Minnie Crockwell - Will Travel for Trouble 02 - Trouble at Sunny Lake by Minnie Crockwell

yourself. There’s a back door. I’ll meet you around back.”
    He closed the door, and I skirted the cabin to meet him in the back. Still isolated, I could at least scream if I needed to or beat feet down the hill in a pinch. He sat down on some small concrete stairs.  
    “I don’t know who would have killed Jason,” he said. “For all I know it could have been Sean down there.” He nodded toward in the direction of the office.
    I drew in a sharp breath. “Sean? Why would you say that?”
    “They hated each other.”
    My eyes bulged.
    Ben? Are you hearing this?
    I am listening, he said.  
    “I didn’t know you all knew each other. Why did they hate each other?”
    Scott sighed heavily. “Stuff from Afghanistan.”
    I desperately wanted a seat, but short of cuddling up to Scott on the stairs—not something I thought he would welcome—there was nowhere else to sit. My legs felt weak.
    “Afghanistan. Was Sean there? And your brother?”
    “Yeah, we were all in the same guard unit. We deployed at the same time.”
    “What happened?” Normally, I would be more tactful, but I just blurted the question out.
    He avoided my eyes and looked toward the trees behind the cabin that served as a screen from the road.
    “I don’t want to talk about it. The point is…they hated each other. So, yeah, it could have been Sean. Not sure I blame him though if he did do it.”
    I gave up.
    “Can I sit?”
    Scott moved over, and I sat. He smelled sweaty and stale as if he hadn’t bathed in days. He sported the same black T-shirt and jeans.
    “What do you mean, you wouldn’t blame him? I hate to say it, Scott, but that seems kind of cold.”
    “My brother was a jerk. I hated him. Sean hated him. Our whole unit hated him.”
    “Wow… That’s a lot of hate. Did he do something specific or was he just obnoxious?”
    “Both. He did something heinous over there. Got some soldiers killed. Never got punished for it either.”
    “What happened?” I asked again. For a guy who didn’t want to talk about it, Scott was certainly talking quite a bit. I imagined the police should know all this information, but I wasn’t about to tell them. I was sure they’d find out soon enough.
    “Jason smacked one of the tribal leaders’ daughters around when she wouldn’t…” Scott didn’t finish the thought, but I could imagine what happened. “The Afghans retaliated. Jason knew better. We’d been told to stay away from the women. Jason had always been too aggressive with girls, and he thought he could get away with it in Afghanistan. But he didn’t. And some guys got killed over it.”
    I thought I might happily have pushed Jason over the cliff myself if I’d had the chance.
    “And Sean was bitter over that?”
    “Everyone was.”
    A thought occurred to me.
    “Why do you hide from the people in the office if you know Sean? Doesn’t he know you’re staying up here?”  
    “Nah! Sean and I don’t get along either. Too much bad blood between us now.”
    “Between you? Why?”
    Scott cracked his knuckles together.  
    “I knew why the Afghans retaliated, but I didn’t say anything to command. I didn’t rat Jason out thought I blamed him. So, Jason never got in trouble for what he brought down on us.”
    “Did Sean know? Why didn’t he tell anyone?”
    “Not until after we left. It got out. I think Jason was boasting on the plane home or something. I’m surprised they didn’t just throw him off then and there. But we were all out of the Army within days of returning from deployment, so there wasn’t really anything anyone could do.”
    “Do you really think Sean could have killed your brother?”
    Scott shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe I did it.” He smiled at me then, a thin-lipped smile over cold eyes. I jumped up.
    “I don’t know what to think,” I said. I started to turn away.
    “Hey, you’re not going to tell the cops all this, are you?” He had risen and approached me. As usual, I backed up. Why would I