The Hidden

“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 shiver. “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.