by Tim Myers
Together, they tackled the room he’d been working on, knocking it out in record time. Alex loved working alongside Elise. The two of them had an almost psychic connection, splitting tasks without conferring, and working with mechanical precision.
“So let’s talk about it,” Elise said as they moved to another room.
“What, our big date?” Alex asked with a grin. “I knew it, you can’t wait to go out with me again, can you?”
“The Winston charm notwithstanding, I was talking about the murder and the theft.”
Alex pretended to sigh. “And here I thought this was going to be about me.”
“Oh be serious,” she said as she flipped a towel at him.
“Okay, I guess I could give it a try, but I’m not making any promises.” His good mood was definitely showing.
“Suspects, Alex,” Elise said as she started on the bathroom. It was a game they’d played often enough in the past, discussing the possibilities of the crimes that came their way.
He thought about it, then said, “Well, I’d say we have to start off with anyone desperate enough to kill for money. That stone was a rarity.”
Elise shook her head. “That’s what doesn’t make sense. Why steal something you can’t sell? I imagine the Carolina Rhapsody is recognizable to anyone in the trade.”
“With collectors, you never know what might drive them. I don’t have a single suspect to name based on avarice,” Alex admitted. Did he really want to play this game with Elise, when what he wanted was to pursue a personal relationship with her? “We’re just going to have to leave this one up to the sheriff.”
“I don’t believe you actually feel that way for one second.”
Alex realized she wasn’t going to let go. After working side by side with her, he knew Elise’s stubborn streak was wider than his own.
He said, “Okay, here goes. I think Reston’s got to be on our list.”
“You’re kidding,” Elise said. “Why would he steal his own emerald?”
“If he took it himself, he gets the insurance and still gets to keep the gemstone.”
Elise said, “But why kill Cliff? He could have staged a robbery easily enough without killing someone.”
Alex nodded. “You’ve got a point. Okay, who else do we have? It could be one of the other guards, say Skip for instance.”
“An ex-cop killing a security guard? I don’t see it.”
“We just have his word that he’s an ex-cop,” Alex said. He thought a bit more, then said, “Okay, if you don’t like him for it, how about Fiona White?”
Elise stopped working and stared at him. “Now you’re accusing the Muffin Lady of homicide? On what grounds?”
“She was here around the time of the murder,” Alex said.
“So was our surveyor, Patrick Thornton. You might as well accuse Rose Lane while you’re at it; she was here, too.”
Alex said, “Hey, wait a minute. I think you might have something there.”
“Now you’re saying that Rose might have killed Cliff? Come on.”
Alex said, “She’s connected with Reston in some way,
I can feel it in my gut. I’ll have to ask Hannah Parsons about it.”
‘The bookstore owner in town? Why would Hannah know?”
“She’s been around Elkton Falls forever, and she never forgets anything. I bet you she could tell you who she sold nearly every single book to since she’s been open for business.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Is there anybody else you want to add to your list?”
Alex thought about it a few seconds, then said, “No, that just about covers it so far.”
“I should hope so.”
Alex shrugged. “That’s why I think it’s impossible to do anything until we have more information. There’s just not enough to go by yet.”
Elise ran the vacuum, then asked, “What do you make of the gold Irene found in Cliff’s pocket? It’s not exactly a normal token folks carry around with them.”
Alex said, “I admit it; I’m stumped by that. Now if it had been some kind of gemstone, too, I might have wondered if it had something to do with the emeralds buried on my land, but the closest gold around here is nearly two hours away.”
“You mean the closest that we know of,” Elise said. “You didn’t think there were any precious gems around here before, either. Could there be gold on your land as well?”
“If there is, nobody I’ve ever talked to has found any, and I certainly never heard my folks mention it. I’ll talk to Emma and see what she thinks.” One of Emma Sturbridge’s jobs was acting as Alex’s resident gemhunter. Though they suspected there was a vein of emeralds somewhere on Winston land, its location had remained a secret, despite Emma’s best efforts. During the hard times since the discovery, Alex had toyed with the idea of shutting down the inn and searching for the gemstone vein in earnest, but the voice of reason always pulled him back. After all, finding a fortune in gems had done nothing to enhance his great grandfather’s life, and Alex didn’t doubt for one second the discovery could cause more problems than he was willing to cope with. He knew the gemhunter in Hiddenite who discovered the Carolina Queen had been forced to hire armed guards to stand watch over the site around the clock. The last thing Alex wanted to do was to live in an armed camp, because he was staying put at Hatteras West, no matter what. The tower meant too much to him, was too great a presence in his life, for him to ever leave it. He glanced out the window and looked up at the beacon; steadfast and loyal, ever present. The lighthouse could use a fresh coat of paint, but other than that, The Hatteras West Lighthouse was in as good a shape as the day it was completed. While the lighthouse on the coast had suffered through riser and handrail problems because of heavy foot traffic, his own had been inspected and given a glowing seal of approval by the same structural engineers who had worked on the coast. The team had booked the inn for a week while they studied his lighthouse, with the single condition that they not make a single modification to his tower. The crew had been like kids swarming over the structure, delighted to find it in such pristine condition. Alex guessed that having a limited number of visitors had saved his stairs, though it nearly broke his pocketbook.
