by Tim Myers
Alex pulled into the hospital parking lot and hurried inside. The hallway leading to the Intensive Care Unit was crawling with kids and adults. Alex overheard someone mumbling about a drive-by shooting, and realized that the victims must have been brought in sometime last night. He looked around, but didn’t see Sergeant Hicking anywhere. It was just as well; Alex was in no mood to talk to the SBI agent. He tried looking into the IC unit for Emma, but the curtains had all been fully drawn.
An older nurse stood guard at the desk, and Alex approached her through the crowd of people. “Excuse me, I’d like to check on the status of one of your patients. Her name is Emma Sturbridge.”
The nurse looked at him silently, then down at a list posted at the desk. “There’s no Sturbridge here.”
A trickle of dread danced down Alex’s spine. “What exactly does that mean?”
The nurse, having gone back to her paperwork, said, “She’s not here. I can say it slower for you if you’d like me to.”
“She didn’t die, did she?”
Alex couldn’t bear the thought of another guest dying.
From behind him, Alex heard someone calling his name. It was Theresa DeAngelis, the nurse he’d talked to the day before. She said, “It looks like your friend is going to be just fine. I called the inn and spoke with a young woman there. She assured me she’d pass the massage along to you.”
“Where’s Emma now?”
“She woke up a few hours ago complaining of a headache and being hungry. Her doctor decided she was well enough to move to a semiprivate room. It looks like there’s a good chance she’s going to recover completely.”
Alex thanked her for the good news, then hurried off toward the front desk. Emma Sturbridge was awake! He hadn’t expected such great news today, and suddenly he’d gotten two positive pieces of information: Emma’s improvement coupled with Junior’s release. Now if he could just figure out who killed Reg Wellington, maybe he would complete the run. Alex believed that Sam Finster’s killer was the same man who’d cut Reg down, but if he started digging into reasons the real estate man might have been murdered he’d be busy until well into the next decade just interviewing the suspects.
After tracking down Emma’s room number from the front desk, Alex knocked gently on the door and heard a muffled voice inviting him in.
Emma Sturbridge was sitting up in her bed, looking better than Alex had even hoped. Only one slim tube disappeared into her arm, and her face had that same ruddy complexion Alex had seen the day he’d met her. Looking farther into the room, Alex saw that Emma was not alone. Mor Pendleton was standing by the corner window. He was watching Alex, but then looked t quickly away.
Alex said to him, “I’m surprised to find you here. Have you retired from Mor or Les’s?”
Mor shrugged and frowned at his feet. “Well, I felt kind of responsible for Emma, since I was the one who
brought her in. I’ve been checking on her quite a bit, just to make sure she was going to be okay.”
Emma smiled. “And now I have two men visiting, with me still in my pajamas.” Her grin took on mighty proportions. “I should get pushed off a rock more often.”
Alex walked to the bed. “You were pushed then? Did you happen to see who did it?”
Emma looked perplexed. “No, and that’s the funny part. The whole incident is still fuzzy in my mind.”
Alex looked over at Mor as she said it. It seemed to him that the man had more than a casual interest in the matter.
She added, “It’s odd though, there is one thing I remember, but it’s almost too silly to mention.”
Alex pressed her, leaning over the bed. “Whatever it was, you can tell me. It could be a clue as to who might have pushed you.”
Emma smiled slightly. “Okay, I’ll tell you if you; promise not to laugh. I could swear it felt like a tree branch was nudging me over the rock.”
Alex said, “A tree? You mean like a branch caught by the wind or something?” There were no trees around: Bear Rocks. In fact, one interpretation of the name was that the original designation had been Bare Rocks until someone had started seeing bears in the granite formations.
Emma said, “Wipe that expression off your face, Alex, I know there aren’t any trees up there. But that image is stuck in my mind. A tree branch pushed me. Now imagine that.”
Mor coughed gently and walked to the other side of
Emma’s bed. “I’ve got to be going, but I’ll try to make it back sometime this evening.”
