Reservations for Murder (9 page)

As they hurried down the stairs to the top
landing, Alex paused at the window and said, “I want to see if
there’s anything we missed.”

They both peered out each of the narrow
windows, but they couldn’t see anything that would help.

On the way down, Shantara asked, “Alex, do
you honestly think Marilynn Baxter’s been kidnapped? What possible
reason could anyone have for grabbing her?”

“I don’t have the slightest clue. To be
honest with you, I believe Craig’s overreacting, but I could be
wrong. I couldn’t even guess why anyone would kidnap his wife. They
don’t have a lot of money, do they?”

“No, they both work real jobs to support
their pottery studio. I can’t imagine them having anything anybody
else would want.”

As Alex started down the steps again, he
said, “Well, Craig must think so, or he wouldn’t have immediately
assumed she’d been kidnapped. Unless ...”

“Unless what?” Shantara asked, breathing hard
from the climb down.

“Unless he’s afraid the reality of what might
have happened to her is worse,” Alex said, voicing his earlier
fear.

Shantara paused a few steps until she asked
her next question. “You don’t honestly think something’s happened
to her, do you, Alex?”

“I wish I knew, but I can’t deny it’s a
possibility. I’ve got a feeling in the pit of my stomach that
something’s wrong.”

As they finally reached the bottom, Shantara
said, “No offense, but I hope you’re mistaken.”

“Believe me, so do I.”

Craig met them as they approached the inn.
“Did you find her?” he asked breathlessly.

“Not yet. I take it she wasn’t at any of the
places you called,” Alex said.

“We don’t have that many friends,” Craig said
brusquely. “Nobody’s seen her.”

Alex looked over at the new construction.
“There’s a chance she could be there.”

Craig yelled, “Marilynn! Marilynn!”

There was no response.

Craig waited a few moments, then said,
“Obviously she’s not there, or she would have answered me.”

Alex said, “Craig, why don’t you go work the
phones some more. Shantara and I have a few more places to
check.”

“Forget that. I’m coming with you.”

Alex stopped him dead in his tracks. “Listen,
we might find something you’re not going to want to see.”

The man flushed for a second, then said, “I
need to know, Alex. She’s my wife.”

As they walked through the growing twilight
toward the new construction, Alex kept a constant vigil for
anything out of the ordinary.

With real sighs of relief, they found that
the construction site was empty. Alex had silently dreaded finding
another exhibitor pinned against a post. Could it be that Jefferson
Lee’s murder was connected to the disappearance of Marilynn Baxter?
Or was Marilynn gone for another, entirely different reason? There
were too many unanswered questions buzzing around Alex’s head.

“What’s next?” Craig asked.

“Bear Rocks is the only other place on the
property she could be.”

“She wouldn’t just stay out there, Alex, not
in the dark.”

“Wait right here,” Alex said as he went into
the inn. Evans Graile was still sitting in his chair, a bright glow
lighting his face. “Isn’t this awful? A kidnapping! Imagine
that!”

“Evans, we’re not sure what’s happened yet.
Would you like to join the search party?” Alex asked as he
retrieved two flashlights from the front desk. He kept them stashed
there for guests when thunderstorms knocked out the inn’s power,
something that happened more frequently than he cared to admit.

“I’d better stay here in case there’s a call
from the kidnappers,” he said a little too brightly for Alex’s
taste.

“You do that,” Alex said brusquely as he
moved for the door.

He could tell Evans was unhappy about the
tone Alex had used with him. One of Alex’s most important rules as
an innkeeper was to hold his tongue and his attitude when it came
to his guests, but he was truly beginning to be concerned about
Marilynn Baxter’s well-being.

Before Alex could leave, Evans said
contritely, “You know I don’t want anything to happen to that poor
girl. It’s just that normally I don’t get much excitement in my
life.”

Alex nodded and tried to force a smile. “Then
stick around; something’s always going on at Hatteras West.”

He offered one of the flashlights to Craig
and Shantara. “Sorry, I just have one spare, and nobody knows Bear
Rocks like I do.”

Shantara said, “You take it, Craig. I’m going
to drive into town and see if anyone’s spotted her. Where does she
like to go?”