Elise came up by his side, and said softly, “Hey, remember me?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking about the lighthouse.”
She nodded. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we take a picnic lunch up there today? The view should be spectacular.”
“That sounds great to me,” Alex said.
Elise said, “Now about that nugget. We don’t know about Rose Lane or the gold in Cliff’s pocket. Is there anything else we’re leaving out of our discussion?”
Alex suddenly remembered the metal talisman in his pocket. “I don’t know if this is anything or not, but I found it in the room right after Cliff was killed.”
He handed the scored metal to her, and she flipped it over in her hand. “What is it?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Alex admitted. “I don’t even know if it had anything to do with the display. It could have been there for weeks.”
Elise handed it back to him and asked, “Where did you find it?”
“It was leaning against one of the baseboards near the floor grate,” Alex said.
“Then it wasn’t there before the emerald went on display,” Elise said resolutely.
“How can you be so sure?” Alex asked.
“I cleaned every inch of that room, Alex, including the grates. Take my word for it, it wasn’t there.”
“Then I need to show it to the sheriff,” Alex said. He knew what a meticulous worker Elise was.
But what did it mean?
He tucked the metal back into his pocket as he finished up the last of the room.
“Well, that takes care of my chores. Are you ready for lunch?” Alex asked her.
“That sounds great, but there’s one thing I want to do first.”
Alex laughed gently. “Let me guess.
You’d like to check on Reston Shay.”
Elise said, “You think you’re so smart.”
“But am I right?”
Elise frowned a second, then said, “I’ll be able to enjoy my lunch more if I know he’s okay.”
“Then we’ll go check on him right now. I don’t want anything distracting you.”
“From what?” Elise asked.
“The view, of course,” Alex said with a slight smile, as they went off to Reston Shay’s room to check on their eccentric guest.
Chapter 7
Once again, there was no response when Alex and Elise knocked on the millionaire’s door.
“Surely you don’t think he’s still asleep,” Elise said.
Alex studied the closed door a second, then said, “I guess it’s possible.”
“Alex, I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Let’s go in and check on him.”
Elise’s nervous state was getting to Alex. He decided the only way to settle it was to do as she asked and check on their guest. After all, there was no “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging from his door, one that was available to every room. Elise had come up with a new design, one with the lighthouse in the background, taken from one of Mor Pendleton’s photographs he’d snapped during a photography class.
“Here goes nothing,” Alex said as he knocked one last time before using his passkey. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingle as he pulled out the key and slid the door open.
He was in no mood to find another body at Hatteras West.
With a wave of relief, Alex saw that there was no sign of Reston Shay in the room. The bathroom door stood open and the shower curtain was pulled back. The bed hadn’t been slept in, and only the hand soap had been freed from its wrapper.
“He’s not here,” Alex said.
“I can see that. But if he’s not around the inn, where is he?”
Alex said, “He’s not a captive here, Elise, Reston’s free to come and go as he pleases.”
Studying the untouched bed, Elise said, “He didn’t sleep here.”
“How can you be certain he didn’t make up his own bed this morning before he left?”
She pointed to one corner of the bed as she lifted up the lighthouse quilt that covered it. “See this tuck? I’m the only one in the world who does it. Reston didn’t stay here last night.”
“So he decided to go home after all. There’s nothing to worry about,” Alex said.
“I have a bad feeling about this. Why would he pay for a room he wasn’t going to sleep in? It doesn’t make sense, Alex.”
“If you’re trying to figure Reston Shay out, you’re going to need more than that to go on. Now why don’t we have that lunch?”
Elise agreed, but Alex noticed that as he relocked Reston’s room, Elise’s gaze lingered there. Still, there was nothing he could do about the missing eccentric, at least not until after lunch.
The stairs of the lighthouse were too narrow for them to walk side by side, given the size of the picnic basket Elise had packed for their meal. Alex had hung the sign, “Closed for One Hour” on the lighthouse’s front doors and then locked them, something he did whenever he wanted to be alone at the top. Thankfully, there were no guests or townsfolk at the top when they got there, so he and Elise had the place to themselves.
“So where should we set up our picnic?” Alex asked.
Elise made a full circle around the top landing, gazing at the Blue Ridge Mountains on one side and the foothills laid out below the other. “Let’s have lunch right here,” she said. “That way I won’t have to miss either view. Oh, Alex, it’s glorious up here, isn’t it?”
“It’s my favorite place on earth,” he said as he spread the blanket out.
As they ate, they pointed out different sights to each other, and though Alex had seen the views a million times, seeing them with Elise was always like looking through fresh eyes. He felt the tug of the mountains before him, watching with earnest amazement in the distance as clouds scudded by, as if brushing the tops of the trees.
