by B. J Daniels
Casey hugged herself tightly.
He moved to her quickly and drew her close. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” She shook her head against his strong, solid chest. “I think we could both use a glass of wine to celebrate the sale. Let’s hope your grandmother left a bottle or two in the wine cellar.”
She didn’t feel much like celebrating, but she could use a glass of wine. What she wasn’t sure she wanted to do, though, was venture down into the basement of the hotel. It had always given her the creeps.
“Are you really telling me that, in the months you’ve been here, you haven’t already looked in the wine cellar?” she asked, giving him a side-eye and a grin as she tried to hide her discomfort.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
FINN PRETENDED TO be offended, then laughed. “I couldn’t find the key, remember? But I’m betting you have one. But before we go down to the dungeon, I want to go outside. There’s supposed to be a full moon tonight.”
They stepped out onto the patio off the kitchen. The air was crisp and damp and wonderful in the aftermath of the storm. Standing there with him, Casey felt even more light-headed. What was it about this man that he’d broken down her barriers? He’d gotten to her and in such a short time. It terrified her even as goose bumps of excitement ran across her skin.
She stared up at Montana’s big sky filled with stars. It was so beautiful that it stole her breath away—just as being here with Finn on such a night made her heart beat faster.
“I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite spot at this hotel, but this one is definitely up there, and I don’t have to climb all the way up to the tower, which is also one of my favorite places,” he said and grinned. “Especially now.”
She felt her cheeks heat with the memory of their lovemaking in the tower. Like him, she’d never think of that room without thinking of the two of them in the throes of lovemaking.
“The sky is incredible,” he said quietly.
She looked up at the black velvet studded with tiny jewels of light and wondered how many nights Finn had stared up at the stars alone. This man and this amazing night were like magic. She felt herself opening all the way to him, surrendering to him, to this night, to whatever the future held, while at the same time saying goodbye. “It is so hard to let this place go.”
He turned to her, sympathy in his gaze. “I can imagine. Hard to let go of anything you’ve loved and lost.” She could see that he knew the feeling. She felt raw with emotion. He made her ache for him, wanting more.
“You do realize that Jason was also behind all that in there with the Ouija board,” she said as she tried to rein in her emotions. “I don’t think he’s dangerous, just—”
“Just annoying?” Finn said and laughed. He had a wonderfully musical laugh. She thought she would never tire of it. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he sent the invitations.”
“Guess it doesn’t matter now,” she said and looked off into the distance. They were quiet for a long while, both staring up at the night sky.
“Did you see that?” he said, excitement in his voice.
She had. She’d made a wish on it—just as she had as a girl. “I haven’t seen a falling star in so long because of living in the city. I’d forgotten what the sky was like here. I’ve missed it.”
He stepped to her. “I hope you made a wish.” She didn’t move, didn’t breathe as he closed the distance between them, between their lips. He kissed her gently, only their mouths touching for a few moments before he cupped the back of her head with his hand, his fingers burrowing deep in her long hair as he drew her even closer and deepened the kiss.
She breathed him in, relishing the feel of his mouth, the taste of him on her tongue, the strong, male feel of his body molding to her own soft curves. She sighed contentedly as he slowly drew back to look at her as if he’d never seen her before.
* * *
“THE MOON,” CASEY SAID on a gasp, making him turn to look over his shoulder. A huge silver moon rose up over the black silhouette of the mountain. She sounded as if the sight had taken her breath away—just as she had when he’d kissed her.
He wanted to take a mental picture of this moment and keep it always, as he put his arm around her and they watched the moon rise from the dark depths.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, snuggling against him.
“No more beautiful than you.” He couldn’t bear the thought of letting her walk out of his life—not even temporarily. “Dang, I’m going to miss you,” he said, his voice sounding husky.
“Finn—”
“I know,” he said quickly. “You’ll be safer away from here, and I know it’s what you have to do.” He didn’t want her to go, but he had to let her. He wasn’t even sure what his plans were for the future. He now owned a hotel in Buckhorn, Montana. He still had no idea what he would do with it. Maybe give it to the town and let them do with it what they pleased. The idea appealed to him.
But tonight, he would try to make it last as long as he could. “You realize that if we don’t go look for that bottle of wine soon...”
Casey nodded as if she knew exactly what would happen. She wouldn’t have minded in the least.
“Fortunately, the night is young,” he said with a laugh. “To the wine cellar.”
They went down to the lobby. Finn watched her go through the keys.
“That’s odd. It isn’t here,” she said.
He’d already looked, so he wasn’t surprised as he followed her into the office. She used the key on the ribbon around her neck and opened a desk drawer and pulled it all the way out. A key was taped to the bottom of the drawer.
“My grandmother was always losing her keys. She had an extra made.” She shrugged. “We’re probably going to find the wine cellar empty since someone has the original key, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”
He’d already gotten lucky when this ridiculous idea of searching for Megan’s killer had led him to Casey. But as they started to venture down into the basement, Casey couldn’t get the key to work.
