Ten

Casey started into the room, but I held my arm out and blocked him. “Listen!” I hissed.

Trixie raised her nose and sniffed but pulled back as though she didn’t like the smell.

“I don’t hear anything,” Casey whispered.

“He could be in the closet or the bathroom or standing behind a curtain.”

“How do you know it’s a guy?” he asked.

“It could be anybody. I’m going to turn on the overhead light, okay? He’ll know that we’re here. Play along with me.”

I spoke in a loud voice. “Sergeant Quinlan said we should secure the room. Don’t touch anything, but I want you to make an inventory of everything you see. Shoes, luggage, cash lying around. I don’t want anyone blaming us if something has gone missing.”

I flicked the light switch and the bedroom was bathed in soft light. I ventured inside very slowly, ready to bolt if need be.

While Casey checked the bathroom, I looked for shoes under the curtains. There weren’t any. Casey emerged from the bathroom shaking his head. “All I see is a used towel and one of those razors that leaves a day’s worth of stubble.”

That sounded about right. So that left the closet and under the bed.

I pointed toward the closet and then held up my hand in a signal to stop. I needed a weapon. Something I could at least swing at an intruder if there was one. A tall brass lamp sat on the desk. I unplugged it, unscrewed the finial, whipped off the shade, and walked over to the closet door. I nodded to Casey, who swung the doors open. A lone leather jacket hung in the closet.

Casey nodded toward the bed. He casually walked over and dropped to his knees. “Well, that’s it, Holly. Not a soul in here.”

“The balcony.”

Casey got to his feet and stiffened. Fear showed in his eyes. I handed him the lamp and strode over to the balcony. The doors were closed. The latch was locked. That was a relief. I twisted it and peered outside. “Unless it’s Spider-Man, there’s no one out there.”

Casey set the lamp on the desk and joined me. We looked up and around, but no one was hanging on to the stone walls of the inn. Not even Trixie found any interesting scents. She trotted back into the room.

“It’s only a one-story drop from here,” Casey pointed out. “Guys do that on TV all the time. They land and take off running.”

We went inside, and I locked the door behind us. “In the first place, they are professional stunt people, and in the second place, they make it look like it’s high, but it’s not, and they’re usually jumping onto a mattress or something to cushion the fall.”

“That’s not true. There are people who could jump over a balcony, land on their feet, and keep going.”

“Casey! That’s ridiculous. You’re too old to believe all those stunts are real. However, what is real is that I saw the curtains drawn and the lights on.” I reassembled the lamp.

“Does it smell funny to you in here?” he asked. “It smells like—” he wiggled his nostrils, not unlike Trixie did “—hand sanitizer.”

At that moment, I noticed room keys on the seat of the desk chair, and my blood ran cold.

Casey must have seen them about the same time. He reached for them, but I stopped him. “Fingerprints. They could have fingerprints on them.”

“I doubt it. Whoever was in here wiped the place down with sanitizer.”

“You’re right. I bet that’s exactly what happened. Someone didn’t want anyone to know he or she was here. I wonder if he was looking for something.”

“Or came back to retrieve something he left.”

I shuddered. “Either Seth gave that person the key to his room, or his murderer took the key off of Seth and came back here to clean up or get something he didn’t want anyone to find.”

Casey stared at me. He swallowed hard. “Murderer?”

“Okay,” I said, “we don’t know that yet. It could be that he died from natural causes. But that key is suspicious.”

“Maybe Seth left it in the chair. Or he couldn’t find it. He was in a hurry and didn’t want to bother anyone about another key, so he left. There’s not a whole lot in here. The leather jacket is cool, but nothing else was worth a lot.”

I smiled at him. “Very logical. But then who locked the door? Someone was in here only a few minutes ago. The light didn’t turn itself off.”

“Besides, how would a murderer get into the inn unnoticed?” He frowned, as if he was worried that he had let a killer enter.

“We ate dinner in Rose’s backyard and didn’t find Seth until the fire was under control. I think Seth had just been killed, so the murderer could have come back here then,” I speculated.

“That’s a relief. He didn’t get by me. Mr. Huckle would have been in charge then.”

I was about to spoil Casey’s reprieve. “Except for one thing. If that were the case, why would he sit here for hours? No, I think there might be a different answer.”

Casey blurted, “I did not let in any wild-eyed killers.”

“I believe you. I don’t think you did that, either. You did your job and allowed our guests to come into the inn. And you didn’t see anyone leave around the time I phoned you, did you?”

Casey’s face grew pale. “He’s still in the building!”

“It’s worse than that. Not only is that person still in the building, she’s legitimately in one of our guest rooms. It’s one of our guests, Casey.”