by Tim Myers
“You can search it yourself,” she said.
Alex looked at the bag as though it were radioactive. “I learned long ago that there were some things that a man shouldn’t do, and near the top of the list is going into a woman’s purse.”
“Not even his girlfriend’s, or his wife’s?” Elise asked as she started to open the bag.
“Especially not then,” Alex answered.
Elise smiled briefly, then began hunting through the bag. Alex wanted to stay and watch, but he wasn’t at all certain how much time they had, so he began looking in the drawers, and then the bathroom. If Elise found anything, he knew that she’d tell him about it. He wasn’t having much luck when he spotted something in the garbage can in the bathroom. In the bottom of the can, hidden by some old newspapers, Alex found a slim catalogue with listings in it.
It was from an auction house, and several items had been circled on the pages as he glanced through it.
Including a single rare coin from the 1600s.
“Elise, look at this,” he said as he walked into the bedroom.
She didn’t even look up.
Alex approached her quickly. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
A great many things were spread out on the bed, from a compact to lipstick to a small brush. Along with those items, there were three pens, a battered old day planner, and a cancelled ticket from a movie theater in Charlotte.
“Look,” Elise said as she held the bag out toward Alex. With a slight hesitation, he leaned over and looked down. There, in the bottom of the bag, were two things that alarmed him more than he could imagine; a small ladies hand gun with a pearl handle, and his brother’s class ring from college.
“Tony never took this off,” Alex said as he reached for the ring. “It was his pride and joy.”
“Well, she got it somehow. That’s not what’s worrying me, though. She has a gun, Alex.”
Alex shrugged. “Tony was stabbed with a knife, remember?”
Elise nodded, and then said, “I know that, but wouldn’t you say this tells us the girl has a predisposition for violence?”
“Who knows why she carries it? A lot of people have guns. Just because we don’t doesn’t mean anything.” Alex gingerly picked up the weapon, opened the breach, and removed all of its bullets.
“What are you doing? She’s bound to notice that her ammunition is missing.”
“Maybe so, but I feel better knowing that her claws have been pulled.”
Elise stared at it, and then said, “We could just take the gun ourselves.”
“I’ll confiscate her bullets, but I won’t steal her gun,” Alex said.
“That’s an awfully fine line.”
“I agree, but it’s as far as I’m willing to go.”
Elise frowned. “What if she has more ammo?”
“Then we’re in trouble, because that means I’ve misjudged her. I can see Monique carrying this with her for protection, but from everything we’ve seen, can you imagine that she had the forethought to plan anything as rational as packing extra ammunition? If she’d brought a gun with her to kill Tony, I have a feeling she would have used it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we find out Jackson’s got a weapon himself, along with who knows what else in his arsenal?”
“I don’t disagree with that, but if we’re wrong, the learning curve is going to be kind of steep.”
“We could always hide it under the bed,” Alex suggested.
“How could that make any sense?” Elise asked.
“If she asks us about it, we can say we were making the bed and her purse fell off it. The gun could have gotten accidentally kicked under the bed and out of sight.”
Elise shook her head. “That’s an awfully big line of coincidences, don’t you think?”
“It’s not all that important that she believe us,” Alex said. “What matters is that it might be true, and the shadow of that doubt is all we really need.”
“We can’t do that,” Elise said. “I don’t see how she could believe it for a second.”
“Then we’ll have to be happy doing this.” Alex pocketed the bullets, and then started to reach for Tony’s ring.
Elise noticed him hesitate. “Go ahead and take it. It’s rightfully yours.”
“Not if Tony really gave it to Monique. It’s not mine, legally or morally.”
“Alex, did your brother even have a will?” Elise asked.
“I have no idea how current it might be. Uncle Jase wrote wills for both of us when our folks died, but mine’s changed since then, and I can’t imagine that his hasn’t as well.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Six months after we met, I made you my sole beneficiary. If something happens to me, Hatteras West is all yours.”
Elise took the news like a blow to the chest, reeling back a step before catching herself. When Alex looked at her, it appeared that she was crying.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to saddle you with this place. It’s just that it was clear that you loved Hatteras West just as much as I do. I thought of Emma and Mor, but they aren’t suited to be innkeepers, and besides, I’m leaving all of my books, my tools, and a nice piece of change for Mor. But you get everything else.”
She was openly sobbing now. Alex put his arms around her, and then said, “I don’t know what to do.”
“Just hold me,” she said, and he did as he was asked, taking in the smell of her hair, the way she felt in his arms.
After a few moments, she pulled away. He said lamely, “I really am sorry. I thought it was a good idea at the time.”
“Trust me, it does. It means more to me than your marriage proposal,” Elise said simply.
“I’m not sure how to take that, to be honest with you,” Alex said.
Elise just laughed. “Alex, I knew in my heart that you loved me, but to entrust Hatteras West to me says it more than a thousand poems and a million boxes of chocolate.” She kissed him, long and soundly, and then said, “I love you, too.”
