“That’s not true. I have always tried to protect you and your grandmother from the evil in the world. It’s not my fault. It’s the Crenshaw, always has been. I felt it the first time I walked in the front door. It has a hidden malevolence that feeds on the dark souls of others.”
She stared at him, her heart thumping hard in her chest. He was insane.
“It has to be fed.” He looked away, his face going slack with what could have been regret before he turned back to her.
She stared at him as she trembled from fear in her wet clothing. She knew, but she had to hear him say it. “The bodies of those women buried in the basement...”
His rheumy eyes looked vacant for a moment. “I told you. I had to feed the beast. It’s not my fault.”
“The marshal knows about the bodies. He knows—”
Emery shot to his feet so quickly it silenced anything else she might have said. “That’s why it has to end.” He shook his head, looking as if whatever he planned to do was her fault. “You shouldn’t have invited them all back here.”
“I didn’t. It wasn’t me.” She could see that he didn’t believe her. “It’s true. I swear.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” he said. He reached into a cabinet and brought out a device with buttons. It had several wires hanging from it.
“What are you going to do?” she cried.
“What you wanted. You want the building destroyed? That’s what I’m going to do. Blow it to hell.”
“You can’t!” she cried. “There are still people in there.”
“That’s your fault. Those people wouldn’t be in the hotel if it wasn’t for you.”
“I didn’t send those invi—” Suddenly, it hit her who had. “My grandmother. Oh my gosh.” She felt a shudder thinking about that last night with Anna. “My grandmother had them sent.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Because she was determined that the killer be found. She knew about my nightmares and thought it was the only way I could move on.” It had to be true, she realized. It would have been so easy for her grandmother to set things up with her attorney. Was that what he’d been anxious to tell her about? Anna would be one of the few people who would have known about Finn and his relationship with Megan. “Anna did this to try to help me.” She met Emery’s gaze and saw how pained he looked. “She said she couldn’t rest until Megan’s killer was caught.”
Emery looked at her, wild-eyed. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t kill that one.”
She frowned in disbelief. “Then who?”
The big man shook his head adamantly. “I didn’t touch her.”
Casey couldn’t help looking skeptical.
“I can prove it,” Emery said indignantly as he put down the device with the buttons. He turned around to face the shelves again. She took that opportunity to saw at the tape that bound her wrists. She was so close. Once her wrists were free, she’d be free of the chair as well. She would be able to run, which she knew was her best chance, given Emery’s size and strength.
He turned back holding a notebook that she noted resembled the one that Finn had found. He opened it to a page filled with tight scrawl, and she recognized the handwriting and the name Rosemarie Langley on the list he’d written.
With a shock, she saw that it had to be a list of names of the young women who had been buried in the basement of the hotel. She tried not to cringe in horror as he pushed it in front of her face. She saw that there were names and information about the women that he must have gotten from their driver’s licenses.
“If I had done it, I would have written down her name. See?” he demanded, tapping the notebook with his large, calloused finger. “I never forget. I write down each one. It’s just like I told Vi. I don’t lie. I write down the names.”
All Casey could do was nod as he snapped the notebook shut and turned to put it back on the shelf. Vi knew. That was why she wanted so desperately to buy the hotel. She was trying to help her brother hide his crimes.
She quickly sawed while his back was to her, feeling the last of the tape about to give. Just a little more...
For a moment, he stood there, hunched over, his back to her. She felt the tape give a little more. Once free, she could run. He had his back turned. She could... She tried to pull free of the tape, the chair. The chair creaked, and she saw him freeze.
He turned slowly to look at her, something different in his eyes. “You don’t believe me.”
“About Megan?” Her voice cracked. She licked her lips and tasted that disgusting water he’d made her drink.
“Vi didn’t, either. She told me I had to get the bones out of the basement before someone came to demolish the hotel. I tried.” He sounded defeated and scared. “I tried, but then that man moved into the hotel. I could only work late at night. I worried that he would hear me and catch me. I didn’t want to hurt him. I tried to scare him away but he wouldn’t leave.”
Finn. The noises he’d heard. Emery had been banging around in the basement trying to get the remains of the young women out before Casey returned and sold the hotel.
“If you didn’t hurt Megan...” Was it possible it was true? Maybe he’d just forgotten.
“It wasn’t me,” he said, shaking his head.
“I believe you.” She realized the moment she said it that she did. He’d been meticulous in writing down the names. He hadn’t killed Megan.
With a start, Casey realized that two other names were also missing from Emery’s list. “What about Devlin and Claude?”
He frowned. “I
