Reservations for Murder (2 page)

Elise said, “I’ve got to admit, I’ve always
been fascinated by weaving. Could you give me a quick lesson?”

Jenny said, “Absolutely, I’d be
delighted.”

As Jenny sat back down on her portable bench
at the loom, she pointed to different parts of the setup as she
explained, “This is the reed. These are harnesses and heddles. See
the threads of yarn going through?” She held up the wooden spool.
“This is called a shuttle. It rides back and forth like so. The
foot pedals control the raising and lowering of the warp, that’s
these long strands of yarn here, and the shuttle bobbin carries
yarn across for the weft.” As she slid the shuttle back and forth
in easy, practiced motions, the shafts rose and fell in a graceful
dance at the touch of her foot pressure. As Jenny pulled the main
frame back to her, she said, “The beater comes back to snug things
up, and you’re ready for another row.”

Elise nodded. “Wow, it seems really
complicated.”

Jenny smiled and said, “It’s not as hard as
it looks. It’s like most things; you get the hang of it after you
do it long enough.”

Elise jogged Alex’s elbow as she said, “Thank
you for the lesson. It was nice meeting you, Jenny.”

“Thanks for stopping by. Don’t let Alex work
you too hard. I’ve heard he can be hard on his maids.”

Elise was more than just the maid at The
Hatteras West Inn; she was actually better qualified to run the inn
than Alex was, but she just smiled and nodded in response.

Alex said, “She’s the one keeping me busy,”
and he turned to go.

“Don’t be a stranger, Alex,” Jenny said as he
and Elise walked away.

Alex was glad to see Jenny in such a chipper
mood. They’d only gone out a handful of times before their
relationship lost its steam. Sandra Beckett, an attorney in town,
had been his main on-again-off-again girlfriend for much of the
past couple of years, but he’d ended their relationship soon after
Elise came to Hatteras West. It had startled him to discover that
Sandra was much nicer as a friend than she’d ever been as a
girlfriend. Unfortunately, the one woman Alex was interested in
dating was his “maid” and she was engaged to someone else.

Shantara Robinson hurried up to them and
grabbed Alex’s arm. “Alex, have you seen Jefferson Lee? He should
be getting ready for the fair, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

As Elise moved back toward the inn, she said,
“If you two will excuse me, I’ve got rooms to clean.” She added
softly, “Good luck, Shantara.”

“Thanks,” she said as Elise departed. When
the maid was gone, Shantara said, “Alex, I like that woman.”

“It’s been a godsend having her at Hatteras
West,” Alex agreed.

Shantara looked over at the empty
blacksmith’s space and said plaintively, “Where could Jefferson be,
Alex? It’s just like him to disappear right before we open the
gates.”

“Take it easy, Shantara, we’ll find him. At
least you’ve got one blacksmith here and working.”

Shantara frowned. “As much as I like Bill
Yadkin, Jefferson Lee’s the real draw. I can’t run my fair without
him.”

Alex said, “Don’t worry, he’ll turn up. Are
you managing to enjoy any of this? You did a great job putting the
fair together.”

Shantara smiled. “I’ll enjoy it more after
it’s over. Right now, all I want to do is survive the experience.
Alex, I really appreciate you letting me move everything out here
at the last minute.”

“Hey, what are friends for? Now, let’s go
find your wayward blacksmith,” Alex said. “I’m sure he’s around
here somewhere.”

As they started their search, there was
another scream a thousand yards away.

It was getting to be a trend Alex could learn
to live without.

Chapter 2

“What’s going on,” Shantara asked
breathlessly.

“I don’t know,” Alex answered as he hurried
toward the sound of the scream. It was coming from the unfinished
shell of the new Main Keeper’s Quarters. Though there was a ball of
fear growing in his gut, Alex hoped it was just another snake
sighting, but somehow he knew this time it was more than that.

There were screams, and then there were
screams.

Alex saw Rachel Seabock trembling as he
neared the shell of the structure, but his gaze was only on her for
a second.

Someone had skewered Jefferson Lee through
the chest with a shaft of cold, black iron, staking him to the
thick pine timber of the new building like a butterfly on a
pin.

“Oh, no,” Shantara gasped as she ran up
beside Alex. “This is horrible.”

