Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) (15 page)

Well, he was certainly getting what he
wished for. It was just too bad Jase wasn’t around to enjoy it
himself.

Soon the music started up again, and Julie
glided into Alex’s arms. As they danced, he saw that Elise wasn’t
on the porch anymore. Instead, she was dancing with Mor, so the
door must have been repaired to the handyman’s satisfaction. No
doubt it was stronger, if not prettier, than it had been before.
Alex wondered what Emma Sturbridge would think of Mor and Elise
dancing, smiling at the thought.

When the song was over, Julie stepped out of
Alex’s arms. “Thank you for the dance, kind sir.”

“
Thank you,” Alex said. He
saw a cloud cross Julie’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“
I can’t believe she’s
actually coming over here.”

Alex turned to find Cynthia Shays-Trask
storming toward them. He had to give Julie credit; she wasn’t
backing down.

Before Cynthia could get to them through the
crowd of people, Sandra joined them and took Julie’s arm. “I’m
getting you out of here right now, and I’m not taking no for an
answer.”

“
I’m not afraid to face her
down,” Julie said.

Amy approached. “Julie, this isn’t the time
or the place for a confrontation. Out of respect,” she added as she
gestured toward Alex.

Julie nodded, “I didn’t consider that. Alex,
I’m sorry. Everyone else was right; I shouldn’t have come.”

He said, “Nonsense. Then we never would have
had our dance. Thanks for your presence and your condolences. I
greatly appreciate the gesture.”

“
You’re very welcome,
Alex.”

As Julie turned away, Cynthia called out,
“Young lady, I need to have a word with you.”

Sandra told Amy, “Take her back to your
house. I’ll be over a little later.”

As they disappeared into the crowd, Cynthia
came on with fire in her eyes.

Sandra stepped in front of her in a neat
blocking maneuver and said, “She has nothing to say to you.”

Cynthia snapped, “Out of my way. She doesn’t
have to say a word, but she’s going to hear me out. I won’t stand
for this.”

Sandra said coolly, “I’m afraid you don’t
have any choice.”

Cynthia snapped, “You just try to stop
me.”

“
I’d be delighted.” Alex
recognized the tone in Sandra’s voice and didn’t envy Cynthia. The
iron there was unmistakable.

“
Don’t think I’m going to
just roll over and play dead for you people,” Cynthia said when she
realized that Julie was gone.

“
I would be disappointed in
you if you did,” Sandra said.

Cynthia clearly didn’t know how to react to
that. She turned and headed back to the inn, and only then did Alex
see Ashley and Steven on the porch, waiting in the shadows for
their mother.

Cynthia had lost the battle, but it was
clear to all who’d just witnessed the confrontation that the war
was still far from over.

After the guests were finally gone,
Shantara’s famous teenage cleaning crew swept through the grounds
like human vacuums, picking up every piece of litter in sight. In
order to see well enough to collect the trash, they had parked
their cars and trucks with the headlights pointing inward, lighting
up the land around the lighthouse like broad daylight.

Sandra handled the payment; as Alex had
suspected, Jase had provided for it in his will. The attorney was
the last one to leave. As she was getting into her BMW, she said,
“I’m going to miss him, Alex. It was one fine send-off.”

“
He would have approved,
wouldn’t he?”

Sandra said, “Oh, yes. He told me once that
his only regret setting this up was that he wouldn’t be around to
see it.” Sandra looked up at the extinguished light above them,
always a very real presence on the grounds. “He truly loved your
lighthouse, Alex.”

Alex stared up at the structure. “So why
didn’t he ask to see it lit when he could enjoy it? All this
doesn’t make sense. We should have had this party while he could
still be a part of it.”

Sandra touched his shoulder lightly. “You’re
right, but in a very real way, he was here tonight. It was exactly
the good-bye he wanted. Good night, Alex.”

Alex said, “Good night, Sandra. Thanks again
for handling everything.”

She shook her head. “Don’t thank me. Jase
did all the work. All I had to do was follow his instructions.”

