Page 46 of Little Shattered Dreams

“I’m armed too,” came the swift reply. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

I lowered my weapon and swung the door open, staring at a smiling Simone. She was dressed in a Nirvana sweatshirt, black-and-white plaid pajama bottoms, and Doc Martens. Quite the look.

She glanced at my ensemble and laughed. “Of course, you’re dressed like you’re headed out to a 1930s lingerie party. Why wouldn’t you be?”

“What are you doing here?”

She came inside, slipping her duffel bag off her shoulder and sliding it onto the bed.

I sat on the bed and squinted up at her. “What’s going on?”

“Scooch over.”

I scooched over.

She sat down.

“I’m serious,” I said. “What are you doing?”

“From here on out, we’re watching each other’s back. Got it?”

“Are you saying you’re here for a sleepover?”

She folded one of the pillows in half and leaned back on it. “Yep. Sure am.”

“I think we’re fine to stay in separate places. You’d still be close by.”

“And miss out on this rare opportunity for girl time? I don’t think so.”

“All right, fine. If you want to stay, you can stay.”

“Oh, I planned on staying whether you had a problem with it or not. And I should warn you … your brother says I snore. I don’t believe it, but I figured you should know, just in case.”

Fantastic.

“I had an interesting talk with Hunter before she left,” I said.

“Oh, yeah. What about?”

“Seems every employee Grace has hired has a criminal history of some kind.”

“How bad of a history are we talking?”

I reached for the notes Hunter gave me and handed them to her. She spent the next several minutes looking through them before handing them back to me. “Looks like we need to circle back, keep talking to the staff. Some more than others.”

“We need to talk to the guests as well,” I said. “I plan on bringing everyone together in the morning. After that’s over, we can start one-on-one interviews.”

“You talk to Clara today?”

“I never got around to it. I thought about talking to her tonight, but I’m exhausted. If I don’t get a good night’s sleep, I’ll be worthless in the morning. I’ll speak to her tomorrow, Abby too.”

“What can I do?”

“I’d like you to chat with the spa sisters again,” I said. “Ask them about the house they torched.”

“What about Tyler, the chef?”

“He seems too soft to be a murderer, but yeah, we’d better talk to him too. I’ve already spoken to Calvin. No need to question him again … yet. Hunter’s looking into the guests tonight. We should have more information on them in the morning.”

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