"Tell me about the problems between Lynn and Noah," Sam said.

"There really weren’t any problems. Not that I saw. Things were a little tense after they broke up, and we were all on edge with the downturn in sales, but heck, we all went camping together, right, so how many problems could there have been between them?"

"The night Lynn died. Did you see anything unusual at the campsite?"

"No." He answered way too fast, and Sam glanced at Jo. She’d noticed too.

"Are you sure? We’ll find out if anything happened, and if you knew about it…" Sam let the unspoken threat hang in the air.

Dean fidgeted, and the chair wobbled back and forth. "Well, I was pretty drunk that night. I can’t really say for sure what I saw. My memory’s a bit fuzzy."

"Did you see someone fighting with Lynn at the party?"

"No. I actually wasn’t at the campsite most of the night. There was this girl a few campsites over, and, well…" Dean shrugged. "I spent most of the night there but skedaddled out of there way before sunup. I don’t know what time it was, but when I was sneaking into my tent, I’m pretty sure I saw someone else at the other end of the campsite."

"At the other end? Whose tent was at the other end?" Jo asked.

"Noah and Amber." Dean hurried on. "But I don’t know who it was that I saw or even what time it was. It was just a shadow in between the tents. Could have been someone coming back from a trip to the bathroom. Heck, it could’ve been a bear, for all I know. It was dark, and I was still drunk. I wanted to get into my tent quickly before anyone saw me because I didn’t want a lot of teasing the next day." He looked at them sheepishly. "I hope I’m not getting anyone into trouble, because I honestly can’t say for sure what I saw."

"Don’t worry. We’ll take your condition into consideration. You’ve been very helpful." Sam dismissed him, and they both watched the door as he shut it.

Jo turned to Sam. "The plot thickens."

Joshua Moore was next. Since Joshua and Tara were the only other couple in the room, Jo and Sam hoped maybe they’d drunk less than the others and would have more reliable testimony.

Jo soon found out that wasn’t the case.

Joshua’s large frame sat slumped in the chair. He wore black cargo pants, and a white long-sleeved jersey stretched across his broad chest. He absently scratched a large welt on his neck. Mosquitos and black flies tended to love certain people, and apparently, Josh was one of them. He had several bites on his neck and arms.

"Man, I don’t know what to tell you. I was pretty drunk. I passed out pretty early that night."

"So you didn’t see Lynn fighting with anyone? Maybe earlier when you were in the bar?" Sam asked.

"I know Amber and Lynn got into it a little bit." Josh shrugged. "Makes sense, right? Tara would be pissed if we broke up and I showed up with another girl. But it wasn’t that way with Lynn and Noah because Lynn had broken up with him. But Amber is not part of our group. She’s a little different. More high strung. I guess maybe she didn’t trust Noah or something. I’ve seen her and Lynn get into it a few other times, but it usually just blows over."

"What about Noah and Lynn? Did they argue?"

Josh shook his head. "Nope. It was a little awkward at work when they first broke up, but they seemed to have smoothed everything over. I didn’t see any animosity between them. Honestly, man, none of us could have killed her. You don’t think it was Noah or Amber, do you?"

Sam answered his question with one of his own. "What about that day when you went into town? Can you tell me what happened then?"

Josh’s eyes narrowed. "Nothing happened. We went to that Irish pub over there and had a few beers. We played a game of pool. That’s when we saw the other bar—that one in the church—and decided to come back later on. It looked kind of quirky, and we wanted to check it out."

"Holy Spirits?"

Josh laughed. "Yeah. That’s the one. Great name."

"What did the girls do while you were playing pool?"

Josh made a face. "Heck if I know. They all went off shopping, I suppose. I know Tara came back with a bunch of stuff. She usually does."

"So you, Noah, and Dean played pool in O’Malley’s, and the girls went shopping, then you met up and got groceries?"

"Yeah. Well, not exactly. Me and Dean played pool. We played against two locals. Won a hundred fifty bucks, too. But not Noah. He just sat at the bar."

"So he was at the bar the whole time you were playing?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. I mean, he was there when we went into the back where the pool tables are."

"Was he there when you came out?"

"We lost track of time and played past the time we were supposed to meet everyone. Julie came in to get us. So Noah was already outside with everyone, and then Tara came running over from the shop with her bags. For once, her usual lateness worked in our favor since it didn’t make us look so bad for playing pool past the meeting time."

Jo shifted in her seat and asked, "Did Lynn mention an appointment that day?"

Josh’s brow furrowed. "Appointment? No."

"So then you bought the groceries, went to the campsite, and then came back later that night to Spirits?" Jo asked.

"Yep. Well, we started drinking at the campsite then came to town." Josh’s eyes widened as he realized what he’d said. "But we didn’t drink and drive. Noah didn’t start drinking until we got back to camp. He was the designated driver."

"At the campsite, where is your tent in relation to Noah and Amber’s?" Sam asked.

"It’s the next one over. Tara and I have the big one you can stand up in. Bought it new for this trip."

"After you went to bed, did you hear Noah or Amber get up?" Jo asked.

Josh made a face. "Nah. I was pretty wasted. I passed out, and I don’t remember hearing a thing until some damn bird woke me up that next morning."

Sam stretched in the chair, his neck cracking, while he waited for Tara Barrett to make her way into the room. Under his desk, Lucy snored lazily. They’d have to take a break and let her outside to do her business soon. Maybe Jo could go to the diner and get her some of that pot roast Lucy seemed to like for lunch. Sam could use a plate of it himself. They’d been interviewing straight through for a few hours now, and he was glad Tara was the last one. Too bad he still had a lot of unanswered questions.

Tara perched on the edge the chair, a pink Gucci purse balanced on her lap. Her outfit was a little trendier, less woodsy than the rest. Her pants were more formfitting, and her V-neck hot-pink tee shirt dipped low, revealing just a hint of lacy bra. She wore full makeup, and her red hair was pulled up in a waterfall style on top of her head.

Sam went through the usual questions. Tara’s answers matched with everyone else’s. Yes, they partied the night before. No, she didn’t think anyone in the group would’ve killed Lynn. Of course she knew the company was in financial trouble— she was the CFO. But she felt fully confident the new release would bring them back to profitability. Everyone did, so there was no reason to kill Lynn over that. She had no idea why anyone would want her dead.

But when he got to the part about what they had done the day before when they came to town, Tara’s demeanor stumbled.