“You could try the studio and the house. The
library’s closed, or I’d say to go there. The only other place I
can think of would be your store.”

Shantara nodded. “I’ll call Marcie on the way
in on my cell phone and find out if she’s seen her.” Marcie was
Shantara’s assistant manager, a fancy title since there were just
two of them working the general store. It was a lot for two people
to handle, since they covered everything from the small post office
in one corner to the heavy feeds out back to the pots, pans and
assortment of ten thousand other items Shantara had for sale there.
Alex thought Marcie would probably be even happier than he would be
when the fair was over; she’d been running the store
single-handedly for the last week while Shantara prepared for the
fair.

“Keep us posted,” Alex called out. “Evans is
manning the telephone, so he’ll let us know if you find her.”

“You do the same for me, Alex.” She turned to
Craig. “Don’t worry, she’ll turn up soon, I just know it.”

Craig grabbed the flashlight from Alex’s
hand. “I hope you’re right.”

Some people described Bear Rocks as eerie in
the daylight, with the twisting formation of rocks weathered by
ages of nature’s forces. There were slides, holes and pathways
within the stones that formed a magical world Alex had lived in as
a child. He still knew every twist and turn of the rocks, every
secret passage that led to an unexpected place in the stone
forest.

“We’ll never find her in there,” Craig
said.

“Take your flashlight and walk around the
edges of the rocks. You can see a lot from where you’ll be, so
don’t give up. I’m going into the heart of the rocks to look
there.”

“I’m coming with you,” Craig said
bluntly.

“Listen, if Marilynn’s in there, I have a
much better chance of finding her alone. I need you to look around
the perimeter. I don’t have time to argue; just do it.”

It was obvious Craig wasn’t used to the tone
Alex used with him, but Alex had needed to get his attention. Alex
turned on his flashlight and slipped through the first path, a
slide that led to a side shoot within the formation. Though he was
quite a bit older than he’d been when he’d first learned the rocks,
his body took over, twisting and crawling in places as he glided
over, under and between the stones.

It was more of a workout than he’d ever
remembered, and he knew he’d be stiff and sore in the morning, but
Alex made record time going over every inch of the interior
rocks.

There was nothing there, not a single hint
that Marilynn had ever been on Bear Rocks.

One look at Craig’s face told him that he
hadn’t found anything else, either.

Alex had to wonder if Marilynn Baxter truly
had been kidnapped after all. If she’d disappeared on her own,
where had she gone? And more importantly, why?

Chapter 11

“So what do we do now?” Craig asked Alex as
they hurried back to the inn.

“I’m not sure,” Alex answered.

Craig snapped, “I’m not waiting another
second. I’m calling Sheriff Armstrong. He’s going to come out here
whether he likes it or not.”

Craig brushed past Alex and nearly slammed
the door in his face. Alex walked in and sat down beside Evans
Graile in one of the chairs that faced the windows. “I don’t
suppose you’ve heard anything, have you?”

“There was only one call. Elise phoned two
minutes ago. She said she’d talk to you tomorrow.”

Blast it all! Alex wanted to talk to her more
than just about anything, and he’d missed her while he was out on a
wild-goose chase. “Did she leave a number at the hospital?”

“No, I’m sorry, Alex, she didn’t. You could
probably track her down, but to be honest with you, she sounded
exhausted from her ordeal.”

Evans was right; it wouldn’t be that hard to
find the hospital’s number, but Elise hadn’t left it, so she most
likely was too tired to talk to him. He had to respect her wishes.
Since she’d been gone, Alex had found himself unusually moody. He
had to keep reminding himself that was sheer nonsense. He’d managed
fine before she’d come along, and he’d be all right long after she
was gone.

Then why did he feel so empty inside?

Ten minutes later, the sheriff drove up Point
Road. Alex knew the man’s general disposition before he even got
out of the car. If Armstrong believed there was the slightest
chance Marilynn Baxter had truly been kidnapped, he would have
ripped up the road with lights flashing and siren blaring. As it
was, the steady pace of the darkened and silent patrol car told him
that Armstrong was there just to appease a constituent.

