From the Shadows

by B. J Daniels

  “There’s a knack to it, kid,” Uncle Pete had said when Leroy had asked how it was done. “It has to implode from inside and all at the same time. One little foul-up, and you can take out half the block.”

  He’d asked if it was scary planting the explosives.

  Pete had laughed. “Not if you know what you’re doing and it’s not your day to die.”

  “Your uncle’s an idiot,” his father had said. “He has a death wish. I suppose he didn’t tell you about the time they didn’t go off and he had to go back in, knowing that at any moment he could be blown to smithereens. Death wish. One of these days, his luck is going to run out.”

  Apparently that might have been true. Uncle Pete had died in one of his buildings a few years ago. No one knew why he’d gone back inside right before the building blew.

  Leroy turned to his deputy, working to keep his tone calm and in control. “When we get upstairs, you’re going to use some of those boards outside to board the doors into this place once everyone is out. Then I’m going to pull the fire alarm. I need you and the rest of the deputies to get everyone out of the building. No mention of bombs. Just get them out and yourselves a good distance away from the hotel. Get car keys from the guests and move them as well.” He wanted them all to be able to leave when this was over.

  Hepner took off down the tunnel back the way they’d come. Leroy followed at a good pace. The hair stood straight up on his neck. He could feel his mortality with each step even as his mind whirled. Who’d done this? And when had these been set to go off? He recalled that the invitations for the reunion had mentioned the hotel was to be destroyed.

  Before or after the reunion was over?

  * * *

  AS FINN CAME out into the lobby, he caught a glimpse of someone sneaking down the hallway toward the kitchen. Even in the dim light, he recognized Jason. What was the man up to?

  He hurried after him. If he knew Jason, he was up to no good. But when he reached the kitchen, the man was nowhere to be seen. So where had he gone, and what was he doing sneaking around? Probably looking for booze.

  Finn hurried down the hallway to the back stairs that led from the kitchen floor to the staff floor. As he pushed open the door to the stairway, he could hear footfalls on the steps. Jason going back to the staff floor?

  Letting the door close, Finn turned back to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and took out two bottles of water, one for him and one for Casey, then saw a carton of orange juice. Casey would be waking up soon since the sun would be rising. If she felt anything like he did, she’d need something to keep her going.

  As he started to leave, he saw the blood on the outside of the refrigerator. It was just a smear. It startled him because it was so fresh. Jason? He saw another smear of fresh blood on the door. Jason hadn’t been bleeding badly, because there were no droplets on the floor.

  But he had been bleeding.

  For just a moment, he thought about following him up the back stairs to the staff wing, but Finn had been gone too long as it was. He didn’t want Casey waking up and finding him not there.

  He turned with the orange juice and waters and headed for the hallway that would take him back to her when the fire alarm went off.

  * * *

  CASEY CAME AWAKE with a start. The fire alarm was blaring, reminding her of the drills her grandmother used to run with the staff before the hotel opened in the spring. She sat up, disoriented for a moment as if the years hadn’t passed.

  But as she came fully awake, she remembered where she was and why. At the same time, she saw that Finn wasn’t in the bed next to her. The bathroom door was open. No Finn. She’d fallen asleep in a T-shirt and jeans. All she had to do was step into her sandals. From the window, she saw deputies escorting some of the others outside.

  She told herself to hurry. Her heart was pounding. Was the hotel on fire? Hadn’t that always been a fear of her grandmother’s? Of Casey’s? If someone had pulled the alarm by mistake or as a joke, deputies wouldn’t be escorting people out of the building, she told herself as she grabbed her purse.

  Unlocking the door and stepping out into the hallway, she looked over into Finn’s room. The door was open, and the room was empty. Maybe the deputies had already led him out. After locking the door behind her, she hurried down the hallway, headed for the back stairs.

  But as she turned the corner, she almost collided with Jason.

  “Casey?” He seemed confused and oblivious to the blaring fire alarm.