Frowning, she turned to face him. “Someone changed the lock.”
“Well, I guess that takes care of that,” he said.
“No. Why would someone do that? Can you bust down the door?”
He laughed. “If you’re thinking I’m going to rear back and crash into that door with my shoulder... I saw something in the kitchen. Stay here.” He returned moments later with a variety of tools, including a flashlight.
It didn’t take him long to break the lock. As the door swung open, he looked down into the dim abyss. “You sure about this?”
“I used to hate being sent down to get wine,” she said, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t going to let that stop her. Clearly she was curious why someone had put a new lock on the door. So nothing was going to stop her.
They dropped down the stairs into a labyrinth of tunnels that carried pipes and conduits, the ceilings low, the smell old and damp with a hint of putrid. He’d known he would eventually have to see what was down here in the underbelly of the hotel. Anna had assured the marshal that Megan’s diary wasn’t in the locked basement, so he hadn’t bothered to break the lock to search. In truth, he’d had no desire to come down here.
* * *
CASEY TURNED QUICKLY to the right and headed for the large locked door of the wine cellar. But Finn was shining the flashlight beam the other way into one of the main tunnels that ran under the hotel. A lot of the lights had burned out down here. As her eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness beyond, she saw him studying marks on the dirt floor. “Finn?”
“Something’s been digging down here,” he said as he squatted down near one spot along the wall. “That’s probably the sound we’ve both heard.” He shone the beam over the wall. She could see where the brick appeared to be decayed and disintegrating. “It looks like your gra
ndmother had parts of this basement shored up with new brick and rock over the years.”
He rose to his feet, letting the beam of light drop to the floor again as he turned to her. “Probably an animal got in somehow and was trying to dig its way out.”
She felt a chill. If she’d had any thoughts of saving the place, she didn’t now. Even she could see that keeping the hotel would cost a fortune to maintain it. Seeing where something had dug only made her more anxious to get out of here. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe until they got back to the upper floor. She yearned for the fresh air just outside.
Finn stepped to her, gently brushing her shoulder as he did. His gaze settled on her, sending slivers of pleasure rushing to her center. “Let’s see about that wine, shall we, and get out of here.”
She couldn’t agree more as she hurriedly stepped to the wine cellar’s large wooden door and went to use the passkey. When she saw that someone had added a large padlock, she let out a frustrated exclamation.
“Problem?” he asked as he stepped closer and saw the padlock. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
“Very. Why lock an already-locked door? Why change the lock on the door down here to begin with?” she said.
“What do you want me to do?” He met her gaze and chuckled. “That’s right. It is now my wine cellar, so if I want to break it open...” He grinned. “I’m opening it. I’ll be right back.”
Casey looked around the cold, damp space, wondering who had changed the locks and on what authority. Not that it mattered. She just didn’t want to spend any more time down here than was necessary. She was almost regretting the plan to check the wine cellar. She would rather be upstairs in bed with Finn right now.
She couldn’t help but notice that it seemed overly dark down here. It appeared every other bulb had burned out and needed to be replaced. Not that it now had anything to do with her, she reminded herself. She had to let go of this place. Let it be whatever it would be from here on out.
As she waited, she couldn’t help remembering another time down here when she’d thought she was alone—and hadn’t been. She’d come down to get a bottle of wine for the restaurant at her grandmother’s behest.
She hugged herself from the chill that wound round her neck at the memory. She’d just started to open the door when she’d sensed someone behind her. If Megan’s ghost was still hanging around this hotel, then she was here right now. Casey swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat as she slowly turned, sensing again something behind her. This time no one was there. Had she really expected to see Megan standing there—just like last time?
The memory was so sharp and painful that she couldn’t believe ten years had passed. Megan standing so close that Casey had felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. She’d turned, catching that cloying scent of perfume, startled to see Megan. Even more startled to see the knife in her hand.
“What—”
That was all she’d gotten out before Megan had pushed her against the wine-cellar door hard enough to take her breath away. She’d expected to feel the bite of the blade, given the wild look in the young woman’s eyes.
But instead, Megan pressed a finger to her lips and whispered “Shh” next to her ear. “The monster will hear you.”
Casey’s heart had been pounding too hard to hear anything but the rush of blood careering through her veins.
She wanted to push the woman away, but Megan was still brandishing the blade in front of her face. She told herself that the young woman was just trying to scare her. It was working.
“You can’t—”
Megan silenced her with a hand to her mouth.
They stayed like that for a long moment until Casey had had enough.
She’d pushed Megan away, angry enough to have not cared about the knife. “What kind of stupid game are you—”
“You know about the monster, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
Megan eyed her for a long moment, eyes narrowing with anger. “How could I have forgotten? Of course you know. This is your hotel.”