Alex touched her arm gently. “You don’t need
to see this. Why don’t you take Rachel back to the inn.”

It took Alex and Shantara a full minute to
get Rachel to go with them. She was obviously still in shock,
deathly silent after her piercing scream.

Shantara said softly, “I can’t believe
someone killed Jefferson Lee.” With a quaver in her voice, she
added, “I hate to do this, but I don’t have any choice. Alex; I’ve
got to cancel the fair.”

He knew that Shantara had staked everything
she had on the success of the Golden Days Fair, mortgaging her
country store in the hopes of a big payoff.

Alex said, “Don’t do anything rash, Shantara.
Let me call Sheriff Armstrong. If we’re lucky, he won’t have to
shut you down.”

As the three of them walked toward the inn,
Alex called out to Bill Yadkin. The young blacksmith joined them,
looking uncomfortably at Rachel. For once she didn’t even seem to
notice him standing there.

Alex said, “I need you to stand guard over
the new building. Someone’s killed Jefferson Lee, and I don’t want
anybody messing around with the evidence until Sheriff Armstrong
gets here.”

Was it Alex’s imagination, or did Yadkin look
unsurprised by the news of Jefferson’s death?

He didn’t have time to think about it at the
moment, but the blacksmith’s expression unsettled him.

Alex found Sheriff Armstrong at the first
place he phoned. The sheriff loved Buck’s Grill more than just
about any place on Earth. Alex often found him there, parked on the
stool by the door, greeting customers and campaigning in his
never-ending battle to get reelected.

Alex cut through the small talk that started
just about every conversation in Elkton Falls. “We’ve got a body
out at Hatteras West, Sheriff.”

“Murder?” the sheriff asked.

“I’m afraid there’s no doubt about it this
time,” Alex acknowledged.

“I’ll be right there,” Armstrong said. “No
sirens this time, Alex. I promise.”

The sheriff had won his last reelection by
the narrowest of margins over the town barber, and Alex had found
him a changed man. Gone was the blustery posturing and the
officious manner, replaced by a constant effort to always do
better, knowing that he was serving by the skin of his teeth.

“Hurry,” Alex said as he hung up the
phone.

“Alex?”

He hadn’t even heard Elise behind him.

She asked, “Did I hear you right? Has someone
been murdered?”

Alex nodded glumly. “Somebody killed
Jefferson Lee at the construction site.”

“Oh, no.”

“We’ll get through this,” Alex said. “I’d
better get out there and help Bill Yadkin make sure no one disturbs
the crime scene.”

“There’s no doubt in your mind it was
murder?” she asked, a thread of hope lingering in her voice.

“Sorry, there’s no doubt at all,” Alex said.
“Somebody pinned him to one of the posts with a steel shaft.”

“I’m coming with you,” she said doggedly.

Alex paused a moment, then said, “Thanks for
the offer, but I need you at the front desk, Elise.” His real
motivation was sparing her from seeing the body. There was no need
for her to share the nightmares he’d be having when he finally
closed his eyes.

He was surprised by how readily she
agreed.

As Alex made his way across the grounds to
the new building, he couldn’t help wondering why murder had come
back to Hatteras West. He looked up at the lighthouse beacon, a
constant presence that he never took for granted.

Surely the sentinel had seen the crime and
the killer as well.

If only the lighthouse could talk.

Bill Yadkin didn’t have anything to say as he
and Alex waited for the sheriff, though Alex tried to draw him out
several times. The oddest thing was that the young blacksmith kept
his back to the body, while it seemed that everyone else was
closing in for a better look at the last remains of Jefferson
Lee.

As good as his word, Sheriff Armstrong showed
up on the scene less than fifteen minutes later, his siren silent
all the way.

Armstrong, his uniform bulging from his
girth, asked as he looked up at the lighthouse, “Am I going to have
to climb those infernal steps again?” Irene Wilkins, the sheriff’s
cousin who acted as the town beautician and resident crime-scene
expert, got out of the other side of the patrol car with her
investigation kit tucked under one arm.

Alex said, “No climbing this time. It
happened in the middle of my new construction. Sorry to drag you
out here, Irene.”