  “We need to get out of here,” she yelled over the alarm.

  His gaze seemed unfocused. She noticed he had a scrape on his temple. It was bleeding, and he had something in his hands that caught the light. With a start, she recognized the necklace before he quickly pocketed it. The chain appeared to be broken. Her heart flopped in her chest, making her recall Megan breaking her bracelet.

  “That’s Patience’s necklace,” she cried and took a step back.

  Jason seemed to come out of his daze. He blinked, shaking his head and yelling, “No. No, I didn’t.” But she could see that the chain was broken, as if it had been torn off Patience’s neck. She took another step back, the fire alarm blaring so loudly she couldn’t think.

  Jason kept coming toward her, trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t hear him over the noise. He reached for her as she took another step back, banging into the stairs doorway. Pushing it open, she turned and began to run as quickly as she could down the stairs. She could hear Jason yelling behind her but was unable to make out his words. It sounded as if he were right on her heels.

  His fingers dug into the flesh of her shoulder, twisting her around and throwing her against the wall. She hit her head hard. The lights in the stairwell dimmed and then she was falling, arms flailing. She landed, her breath knocked from her body from the jarring fall. She felt pain and then nothing as the lights blinked out.

  * * *

  WITH THE FIRE alarm blaring, Finn dropped what he had in his hands and ran for the stairs. All he could think of was Casey waking up and seeing him gone. His heart was pounding as the fire alarm blared in his ears.

  He could hear deputies hollering for everyone to get out of the building. One tried to stop him, grabbing his arm and detaining him for a few lost moments before he broke free. He rushed for the main stairway. Taking the steps three at a time, he reached the landing, breathing hard.

  Casey would have been awakened by the alarm. She’d been already dressed. How quickly would she have tried to get out of the building? Maybe she was already outside waiting for him.

  He reached her bedroom door. It was locked. He pounded on the door, calling her name over the sound of the alarm as he dug out the passkey from his jeans pocket.

  Flinging the door open, he rushed in. She was gone. He felt a wave of relief but still doubled-checked to make sure that she wasn’t in the bedroom before he ran for the open doorway.

  The deputy who’d tried to stop him was blocking the doorway. The man grabbed his arm with one hand. The other hand was on the butt of his gun.

  “Have you seen Casey?” he yelled to the officer, who only shook his head and motioned to Finn that the two of them were now leaving the building.

  He broke free and ran back the way he’d come, down the stairs, only to collide with two deputies who escorted him out of the building with just enough force that he didn’t fight them.

  As he stumbled out into dim daylight, he looked frantically for Casey as he pulled out his phone and tried to call her. It rang and rang before going to voice mail.

  Several deputies were moving everyone back from the building. He saw Jen and Shirley and Jason. What he didn’t see was Casey. As he turned to go back toward the building, the marshal stepped out, a deputy on each side of him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  LEROY BARKED OUT orders quickly. He’d done a head count and reali
zed the guests weren’t all there. Casey Crenshaw was missing from the small group. That was about when he spotted Finnegan James headed for him. Leroy knew that look. Trouble.

  “See if everyone can be put up at the motel,” Leroy ordered Hepner. “I still want them all to stay in town temporarily until I can get to the bottom of this. If any of them resist, lock them in the back of your cruiser.” Hepner got right on his cell phone to make arrangements as he headed for the parking lot, passing Finnegan on his way.

  “Fortunately, a busload of tourists are checking out now,” Hepner told him. “They’re going to get a few rooms ready.”

  Another deputy, Henry Wilson, came out of the hotel directly behind Leroy. “There’s no one left in the building that we could find.”

  Leroy considered sending him back in to look for Casey but changed his mind. “Check the other exits. Let me know if you find Casey Crenshaw,” he told the deputy as Finnegan reached him.

  “Casey’s not here. That means she’s still in there,” Finnegan said. “I don’t know what’s going on because I don’t see or smell smoke, but I’m going back in there to look for her.” He started past him for the door.