Was the woman delusional? Or just toying with her?
“They’re waiting for this wine,” Casey had said, realizing that she didn’t care one way or the other about what was wrong with Megan. The woman had been mean to her since day one.
But as she’d reached to unlock the wine cellar, she’d seen that the hand holding the knife was shaking, and there were tears in Megan’s eyes.
“Stop pretending that you’re the one who’s scared.”
Megan let out a snort. “I’m not scared of you, pip-squeak. I hope the monster gets you.” She wiped at her eyes and stormed off.
“Put that knife back in the kitchen where you found it,” Casey had yelled after her.
“This should get it open.” The sound of Finn’s voice made her jump. “Sorry. You all right?”
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. Megan had been genuinely afraid. Why hadn’t Casey seen that? Why hadn’t she questioned her further? Because she thought it was one of Megan’s stunts.
“Step back,” Finn said and went to work on the door to the sound of splintering wood.
Casey watched him cut away wood next to the lock and begin to pry. The lock broke with a crack that was like an explosion in the enclosed space. Casey watched him remove the rest of the large padlock and reach for the handle. He stopped and turned back to her, thinking he would need the key. But as he turned the handle, the door creaked open.
She was almost afraid to look beyond it for fear of what she would see. A stale but familiar scent rushed out. He felt inside for a light switch, and a moment later the wine racks were illuminated—along with the wine bottles.
Finn let out a low whistle. “I did not expect this.”
“Me, either.” Whoever had put the padlock on the door had kept anyone from raiding the wine. “I knew that when my grandmother fell ill, she closed the hotel, paid to have it boarded up and left everything as it was because she’d thought she would be back. Lars must have done this to keep anyone out.” She shook her head, surprised at how much wine was still here as she glanced inside. The wine cellar was large from a time when the many shelves had been full. Now most of the shelves were filled with only dust, and yet there were still a lot of wine bottles.
“Why don’t you grab some, and we’ll take them upstairs? You can pick,” she told him, feeling ill at ease.
He nodded, handed her the flashlight and started into the room but stopped.
“What is it?” Casey moved to look past him. He was staring down at the dust marks on the floor. What she saw sent her pulse into overdrive. Her throat had gone dry. She tried to swallow. “What is that?” she asked, voice breaking as she thought of the animal he’d thought had been digging down there.
“What would make a track like that?” he asked. He shook his head, but she knew he was thinking the same thing she was. Something had been dragged through the dust.
She stared at the concrete floor and the misplaced dust. The marks went from the doorway deep into the wine cellar. What had been dragged back in there? “Be careful.”
“You might want to stay out there for a minute while I check.” He didn’t have to ask her twice. His tone made goose bumps ripple over her flesh. What did he think might be back there?
She stepped away from the door and crossed her arms as she fought off the chill. The basement was starting to get to her. She desperately wanted out of here and found herself looking over her shoulder every few seconds. Her eyes were still adjusting to the dimness beyond the cellar. She turned on the flashlight and pointed it down the tunnel where Finn said something had been digging.
It was what lay next to it that had caught her eye. She told herself it couldn’t be a skull even as the beam told her different. “Finn?” she called, her voice too high, too
thin. “Finn?”
She jumped at his light touch on her arm. The moment she saw his expression, she knew. All the color had drained from his face. He had his phone in his hand. She watched him hit 9-1-1 before he looked up at her.
“It’s bad, Casey,” he said. As the emergency-services operator answered, he said, “I need to report a murder. Actually, two murder victims.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MARSHAL LEROY BAGGINS felt a sense of déjà vu. The last time there’d been a murder at the Crenshaw Hotel he’d been a deputy, green as a gourd and still wet behind the ears. That was when Megan Broadhurst had been murdered.
He remembered then-marshal Hugh Trafton getting the call and looking around the office that evening for someone to take with him to Buckhorn. Everyone else had gone home or was already out on a call. Hugh’s gaze had skimmed over him and then slowly come back with a sigh.
“Come on,” the marshal had said. “You might as well ride along.”
Leroy had been excited to get out of the office. He’d had no idea at the time where they were going or why. They’d gotten into the big patrol car, and Hugh had turned on the lights and siren. Hugh was famous for driving fast.
Leroy remembered that thrilling feeling as they raced through the darkness on the empty two-lane toward Buckhorn. When he’d gotten into law enforcement, he’d thought it would be an adventure.
Not in small-town Montana. The calls for the law were often about checking on some old person in town, barking-dog complaints, a few break-ins and assists on car accidents, which meant directing traffic.
But that night, it had felt like he’d imagined law enforcement would be. There’d been a murder, and Hugh had gotten them to Buckhorn in record time. The town hadn’t been a surprise, even though Leroy had never been there before. That was the problem: he’d hardly ever been out of his county before he signed on as a deputy with the marshal’s department.
