“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 people 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