  Leroy put a firm hand in the middle of the man’s chest and shook his head. “No one is going back in there. Don’t make me arrest you. She could have come out another door. I have a deputy checking.”

  But Finnegan was shaking his head. Leroy could see that there would be no keeping him out of the hotel short of cuffing him and throwing him in the back of a squad car.

  “You don’t want to go back in there,” Leroy told him, but Finnegan only shook his head, shoving off the marshal’s hand. “You need to go with one of my deputies to the motel.”

  “I’m not going anywhere as long as Casey’s missing. I checked her room. She must have headed out at the sound of the fire alarm, but something must have happened. I have no idea what’s going on, but I can tell it’s serious.” He put his face in Leroy’s. “I’m going in. There’s only one way you can stop me. Otherwise, we can cover the hotel faster if there are two of us.”

  Leroy sighed. “You take the north wing. We meet back at the main stairway in ten minutes. No more.”

  Finnegan gave a short nod. They went back inside and parted company. He could hear the man running and calling Casey’s name. Leroy checked the lower floor first, his nerves raw. He’d never been in a building that could disintegrate at any moment.

  * * *

  CASEY CAME TO with a start. She blinked, her gaze unfocused for a few moments. She tried to remember what had happened, why she was lying on the floor, her body aching. As she started to sit up, she remembered. Jason. Falling down the stairs. She blinked again, fighting to clear her head as she started to take in her surroundings. She was still on the back-stairs landing. Her body hurt, but she didn’t think anything was broken.

  But as she tried to sit up, she realized with a start that she wasn’t alone. Jason? Her pulse jumped as her earlier fear returned. She tried to sit up again. As she did, she saw him.

  Not Jason.

  Emery. He came up the stairs from the darkness. He held a finger to his lips as if he was afraid she was going to scream. Over the fire alarm? Even so, a scream was already racing up her throat. But it didn’t reach her mouth before he grabbed her and clamped one massive hand down to forever trap it.

  “It’s okay now,” Emery said. “I have you now.” She could feel terror widen her eyes. As she struggled to get Emery’s massive, calloused hand from her mouth, he reached behind him. The smell hit her first. It wafted through the air an instant before he pressed the damp cloth over her nose. She couldn’t breathe.

  With all her strength, she wriggled and fought against him, but it was useless. He was too strong, just like the chemical on the rag he was holding over her nose, his big hand over her mouth. She could feel darkness closing in. If he didn’t remove the rag or his hand...

  Suddenly both were no longer on her face. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out except for a small, inaudible sigh as she felt some strange drug making her limp as a rag doll.

  She tried to get up, terrified, but her large-motor skills didn’t react. Her body was no longer taking her commands. Emery lifted her as if she were no more than a child, and instead of heading down the stairs, he carried her up until he came to a landing. She watched in a dreamlike state as he pushed on a spot on the wood-paneled wall and it opened, revealing another set of narrower stairs.

  She knew at once where he was taking her.

  To the basement.

  * * *

  FINN CHECKED ONE floor after another. The sky outside was lightening with the promise of a new day. He was on his way down the back stairway when he saw something on the landing that he’d missed in his rush earlier. He lurched to a stop and bent down. Blood. It was only a couple of drops. But the droplets hadn’t been there long. His heart leaped to his throat.

  He told himself that the blood might not even be Casey’s. Someone could have been hurt escaping the hotel. But as he took the steps more slowly, looking for more blood, he knew in his soul that the blood was hers. The good news was that so far he’d only seen a few drops, which meant she wasn’t bleeding badly.

  That was when he saw it. Not blood, thank God. But something just as telling. He recognized the tiny object right away. Just the sight of it sent his pulse hammering at his temples. Stooping down, he picked up a Scrabble piece. Y.

  I have fallen for you.