Emma turned on her brightest smile for the fix-it man. “I’ll be counting the minutes.”
After Mor left, Emma said, “Now that fellow is a man I could wrap my arms around. Seems to be interested in me, if I read these visits correctly. The nurse in Intensive Care said he had to be thrown out last night, he was hovering around the station so much!”
That was news to Alex. Mor hadn’t seemed all that interested in Emma when Alex had talked to him before. Alex wondered if Mor could have been the one to push her off that rock. It would explain him finding her so fast, and also the fact that he was hovering so close to her hospital bed. If she did happen to remember that Mor had been the one who’d pushed her, he could finish the job he’d started earlier. For that matter, he could have stabbed Reg, too. While Alex hadn’t seen him at the inn earlier, Mor could have parked in the woods and walked up one of the trails that covered the property. Finster wouldn’t have been any harder for the powerful man to kill. The “why” of it just didn’t make any sense. Alex looked up from his thoughts to see Emma staring intently at him. “You’ve got something on that mind of yours. Anything you want to talk about?”
Alex didn’t know how to address that particular question. If he was right about Mor, he could warn Emma. But if he wasn’t, it would make him look like a fool.
Instead of a direct reply, Alex asked, “Is there a buzzer around here in case you need a nurse?”
Emma pointed to a button pinned to her sheet. “Here on the bed. Why do you ask?”
“How fast do they come when you push it?”
Emma looked perplexed by the sudden shift in questioning, but she explained, “I’ve only pressed it once, but the nurse was here in a few seconds. She said it was because I was so close to the station desk. Now what is aII this about, Alex?”
“I don’t mean to alarm you, but whoever pushed you off that rock might come back to finish the job. If they do, I want help close by.”
Emma laughed. “Who in the world would want me that badly? I can’t imagine why someone would want to kill me. My ex-husband, perhaps, but he doesn’t know I’m here. It all sounds so silly.”
“You’re in here, aren’t you?”
His words had a sobering effect on her. “I can’t hide forever, Alex. If it’s my time, I’m ready to go.”
Great. He’d managed to put out the sun in her eyes; all by himself. “Just be careful, okay?”
She added with a subdued smile, “Don’t worry so much about me, Alex. If I do go, I plan to take an honor guard with me. Tell you what I will do, though. Whenever someone comes into the room, no matter who it is, I’ll keep my finger on the buzzer. Does that satisfy you?”
Alex patted her hand gently. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. Watch yourself.”
“I promise. Now why don’t you let me get some rest? I’m suddenly quite tired.”
From the strain on her face, Alex could see that the: words were true. After he left, he found a bench in the corridor outside Emma’s room and sat down, debating on what to do next. It hadn’t been the brightest thing in the world to do, giving a sick woman more things to worry about. He should have called Armstrong instead and persuaded him to put a deputy on the hospital room door. But he already knew what the sheriff’s reaction would be, and he didn’t particularly want to hear the man’s reasons. Besides, the sheriff had apparently given up on doing any work on the case until the full SBI team got to Elkton Falls. If anybody was going to untangle this mess bef
ore then, it would have to be up to Alex. He only hoped he could figure it out while there was still time.
What did Reg’s death, Emma’s fall, the fire and Finster’s stabbing all have in common? Taken as separate incidents, they could have a thousand different meanings. But that kind of criminal activity around Hatteras West in such a short period of time couldn’t be coincidence. There had to be one thread that tied those people and events together, but Alex couldn’t figure out what it could be.
Chapter 18
Alex’s grumbling stomach reminded him that he’d missed lunch. Before he could take care of his hunger, he found a pay telephone and called the inn.
Elise answered on the second ring. Hearing her say, “Hatteras West” brought a smile to his face.
Alex said, “I wanted to let you know that I just saw Emma Sturbridge. She’s awake and doing fine.”
“Oh, Alex, that’s wonderful news. Did she say who pushed her?”