“That’s good,” Alex said. “For a second, I thought I might have blown it.”
“My dear Alex, I’m not sure you could if you tried, but do us both a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t try,” she said with a smile. “Now, back to your brother.”
“I’m not sure Tony had anything to bequest, so it may be a moot point.”
“Is there any way to find out?” Elise asked.
“I’m not sure. Why, do you think it’s important?”
“It could be,” she said. “Who stands to be better off with Tony dead?”
“Hello?” they both heard a familiar voice call out from downstairs. “Is anybody here?”
It was the sheriff, and knowing him, he wasn’t there to compliment them on their new drapes.
Chapter 8
Elise started jamming everything back into Monique’s purse as she said, “Go talk to him. I’ll be down in a minute.”
Alex did as she asked, and he found Sheriff Armstrong standing there with his hand on the front door.
“Here I am,” Alex said.
“I was about to give up on you.”
“Rooms need to be cleaned and chores have to be done, no matter what else is going on around here,” Alex said.
“Understood.” The sheriff stared down at the hardwood floor, and then said, “I just got the report from the coroner’s office. Your brother was killed between one and three am.”
Alex realized that it had to have been Tony leaving the inn. That door slam had marked the beginning of the end for his brother. What if he’d gone out into the night looking for him? Would his brother still be alive, or would Alex have joined him in death? As he considered the ramifications of what he hadn’t done, Alex realized that the sheriff had asked him something, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember what it had been.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you going to make me say it again?” the sheriff as
ked.
“I’m sorry, I zoned out there for a second.”
The sheriff took in a deep breath of air, let it out, and then said, “I don’t mean to be indelicate, but I have to ask you this question. Can anyone confirm where you were between one and three the night of the murder?”
“Elise can,” Alex said.
The sheriff actually blushed slightly as he nodded. “I’ll have to have her confirm it, there’s no easy way around that, but it’s good enough for me. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be any of my business.”
Alex couldn’t believe the man. “We were sitting on the couch the entire time drinking hot chocolate and reminiscing about our lives since Elise came to the inn.”
“That was about the time that Reg Wellington was murdered, wasn’t it?”
“Exactly that time,” Alex replied, surprised that the sheriff had remembered Elise’s first days at the inn. Then again, when it was tied so closely with a murder, it made perfect sense.
“She’ll be able to confirm that?” Armstrong asked.
“Confirm what?” Elise asked as she came down the steps and joined them.
Alex started to explain when Armstrong held up a hand. “Alex, I need a minute with her. Go out on the porch. Now.”
He was about to ask why when he realized that the sheriff was trying to confirm his alibi. Alex didn’t want there to be any hint of suspicion, or impropriety, about what they’d been doing the night before, so he nodded and did as he was asked.
A minute later, the sheriff came out and rejoined him. “Where’s Elise?” he asked.
“She had to answer a phone call.”
“Did she back me up?”
“To the T,” Armstrong said. “It was off just enough to be convincing.”
“What parts didn’t we agree on?” Alex asked.
“Doesn’t matter. I believe you both, that’s all that counts. It looks like you’re in the clear.”
“That’s good to hear,” Alex admitted. He’d been under the sheriff’s scrutiny before when it came to murder, and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Well, I won’t trouble you anymore,” the sheriff said.
Alex thought about telling him about their two guests, especially since they’d found the gun in Monique’s purse, but something made him hold the information back. This was his brother’s murder he was investigating, and he couldn’t just hand it all over to someone else.
There was one thing he could ask, though. “Sheriff, I need to know something, and I’m hoping you can tell me.”
“Depends on what it is,” the sheriff said. “I can’t reveal much about an ongoing police investigation, so if it has something to do with the case, I can’t tell you much.”
“It’s personal,” Alex said. He had a ready excuse as to why he wanted the information, and only part of his rationalization was a lie. “Have you found Tony’s will? We’ve never been close, but I’d always hoped that someday we could work things out. Finding out he thought of me, if only for a moment, when he was making out his will would make all of this a little easier to take.”
Armstrong nodded. “It’s perfectly understandable. From what I understand, he didn’t have much, but what he did have is coming straight to you.”
Alex wouldn’t have guessed that answer with a thousand tries. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope, that’s why I came out here hoping you had an alibi. If it does turn out that Tony was worth something, your reasons to be a suspect just doubled.”
“I’m glad Elise and I had a craving for hot chocolate last night,” Alex said.
“You can say that again. It probably kept you from going to jail today.”
As the sheriff drove off, Elise joined Alex on the porch. “Did he believe us?” Elise asked.
“He didn’t have much choice. You turned out to be a very good alibi.”
“Glad to be of service,” Elise said.
“Who was on the phone?”
“My folks. They wanted to thank us again for their vacation.” She laughed a little.
“What’s so funny?”
“We booked the honeymoon suite, remember? Dad can’t get over the round bed, and it appears that Mom won’t get out of the heart-shaped bathtub. They’re thinking about putting a honeymoon suite in their inn back home.”
