His uncle left shortly after his mother and grandmother did.
The moment Cade and Raven were alone, he pulled her onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around her.
“What do you say to spending the rest of the day on the sofa, watching movies?” he said, holding onto her.
“That sounds amazing.” She sighed as she put her feet up on the sofa. Blue jumped up and, after spending almost a minute trying to get comfortable, finally settled at their feet with a slightly annoyed groan.
“I think he’s upset I took his spot,” Raven said.
He chuckled. “Yeah, he’s spoiled and normally lays up here with me.”
He turned on the television and flipped through several channels before finally settling on a Clint Eastwood movie that was just starting. When he’d been changing channels, she’d mentioned how Eastwood was one of her favorite actors and the movie was one of her favorites.
A few minutes after the movie started, she turned to look up at him.
“Who do you think wanted to kill Kim?” she asked a few moments later.
He glanced down at her. She was leaning with her back towards his chest. His arms were wrapped around her. He couldn’t see her face, but he’d known that her mind wasn’t on the movie.
“I’ve been asking that same question.” He sighed and turned the volume down. “Not just Kim, but Rachelle and Joseph too. I agree with my uncle that whoever is doing this is trying to frame you.”
“But why?” She shook her head. “It’s not like I have many enemies.” She was silent for a moment. “I mean, sure, some people in town still believe I started the fire, but I can’t imagine any of them murdering three people to… what? Pay me back in the hope that I’ll be implicated?” She shook her head. “I just don’t see it.”
“Right,” he agreed. “Okay, so then that theory is out. So… what? Coincidence that the three people murdered worked for you?”
“I do run the largest business in town.”
“True. But if it’s just coincidence, then what do Kim, Rachelle, and Joseph have in common besides working at the resort?”
“Well, Rachelle and Joseph knew my aunt and uncle. Joseph lost his job when they took over the resort.” She shifted so she could look at him. “Rachelle worked under them for years. Who knows what bad blood they had between them?”
“And Kim?” he asked.
She frowned. “Rachelle had hired Kim a week after I kicked my aunt and uncle out.”
He sighed heavily. “So, no link?”
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s totally random? I mean, it could be a drifter?” She motioned to the movie they were watching. “The killer in here has zero connections to the people he murdered.”
He glanced at the screen and, after thinking about the plot, nodded in agreement.
“Are there any drifters in Cannon Falls?” he asked, more to himself than to her.
“Even though the resort is technically shut down, we still have a few rooms rented out,” she supplied.
“You do?” he asked with a frown. “Does my uncle know?”
“Yes.”
“How many rooms?” .
“Six. The Garrisons, who have been renting the same room for three weeks every summer for the past twenty years. They’re in their late seventies. I doubt either of them are strong enough to… well, you know.” She shifted again as Blue started sneaking up towards them. Raven’s hands ran over his soft fur, and he doubted she realized his dog had maneuvered her to get belly rubs. “Then there’s a single woman.” She narrowed her eyes. “I forget her name. Stephanie or Stacy.” She shook her head. “She’s in town writing a book. I’m told she orders all her meals and never really leaves her room. There are two families that know each another. They spend most of their days hiking and biking through the countryside. A single businessman who just came into town a few nights ago and…” She frowned. “I’m not sure who the last person is. I only saw the name, Pat Parsons.” She leaned her head back.
“How many were in town when Joseph was killed?” he asked.
“Just the Garrisons. The rest came later.”
“Okay, so if we exclude all of them…” He thought for a minute. “Who in town had motive or gained something from all three deaths?”
“That’s a question your uncle will hopefully find an answer to.” She shifted back to lean against his chest. “I’m suddenly very tired.”
“We did only have a few hours of sleep.” He pulled her closer to him, feeling a little overwhelmed and tired himself.
Her turned the sound for the movie back on and, less than fifteen minutes later, they both fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Everything inside is on fire, when I am with you.
Word about Kim’s murder changed the entire town. It was strange. When Joseph had been found with his head missing and Rachelle had been poisoned, people in town hadn’t really blinked an eye. But hearing about Kim strung up in the middle of the town square somehow shocked everyone to the core.
Everyone in town was finally taking the murderer seriously, something Raven had done from the moment the elevator doors had slid open and she’d found Joseph.
Since that first night, she had only been able to get a few hours of sleep here and there. Now that she was staying at Cade’s most nights, she realized she was able to get more uninterrupted sleep.
She didn’t know if it was thanks to the extra physical activities or if it was because she felt safe with Cade’s arms wrapped around her in slumber.
Whatever the reason, the few nights that she returned to her hotel room alone were restless ones. There had been a few nightmares, like she’d had after the fire. Dreams that woke her or kept her up until late at night, worrying.
Because of them, she’d moved a few things to Cade’s place and spent more and more nights with him. It was only a few changes of clothes, some makeup, and shoes. Nothing major. But enough that she was self-conscious about keeping her things tidy at his place.
It wasn’t as if he was a total neat freak. She’d lived with one of those before. Her mother had been your typical type A personality. Everything had its place and if it wasn’t in its place, someone was bound to hear about it. Usually, her and her dad.
Still, Cade’s place was always clean and organized, which made her want to be better than she’d been. Ever since her things had been destroyed, she’d only had a handful of things to keep track of. Now, at least half of her stuff was over at his place.
Which, of course, instigated another round of gossip in town. Thankfully, accusations about her murdering Kim had been cut down quickly thanks to Sean and Cade, who adamantly told anyone who would listen that Raven was with Cade all night.
Most people had witnessed her leaving that night with Cade, anyway. Still, it didn’t stop the rumors that she’d killed Joseph because he was an ex-lover of hers from her high school days.
Rumors of the grainy image that her uncle had sent her was circulating around town and, somehow, even the image was floating around.
Of course, her friends could immediately tell the girl in the image wasn’t her. Darby even brought one of her old yearbooks to the diner to prove to everyone that Raven’s hair had been shorter than the girls in the photo back then.