Page 37 of Only One More Lie

She glanced at the table and saw Ranger had papers spread in front of him. As her vision cleared, she noticed it was a list of current camp employees, a list of employees who’d left in the past year, and a list of all the guests here on the night of the murder.

Leave it to Ranger to always do his homework. Juniper must have sent this over either late last night or early this morning.

Duke joined her at the table, and Andi handed him his coffee.

Andi took a seat and glanced at Ranger. “Have you found anything of note on these lists? I assume you’ve been examining these names already.”

“I’m just getting started.” Ranger rubbed his beard. He’d trimmed it and kept it neater now that he’d gotten married. He used to have a much gruffer, mountain-man look. “But so far, thereisone person who stands out.”

“Who is that?” Andi took another sip of her coffee, relishing the warm liquid as it washed over her tongue and down her throat.

She waited to hear what Ranger had discovered, hoping it was a lead, something that might guide them to finding answers.

“This is Bert Sims.” Ranger pushed forward a piece of paper with the picture of a man with a long face and a mop of curly, dark hair. “He was a guest at the camp on the night of Calvin and Mary’s murder. He currently works as a mechanic for the city of Fairbanks.”

“Why did he catch your attention?” Duke examined the man’s picture. The guy appeared harmless. But his looks didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“I did a quick internet search on him and found a couple of mentions,” Ranger said. “He has some anger management issues. I found a couple of charges against him for assault and battery. That’s a red flag. But he was also very vocal about how unhappy he was about his stay here at the camp. He ranted about it, posting on several places, like he wanted to ruin the reputation of this place.”

“Definitely sus.” Andi took another sip of her coffee. “Where is this guy now?”

“From what I can tell, he currently lives in the Ester area near Fairbanks.”

“Maybe a couple of us can head out to chat with him today or tomorrow,” Duke suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Ranger said. “We have a few other things to figure out first—starting with digging into the backgrounds of each of these staff members and guests.”

They continued to quietly sip their coffee and review the lists.

Several minutes later, the sound of a vehicle coming toward their cabin filled the air. Andi peered outside and saw Juniper pull up in a UTV. Andi hurried toward the door to let her inside.

Juniper paused in the doorway and raised a basket in her hands. “I have breakfast. I thought you might want to eat here so you can work.”

She set the basket on the table and pulled out two glass containers—one with biscuits inside and the other with sausage gravy. The savory scents of the rich gravy floated through the room, making Andi’s stomach grumble.

She also brought some fruit and muffins.

“Looks perfect,” Andi said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Juniper’s voice sounded lackluster.

“How are you today?” Andi asked.

“Peppermint’s death keeps hitting me. I think I was in shock yesterday, but now it’s becoming real.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I guess I’m hanging in. In other news . . . did you all find anything?”

“Not yet,” Ranger said. “But we’re still combing through things.”

“Of course. If you need to talk to anyone on staff, let me know, and I’ll make it happen.”

Andi stepped closer. “Listen, last night . . . something strange happened.”

They told her about the music.

“That’s eerie.” Juniper rubbed her arms as if suddenly chilled.

“Any idea who might have access to the HomePod?” Duke took a sip of his coffee as he waited for her answer.

Her eyebrows shot up. “We don’t monitor it. So every guest who uses this place can sign into it and should also sign out. I . . . I really don’t know who would have done something like that.”

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