Alex met him at the patrol car before the
sheriff could open his door. Armstrong finished saying something on
his radio, then got out and stood beside Alex, leaning against the
driver’s door.

“I’m surprised Monroe wasn’t out here to
greet me in person, he was so fired up on the phone,” Armstrong
said. “Alex, just between you and me, do you honestly think that
man believes his wife was kidnapped?”

“He seemed pretty earnest,” Alex admitted,
“and she is gone, there’s no doubt about that. We searched all
around the property without any luck.”

“From what I’ve heard around town, this isn’t
the first time she’s wandered off. Far be it for me to spread idle
gossip, but—”

Before the sheriff could share the rumor,
Craig Monroe burst out through the front door. “It’s about time you
got here! Where’s Irene? Doesn’t she usually investigate these
things with you?”

“Take it easy, Craig. There’s no crime scene,
so I didn’t see any reason to drag her out here this late. She’s
not feeling so chipper right now; her arthritis is acting up. We
must be in for one whale of a storm in the next few days. Irene’s
better than the Weather Channel when it comes to predicting
storms.”

“So who’s going to help you investigate?”
Craig demanded.

“Hold your horses. We don’t even know for
sure if a crime’s been committed. Did you get a note or a phone
call demanding a ransom?”

Craig admitted that he hadn’t.

Armstrong went on. “Did anybody see her taken
from the property against her will?”

“No, but—”

Armstrong bulled ahead. “So you’re going
around screaming about a kidnapping without the slightest shred of
evidence.”

Craig Monroe held up his wife’s insulin. “How
about this? Why would she leave without her insulin?”

“Is that the only bottle in the world?” the
sheriff asked gently.

“Of course it isn’t! But I’m telling you,
she’d be here if she could!”

The sheriff said calmly, ‘Tell you what. Why
don’t we jump in the patrol car and head over to your place. We can
check to see if there’s any sign of her there. What do you say to
that?”

“You’re not even going to look around out
here first?” Craig snapped.

Armstrong said calmly, “Alex told me you’ve
already searched Hatteras West. Don’t you think our time might be
better spent looking someplace new?”

Craig reluctantly agreed. “Let me grab my
keys. I’ll be right back.”

As the potter went to retrieve his house
keys, the sheriff said, “Now, as I was saying, word around town is
that the husband-and-wife team’s been having some tough going
lately. There’s another man, from what I heard at Buck’s the other
day. First thing I’m going to do is ask around and see if anybody
knows who this mystery man is, then I’m going to knock on his door
and likely as not, I’ll find Ms. Baxter holed up there.”

“If that’s your plan, do you really want her
husband with you?”

Armstrong shrugged. “He raised the alarm, and
I doubt I could stop him from coming if I wanted to.”

Craig came back out with his keys clutched in
his hand. “Let’s go.”

Alex stepped in. “Are you sure you don’t want
to stay here? The sheriff will call you the second he finds
anything out.”

“It’s not the same as being there, Alex. I’ve
got to go.”

There was no way he was going to change Craig
Monroe’s mind, so he stepped out of the way and let the man
pass.

In a minute, Craig and the sheriff were
driving back toward town. Alex saw another car meet them as both
vehicles passed going too fast for the narrow lane.

It was Mor and Emma. Good. He could use a
couple of friendly faces after all he’d been through that day.

“Did you two come all the way out here to
baby-sit me?” Alex asked Mor and Emma with a smile after they got
out of the car.

“Somebody had to do it,” Mor said, returning
his grin. “We figured it might as well be us.”

“Don’t believe a word he says, Alex. We just
thought you could use some company,” Emma said.

“I appreciate the thought, but I’m a big boy;
I’ll be fine by myself.”

Mor said, “I told you we didn’t have to come
out here, Emma. If we hurry, we can still make it to Mamma
Ravolini’s for dinner.”

“Mor Pendleton, is that all you ever think
about, your stomach?”

Mor hugged her in his bearlike arms. “I can
think of a few other things that occupy my thoughts from time to
time.”

Alex couldn’t believe it, but Emma actually
blushed. Mor certainly had an effect on her since the two of them
hooked up. Alex suddenly felt like the odd man out being in their
presence.