by Tim Myers
Alex said, “Honestly, we don’t mind paying for our meal.”
Monet held a hand up. “No more will be said of this. Enjoy, and tell your friends.” He added with a slight smile, “Though you may choose to withhold information about the cost of your meal today.”
As the owner left them, Alex studied the menu and was surprised to find that the offerings had indeed changed. Escargot was no longer on the menu, replaced by loaded potato skins. It wasn’t that there wasn’t a market for snails in Elkton Falls, but the appeal of the skins had to be a little more reaching. There were substitutions throughout the menu, while the restaurant still retained enough of its past fare to please the gourmets in attendance. The prices, in most cases, had been adjusted as well, bringing them more in line with the going rates in Elkton Falls. Alex could see Irma’s touch everywhere, and marveled again over the woman’s generosity in sharing.
Elise said, “I think I’ll have a bowl of the broccoli and cheese soup.”
“That’s it?” Alex asked.
“What are you going to have?” she asked him.
Alex pretended to study the menu. “I can’t decide, but since it’s on the house, I thought I might try one of everything. What do you say, are you up for it?”
“Not if I want to walk out of here under my own power. You’re not serious, are you?”
“No, I suppose not. I’ve just never had an offer like this before. Why don’t we share the appetizer platter, then you can have your soup and I’ll get something else, maybe sirloin tips. Then if we’re still hungry, we can have dessert.”
Their food, much improved from their last visit, came out promptly and without fanfare. It was delicious, and by some tacit agreement, Alex and Elise kept their small talk away from inn business and murder. Monet, obviously fighting the urge to hover, joined them as soon as they finished their meals.
“And was everything to your satisfaction?” he asked nervously.
“It was wonderful,” Elise said.
“Alex?”
He nodded. “I think you’re going to be just fine. For what it’s worth, I heartily approve.”
Monet clapped his bands. “Excellent. You must try the dessert. It is the richest cheesecake you will ever taste in your life. It is so good, it will make you cry.”
Alex said. “We’ll have to take a rain check. We’re both pretty full.”
Monet said sadly, “But I made it myself, in your honor.”
Alex was about to protest when Elise said. “Bring us one serving and two forks.”
Monet, not giving them the opportunity to change their minds, raced off to the kitchen and was back before Alex could raise another halfhearted protest. Thank goodness they had a light workload at the inn that afternoon. He wasn’t sure how much work he’d be able to do, waddling around the place after eating so much.
The cheesecake was everything as promised, drizzled lightly with a chocolate and raspberry glaze. When they were through, Alex found himself wishing for another portion, despite how full he felt.
Monet nodded approvingly as he approached them. “You are satisfied?”
“It was wonderful,” Alex said.
Elise added, “Sometime you’ll have to give me a lesson in making your cheesecake.”
“Irma has told me of your prowess in the kitchen.” Monet said. “It would be an honor.”
Alex said, “Are you sure about the check?”
Monet said, “Please, do not insult me. This was my gift to the two of you.”
“And we thank you kindly for it,” Elise said as she stood. “But we really must be getting back to Hatteras West.”
“That I understand. Give me one moment, I beg of you.” Monet signaled to their waitress, who joined them promptly with a box in her hands.
“What’s this?” Alex said as he took the offering.
“In case you get peckish this evening, I took the liberty of packaging the rest of your cheesecake.”
“I should offer at least a little resistance,” Alex said. “But I’m afraid you might change your mind.”
Monet laughed heartily. “You are clearly a man after my own heart. Now come again, with your friends next time. That card is still good for all of you.”
“We will,” Elise said as they walked out.
Driving back to the inn, the cheesecake safely on Elise’s lap, Alex said, “Mor’s not going to believe this.”
“That you went back to the restaurant?”
Alex said, “No, that I got a free meal and he didn’t.”
“Oh Alex. Do you have to tell him?”
He tapped the box lightly and smiled. “Absolutely, but not until this is gone. Otherwise I’d have to share.”
“You mean we, don’t you?”
Alex tapped the steering wheel. “That’s exactly what I mean. I can’t think of a better dinner, can you?”
“We need something besides this,” Elise said.
“You’re right, of course. How about two glasses of milk?”
Elise laughed softly. “It was wonderful, wasn’t it?”
Alex agreed. “I’m not sure I want you to learn how to make it, though.”
“Why ever not?”
“I’ll have to walk the lighthouse steps four times a day if I eat something that rich as often as I’d like to. I’m going to be worthless this afternoon as it is.”
“You’ll have to muddle through somehow,” she said. “There’s laundry to be done, and I need to take a stab at the windows on the second floor. I can’t believe how fast they get dirty.”
But their plans for the afternoon were suddenly shattered as they came up Point road. There, in front of the inn, was an ambulance, the lights on top flashing in hypnotic warning.
Something had gone terribly wrong at Hatteras West.
Chapter 12
As Alex raced for the front door, he nearly collided with the EMS team taking their patient out on a gurney. Alice Parsons and John Sumter had been to the inn before, more than Alex would ever admit to any of his guests. Vince Darcy lay strapped to the gurney, a bloody compress taped to his thigh. The man’s face was ghostly pale.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
Vince said, “I can’t believe it. I was out running and somebody shot me.”