The older woman shrugged. “It’s not a
problem, Alex. I don’t have a perm scheduled until eleven, so I’m
free till then.”

Armstrong said, “Let’s go see what
happened.”

Alex led them to the building site. Nearly
all of the exhibitors and guests at the inn had gathered near the
new construction to get a look.

Armstrong said in a mighty voice, “Nothing to
see here, folks. Move along so we can begin our investigation.”

The group broke up reluctantly, and Armstrong
nodded to Irene. “Why don’t you go ahead and get started.”

She already had her camera out and was taking
pictures of the body and the area around it.

Yadkin came up to Alex and said, “If you
don’t need me anymore, I’ve got to bank my fire. I guess this means
we’re shutting down.”

“You bet your hat it does, son,” Armstrong
said.

Alex said, “Let’s not be hasty, Sheriff.
Technically, this area isn’t even a part of the fair.”

“Now Alex, I’ve got a responsibility to the
town to solve this murder. It’s gonna have to take priority over
Shantara’s fair.”

Alex said, “Sheriff, there’s got to be a way
to keep the fair open. You know as well as I do how much Shantara
has riding on this.”

Armstrong bristled. “It can’t be helped,
Alex. I’m not about to let a thousand people walk around the crime
scene. We have to secure the area.”

Alex called out to the beautician, “Irene?
How much time do you need before you release the area?”

She lowered her camera, looked around the
construction site for a good thirty seconds, then said, “Give me an
hour, tops. I’ll need help getting that steel out of him after I
dust it for prints, not that it’s going to do any good. The metal’s
rough and unpolished; I doubt I’ll get a thing from it. If we call
the wagon now to come get him, we’ll have this part of it wrapped
up well before the fair starts.”

Armstrong cut off Alex’s next words before he
even had the chance to speak. “I’m not having it, do you hear me?
This is too important, Alex.”

Alex said evenly, “Sheriff, look at it this
way. If you shut the fair down, you’re going to lose most of your
suspects. You can’t just keep them here all weekend without some
kind of justification. But if you keep the fair going, you’ll know
where every one of them is. That way, you can interview them at
your own pace. You can cordon off the building site if you want,
just in case. Keeping this fair alive has got to be the best
alternative for everybody involved.”

Armstrong seemed to think about it for a full
minute before he looked at Irene and said, “Are you sure you’ll be
done in time? I don’t want you rushing on account of the fair.”

“I said I’d be done in plenty of time, didn’t
I? Believe me, in an hour there won’t be anything else to learn at
this crime scene.” Irene was rightfully smug about her abilities.
She’d recently won a state competition for the thoroughness of her
work, something that had galled many of the full-time investigators
who’d competed for the prize.

Armstrong seemed to take forever to finally
make up his mind, but ultimately he nodded his agreement. “Okay,
but I’m going to need a few conditions. I want to post one man
right here to watch over the scene during the fair. Agreed?”

“Fine by me.” Alex didn’t really want a
deputy standing around, but if it would make the sheriff happy to
have one of his men on site, it was little enough to deal with.

Armstrong said, “The other thing is, I’ll
need a room to interview my suspects in.”

“Sheriff, every room I’ve got is booked right
now. There’s not an empty spot in the inn.”

“Then I’m just going to have to—”

Alex cut the sheriff off, knowing what was
coming next. “But you can have my office. Will that do?”

“I guess it will have to,” Armstrong said
grudgingly. The sheriff knew firsthand how small Alex’s office
was.

“Thanks, Sheriff,” Alex said, slapping
Armstrong on the back. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“I just hope I don’t regret it later.”

Alex nodded his agreement. He’d never say it
out loud, but he found himself hoping for the very same thing.

Shantara and Elise met him at the door before
he even had the chance to get inside the inn.

“What did he say?” Shantara asked, the
resignation heavy in her voice. “He’s shutting me down, isn’t
he?”

“The fair can go on,” Alex reported.

It took a moment for his words to sink
in.

Shantara said haltingly, “I can’t believe it.
What did you say to him?”

“I just pointed out that if he shut you down,
he’d lose most of his suspects. Shantara, it won’t do anybody any
good if the fair’s canceled. Armstrong could see that.”

Shantara said, “Alex, I don’t know how I can
ever thank you.”