After she was gone, Alex was finally alone.
He wanted to forget, just for a few moments, how his uncle had died
and focus instead on how the man had lived. He was just settling
back into a rocker on the dark porch when he heard someone
approach. “Mind if I join you?”

He was so startled he nearly fell off his
chair. It was Vernum, and for the first time Alex could remember,
the man

had engaged him in conversation, instead of
the other way around.

“
Pull up a chair,” Alex
said.

Vernum settled instead on the bottom step,
resting his back against the rail. “I just wanted to say that your
uncle was a fine man, Alex.”

“
Did you know him?” Alex
asked, wondering what could have possibly brought the two men
together.

“
Our paths crossed a
lifetime ago.” Vernum started to explain when the door to the inn
opened. Before Alex could turn to see who was coming out, Vernum
was gone. What an odd fellow he was, but no more unusual than most
of the other inhabitants in and around Elkton Falls. They seemed to
be drawn to the place like magnets, not resting till they settled
there.

“
Hello,” Alex said as the
front door closed. His vision had adjusted to the darkness, and he
had no trouble making out his guest.

Ashley Trask-Cooper looked startled to find
Alex sitting alone in the darkness. “Alex, is that you? Why are you
out here all alone?”

“
To be honest with you,
it’s the first chance I’ve had today to get away by
myself.”

Ashley turned back to the door. “Then I’ll
leave you to your solitude.”

Alex said, “Don’t rush off. Actually, I
could use the company.”

Ashley leaned against the railing and stared
at the darkened lighthouse. “Why did you turn it off?”

“
It ran its course, one
minute for every year of Jase’s life,” Alex explained. “That’s all
the time the town council would allow.”

Ashley said wistfully, “Your uncle must have
been a true romantic. It sounds like something Donald would do.
He’s my husband.”

“
Why isn’t he with you?”
Alex asked softly.

“
Father specified in his
will that it was to be just the three of us here this week, our
original little family. I’m sure he had no idea what was going to
happen.” She sighed, then added, “I’ve been so mad at him for so
long, my heart goes cold whenever I think about him.”

“
Surely he wasn’t all bad,”
Alex said.

“
I know he was only human,
but he abandoned us, Alex, and I doubt I can ever forgive him,
certainly not as quickly as Steven has.”

Alex looked into the night, then said,
“Siblings don’t always agree, do they?”

Ashley said, “Not in my house they didn’t.”
She brushed her hands together, as if freeing them of crumbs.
“Let’s change the subject,” she said, “to something more pleasant.”
She looked around the grounds and said, “It must be quite wonderful
running your own business. You don’t have to answer to anyone.”

Alex laughed. “Don’t you believe it for one
minute. As an innkeeper, I’m working for a new boss every time
another guest checks in. I do everything in my power to make
everyone’s stay a good one, but it’s not always easy. Don’t get me
wrong, I love what I do, but it can be a real challenge at
times.”

“
I suppose,” she said.
“Still, the place has grown on me.”

Alex remembered Ashley’s remarks when she
first came to Hatteras West. Had she truly undergone a change of
heart, or was she trying to get on Alex’s good side for some
unknown reason?

“
Well, it’s been a long
day,” Ashley said as she moved toward the door.

“
Good night,” Alex called
to her.

After she was gone, Alex stayed on the
porch, taking in the sweet sounds of the night, wondering what
tomorrow would bring.

A sharp scream came from inside, shattering
the calm he was just beginning to feel.

“
Help! Someone help
me!”

Alex rushed inside, fearful of what he was
about to find. The voice, though distorted by the scream, was one
he’d just heard.

Ashley was in trouble.

Chapter 14

Alex found Cynthia already in Ashley’s room
by the time he got up there.

“
What happened?” he asked,
slightly out of breath as he searched the room with a quick
glance.

“
Someone ... someone was up
here,” Ashley said as she pointed to the open window.

The curtains fluttered in the breeze, and
Cynthia said, “Now, now, Ashley, it was most likely just the
wind.”