“She said it felt like a tree limb gave her a shove.”
“But there’s no trees out there on the rocks. Unless ...”
“Unless what? Do you have any idea what she was talking about?”
Elise paused, then said, “No, it just doesn’t make sense.” Elise lowered her voice and added, “I’ll see you later, Alex. Dame Matthews is heading this way, and from the scowl on her face, it’s not to compliment us on our fine service.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you later.”
Sally Anne was behind the counter at Buck’s, wearing a frown instead of her usual smile.
It was just a little after two, so the regular lunch crowd had thinned to a few stragglers. Still, Sally Anne lowered her voice to a whisper when she spoke to Alex. “Have you heard the news?”
Alex found himself whispering, too. “What news?”
Sally Anne’s eyes grew large. “They found that awful man Finster dead in his Cherokee.”
Alex lifted his voice slightly before Sally Anne shushed him back into a whisper. “It’s all around town. The sheriff came by the inn last night and told me. They found him in an orchard near the inn.”
Sally Anne’s face was white. “Alex, I think Daddy might have done it.”
Alex rocked back on his heels. “Why in the world would you say that?”
“He came in late last night acting like something was really bothering him. When I asked him about it, Dad told me not to worry my pretty little head. I am worried, though.”
Alex thought for a moment. “How could he have known what was going on with Sam Finster? You didn’t tell him, did you?”
Sally Anne’s lower lip quivered. “No, but when I pressed him last night, he said I wouldn’t have to worry about that goon coming after me anymore, so somebody must have said something to him.”
It was possible. Everyone in town knew how Buck felt about his little girl, even if she was twenty years old.
Then Alex let his fertile imagination rest a moment and thought about it as objectively as he could. “Wait a minute, let’s think this through. If Finster had been found beaten to death, I might believe your theory, but do you honestly think your father is the type of guy who would stab a grown man in the back of the neck with an ice pick?”
Sally Anne’s face regained some of its color. “Alex, you’re right. Daddy would never do something like that.” Sally Anne added, “I can’t tell you how much better I feel now. I’d like to buy you lunch. Is that okay with you?”
“Sounds great. You know what I like.”
Sally Anne gave him her brightest smile. “Thanks again, Alex. I could barely get to sleep last night, wondering if Daddy was going to prison.”
Alex walked over to a corner booth away from the traffic flow. In such a small town, it was hard to find any place where he could go to be alone, but the booth offered his best chance.
The club sandwich was excellent, but Alex’s thoughts were not good for his appetite. His chain of reasoning kept leading him back to Finster. If Alex could find out from Nadine, the realtor’s secretary, who the prospective buyer was, then the pieces might all fit together. Deep in his gut, Alex believed that Hatteras West itself held the key to all his questions.
After thanking Sally Anne for the meal, he decided it was time to visit Finster’s office. He only hoped that Nadine had come in to work today to accept condolences for her late boss.
As he started to open the realty office door it was suddenly jerked out of his grasp by someone trying to exit. Alex was stunned to see that it was Joel Grandy.
“Mr. Grandy? What are you doing here?”
The older man looked the slightest bit guilty. “Wanted to offer my condolences.”
“I wasn’t even aware that you knew Finster.”
Grandy stared at Alex for a few moments, then swept through the door without answering.
Nadine was behind her desk, blotting a tissue to her eyes. Now somewhere in her early sixties, Nadine Crowley had been Alex’s fifth-grade teacher, and in his mind she hadn’t changed a bit. She’d taken an early retirement to be with her husband, but during her retirement party at the school Thad had dropped dead with a massive coronary. When Nadine had tried to get reinstated, the school board apologized but said the papers had already been processed and a new teacher had been hired to take her place. To keep from going crazy, she’d gone back to work. The only job in town that had been open was a secretarial position for Sam Finster. It had taken Alex years to stop referring to her as Mrs. Crowley and start calling her Nadine, as she had so often insisted.
