Krewe of Hunters: The Hidden Part 24

"We understand," Brett said.

"Are you guys going to stay around awhile?" Eddie asked. "If you are, we can try to point out some of the regulars when they show up, along with anybody I noticed in here last night. Maybe they'll know who Ca.s.sandra was talking to or if she left with someone."

"That would be great," Diego said. "Thank you."

"I think your table is ready," Eddie said, pointing to where the hostess was standing and looking their way.

The others thanked him and headed over to take their table, but Scarlet waited and thanked Eddie again herself.

"The ex, huh?" he said, a rueful smile on his lips.

She nodded.

"But you're not ready to let go, are you?" he asked.

"He came to help," she said, ignoring his question.

"I just hope he's smart enough to know what he has," Eddie told her.

"I..."

"You've always been honest. You don't owe me an explanation."

"I don't really even have one," Scarlet said. "We're divorced, but he came to help me anyway, and yes...I do still care about him. And I hope you and I are still friends."

"We are. I just hope they really can catch this killer."

Scarlet nodded and hurried to join the others at the table.

Their waitress was there, trying to convince them that Rocky Mountain oysters were a can't-miss. .h.i.t with visitors.

"I know what they are, and no thanks," Brett said. "I've never wanted eel in my sus.h.i.+, either, even if an eel is just a snakey kind of fish."

Everyone else opted out, too. At Scarlet's suggestion they all went with beefalo steaks, which she explained were a little sweeter than regular beef, but very good.

Scarlet noticed a tall lanky man standing with his back to her by the same support beam where Ca.s.sandra had been standing the night before. She started to say something, but before she could, she saw a waitress move right through him, then pause and s.h.i.+ver before moving on.

The man turned and saw Scarlet, and grinned.

It was Daniel Kendall.

"We have a spy on our side," she commented.

"I thought Daniel might join us," Adam said, without turning to look.

"Good," Diego said. "All help appreciated.

Their food arrived just as Eddie spoke into the mike by his drum set and introduced himself and the band, Snow. They began to play. Hanley sang lead on their first number.

The band was good, and from the way the Krewe members applauded, Scarlet thought that they looked like any group of friends out for a casual night.

She wondered if they could ever really let go of what they did for a living and simply enjoy themselves, or if seeing the dead made wariness a way of life. Maybe it wasn't so bad even if it did. They seemed to have perfected the art of having fun while staying vigilant.

In the middle of the second song Scarlet saw Eddie nod toward a man near the front of the stage without missing a drumbeat.

Diego must have been watching Eddie closely, because she saw him nod in return, get up and head toward the man Eddie had indicated.

When the man turned, she saw that it was one of their Conway Ranch newlyweds, Charles Barton, and Gwen was sitting next to him.

"I thought everyone stayed in last night after we came back from The Stanley," Adam murmured to Brett.

"They didn't leave by the front door," Brett said. "And the back door is kept locked. Guests are only given the key to the front. I checked."

"I didn't see a back door," Jane said.

"It's behind the pantry, which is behind the kitchen, and that's behind the dining room," Scarlet explained.

"I didn't see or hear a car leave, either," Brett said.

"So they walked into town?" Meg said.

"I'm sure Diego is asking them, but I think I'll go join the conversation," Meg said. "Come on, Scarlet. Go with me."

They stood and headed through the crowd to where Diego was speaking with Gwen and Charles, arriving in time to hear him ask, "So you saw her?"

"Yes," Gwen said, giving a little s.h.i.+ver. "We saw her picture on the news earlier and realized we'd seen her in here last night. I don't think she ordered anything, she was just standing by the back. We were going to tell you about it, but then we didn't see you all day."

Scarlet stepped right into the conversation. "Hi, guys, just curious-how did you get here last night?"

Gwen quickly turned to her husband, a look of guilt on her face. "We told Ben we were in for the night when we saw him locking the front door, but then we were both wide-awake, and we saw an article about these guys in the guidebook in the room, so we decided to check them out."

Charles spoke up. "When we were dating, she used to sneak out the back to meet me, and we thought it would be fun to do that together. Trisha gave us a tour of the place when we got there, so we knew where the back door is and slipped out that way."

"And walked down the mountain to town?" Meg asked politely.

"Oh, no. But we didn't want to drive," Gwen said, "because we both wanted to drink, so we called Tim and Bess Weatherly, a local couple we met and wanted to get together with anyway. They picked us up just down the road. Walk? This far?" She laughed. "No way on earth. And we used the front door when they brought us back."

When Brett must have stopped watching and finally gone to bed, Scarlet thought.

"Where are Tim and Bess tonight?" Diego asked.

"Bess works tonight. She's a waitress at the twenty-four-hour omelet place," Charles said. He frowned suddenly, looking at Diego. "You don't think that we... Oh, no, no, no!"