Alex asked, “Did you see who did it?”
Vince shuddered once, then said, “No, I was in the woods, and you know how dense it is. Listen, I need somebody to go tell Laura. She’s in town shopping.”
“We’ll find her,” Elise said as she rushed up beside Alex. “Are you going to be okay?”
“It hurts like a dog, but they tell me I’m going to be fine,” Vince said. “Man, I’m not going to be able to run for a month.”
“Another three or four inches and you wouldn’t have been able to make it back to the inn,” one of the attendants said. “You were lucky.”
“I wasn’t lucky enough for them to miss.”
As they loaded Vince into the ambulance, Alex asked Alice, “Will he be okay?”
“It’s not for me to say, but it looks like the bullet just grazed him.”
“My leg’s killing me, there’s nothing ‘just’ about that,” Vince protested.
Alice shrugged. “It’s probably going to leave a scar, but John’s right; Mr. Darcy, you’re luckier than you realize.”
Alex asked, “Did anybody call Armstrong?”
“One of his deputies is on the way.”
“Thanks for showing up so fast,” Alex said to them as they closed the ambulance door. After the vehicle took off, Alex told Elise, “I’d better go into town and find Laura. Do you want to ride in with me?”
Elise said, “I’d like to, but somebody needs to stay behind and take care of things here.”
Alex nodded. “We can swap jobs if you’d like.”
Elise said, “No thanks, I’d rather not have to tell a guest her husband was shot at the inn.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a point. I’ll be back as soon as I
can find her.”
“Call me if you hear anything else about Vince,” she said.
“I promise. And Elise? Maybe you should stay away from cleaning windows this afternoon.”
“You can’t think I’m in danger of being shot, Alex. Surely this was just an unfortunate accident.”
“You’re probably right, but I’d feel better if you stayed inside,” Alex said.
“I will. There’s plenty for me to do around here.”
As Alex drove back to town in search of Laura, he tried to think who might have shot his guest. Could it have been an accident, as Elise clearly thought, some fool plinking cans in the woods without realizing how far his bullets traveled, or was it something more sinister than that? Had Vince, in his incessant jogging around the lands that encircled the inn, stumbled across something he shouldn’t have seen? No, Alex realized it was most likely an accident. After all, there wasn’t anything going on around Hatteras West that he didn’t know about. At least he didn’t think so.
Alex scanned the parked cars in Elkton Falls, searching for Laura’s car as he drove through town. He found it parked in front of Shantara’s General Store, the third place he looked.
Laura was looking at a display of hand-fired pottery.
“I need a second,” he said to her as he touched her arm.
“Hi, Alex. Tell me, which do you like better, the green glaze or the blue?”
“Vince’s been shot,” he said.
The plate fell to the floor, shattering on the hardwood. That got everyone’s attention, including Shantara’s. Alex held a hand up toward her as he said to Laura, “The paramedics said it was just a graze. He got lucky. Vince lost some blood, but it looks like he’s going to be all right.”
“I told him jogging was going to kill him someday. Maybe now he’ll listen to me. Is he at the hospital yet?”
“They left ahead of me, so they’ve got to be there by now. Why don’t you let me drive you over there, and we can pick up your car later.”
“No, I know where the place is, I passed it on the way in. I’ll drive myself.”
Alex said, “I’m really sorry about this.”
“Unless you’re the one who shot him, you don’t have anything to apologize for.” She rushed out, leaving Alex and Shantara standing nearby.
He said, “Sorry about that. Why don’t you add that to my bill? I should have found a better way to break the news to her.”
Shantara grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the shards. “It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to at least grab the plate first. Is her husband really going to be all right?”
“It looks like it,” Alex said.
Shantara shook her head. “See? That’s why I don’t exercise. There’s too much risk involved.”
“Let me get this straight,” Alex said to his old friend. “You don’t jog so you won’t get shot?”
“Hey, if your guest had come shopping with his wife in my store instead of going out for a run, none of this would have happened.”
Alex said, “And you wouldn’t be out one plate.”
“No, my friend, you wouldn’t be out one plate. You offered to pay for it, remember?”
Alex nodded. “I did at that.”
Shantara slapped his arm. “Don’t look so glum, I’ll just charge you wholesale.”
“You’re all heart,” Alex said.
Shantara asked, “So how was lunch at Monet’s Garden? Better than the dinner I had there, I hope.”
“Now how did you know I ate there for lunch?” Alex asked. “Elise and I left the restaurant not half an hour ago.”
Shantara said, “I was at the bank making a deposit and I happened to see you and Elise leaving from across the street. Hey, it’s a small town, Alex.”
“And getting smaller by the minute,” he said. “I’d better get back to the inn.”
“So you can post some ‘No Hunting Guests’ signs?” she asked.
“Now that you mention it, that’s not a bad idea.”