  He tried to tell himself that the piece could have been there at the back of the step for years. But he knew better. Had Casey picked up the Scrabble pieces? She must have. And put them in a pocket?

  Finn knew it was a long shot that one had dropped out when she’d fallen. Or been pushed. He glanced down the stairs that ended at a side entrance. If she’d gone out that way, she would have been seen by one of the deputies.

  That meant she was either still in the hotel or...

  He tried her phone again. He heard it ringing—in the stairwell below him. With a chill running through him, he descended the stairs to find her purse where it had fallen.

  He canceled the call and went racing back toward the main stairway with only moments to spare. As he came rushing down the stairs, he saw the marshal waiting for him, looking anxious.

  “She’s not here,” the marshal said. “We need to get out now.”

  Based on the marshal’s expression, he knew there was a need to get out of the hotel as quickly as possible. Finn had no idea why, just that the lawman looked scared.

  “There’s one place we haven’t checked,” Finn said and headed for the door to the basement, but when he reached it, he saw that it had been barred. And not with just crime-scene tape. Several boards had been nailed over it. “What the hell?” he demanded, turning to the marshal. “I need to go down there.”

  “No one is going down there.” There was steel in the marshal’s tone and what looked like terror in his eyes. “Casey isn’t down there. It’s been sealed since before I pulled the fire alarm. Let’s check outside and pray that she’s shown up.”

  Finn wanted to tear the boards from the door, but if the alarm hadn’t been pulled until after the door had been barred... They rushed out the back. He saw that the deputy had cleared the parking lot of cars and people, so Finn was surprised to see that another deputy was standing at the parking-lot entrance with Jason Underwood. They appeared to be arguing.

  When Jason saw Finn and the marshal approaching, he pushed past the deputy and ran toward them. “I saw Casey. In a back hallway. She was acting strange. She took off like someone was chasing her, and then she fell...” Jason’s voice broke. “I was hit from behind. That’s the last I remember before I found myself out here on the sidewalk, but I had to tell you. Whoever hit me...” He didn’t have to finish. Finn already knew that Casey was in trouble.

  “How’d you get th
ose scratches on your face?” the marshal asked Jason.

  He looked away for a moment. “I stumbled into a wall earlier when I went down to the kitchen for a drink. I was trying to explain to Casey. I guess she thought...”

  Finn had a sudden urge to beat the man senseless. “Why were you chasing after Casey?” he demanded, sensing there was a whole lot more to his story.

  “She saw me holding Patience’s broken necklace, and I guess she thought...”

  Finn swore. He could guess what Casey thought.

  Jason looked worried. “I tried to stop her and explain, but that damned fire alarm was so loud.” Finn saw that the man was close to tears. “I didn’t hurt her. I swear.”

  “When you saw her,” Finn asked, “did she have her shoulder bag with her?”

  Jason seemed to think for a moment before he nodded. “She did.” So she had her phone.

  “You say someone hit you from behind?” the marshal asked.

  “I couldn’t have been out long, but when I came to, I was lying in the stairwell. Casey was gone. I thought she’d already be out here, too.”

  “You were also the last one to see Patience Riley, who is missing as well,” the marshal said. Jason started to put up an argument but was cut off. “Go to the motel and stay there. If you leave town, I’ll have you arrested. I’d hold you now in a cell until both Casey and Patience were found, if Buckhorn had a jail.”

  “I didn’t hurt either of them. Patience left, and Casey...” Jason shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to her.”

  The marshal reached for the necklace in the man’s hands. “The clasp is broken.” His gaze rose to Jason’s.

  “It was an accident,” Jason cried.

  “Deputy,” the marshal was saying, “take Mr. Underwood to the motel, and make sure he stays there. Take Mr. James there as well.”

  Finn rolled the Scrabble piece in his fingers as he looked toward the woods. He wasn’t going to the motel. He had to find Casey, because all his instincts told him that she wasn’t far from here—and if he didn’t find her soon...