"What?" Gwen looked confused.

"He's suspicious of us!" Charles said. He glared at Diego.

"We're not suspicious of you. We just want to talk to everyone who was here last night," Diego a.s.sured them. "We're trying to find out where Ca.s.sandra Wells went when she left here and whether she was still here when she met her killer."

"Like I said, she was just standing at the back, but she wasn't there very long," Gwen said. "Although I did see her talking to someone."

"What did he look like?" Diego asked.

"It wasn't a he," Gwen said. "It was a she."

"A woman?"

"Yeah. She was-hmm, not sure. She might have been tall, or she might have been wearing heels. And I didn't see her face, because she was turned away from me. She had long hair, though."

"Was she still here after Ca.s.sandra left?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't know," Gwen said. "I was watching the band."

"Do you think your friends might have noticed the woman who was talking to Ca.s.sandra?" Diego asked.

"I don't know," Gwen said. "You could go ask Bess, and Tim will be picking her up when her s.h.i.+ft is finished. Neither one of them is related to Nathan Kendall as far as they know, but they called today to say they're not taking any chances and neither should we."

"Thank you," Diego said. "Enjoy the band." He glanced at Scarlet. "And they're friends of Scarlet's, by the way, if you want a CD or an autograph or something."

Scarlet looked at him curiously. He'd almost sounded jealous. She knew he wasn't, though.

Did she want him to be?

No, jealousy and possessiveness had never been a part of what they were and hadn't been why they'd fallen apart. She'd always trusted him completely as far as being faithful to her went. She'd never hounded him about where he'd been.

She'd just stopped talking to him.

"They're friends of yours?" Gwen asked. "Cool. I bought their CD last night."

The band chose that moment to break, saying they would be back in a few minutes, and headed down the back hall to the stage door.

Scarlet excused herself, saying, "Hold on-I'll ask them to come over and chat for a minute."

Eddie was just stepping through the door into the alley when she made it to the hall. He didn't smoke, but some of the band members did, so they tended to go outside and hang together during breaks.

She opened the door to find the alley filled with a thick fog.

"Eddie?" she called, moving forward. There was a Dumpster just steps from the back door, and Scarlet paused, noticing something lying on the ground in front of it.

A body, with nothing but blood and pulp where the face should have been.

She screamed.

Within seconds Eddie was there, and Diego and Meg came bursting out the back door a moment later, followed by Gwen and Charles and a spill of strangers.

Shaking, Scarlet pointed at the Dumpster.

But the fog had lifted.

And there was nothing on the ground.

Scarlet stared blankly at the empty spot while the image of what she'd seen still burned before her eyes.

The Krewe members would understand.

Or would they?

She hadn't seen a ghost, she'd seen the ravaged body of a young woman who'd been attacked by an evil killer.

Despite her terror, she knew she had to reason her way out of the situation or risk having everyone think she'd lost her mind. "Over there-I saw someone. They ran down the alley, I think."

"Which way?" Diego asked her.

She met his eyes and could tell that he knew she'd made up the story to cover for something else, and also that he would cover for her.

"I'll go," Matt said. "Brett, you with me?"

Brett nodded, and they left.

Diego and Eddie both started toward her.

She quickly lifted her hands. "I'm okay. I was just so startled. He scared me."

"I didn't see anyone when I came out," Eddie said, as the rest of the band came up behind him. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d must have been slinking around behind the Dumpster."

"You guys have to be careful, too," she said. Even to her own ears, her voice sounded thin.

"This is Colorado," Hanley said. "I pack a legal gun, and I was in the marines, so I know what I'm doing. I can watch out for us."

Diego backed away to stand with Adam and the rest of the Krewe, checking out the crowd. The manager, a heavyset man of about fifty, urged people to go back inside. "Calm down, everyone, and let's head back in. It was probably just a homeless man, but not to worry. We have federal agents in the house tonight, and they're on it."

He walked over to talk to Scarlet. She'd been at the Twisted Antler often enough that they knew each other by sight.

"You all right?" he asked her.

"Fine. I'm sorry I scared everyone half to death."

"Can't be too careful, not with what's been going on lately," he said, then flashed a smile at Adam. "Nice to have you guys around. I think it will be good for business."

"Let's get everyone back inside," Adam suggested. "Eddie, if the band could start playing again right away, that would be a big help."

"Not a problem," Eddie said, and gestured to the rest of the group to follow him in.

Only when everyone but the Krewe was gone did Diego slip an arm around Scarlet's shoulders and ask, "What did you really see?"

"A woman," she said. "Lying there in a pool of blood with nothing left of her face. I don't know why, but I think it was Ca.s.sandra."

"What the h.e.l.l were you doing coming out here anyway?" Diego demanded.