“Nadine, that man who was just here. Mind telling me what he wanted?”
Nadine’s voice still had the sharp edge she’d used to such good effect in the classroom. “Now what type of greeting is that, young man?”
Alex stiffened his spine. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but we’ve been having a little trouble out at Hatteras West I think he might be involved.”
Nadine Crowley swabbed the tissue at her eyes again before answering. Alex broke in, “Excuse me for saying so, but surely you couldn’t have been that fond of Finster.”
She frowned slightly, then added a smile of apology. “You know better than to speak ill of the dead, Alex. But confidentially, I’m not all that sorry to see him go.”
“Then why the tears?”
“Young man, feel blessed that you haven’t been afflicted with allergies. My eyes have been like this for two weeks. I just can’t stand all of the allergens in the air.”
That explained the grieving secretary.
“Now, would you mind telling me what Joel Grandy was doing here?”
Nadine said primly, “Not that it’s any business of yours, but the fellow appears to be sweet on me. He keeps telling me I’m a dead ringer for his dearly departed spouse. I’ll tell you, it’s not the kind of compliment a girl dreams of getting, but then again, it’s better on average than what I’ve been managing lately.”
Of all the people in the world Alex could trust, Nadine Crowley had to be at the top of his list. Her integrity was known throughout seven counties.
Alex pushed a little more. “So he wasn’t checking on any real estate deals?”
Nadine laughed. “Why heavens no. I happened to be eating lunch at Buck’s on his first day in town. He spotted me and offered to treat me to a meal. I thought he was cute, so I let him. Joel Grandy’s been over here like a love-sick puppy ever since.”
Alex thought that might explain why Grandy had made the offer on Hatteras West. It could have been just
his effort to stay close to Nadine. “Would you mind telling me something else?”
Nadine’s eyes lit up. “Anything.”
“Someone’s been trying to buy the inn for some time now, but Finster refused to tell me who the buyer was. I’d really like to know.”
Nadine Crowley raised her index finger and waved it in front of Alex’s face. “I’m not at all certain I have any right to tell you.”
“Who’s going to know? The name might be important in helpin
g me find out who killed my guest and burned down part of my place.”
“I was so sorry to hear about that, Alex.” She shuffled a few papers on her desk, then said, “I suppose it doesn’t matter now, but I still want you to swear you won’t tell anyone I told you.”
Alex nodded solemnly. “I promise.”
Nadine went to the file cabinet and started searching through the Files. After a few minutes, she looked at Alex and said, “I don’t understand this. The file’s missing.”
“Are you sure? Maybe it’s somewhere else. Misfiled, maybe?”
Nadine said, “Come now, Alex, I don’t misplace or misfile anything. Let me look on his desk.”
She came back a full minute later. “It’s not there, either. He must have had it with him last night.”
So the murderer had taken the evidence after killing Finster. “And you don’t have any idea who was after Hatteras West?”
“If I knew, dear boy, I’d tell you. But Sam Finster played things close to the vest. He never even mentioned that someone was making an offer for your inn, though I’d heard plenty of rumors around town about it.”
Alex left, knowing he had just run into another dead end.
Walking from Finster’s office to the truck, Alex decided to detour one block and see if Mor Pendleton was in. He had a few questions for the man. The last person in the world Alex wanted to suspect was Mor, but too many things had been going on lately for him not to be aware of his friend’s ties to recent events.
Mor wasn’t in the shop, but Les was. Alex found him sitting at his workbench with his feet propped up. Seven years earlier, Les Williamson had been forced to retire at the age of sixty-five from his regular job as a maintenance man. It had galled Les that he’d been too old to work anywhere but in a business of his own. Taking the largest chunk of his retirement money, he opened the shop just hoping to keep busy until he died. No one had been more surprised than Les that so many of the townsfolk had personal possessions they would rather fix than throw away. Business had been so good that Les had hired Mor, and as the two men grew closer, they’d become partners in the operation.