Earlier, out under the overhang at the back door, she’d confessed her darkest secret to Finn. She’d been terrified at how he would take it.
He’d seemed surprised and definitely disappointed. But it was almost as if he’d suspected it all along. Was he also a little relieved that they would never have to read what Megan had thought of either of them?
They’d been so close outside, the shelter from the storm so intimate. He’d been the first to draw away. Because he hadn’t taken the news about the diary as well as he’d pretended?
She knew why she hadn’t gone up to her room as she looked around the kitchen. Everyone was gathered around the table where a Ouija board sat next to a large, flickering candle. The faces at the table looked expectantly at it. She hadn’t wanted to be alone with her thoughts, her fears, her doubts.
Now she stood in the doorway, knowing she should leave, and yet a part of her wanted to see how this played out. There was no doubt in her mind that Jason planned to use this to his advantage in some way.
“Casey, isn’t there something you want to ask Megan?” Jason asked.
She didn’t answer, simply watched as he motioned to Patience and Jen, and they hurriedly balanced their fingertips on the edge of the planchette next to his. The candlelight cast an eerie glow over the room as everyone fell silent.
“Let’s warm it up a little,” Jason said, moving the pointer around the board slowly, his gaze locked on her.
FINN HAD WONDERED why the hotel was so quiet. After his call, he’d planned to head up to his room. Until he saw Casey standing in the hallway outside the kitchen. He recalled Jason mentioning that he’d found a Ouija board. He groaned at the thought as he moved toward Casey.
Earlier outside, all he’d wanted was to carry Casey up to his room. He knew the timing couldn’t have been worse. She was going through so much just by being here and dealing with her grief over her grandmother, packing up cherished belongings and letting go of the hotel. Not to mention this murder reunion and the guilt she’d been carrying for so long.
It wasn’t the time for either of them to even consider getting romantically involved. He’d been going through his own baggage, and now he would soon own this hotel. He still didn’t know what he was going to do with it.
The best thing he could do right now was just be here for Casey. Once this was all over... She hadn’t heard him approach but had seemed almost relieved when he’d joined her in the kitchen doorway. With Jason behind this, he didn’t like Casey being down here alone.
Jason had grinned when he saw Finn there. “Glad you’re both here. This will be fun.” Finn highly doubted that. “Let’s see if Megan is really still around. Don’t pretend you don’t want to know.” He’d glanced pointedly at Casey.
Now Finn considered those seated around the table. Most of them had spent the day drinking, and from the open beer cans around the table, they weren’t stopping now. They looked bored after their ghost scare. If it weren’t for the approaching storm, they would still be out by the campfire waiting to see Megan’s ghost again. Was it possible Jason had been behind that stunt, just as Casey suspected? He could very well be working with Claude and Devlin.
One thing was clear: Jason had known he had to raise the stakes or he would lose the others to their own devices tonight. But a Ouija board?
“You do realize there is no scientific evidence that a Ouija board is any more than a toy,” Benjamin said.
Thunder boomed so loudly that it seemed to shake the hotel walls. They all started at its closeness and then laughed nervously. The lights dimmed as if about to go out. It felt as if the entire room was holding its breath. In the jittery silence, Finn could feel tension replace boredom.
The lights flickered before coming back on. Jason laughed. “Seems Megan is anxious to talk to us.” He glanced toward the door where Finn and Casey stood. “Turn out the overhead light. Let’s give her what she wants.”
Finn reached over and hit the switch, leaving only the candle flickering in the middle of the table and the dim lights from the hallway. Dark shadows filled the edges of the room. He looked at Casey.
He wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but then again, she knew her own mind. Like him, she was probably curious to see just how far Jason planned to take this.
“ARE THERE ANY spirits here tonight?” Jason asked the now-silent room.
Casey could hear nothing but her own pulse thrumming in her ears and the sound of the storm raging outside. A bolt of lightning was followed soon behind by a crack of thunder. No one seemed to move, and then the planchette slowly circled the board once more before stopping on Yes.
“Are you a good spirit?” Jason asked.
Laughter broke the spell. “Not a chance in hell,” Patience said.
Next to Finn, Casey shifted on her feet.
“What’s your name?”
For a moment the planchette didn’t move. Then, very quickly, it swung to M, then E, then G-A-N. The room had grown deathly quiet, while outside it sounded as if the storm were growing stronger.
“This is ridiculous,” Benjamin said, but he didn’t get up and leave. His face looked pale in the candlelight. All of their faces had taken on an eerie glow.
“Where did you die?” Jason asked.
Silence. The pointer didn’t move. Casey could hear the tick of the clock, the hum of the refrigerator and the storm as it was attacking the hotel as if wanting in.
The planchette began to move slowly. B-U-C-K-H-O-R-N.
“Is
