Except for Patience Riley. She was looking into the woods as if she’d heard something, an odd smile on her face.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE FIRE GLOWED bright orange in the growing darkness as Casey and Finn reached the group. Jason hurried to the cooler, coming back with two beers. He handed one to her and one to Finn. Several of the others had been talking among themselves but now stopped to listen.
“This reunion was a great idea!” Patience said, lifting her beer can in a salute. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Casey.”
“I didn’t send the invitations. I had nothing to do with this. In fact, I can’t imagine why anyone thought this was a good idea.” She looked around the campfire. They’d all changed little except for Ben. It could have been ten years ago, the campfire, the beer, almost all of them gathered out here.
Ben rushed forward to hug her. Casey was surprised by the gesture and shocked by how much he’d changed. “It’s good to see you,” he said. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother.” The others quickly added their condolences. “I knew this wasn’t your doing.” All she could do for a moment was nod and smile. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Good to see you, too, Ben,” she said lamely, since who in their right mind would want to be a part of this?
“It’s Benjamin now. I’m a doctor. I specialize in viruses. You probably saw me on the news during the pandemic.”
“Of course,” she said quickly. She had seen him, but she hadn’t recognized him nor even put the name together with the Ben from that summer. “I always knew you would do well.”
“Thank you.” He smiled, reached for her hand and squeezed it before going back to his spot by the campfire.
The roar of a car engine made them all turn. The sound was followed by the flash of headlights as a vehicle sped into the parking lot behind the hotel. The lights blinked and went out, and moments later Shirley Langer and Jennifer Mullen stumbled out, laughing. They walked up carrying a bottle of wine, sharing a joke.
“You started the party without me?” Jen demanded loudly, verifying what Casey had suspected the moment they’d driven up. Both had already had a few drinks. “Wow, you really did all come back to Buckhorn,” the attractive brunette said as she looked around the campfire. Her gaze stopped on Finn and she frowned. “Who are you?”
“Casey brought a date,” Jason said.
Before Casey could correct him, Finn said, “I received an invitation, like I suspect the rest of you did.”
Jen’s gaze swung to Casey for clarification.
“Casey didn’t send out the invitations,” Benjamin hurriedly told her. “It seems she isn’t any happier about this than some of the rest of us.”
“Does it really matter who invited us?” Jason demanded. “We’re all here. Why not make the best of it? I, for one, plan to have a good time.”
FINN DISAGREED. It did matter who had invited them. It mattered a whole lot.
While the atmosphere around the fire had a party look to it, he picked up on the tension. None of them trusted each other, he realized, and probably with good reason. Not only was Megan’s murder unsolved, but also these people had been the last to see her alive. All were suspects.
He found himself studying their faces, wondering if one of them was responsible and what that person hoped to accomplish by being here, even if they hadn’t sent out the invitations. He couldn’t help worrying that the one person who didn’t get an invitation—Casey—might be the target.
“So, Casey,” Jason said, “I’ve been catching up with everyone else. Claude’s a famous surgeon, Ben’s some kind of scientist—”
“Infectious disease specialist,” he interrupted. “And it’s Benjamin, not Ben.”
Jason continued as if the man hadn’t spoken. “Patience is a fancy magazine editor, Devlin is a real-estate agent... So what about you, Case?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Casey flinch at the nickname. “She’s a hotelier at one of the finest hotels in San Francisco,” he said. Casey shot him a surprised—and not necessarily appreciative—look.
“What is a hotelier?” Jason asked with a laugh. “It sounds...dirty.”
“She runs the entire hotel,” Finn snapped, hating that he was letting the man get to him. “I would think someone like you would already know that, since don’t you live in your father’s hotel?”
Jason nodded. “You got me there. In the past ten years, I’ve accomplished nothing. If I wasn’t overeducated and not nearly as smart as the rest of you, I would have known Casey couldn’t have put this together. Because if she had, I never would have been invited. Isn’t that right, Case?” Finn wasn’t about to touch that remark as Jason turned back to the others. “Who needs a beer?”
“I believe you left out a couple of people, Jase,” Patience said and motioned with her head in the direction of Jen and Shirley.
Jen tilted her wine bottle at Patience. Her smile was venomous as she looked at Jason across the campfire. “I work in my aunt’s antiques barn, but I’m sure you already know that. Shirley manages the local motel. Any of you have a problem with that?”
“Easy,” Jason said, holding up his hands as the tension around the fire rose to a new pitch. “No bloodshed, already. Also, no judgment, especially from me. I would have gotten to you, but I got distracted.”
Finn knew what was coming. Patience slowly turned her gaze on him and tilted her head. “Who exactly is Casey’s date?”
“Not one of the staff,” Finn said. “That’s why I was surprised to receive an invitation.”
“Oh, come on, Finn,” Jason said. “I heard around town that you’ve been living in the hotel for months. Odd, to say the least. You must have some connection to Megan or you wouldn’t have gotten an invitation. You wouldn’t be here now.”
Finn chuckled. “You’re right. Seems everyone here knew Megan, myself included. I came here a few months early to
