Her friends were sticking by her side wholly, which made her feel happy and guilty at the same time. Her friends shouldn’t have to put their reputations on the line. Then again, no one in town should be accusing her of murder when the police had completely cleared her.
Still, she’d lived in a little town long enough to know how they worked.
As days turned into weeks, she stayed focused on the repairs around the resort to keep her mind from the murders.
Unlike the first two, there had been some DNA evidence left behind with Kim’s death. What appeared to be blood was found on the rope that had been tied around the woman’s neck, as if whoever had strung her up had cut their hands doing so.
Cade’s uncle was convinced that this murder had nothing to do with the first two, since Kim’s ex-boyfriend had been released on parole in Redding for drug charges two days prior to her death.
They were having the DNA checked against his, but since they were a small town and it wasn’t a high-profile murder case, it was going to take two weeks to get the results back.
Still, the ex-boyfriend was dragged into the police station and questioned. Since she was friends with Sean, she knew firsthand that the man claimed to have been in Redding at the time of the murder. Sean had confirmed with one of the man’s friends that he really had been in Redding that evening, but he was still waiting to hear back from the girl the guy claimed to have spent the night with.
As far as the resort went, the work in the dining room was finally going to be finished by the end of that weekend. Raven was so excited to see the finished product that she kept sneaking peeks at the place once all the workers left.
Since they hadn’t put up the walls of plastic, she wasn’t as nervous as she’d been shortly after Joseph’s murder.
Still, every time she stepped out of the elevator on her floor, she saw Rachelle’s crumpled body lying on the rug.
When a knock sounded at her door, she glanced up and waved Fiona into the room. Cade’s mother was a true asset to the resort and to Raven’s mental stability.
“I just wanted to let you know that I am heading out,” Fiona said with a smile. “Sean has the evening off, and we’re heading into the city for dinner.”
“Oh? Hot date.” Raven smiled back at the woman.
Fiona’s smile slipped slightly. “The man’s been trying to figure out how to propose to me for months.”
“Really?” Raven jumped up from her seat. “How exciting.”
Fiona laughed. “I hate to revel in his anxiousness. But the fact is, I love seeing him like this. The man is always so sure of himself.” She shook her head. “It’s nice to see him sweat.”
“Does Cade know?” Raven asked.
“No.” Fiona’s smile slipped again. “I hadn’t planned on telling him until… later.”
“I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled.” Raven hugged the woman.
“Sean and I… we go way back. To be honest, if Henry hadn’t died, I think Sean would have left Cannon Falls long ago.” She glanced towards the window. “Fall is just around the corner.” She shook her head. “How did time go by so fast? One day Henry and I were welcoming Cade and Reggie into our lives, then I lost Henry and a few years later, Reggie.” The sadness in Fiona’s eyes showed a distant fondness instead of full sorrow. “Sean was instrumental in helping me get out of the funk after losing my men.” She smiled again. “We’ve been seeing one another for two years this week.”
“Two years?” Raven shook her head slightly. “That long?”
“Yes.” Fiona laughed. “I think that half the fun in the relationship was keeping it from everyone.”
Raven could understand what the woman meant. There’d been a little hint of excitement when she and Cade had started seeing one another.
“Well, I’d better hurry up and leave if I want to be ready in time,” Fiona said, looking at her watch.
“Have a wonderful time,” Raven said.
“I will. See you on Monday.” Fiona turned and left.
Raven turned back to her desk. Fiona had been right about time passing. Somehow Raven had blinked, and summer was almost gone already.
The sky was dark and grey, and she knew that in less than two months, there would be enough snow on the hills to delight skiers and snowboarders alike.
There was still so much to do, so Raven sat down behind her computer to get back to work.
The new advertising from the marketing firm she’d hired had done its job. They had sent a professional photographer to take shots of the lobby and bar areas and some of the finished rooms. The dining room would have to be photographed later and added to the next round of ads.
The marketing firm had paid for key spots in some of the best travel magazines in the city. Already, they were flooded with room bookings.
With only two and a half months to go to the official reopening, they had the entire west building to finish besides the dining room.
All the ski lifts had been updated and officially certified safe by the company that had installed them years ago. The ski resort still needed fresh carpet to be installed along with all new ski and snow rentals.
She had been shocked to see the state of the rentals her uncle and aunt had allowed to represent their business. She had to admit that seeing all of the new equipment being unpackaged and on display excited her beyond anything.
She’d realized that she hadn’t been on the slopes since before her seventeenth birthday. She wasn’t an expert at skiing, but she did really enjoy fresh powder.
If the resort had been open all summer long, she liked to think that people would have enjoyed all the improvements she’d made. Now, the grounds flourished with bright flowers, neatly trimmed bushes and shrubs, cleared cleaned pathways to stroll on, and the occasional park bench for sitting and enjoying the view.
She’d utilized those benches herself already. Most days, she would eat her lunch outside and enjoy the heat of the day.
After running through the to-do lists and updating items, she realized that the only way they would be completely ready for the grand reopening was if she had David and his men concentrate on the upper floors of the west building first. She figured she could shut down a few floors while they continued updating the rooms on the lower floors.
The upper floors were the bigger money makers anyway since they had some of the best views of the hills and ski slopes.
She hadn’t expected to work overtime that evening, but when her phone buzzed, she realized it was an hour later than she normally left.
She saw Cade’s face flash on her screen and smiled as she answered his call.
“Working late?” Just his voice caused her body to fill with desire.
“Yes, I suppose I got caught up,” she admitted as she stretched her neck and shoulders.
“How about I meet you up there and we have dinner?” Cade suggested.
She really wanted to finish the work she was doing before she left. If he drove up here, she would have just the right amount of time to do so.
“Sounds perfect.”
By the time Cade’s knock sounded on her office door, she had finished with the latest budget and was extremely anxious to open the doors again. It was coming down to ten thousand dollars. She knew that would seem like a lot to many, but to her, running a multi-million-dollar-a-year-business, ten thousand dollars was pennies.