Ring for Murder (Lighthouse Inn Finale)

by Tim Myers

  Before Tony could reply, she stormed out the door, slamming it just as a flash of lightning hit.

  “Try not to wreck this for me,” Alex said to Tony as thunder rumbled.

  As he rejoined Elise, she asked, “What was that all about?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” Alex replied as Sheriff Armstrong, his sometime nemesis when it came to solving crimes around Elkton Falls, approached. The sheriff was in a suit, looking oddly out of place out of uniform. He nodded to Alex and Elise, and then said, “Congrats, you two.”

  “Thanks, sheriff. Glad you could make it.”

  He shrugged. “Everybody else in town is here. Somebody has to keep the peace.” As he said it, he glanced over at Alex’s brother.

  There was no way Alex was going to let himself get dragged into that. There was only one way to respond to that, and that was with humor. Alex grinned. “If a riot breaks out, I’ll lend you a hand myself.”

  Armstrong shrugged without commenting, and then walked away.

  Elise scolded Alex. “You shouldn’t have teased him like that.”

  “If I get the chance, I’m never passing it up,” Alex said with a big grin.

  Elise started to say something else, but before she could, Doc Drake and his wife, and nurse, Madge, approached. “What did you say to him, Alex?” his friend, the doctor, asked.

  “I offered to volunteer my services for crowd control if he needed me,” Alex explained.

  The doctor began to smile, and Madge said, “You two are quite the pair, aren’t you?”

  Alex looked at the doctor, and they both smiled. “We like to think so.”

  Madge laughed, but checked it slightly as she looked at Elise. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

  “My eyes are wide open. Trust me, I have no delusions about the man I’m marrying.”

  “Hey, I’m standing right here,” Alex said.

  As he spoke, another flash of lightning was quickly followed by a long rumble of thunder that filled the air.

  Alex saw the concerned look on Elise’s face. “Don’t worry. If it rains tomorrow, we can get married in the main lobby.”

  “I know, but it’s not the lighthouse, is it?”

  Madge smiled at them. “You two are the perfect match. Alex, I don’t know how you managed to find someone as crazy about that lighthouse as you are, but you’d better be good to her.”

  “That’s a promise I’ll have no trouble keeping,” Alex said. The rain began in earnest then, and they could hear it beating down on the restaurant’s roof.

  Alex was determined not to let it spoil the mood of the evening, though.

  He was getting married tomorrow, and nothing else mattered.

  Or so he thought.

  Chapter 4

  Back at the inn, everyone was settled in for the night, but Alex couldn’t get to sleep, no matter how hard he tried. He’d been avoiding Tony all evening since the pair of confrontations he’d witnessed, hoping that whatever his brother had to say to him could wait, but when Alex walked out onto the porch, he found his brother there, sitting in the shadows. At least the rain had finally stopped.

  “I figured you’d come out here eventually,” Tony said.

  “I was just going to bed,” Alex said.

  “Alex, I hate to rain on your parade, but you need to hear this before you get married. It’s going to affect your life, and you need to make sure Elise knows what she’s getting herself into.”

  He had had enough of his brother. “What is it, Tony?”

  “It’s all of this,” Alex’s brother said as he waved a hand around the air.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Uncle Jase made a mistake when he wrote up the transfer of property when we settled the estate. It’s invalid, Alex. I had an attorney look it over, and there are issues with the agreement that make it unenforceable.”

  Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What are you talking about, Tony? Why did you have a lawyer involved in the first place?”

  “Hey, fair is fair,” Tony protested. “Family is one thing, but legal is another.”

  Alex reached down and grabbed his brother’s shirt roughly just as someone walked out onto the porch. It was Alex’s future father-in-law.

  “Is there a problem here?” Mr. Danton asked Alex pointedly.

  Alex released his brother’s shirt. “No problem, sir. Just two brothers having a little chat.”

  Elise’s father looked skeptical, but he kept it to himself. “I’ll just turn in, then.”

  “You’re lucky he saved you,” Tony said after Elise’s father was gone. “It would be tough getting arrested for assault on the day before you were supposed to get married.”

  “Tony, I gave you everything, all the stocks, the bank accounts, the insurance money, just so I could keep the inn. What happened to all of that money?”

  “It’s gone,” Tony said.

  “So you started looking around for another easy score, didn’t you? Well, it’s not going to be that simple. This place is mine.”

  “Not according to my attorney.”

  Alex couldn’t believe this was happening. It was the stuff of the worst nightmares he’d ever had in his life. “We agreed. You took that money.”

  “Listen, I don’t want to take this place from you. Give me a hundred thousand right now, and we’ll call it even.”

  Alex couldn’t keep from laughing, despite the tragedy of the discussion. “Tony, I could barely scrape up a tenth of that if I cashed in everything liquid I have, including any wedding money Elise and I may or may not get tomorrow.”

  Tony frowned. “I don’t believe you. This place has to be making money. Don’t jerk me around, Alex. This is a one time offer, good until midnight tonight. You’ve got it, and you know it.”

