As she began to cry, he turned her around, swept her off her feet and carried her over to the bed to lie next to her. She cuddled against him, letting the tears come, not sure if she was crying for the loss of her grandmother or out of fear and regret. It didn’t seem to matter.
“This isn’t over, you know,” he said when she’d stopped crying.
She wiped at her tears and forced a smile. “The place is crawling with deputies.”
He nodded, but she could see that it didn’t relieve his concern.
Casey felt the lateness of the night in her bones. Her eyes felt sandy, and she found herself blinking as exhaustion began to take over.
“We should try to get some sleep,” Finn said.
She didn’t believe she would be able to sleep a wink, but still, she closed her eyes as Finn took her hand.
AFTER BEING QUESTIONED, Benjamin couldn’t imagine anything worse than spending what was left of this night in this hotel with these people, even with deputies in the hallway. Then again, maybe he could.
“You heard?” he asked the group gathered in the staff-wing hallway. Jason looked worse than even the others, which made him feel a little better.
“We’re going to get something to drink from the kitchen,” Jason was saying.
“Haven’t you had enough to drink tonight?” asked the deputy standing at the end of the hall. They’d been told not to leave the hotel and encouraged to stay in their rooms so they would be safe. “It will be morning soon. You should all try to get some sleep.”
“We should do as he says,” Jen said, tugging on Jason’s sleeve.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded of her.
“Seriously? You have to ask?” she snapped.
“Other than the obvious,” he added.
“We’re all scared,” Benjamin said. “You going to pretend you’re not?” He cursed himself for his need to show these people how much he’d changed. He shouldn’t have come here. It made him furious with himself. None of these people cared what he’d done with his life. They didn’t even understand what he did for a living or how important it was. It was sick that he’d needed them to acknowledge that he was somebody.
“What is wrong with all of us?” he demanded. “We’re all sick. We all should have forgotten Megan a long time ago and put that summer behind us. If we had, we wouldn’t be here now. We wouldn’t be trapped here together.”
“The marshal can’t keep us here much longer without arresting us,” Jason said, shooting a look at the deputy. “They let us all go after Megan was murdered.”
“Yeah, well, it’s even worse now, wouldn’t you say?” Benjamin said. “Which one of you idiots thought this was a good idea?” He glanced at the others, his gaze coming back to Jason.
“It wasn’t me,” Jason said with a groan. “And we can assume it wasn’t Claude or Devlin, so if it wasn’t us and Casey swore it wasn’t her...” He sighed. “Then it must have been Finn.”
“Why would he do this?” Shirley demanded.
Jason raked a hand through his hair. “He was in love with Megan.”
Jen nodded. “He did spend months in this hotel by himself looking for her diary or her ghost or whatever. What sane person does that?”
“I don’t know,” Shirley said. “I think he was looking for something, but it wasn’t really Megan. I think he found it in Casey.”
Jen groaned. “You’re such a romantic.”
Benjamin wouldn’t let it go. “Whoever wanted us all here must have had a reason.”
“Like what?” Jason said. “To kill us all off?”
“Maybe. Or maybe they just wanted Devlin and Claude,” Shirley said, almost sounding hopeful.
“Kind of went to a lot of trouble to kill only two of us,” Jason said.
“What about Patience?” Benjamin asked, looking directly at Jason.
“She left,” he said and looked away. “She had to get home to her husband.”
“Maybe whoever is doing this isn’t done.” They all turned to look at Benjamin where he stood. “Just saying, if one of us is killing off the others...maybe the only way to stay safe tonight is to stay together.”
“Or sleep with our eyes open the rest of the night?” Jen demanded. “No, thanks. I have a lock on my room door and a can of bear spray in my pack.”
“Don’t you mean our room?” Shirley said. “Unless you want me to take another one.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” Jen said it as if the words pained her.
Shirley let out a huff but looked close to tears. “We’ve been friends since we were toddlers. You really think I’m a killer?”
“That’s just it,” Benjamin said. “We don’t know, do we?”
“He’s right,” Jason said and moved a few feet down the hallway. “We should all go to our rooms and lock the doors. Maybe even put a chair under the knob.”
“Maybe I’ll just go back to the motel.” Shirley looked toward the deputy. He shook his head from where he stood down the hallway.
“Stay,” Benjamin told her. “The place is crawling with law enforcement. You’re safer here. Even with us. At least for the rest of the night.”
“Fine. I’ll find a room to sleep in and lock the door.” Shirley glared at Jen. “Sleep tight, everyone.”
FINN LISTENED TO Casey’s steady breaths as she fell into an exhausted sleep. He’d held her as she’d cried, then fallen asleep. He’d never known such a strong woman. It made him smile as he looked down at her. The sun was coming up on another day. He hated to think what this one was going to bring.
At the sound of running footfalls outside the door, he carefully pulled away from Casey. She didn’t stir as he rose and went to the door to peer out. Two deputies had just run by. He could hear voices down in the lobby. Taking the passkey, he glanced at Casey and then locked the door behind him.
The voices were growing louder down in the main lounge. Something had happened. He thought of the notebook he’d