Shantara shrugged. “I was just kidding. Besides, hunting season hasn’t even started yet.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Alex said as he left the store. It was time to go see the sheriff. Maybe while he was there he could see if there were any breaks in the case of the missing emerald or the dead security guard.
Alex found Armstrong sitting behind his desk, talking on the telephone with his feet propped up on the file cabinet beside his desk. The sheriff didn’t hear Alex come in, that much was obvious from the way he spoke in the receiver. “Now Betty Lou, we don’t have to go to Buck’s, not if you don’t want to. Monet’s Garden? I heard it wasn’t very good. No, I don’t mind how expensive it is.” The sheriff grimaced at the outright lie. “If that’s the only place you’ll go out with me, I’m willing to give it a try.” The sheriff was making a hard play for Betty Lou Jackson. He was more serious than Alex realized, since Armstrong was notoriously tight with his money.
The sheriff swiveled around in his chair as pulled his feet off the cabinet and saw Alex standing there. With a cough and a deepening of his voice, Armstrong said, “Seven it is. See you then.”
After the sheriff hung up the telephone, he looked at Alex and said, “Before you say a word, I’ve got one of my men out at the inn even as we speak. No doubt somebody was taking some target practice. Alex. You should tell your guests if they’re going to be trotting around in the woods, they need to wear some blaze orange so folks can see them.”
Alex knew if he rose to the bait, Armstrong would get huffy and clam up about everything. “As long as you are looking into it, it’s okay with me. Is there anything new on Cliff’s murder and the emerald theft?” Alex asked.
“We’re following some leads right now, that’s all I’ll say,” Armstrong said huffily. So he didn’t have a clue.
“Have they all been dead ends?” Alex asked sympathetically.
Armstrong shrugged. “We won’t know till we finish our investigation. Is that why you’re here, to check up on me?”
Alex said, “One of my guests was shot half an hour ago at the inn. That alone gives me the right to be here.”
“Calm down, Alex. Just before you came in, I got a call from the hospital, and they said he was shot in the thigh. It was just a flesh wound, it barely nicked him.”
“What if it wasn’t an accident?” Alex blurted out, despite his promise not to aggravate the sheriff any more than he had to.
“You have any reason to believe that?” Armstrong asked.
Alex admitted, “No, no reason I can put my finger on.”
“Then until you do, I suggest you stop talking like it was intentional. What are you trying to do, Alex, shut yourself down? You honestly think many folks are going to want to stay with you at the lighthouse if there’s a fool taking shots at your guests? I think you’d better leave that dog alone.”
Alex said, “I can’t do that, not if there’s a chance it wasn’t an accident.”
Armstrong shrugged. “It’s your funeral. Tell you what, I’ll drive out to the inn and look around some if it will make you feel any better. Where exactly was he shot?”
“He said he was near the woods by the orchard,” Alex said. “If you want, I can walk out there with you.” Alex wanted a first-hand look at where Vince had been jogging when he’d been shot.
“Naw, I think I can handle this by myself. I’ll try to make it out there before dark. I appreciate the help, much as I don’t need it, but you’ve got an inn to run, don’t you?”
“Just let me know if you find anything,” Alex said.
Armstrong nodded. “I’ll do it.”
Alex would have to be satisfied with that. As he drove back to Hatteras West, he wondered what, if anything, the sheriff would find, and more importantly, if he really would share the information with Alex. The two men had worked together in the past on some of Armstrong’s cases, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it would continue.
Elise had just finished mo
pping the lobby when Alex walked in.
“There must have been more blood than I remembered,” he said.
Elise answered, “I couldn’t just mop part of the floor; you know me better than that. So did you find Laura?”
“She was at Shantara’s, and the last I saw of her, she was on her way to the hospital.”
Elise said, “I’ve been thinking. You’re probably right about it not being an accident. You really should talk to the sheriff about this.”
Alex nodded. “I just came from there. He seems to think somebody was outside fooling around with their gun, but he’s agreed to look around later.”
“I’m surprised you’re satisfied with that,” Elise said, “Hey, we’ve got an inn to run, remember? Armstrong can handle this by himself.”
Elise patted his arm. “He wouldn’t let you go with him, would he?”
Alex chuckled softly. “You’re getting to know me too well, you realize that, don’t you?”
Elise said, “I don’t know about that. I just know how you think.”
“I’m not sure which one of us should be more frightened by that prospect,” Alex said as Claudia Post came into the lobby.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’m completely out of towels again,” she said, then turned and headed back to her room. The woman went through laundry like boiling water through snow since the wine explosion. At least she’d recovered most of her hearing.
Elise said, “I’ll be right there.” As she left, trying to catch up with their guest, Elise glanced back at Alex and smiled. Whenever she did that, even if circumstances didn’t necessarily warrant it, Alex felt that all was right with the world.
At least for the moment the smile lasted on her lips.
A few hours later, Vince and Laura came back to Hatteras West. His sweat pants had been replaced by a set of doctor’s scrubs, and there were a few crimson stains on his shirt.
Laura said, “I hope you don’t mind, Alex, but we’re checking out a few days early.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Alex said as she headed upstairs to pack their bags while Vince stayed behind in the lobby.