  “I can show you my checkbook if it will prove it to you. We need a new boiler, our air conditioning system is nearly shot, and the lighthouse needs to be painted. For all intents and purposes, I’m broke, and steadily going deeper in the hole every day.”

  “How about fifty thousand?” Tony asked. “I’m willing to be reasonable about it.”

  “How about nothing,” Alex said, his temper getting the better of him.

  “Then get ready to sell this place, dear brother, because if you can’t pay up, I want half the cash value for what this whole thing is worth. You can kiss your lighthouse good bye, Alex.”

  And before Alex could say another word, Tony walked off the porch and into the night.

  Alex didn’t know what to do next, but his instincts were strong. He found himself walking toward Elise’s room without realizing that was where he was headed. He needed to talk about what had just happened, and there was no one in the world he’d rather discuss it with than Elise.

  Alex knocked on the door of her room. “Elise, it’s Alex.”

  He heard her voice from the other side of the door. “What is it, Alex? It’s late.”

  “Something’s wrong,” he said.

  That was all it took. “Give me one minute,” she said.

  Alex slumped down on a chair in the hallway and waited for her. He knew his brother was capable of some atrocious things, but trying to extort money out of him after taking so much was even beyond his low standards. Someone was putting pressure on Tony for money, and fast; that much was obvious. But Alex wasn’t going to roll over and just give it to him.

  Elise came out wearing blue jeans and an old t shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, she had no makeup on at all; Alex had never seen her more beautiful.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Tony. He claims there was something wrong with the transfer Uncle Jase drew up between us when our folks died.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?”

  Alex could barely force the words out of his mouth. “He says we have to sell Hatteras West.”

  “We need some coffee,” Elise said as she led him into the lobby.

 
As they walked down the hallway into the main area, Elise said, “I don’t care what time it is. You have to call Sandra.”

  Sandra Beckett was Alex’s attorney, and one-time girlfriend.

  “It’s late,” Alex said.

  “I don’t think she’ll mind. Call her, Alex. She’ll know what to do.”

  Alex nodded, willing to do whatever Elise suggested to make this nightmare go away. He looked up Sandra’s home number, and after seven rings, she picked up.

  “Did I wake you?” Alex asked.

  “Alex, is that you? Of course not. I was going over some paperwork. What’s wrong? You’re not drunk, are you?”

  “What? No, of course not. Why would you ask that?”

  There was a pause, and then Sandra said, “You hear stories about bridegrooms with cold feet all of the time. They call old girlfriends when their weddings get close at hand.”

  “No worries about me. My toes have never been toastier,” Alex said.

  “Then why the call?”

  “I have a serious legal problem, and I need your advice,” he replied.

  “Nobody’s dead, are they?”

  Alex couldn’t believe the questions Sandra was asking. “No, no one’s dead.”

  “Hey, you can’t blame me for asking. That lighthouse of yours seems to attract its share of dead bodies. If it’s not that, what is it?”

  “My brother claims that the document transferring his share of the lighthouse to me isn’t valid. He’s saying that we’ll have to sell everything.”

  Sandra whistled softly. “No wonder you called. Alex, did Jase draw up the transfer?”

  Alex said, “Yes, of course he did. He was a good attorney.”

  “Hey, I loved that man like a father, but we both know how torn up he was about your parents’ accident. He wasn’t on his game, and he knew it. Jase ran things past me for two months after they died, but I never saw that transfer.”

  Alex felt the wind go out of his lungs. Could Tony be telling the truth?

  His thoughts were interrupted when Sandra added, “If you have the document, I’ll be glad to take a look at it. I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “It’s in my safety deposit box at the bank,” Alex admitted. “I won’t be able to get it out for two days.”

  Sandra said, “That’s convenient, isn’t it?”

  “If you ask me, it’s exactly the opposite.”

  “Stay with me. Did Tony offer some kind of cash settlement, something that had to be done immediately?”

  Alex bit his lip. “He said he’d take a hundred grand, but it had to be before the wedding. As a matter of fact, when I turned him down, he cut that in half, not that I have a prayer of paying either amount.”

  Sandra paused for a moment, and then said, “Take my advice. Don’t give him a dime, Alex.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “I think he’s bluffing, but even if he’s not, I’ll represent you in this. We can show that Tony took your share of the inheritance, and you signed that document in good faith. I think we have a case, even if Jase did drop the ball. Try not to worry about it, okay?”

  “I don’t see how, but thanks, Sandra.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at the wedding,” she said, and then hung up.

  Elise had been listening to his side of the conversation, and Alex had held the phone off from his ear far enough for her to pick up most of what Sandra had said.

  “That’s a relief, isn’t it?” Elise said.

  “I guess,” Alex admitted. “Don’t think this is going to go away, though. I know my brother. He’ll try his best to break us with a lawsuit. This is going to cost me a fortune.”

  “You’re wrong, there,” Elise said softly.

  Alex asked, “What, you think Sandra is going to do this for free?”

  “No, but we’ll pay for it together. I have some money I’ve been saving that I wanted to surprise you with. I was going to buy us a new boiler, but this is more important.”