Alex laughed, happy for the momentary break. “We’re not making one here, though, are we?”
“No, I think we’re good, at least for now,” Elise said. “What should we do now?”
“I keep wondering where Mr. Jackson slipped off to. His car’s in the lot, so he has to be on foot somewhere.”
The wind blew a particular way, and Alex and Elise heard a man’s voice say, “Why should I share any of it with you? The gold’s all mine. I already paid for it.”
Alex took Elise’s hand, and the two of them left the porch to see who exactly was arguing over what they believed was real gold.
“The coins are mine,” Monique said. “And I have no intention of sharing any of them once I find them.” Alex and Elise heard her talking near they lighthouse, so they moved along the red brick base until they could hear better without being seen.
A man’s voice that Alex recognized as Jackson’s said, “I don’t care if you killed him for them. It doesn’t matter to me. I just want what’s mine.”
Monique sounded shocked as she replied, “I would never kill him. I loved that man. Besides, Tony promised them all to me as a wedding present.”
“Why would he do that? You weren’t even engaged,” Jackson said.
“We were so.”
“Then where’s your ring?” he asked.
“It’s in my purse. Tony couldn’t afford the kind of engagement ring he wanted to give me just yet, so until he could make one last deal, he gave me his college class ring instead.”
“Why would you keep it in your bag?” Jackson asked.
“What am I, in high school? Did you expect me to wear it on a chain around my neck like some silly schoolgirl?”
“I don’t care where you wear it, the gold’s mine. I don’t care what he promised you. I already paid for it, and the crook cheated me.”
Monique laughed without joy. “That’s rich. You’re calling Tony a crook? I know all about you. He told me about you and your employer, and how you’ve been putting the squeeze on him for months. He was getting out from under you, so you killed him, didn’t you? It wouldn’t be the first time you stabbed someone with a knife. Tony told me that was your style.”
“How stupid do you think I am?” Jackson asked. “With him dead, there’s no way we get our investment back.”
“My employer,” Jackson said. “That’s why I’m here looking for the coins. He had to have stashed them somewhere around here.”
“Well, I’m not going to help you look.”
Jackson barked out his next words. “Do you think that crazy innkeeper’s going to turn them over to either one of us when he finds them? He may be a hick, but I doubt that he’s that big a moron. I’m betting if we keep standing around here debating it, nobody’s going to make out but him.”
Alex shook his head at the words of derision aimed at him, and Elise patted his arm. He wanted to protest, but he knew it would be exactly the wrong thing to do.
“If I find them first, I’m keeping them all for myself,” Monique said.
“Good luck with that.”
“Finding them, or keeping them?” Monique asked. Alex could hear a taste of fear in her voice. She truly was frightened by Jackson’s presence, and he couldn’t blame her. The man seemed ruthless, willing to stop at nothing to get what he thought belonged to him.
“Both,” Jackson said.
“What if we worked together?” Monique asked, unable to keep the angst out of her voice. “How could I ever trust you?” she asked him, which Alex thought was a perfectly reasonable question.
“The same way I have to trust you, on faith,” Jackson said. “We’ll split what we find, right down the middle.
”
“I don’t know,” Monique said hesitantly.
“I don’t have all day, lady. What’s it going to be? Yes or no?”
“Yes,” she said. “Do you have a plan?”
“I’ve been thinking about breaking into the other building again, but I don’t want to get caught doing it this time. They nearly nailed me before. That’s where you come in.”
“I’m not some common thief,” she said.
“I’m not asking you to do anything illegal. Just keep the innkeeper and his maid occupied while I dig around some. I had to slip out the back window when they came over there snooping around the last time.”
“Do you think they found anything?” Monique asked.
“No, I doubt they even know what’s going on.”
“So, we’re splitting the coins,” she recounted. “And you’re going back to your employer with less than you are supposed to have. How can I believe you’re willing to settle for half of what you think is all rightfully yours?”
“Tony had more than coins,” Jackson said.
“What are you talking about?”
“He stole something else from my employer that’s more important than gold, and I mean to get it back.”
There was more than a hint of avarice in Monique’s voice as she asked, “What is it? Is it valuable?”
“Not to anyone but my boss. It’s just a slip of paper.”
Bingo. Alex and Mor had been right after all. The paper they’d found in the room where Tony had been murdered was tied into the case.
He just didn’t know how yet.
“I’m taking off,” Jackson said as he voice suddenly grew louder. “Just do your part and nobody has to get hurt.”
“No one else, you mean,” she said. “Tony’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Sure, if you’re counting him.”
Alex grabbed Elise’s hand and pulled her away. There was no way they could get across the grass and back to the inn before Jackson and Monique spotted them.
“Are we going to do this right now?” Monique asked.
Alex looked wildly around. There was only one choice. They had to go up if they didn’t want to be caught. Alex raced up the steps to the lighthouse, with Elise close behind him. As he opened the door, he could hear Jackson say faintly, “Not now. Tonight at nine, when no one else is around.”