He and Elise cleaned up when they were finished, stowing the paper plates and cups back in the basket and tying the trash up in a bag. Instead of heading back down the steps, Alex leaned on the railing and looked out. Elise joined him a few seconds later. She said, “I never get tired of this view.”
Alex looked at her a second, then said, “Me either.”
She laughed gently. “When I first saw your lighthouse, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would build one in the mountains. Now I wonder why there aren’t more.”
“I’ve been saying that for years,” Alex said. After a few more minutes, Elise said, “I hate to say this, but we’d better get back. We’ve got three loads of laundry, and the front desk is deserted.”
Alex nodded, then spotted someone down below coming from the trees that separated the inn from Bear Rocks.
It was Patrick Thornton, and from the look of him, he was a real mess.
By the time Alex and Elise got down the steps, Patrick had just finished cleaning chunks of red clay from his boots near the front steps of the inn. There were splotches of clay along his denim jeans as well, most noticeably on his knees.
He looked apologetic as he said, “Surveyors manage to get into the most messes. I thought I’d come back for a clean change of clothes before I head into town. Is there a laundry there?”
Alex was about to direct him to the laundry-mat near Buck’s Grill when Elise said, “We do laundry here as an added service for our guests.”
“That’s a relief,” Patrick said. He stared at Elise for a few seconds, then asked, “Have we met?”
“I don’t think so.”
“My mistake. I’m afraid I’ve got a full load for you.”
“No problem. Just leave it by your door and we’ll see to it. Don’t worry about the charge; we’ll just add it to your bill when you check out.”
“That would be great,” Patrick said as he slipped past them in his stocking feet. Alex waited until he was gone to say, “Since when did we start taking in laundry? Is that a new service we’re offering?”
“Any source of income we can tap, so much the better,” Elise said.
“But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Alex pushed.
Elise nodded. “Where did you tell me Thornton would be working this morning?”
Alex said, “He mentioned the orchard, and then Bear Rocks.”
Elise nodded. “That’s what I thought, but there’s no mud at Bear Rocks, and the orchard is all grass under the trees. So how did your surveyor get so much clay on him?”
“Maybe he changed his plans,” Alex said.
“Or maybe he’s up to something,” Elise countered.
“Oh, no, I’m rubbing off on you. Now I’ve got you jumping at shadows, too.”
She shook her head. “I’m just more in tune with what’s going on around me than I used to be. And yes, I do thank you for that. Now let’s collect his clothes and see what we can uncover.”
Alex laughed. “Why don’t we at least wait until the poor man has a chance to shower and change clothes? We can spy on him later. Right now we need to tackle the sheets and towels.”
Elise agreed, though Alex thought she was a bit reluctant to do so. Had he made her paranoid with his suspicions of their guests and the townsfolk of Elkton Falls? More likely, he had merely intensified that streak of curiosity within her.
As they did the sheets and towels, Alex saw that Elise’s gaze kept returning to the clock, as if she was waiting for something. Thornton himself came into the laundry room just as Elise was ready to go collect his things. “Sorry there are so many,” he said. “I appreciate you adding the laundry fees to my bill.”
“It will be our pleasure,” Elise said, taking the duffel bag from him.
After he was gone, she took the wet sheets out of one of the washers and threw them into a dryer. Instead of dumping all of his clothes into the machine after adding the detergent, Elise sorte
d each piece before putting it in, inspecting every stain and trace of soil carefully and riffling through the pockets.
After she was finished, Alex asked, “Find anything of interest?”
“He’s certainly got a large collection of stains,” she
said, “But other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary, no notes in his pants pockets or clues in his shirt cuffs.”
Alex said, “At least we made some extra money for the inn,” but Elise didn’t find anything amusing about it.
She said, “I want to go over his room again while he’s gone.”
“I already cleaned it, Elise. Believe me, there’s nothing there.”
She was about to reply when they both heard someone hailing them from the front desk. “Hello? Is anyone here? Hello?”
Alex and Elise walked back out front to find Fiona White, or as she preferred to be called, The Muffin Lady, waiting rather impatiently for them.
“I thought you’d both abandoned the inn. I was here an hour ago and no one was around then either.”
“We were at lunch. Sorry, I forgot to put the sign up,” Alex explained.
“No matter, it gave me the opportunity to explore your rock formation next door. What in the world is it called?”
“Bear Rocks,” Alex said.
“Yes, I could quite see there was no vegetation growing there. Now what is the name?”
Alex said patiently, “Bear Rocks. That’s B-E-A-R, as in Ursa.”
“How quaint. I suppose bears used to frequent it in the winter?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Alex said, fighting to hide his smile. “One of the rocks looks like a black bear standing on its hind legs, and another forms a cradle, like a mother bear might.”
“And no doubt there are baby bear boulders all around, as well.” She dismissed their line of conversation with a wave of her hand. “Now let’s get down to business. I trust my muffins have been doing well against the competition?”
Elise said cryptically, “It’s too soon to tell.”
The Muffin Lady said, “I can’t imagine it’s all that close a contest. Are you ready to place a standing order today?”