Finn groaned and raked a hand through his dark hair. He didn’t look as if he’d gotten any more sleep than she had. She listened as he filled her in on what Jason had told him.
“Wait—what?” she said.
“Megan lied. If someone knew she lied, that she’d been responsible for the car wreck and gotten away with it, then she could have been right. Maybe someone was stalking her. Someone could have gotten a summer job here planning to make her pay.”
“That’s kind of a long shot, isn’t it?” Casey said. “But if true, then her death might not have had anything to do with what happened among the staff. Or it could have been Megan’s guilt just making her paranoid.”
“That’s what I would have said, if someone hadn’t killed her.”
“I’ve never considered that Megan’s murder might have been premeditated,” Casey said after a moment. “It wasn’t like the killer brought a weapon.”
“Everyone thought that the killer saw an opportunity when he found Megan alone in the woods. So he picked up a rock and caved in the back of her skull. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. She never knew what hit her.”
“Or who hit her,” Casey agreed with a shudder. “It sounds like Megan had a lot of reasons to feel guilty. No wonder you didn’t believe that her life was in danger. You didn’t know the truth about the car accident or what was going on here at the hotel.”
“If that’s what got her killed,” Finn said with a shake of his head. “The guilt could have been getting to her. Or it could be one of the staff with their own reason for wanting her dead,” Finn concluded.
Casey questioned whether Megan could feel guilt: she had so much of her own. She told herself that she wasn’t getting involved in finding the killer. That she didn’t care. That she just wanted to get as far away from all of this as possible. “Either way, you have a lot of suspects. Unless...”
“Unless I try to find out which of the three girls in the car might have a connection to someone who worked at the Crenshaw that summer,” he said, finishing her thought.
She wanted to smack herself. Don’t get involved. Don’t let him pull you in. And yet her mind was already working. “If someone killed her because she lied to save her own neck and got her friend killed, that would make more sense than murdering Megan over some silly squabble here at Crenshaw.”
“Jason said that she admitted in her diary that she’d been driving the car,” Finn said. “I’m wondering what else she might have written down—maybe who she thought was after her. Someone has that diary.”
Casey had just taken a sip of coffee. It went down the wrong way, making her choke. She couldn’t seem to get any air into her lungs. She fought for her next breath as Finn hurried over to her. She held up a hand to ward him off.
“Are you all right?” Finn asked.
The concern in his eyes was so caring, so trusting, that she had to look away.
“I’m okay,” she managed to say around gasps. That Megan might have told the truth in her diary, that she might have also written down the name of the person she thought was stalking her... That had never dawned on Casey. Until now.
“I looked all over the hotel and grounds for her diary.” He shook his head. “The killer must have taken it. I guess we’ll never know what she wrote in it. Unless it comes out this weekend.”
“Probably just more lies,” she said, finally breathing a little easier. “I’m sure it would be worthless, especially now.”
As if sensing she’d had enough talk of Megan, Finn reached into the hip pocket of his jeans to pull out some folded papers. “I’ll get these typed up, but for now, here’s my offer. It will all be legal and done once we both sign.”
She took the folded sheets from him and spread them out on the table, glad to have a distraction. The offer amount jumped out at her. Her gaze shot up to him. “Are you serious? This is way over what Devlin offered.”
He shrugged. “Mine’s a fair offer based on the land value and the hotel’s worth. I did my homework.”
Casey stared at him. “You plan to run the hotel?”
“That isn’t necessarily an option, but I took into consideration the value of the furnishings and materials that could be saved before demolition. Trust me, I don’t make deals that don’t benefit me.”
She didn’t doubt that, but she also couldn’t help being suspicious. Like he’d said, he was doing this for her and her grandmother. So why did she think he wanted more than the hotel?
“All you have to do is sign the buy–sell agreement,” Finn said. “I’d have your lawyer check it over first, though. You’re welcome to take a photo and email it if you’re still in a hurry to get this over with.”
“I wouldn’t sign anything until you hear what I have to say,” Devlin interrupted as he stepped into the kitchen. “You owe me that much.”
She might have argued that, but Finn quickly agreed with him.
“He’s right. You should hear him out. I have some business to tend to,” Finn said to her as she folded up his offer and set it aside. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Devlin came over to the table as Finn left. “I’m sorry you feel that I stalled and led you on.”
She said nothing, simply waiting. She was still shaken from what Finn had told her about Megan and that damned diary. She just wanted to get this over with so she could get on with finding the things on her grandmother’s list and be done here.
“You need to at least consider my offer.”
He took a chair across from her. “I’ve been on the phone all morning with my
