Cooper beamed at her. “See. I love that you’re not only pretty but brilliant, too. I don’t have to explain things to you. That comes in handy when murder pops up.”
Hannah made a face, but internally she was pleased by the comment. Cooper always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. “I shall reward you for the ‘brilliant’ comment this evening on the second floor. For now, though, I want to know more about Velma. Who did she tick off?”
Cooper offered up an exaggerated wink by way of flirting. “I’m going to hold you to that. As for who Velma ticked off ... well ... I think I need to show you.” He momentarily abandoned his dinner and stood so he could pull a sheet of paper out of his back pocket. “This is what the assistant provided us with. Boone let me keep a copy.”
Hannah had no idea what she was looking at when she first unfolded the sheet of paper. Then she started reading ... and her mouth dropped open. “Is this what I think it is?”
“That’s her list of enemies.” Cooper absently scratched his chin as he watched Hannah scan the sheet of paper. “The assistant said that Velma made up that list herself. She liked to keep track of the people who ticked her off.”
Hannah was completely and totally dumbfounded. “Who keeps a list of their enemies like this?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t help but wonder if maybe that’s the reason Velma is dead. She obviously had no problem ticking people off. From the way her daughter talked, I think she might’ve reveled in it.”
“It looks like.” Hannah counted in her head. “There have to be more than fifty names on this list.”
Cooper nodded. “Sixty-two. Boone is going to see how many he can weed out tonight. Even if he manages to cut the list by half, though — which seems like wishful thinking in such a short amount of time — that’s a lot of people for us to look at.”
“Can’t we just check the list of enemies against the list of attendees for the event?”
“We can and I have a call in to the event organizer to get that list. The problem is, if you were planning to travel to an event to kill someone, would you register under your real name?”
Hannah hadn’t even considered that. “No, but ... you have to show identification to travel.”
“To travel, yes. My understanding is that anyone could register for this event, though, and there’s no identification required.”
“Oh.” Hannah’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even consider that. What are you going to do?”
“Well, for now, I’m going to eat dinner with the most beautiful woman in the world. Then, when we’re finished, I thought we might take a walk around town to make sure everything looks normal, collect Jinx, and then go to bed early. I have a feeling we’re going to have a full day tomorrow.”
Hannah couldn’t hide her surprise. “That’s it?”
“Do you have another suggestion?”
“I ... no.” She frowned. “It’s just weird. She was killed right under our noses.”
“And we’re going to figure out how it happened and ensure it doesn’t happen again. That’s the best I can do for now.”
She held his gaze, her mind busy, and then nodded. “I’m sorry. I know you’re doing the best that you can. The whole thing is freaking me out. I mean ... do you think whoever did this is still hanging out up here?”
Cooper couldn’t answer the question. “I don’t know. We’re going to stick together until this one is solved, though, okay? We’ll figure it out.”
Hannah nodded because it was the only thing she could do. The world was a dangerous place under normal circumstances. Apparently Casper Creek was ten times more dangerous.
MADDIE SLEPT HARDER THAN SHE THOUGHT she would. Given the way Velma’s body was put on display — and that’s exactly how it felt to her — she assumed sleep wouldn’t be an option. To her surprise, her body said otherwise, and she was gone within seconds of rolling her head onto Nick’s shoulder. She was in the exact same spot the next morning, meaning Nick had dropped off relatively easily, too, which was a relief.
They spent their usual twenty minutes cuddling in bed before rising. Nick found he was relieved that Maddie seemed okay. Sure, she wasn’t happy, but he expected nightmares ... or possibly worse. She made herself sick with worry at times and her stomach had been hit or miss over the past few weeks. Other than being sad about Velma’s death, though, she seemed none the worse for wear.
They showered and headed downstairs for breakfast. Even though they both agreed the hotel dining room didn’t look like it had anything they would be interested in for dinner, breakfast seemed like a safe option. There were only so many ways to cook eggs and hash browns, after all.
After ordering, they took advantage of the opportunity and studied the faces scattered around the dining room. A few of them were recognizable, but only because they belonged to individuals who had been at Casper Creek the previous afternoon.
“What do you think?” Maddie asked as she leaned back in her chair and sipped her tomato juice. Nick had a studied eye and he was good at reading people. She was, too, but she always liked hearing his opinion.
“Honestly?” Nick arched an eyebrow and reached for his orange juice. “Nobody seems all that broken up.”
“Maybe they didn’t know her.”
“No, but they knew of her. I mean ... you knew who she was. I very much doubt you were the only one present who was familiar with her books. If she was such a recognizable face, then people have to be aware ... and yet nobody seems to care.”
Maddie hadn’t actually caught that herself but, now that Nick had brought it up, she found she readily agreed. “It makes me sad.”
“That’s because you’re an angel.”
She