Ashley said fiercely, “I’m telling you,
mother, when I unlocked my door, I heard someone scrambling around
inside. By the time I got the door open, they were gone.” She
looked fiercely at her mother. “I closed that window before I came
downstairs for the wake.”

Cynthia said, “Perhaps Alex or his cleaning
lady opened it.”

Alex shook his head. “I was
tied up outside during the festivities, and Elise wouldn’t go into
a guest’s room after five
p.m
. unless she was invited to do so.
We don’t turn down the covers at Hatteras West unless it’s
requested ahead of time.”

Elise joined them and said, “I heard a
scream. What happened?”

Alex ignored her question for the moment.
“Elise, did you open this window today?”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. I
haven’t been in this room since eleven this morning. Now, will
someone please tell me what happened?”

Cynthia explained, “Ashley thinks someone
was in her room tonight.”

“
Mother, why don’t you
believe me? What possible reason would I have to lie?”

Cynthia said, “No one’s accusing you of
lying, dear, but you could be mistaken.”

Alex walked over to the window. He looked
outside but couldn’t see anyone on the roof. It was possible,
though, that someone really had been there. The porch roof was just
below Ashley’s room, and someone determined enough could climb up
and gain access. So why hadn’t he heard anyone climbing up? Alex
had been sitting there quietly for some time. Surely he would have
heard something. Unless the trespasser had gone in through the room
door, then made their escape when Ashley had suddenly reappeared.
Once again, whoever had broken in had real guts; either that, or a
complete disregard for being caught. A thought suddenly struck him.
The boldness required to climb out Ashley’s window was the same
kind of fearlessness needed to break into Alex’s room. But what did
Ashley have that the burglar could want? Was it possible that
whoever had wrecked Alex’s room had just been looking for something
tangible to steal, like cash or jewelry? Another idea blossomed.
Could the thief have been the prowler Steven thought he saw
earlier?

Alex asked, “Ashley, do you have any
valuables with you, like expensive pieces of jewelry or anything
like that?”

Ashley showed Alex a sizable emerald that
hung from a

chain around her neck as she said, “Just
this, but I was wearing it all day. I never take it off.”

“
Still, the thief might not
have realized that when he broke in here.”

Cynthia said, “So you suspect this shadow
was after my daughter’s necklace? Alex, you surely don’t believe
you have a burglar loose in your inn, do you?”

Admitting that was the last thing Alex
wanted to do, but he didn’t have much choice, given the
circumstances. He believed Ashley had really seen someone, even if
her mother didn’t. “It’s a possibility worth considering, Cynthia.
Ashley, do you have any idea what the necklace is worth?”

She shook her head as she toyed with the
stone. “It belonged to my father’s mother. I’ve never had it
appraised, but I understand it’s quite valuable. Oh, Alex, do you
think that’s what the intruder was after? I suddenly don’t feel
safe here.”

Alex said, “Elise, let’s move her into Room
7. Ashley, it’s at the back of the inn, and there’s no easy way to
get up there, since the porch just comes around the front of the
building.” Cynthia started to say something when Alex held up his
hand and continued. “Honestly, I don’t think you have anything to
worry about, but I imagine you’ll sleep better in another room.
What do you say?”

“
I hate to admit it, but I
think you’re right. Thank you, Alex.”

“
My pleasure. Elise, would
you mind making sure she gets moved and settled in?”

“
Absolutely,” Elise said as
she stepped up. “I’ll even help her pack.”

Alex said, “Cynthia, may I speak to you a
moment?”

“
Whatever
about?”

Alex motioned outside. “Please. It won’t
take long.”

Cynthia nodded and joined him in the
hallway. Once the door was closed, Alex said, “Why don’t you see if
you can

convince Ashley to keep her necklace in our
safe? That should ease her mind while she’s here.”

“
Alex, in the first place,
I doubt anyone could persuade her to take that emerald off her
neck. She has an inordinate attachment to it. And in the second
place, I honestly think it was nothing more than the wind. My
daughter has a tendency to overreact, and I can’t help believing
this is just another instance in a long line of histrionics. She
hasn’t always been well, if you must know.”