”
He wished he knew. “Maybe they think it will be cathartic.”
She shook her head. “They’re down there celebrating her death, each of them probably wishing they’d been the one to have killed her. And I know how they feel. That’s one reason I feel so guilty.”
Her words rose up from a well of pain. He reached for her. She started to step back, but he was faster. He pulled her into his arms. At first her body was stiff, unforgiving. As he rubbed her back, she began to melt against him.
“I hated her.” The words were muffled against his chest. “I wanted her to suffer. I wanted her gone forever.” She pulled back a little to look at him. “But I didn’t kill her.”
“I never thought you did.” He drew her in again, his gaze going to those gathered around the campfire. But one of them did kill her. He felt it at gut level. The same one who had gotten them back here under the pretense of a reunion to say goodbye to her ghost?
At least now he knew that his fears had been justified. They blamed Casey for not getting her grandmother to stop Megan’s abuse of them.
CHAPTER TEN
DEVLIN SWORE UNDER his breath as he watched Casey leave and Finnegan James go after her. Finnegan James? What was he really doing here? Why would he want this run-down old hotel? It made no sense. And how did he know Megan?
Not that any of that mattered. Devlin needed the Crenshaw. He’d promised the land to his clients. He’d told them he could get the hotel and land for a song. He’d been so sure he could get Casey down on the price. He already had a hard-luck story to tell her about his investors. He knew how desperate she was to unload the place.
So what had happened? Finnegan James had happened.
Devlin frowned as he stared into the fire. The man looked like he was homeless. Yet he was that wunderkind who’d made a fortune on the first company he’d started? If he had such a head for business, what did he want with the Crenshaw?
Devlin tried to calm down. There was still time. He’d talk to Casey first thing in the morning. He’d make her an offer. But how much? Maybe she was only trying to get more money out of him with this Finn character.
He looked up, realizing that everyone was staring at him. “Sorry?”
Jason smirked. “I hope you didn’t want this place too badly. Sounds like she’s gotten a better offer.” He howled with laughter.
“What makes you say that?”
“He’s better-looking than you are,” Jason said, as if Devlin just wasn’t getting the joke. “And he has a lot more money.”
“Who is he, anyway?” Jen asked.
“You don’t know?” Jason shook his head. “You’ve never heard of Finnegan James, the Multibillionaire Bachelor?”
“You have to be kidding,” Jen said. “I thought he was joking about buying the hotel. He’s rich?”
“Richer than Midas,” Jason said.
Devlin swore under his breath again. “I thought he disappeared and was presumed dead after all this time.”
Jason nodded sagely. “Look where he turned up.”
Devlin felt sick to his stomach. Who was he kidding? He was totally screwed. What was he going to tell his investors? “He’s not serious about buying it. He’s just trying to get into Casey’s pants. What would Finnegan James want with the Crenshaw?” he said, sounding more confident than he felt.
There were chuckles around the fire. “I agree that he seems more interested in the owner,” Jason said. “But a man like him? He can have both.”
* * *
CASEY WIPED HER eyes and pulled free of Finn’s arms after a few moments, feeling embarrassed. Megan had loved making her cry, and here Casey was ten years later, in tears over the same hurts. She’d thought she’d put all of this baggage behind her. Or at least tried. But she hadn’t, and neither had her grandmother. Why else would Anna try to force her into a promise she couldn’t possibly keep?
“Everyone down at the campfire thinks we’re intimately involved,” she said as she glanced in that direction and realized they’d all been pretending not to watch the two of them.
“Seems a shame we aren’t, then.”
She knew he was joking, but still she felt a flutter at even the idea. It was nice being in his arms, even as she’d at first resisted it. It was only too easy to imagine the two of them in that big shower, their skin soapy and wet. She could almost smell the chocolate and lavender on their slick flesh... She shivered and shoved the image away. “Be serious,” she said.
“I am serious. It isn’t like the idea hasn’t crossed my mind.”
“I’m sure it has,” she snapped.
He merely grinned. “Guess it hasn’t yours, then?”
She side-eyed him for a moment before she had to smile. He knew darned well that it had crossed her mind. “Why do I bother talking to you?”
“Better than talking to yourself. Or Megan’s ghost.”
Casey could only shake her head. The man wasn’t going to let her forget what he’d overheard. How could he find humor in it, though? “This is not what I had planned when I came back here.”
“Meeting me?”
“Definitely not meeting you.”
“I was joking about us being lovers,” he sa
id. “Well, kind of joking.” He cupped her cheek with one of his large, warm hands. “Your grandmother wrote so much about you... I’m sorry, but I feel as if I know you. I forget that you don’t know me. Yet. I wish we had more time. You might come to actually like me.”
I can’t do this, Casey thought, feeling as if the ground under her feet was no longer solid. She pulled away from his warm, inviting touch. Finn threw her off balance. He might think he knew her, but she definitely didn’t know him. Sure, she’d seen him naked, and most anything she wanted to know about Finnegan James she could find online. But she didn’t know if she could trust him yet.
This entire situation made her question everything, especially what she was doing here. Maybe even more what he was doing here. She turned and pushed her way into the hotel’s lobby.
He said nothing as he followed her in. She started up the stairs, Finn right beside her. It wasn’t until they reached the top that she looked over at him. “I don’t need you to babysit me.”
“You have a probable killer staying here in your hotel. Like it or not, I’m going to be keeping an eye on you. It’s what your grandmother would have wanted.”
She groaned but was too tired to put up a good argument. “I just hope you’re serious about buying the hotel so I can get out of here.”
“I am. First thing in the morning.”
Casey nodded. “Then I’ll collect my grandmother’s things and be gone.”
“Agreed. You should get as far away as possible.”
She met his gaze. The way he looked at her warmed her to her toes. All her instincts told her that Finnegan James was a good man. So why did she keep pushing him away? Because he was in love with a ghost.