  “Elise, I can’t take your money,” Alex said, almost reflexively.

  “Listen, and listen good, Alex Winston. As of tomorrow night, there is no more ‘mine’ and ‘yours’. It’s all ours, the good and the bad. Do you understand me?”

  “I do,” he said.

  She laughed. “Good. Keep repeating that, and when the preacher asks you tomorrow, remember your line.”

  He kissed her, and after a few moments, Elise said, “Thanks for the good night kiss.”

  “Thank you for being here,” Alex said.

  Sandra and Elise didn’t seem nearly as worried about the situation as Alex was, but then they hadn’t grown up at Hatteras West. He wasn’t at all surprised that his brother had tried to cheat him.

  And that by itself was a sad thing indeed.

  Alex woke up just past one am, and it took him a second to realize that the sound of the front door of the inn slamming hadn’t been a part of some kind of dream. He was so attuned to the sounds of the inn, the whispers and moans of the building, that he could tell whenever something was not as it should be. Throwing on a robe, he walked out into the lobby, turning lights on along the way.

  Nothing looked out of place as he searched the space, but as Alex walked to the door, he felt his heart drop.

  It hadn’t been a dream. It was unlocked.

  Had he forgotten to lock it last night, given all that had happened? Alex thought his routines were so ingrained that he could have done them in his sleep, but apparently, the news Tony had dropped on him the night before had thrown him off his game.

  There was another option, though. What if someone staying upstairs had left abruptly in the middle of the night? His thoughts immediately went to Tony.

  “Alex, what is it?”

  “Sorry if that woke you,” he told Elise.

  “Then that wasn’t you slamming the door a minute ago?” she asked.

  “No, I heard it, too, so I decided to come out and investigate.” He looked back up the stairs. “Should we wake everyone up and do a head count?”

  Elise shook her head. “We could check the hallway, but I don’t want to wake my folks up unless there’s a good reason.”

  “Agreed,” Alex said.

  He started up the steps to their guest rooms, glad that the Main Keeper’s Quarters was empty. At least anything that happened would be contained in this building. Having two separate structures that housed their guests was a pain at times, but he hadn’t laid out the inn, his ancestors had, so he had to live with it.

  Everything looked normal upstairs. At least that was something.

  “Maybe it just was the wind,” Elise said.

  “Blowing through the lobby outside? Someone slammed that door, Elise.”

  He lingered at his brother’s door, hesitating for a moment.

  Elise asked, “Alex, you aren’t going to wake him, are you?”

  “I have a feeling he’s not there,” Alex said. He knocked on the door, once, twice, and a third time before he took his keys out of his robe pocket.

  “Are you going inside?”

  “I need to know if he’s there,” Alex said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  Alex opened the door, feeling his hand shake a little as he nearly fumbled the key. When Alex threw the door opened, he half expected to see something tragic there.

  When he realized that nothing was amiss, not in the room or the bathroom, he let out a breath he hadn’t even realized that he’d been holding.

  “Nothing,” he reported back to Elise, who had lingered in the hallway.

  “That’s good news, isn’t it?”

  “His bed hasn’t been slept in,” Alex said, “and his suitcase is gone. It appears that my brother came to deliver his ultimatum, and then left.”

  Elise touched his shoulder lightly. “I’m so sorry, Alex.”

  “Don’t be,” Alex said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from my brother.” He glanced at the clock in the hallway. “We need to get so
me rest. After all, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

  “Today, actually,” Elise said with a grin. “But honestly, I’m wide awake. How about a cup of hot chocolate?”

  “You twisted my arm,” he said. Alex sat and watched her make the cocoa, and the two of them moved into the lobby and lit another fire. As they sat there, they talked about their time together at Hatteras West, and their plans for the future. The time flew past, and Alex realized that if they didn’t get some sleep soon, it would be too late to get any. And they had a big day ahead of them.

  At 3:00 am, they said their final good nights as two single people, and went their separate ways. Alex had a little trouble falling back to sleep. Though he wasn’t surprised by his brother’s hasty exit, he was a little disappointed. If Tony had stayed around, Alex might have had a chance to talk him out of the lawsuit, but as things stood, there wasn’t a prayer of that happening now.

  It put a huge damper on what should have been a joyous occasion, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  Elise had made her stance clear.

  No matter what happened, they were going to get married today.

  And with that bright note, Alex finally managed to drift off to sleep.

  Chapter 5

  “You look like a wreck,” Mor told Alex the next afternoon. Alex knew that Elise and Emma had conspired to keep Alex’s mind off the impending nuptials, and had enlisted his best friend to keep him occupied.

  “I told you, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “Nervous about the big day? I was so scared I stayed up all night wondering if I was doing the right thing.”

  “And what have you discovered since you married Emma?”

  Mor grinned at him. “That it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Don’t worry about it, cold feet are expected.”

  “If anything, I can’t wait to get married.”

  “Then why the trouble sleeping?”

  “Elise and I heard a door slam last night, and after we investigated, we saw that Tony was gone. We couldn’t get back to sleep, so we stayed up and drank hot chocolate in front of the fire until late.”