AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aroostine shook her head. “It’s out of fuel. And there aren’t any gas cans in the shed. But evidently, someone had the same thought.”
“Someone like the killer, you mean,” Maisy breathed, wide-eyed.
“Maybe.”
“Was anything disturbed?” Hank asked.
Aroostine scowled in frustration. “It’s impossible to know. There are all sorts of things in there—a wall of gardening and lawn-care implements and one of those big silver chests full of work tools. I didn’t see any obvious gaps, but that doesn’t mean the killer didn’t take something.”
“They didn’t take the axe. We know that much,” Chris said, giving Aroostine a pointed look.
She locked eyes with Sasha. “Chris wasn’t happy with me because I grabbed the axe. I assume the fact that you armed me with a kitchen knife means you’ve lifted the weapons bans given the circumstances.” She handed the sheathed knife to Leo, who took it wordlessly.
“Where’s the axe?” Sasha wanted to know.
“I hid it in the shrubbery outside.”
“Do we think the murderer meant to kill Rex or Leo?” Maisy blurted. “We need to know what the current threat level is.”
Sasha was about to press Leo and Hank about their new super-secret federal security agency jobs when Chris spoke up again.
“We stopped by the cottage and told Daniel and Carl to come up here, too. They’re packing up the food and then leaving. We shouldn’t be split up. If Leo was the intended target, there’s a chance the killer will realize their mistake and try again.”
A heavy silence fell over the circle as they considered the possibility. Sasha sipped her rapidly cooling mulled spiced cider and tried to ignore the waves of nausea lapping at her gut. Naya rose and went to the door as if she sensed her partner’s presence before he and Daniel knocked.
Once Carl and Daniel had shed their coats and warmed their hands, and the food and drinks had been put away in the kitchen, Leo met each of their friends’ eyes in turn.
“Obviously, this isn’t how we’d hoped to spend the weekend. With any luck, we’ll be able to salvage some of it. But I think we need to put our heads together with the other group. Whether someone meant to kill Rex or meant to kill me, the fact remains: there’s a killer on the property.”
“And no way to call for help or protect ourselves,” Sasha added. She made a note to kick her own butt later for her ill-advised ban on mobile devices and weapons. Who knew her friends would actually honor her requests this time?
“And no way out even if we had a vehicle‚ which we don’t,” Carl reminded them. “The snow is blinding. If the state police haven’t already closed the roads, they will soon.”
“So, the likelihood of John and Hatty making it back approaches zero,” Hank mused.
“Why does that matter?” Maisy wondered.
Hank shrugged. “They could have another phone or a short-wave radio or something. The office behind the reception area is locked. I was hoping not to have to pick the lock.”
“Desperate times,” Aroostine told him under her breath.
He nodded.
“Let’s not break in just yet,” Sasha suggested. “Maybe one of Rex’s guests will have a brilliant idea.”
Leo exhaled heavily. “Don’t hold your breath,” he cautioned as he rose from his chair and headed toward the library.
Sasha finished her drink and followed with the others on her heels.
CHAPTER8
Fortunately, Silverwood Manor’s library was spacious. No—Leo corrected himself as he, Sasha, and their eight guests filed into the room—it was vast. Even with nineteen people milling about, the enormous room wasn’t crowded. The fact that absolutely no one was in the center of the space highlighted its size.
As if by unspoken agreement, Bodhi, Aroostine, Maisy, Naya, Carl, Daniel, Chris, and Hank arranged themselves in a cluster on the right side of the room just inside the door. The reunion party guests had clumped together around the food and drinks on the built-in bar in the far left corner of the room. It looked as if the two groups were squaring off for a gang fight or, less dramatically, a dance-off. Leo stifled a laugh at the thought, and Sasha slid him a curious look. He smoothed his mouth into a somber expression as nine heads swiveled to watch their entrance.
He was about to say something—he wasn’t yet surewhatthat something would be—when Sasha clapped her hands together. All eyes fell on his five-foot-nothing, hundred-pound-soaking-wet wife. He clocked the dismissive expressions on several people in the other group as they immediately underestimated her. They’d learn. If they were lucky, the lesson wouldn’t be too painful.
She flashed a quick smile and then used her courtroom voice, a half-octave lower than her regular voice, when she said, “For everyone other than Tessa and Annette, I’m Sasha McCandless-Connelly. Leo and I think you deserve some answers about what happened to Rex. So we’re here to answer any questions we can and to ask a few of our own.”
