by Tim Myers
Dutch shook his head. “You could walk it, but there’s nothing there until you hit the big bridge, and that’s a dozen miles away, assuming there aren’t any more wash outs along the way. No, I’m afraid we’re stuck here until the plows come and open the road.”
“When might that be?” Elise asked.
“It might be today,” he said, and Alex saw several smiles, but then Dutch added, “But I sincerely doubt it. We’ll be lucky if they get to us by tomorrow.”
“And if we’re not lucky?” John Morrison asked.
“Three days, max. In the meantime, I suggest you folks do your best to enjoy your stay.”
“That’s kind of hard to do, what with the body and all,” Jackson Benning said.
“Body? What body?” It was pretty clear this was news to Dutch, and Alex realized that he hadn’t heard the news yet.
“One of our guests died sometime last night,” Alex said simply.
Elizabeth coughed. “That’s hardly the proper way of describing it, Alex. You make it sound like it was from natural causes.”
“It wasn’t?” Dutch asked, clearly still having trouble wrapping his head around the concept.
“Someone used one of the small cast-iron lighthouses on him,” Elizabeth said. “Or so I’ve heard. I haven’t seen the body myself. No one but Alex has.”
“Are you sure he’s dead?” Dutch asked.
“No doubt about it,” Alex volunteered. “He was cold to the touch.”
Alex expected that to be accepted, but he was in for a rude surprise. “So you say. I want to see him for myself,” Elizabeth said.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Alex replied.
“Why not? My sister has a point,” John answered.
“We all have a right to see him,” Jackson added.
Alex was about to have a riot on his hands if he didn’t do something, and fast. “People, I’m sure the police won’t appreciate us messing up their crime scene.”
“Maybe not, but they’re not here, are they?” Dutch said.
“You’re actually with them on this?” Alex asked.
“If it’s murder, we all have a right to see it for ourselves,” Dutch said stubbornly.
“It might be my right, but if it’s all the same to you all, I believe that I’ll pass on the opportunity,” Michelle said.
“I won’t,” her husband replied. “Come on, Alex. Either you let us in with the key, or we’ll break the door down. You don’t have a right to keep this from us.”
Alex was about to protest further when Elise touched his arm lightly. “Alex, can I speak with you a second?”
It was a reprieve, at least for the moment. “I’ll be right back,” he told them as he and Elise walked out onto the porch.
“Alex, you need to let them see for themselves, or they’re going to break that door down. Did you hear the panic in those voices?”
“Elise, you know as well as I do that we could contaminate the crime scene if I open that door, and a killer could go free because of what I did. I’m not sure I can have that on my conscience.”
“Alex, that’s one thing I love about you, but you sensed the mood in there just as much as I did. If you don’t let them in, things could get ugly, and fast. At least this way you get to control the situation. Isn’t that better than nothing?”
“I suppose you’re right,” Alex said. He could see Elise’s point, but he still thought it was a bad idea. He was about to tell her that when the entire contingency of their guests came outside. “What’s it going to be, Alex? Are you letting us in, or are we going to force our way in ourselves?” Jackson asked.
“I’ll unlock the door,” Alex agreed.
“That’s more like it,” Elizabeth said.
Jackson started to walk with them when he noticed that Michelle wasn’t coming. “Let’s go. I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”
“She can stay with me,” Elise answered. “I’ve got to throw some sandwiches together for lunch, and I could use an extra set of hands.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be much help,” Michelle said. “I was never really very good around the kitchen.”
“Then I’ll be glad for the company. You can sit on a stool and we can have a nice long chat.”
She nodded, and Jackson just shrugged. “Suit yourself, Michelle. Let’s go, Winston.”
Alex reluctantly stepped out in front of the crowd and made his way to Brown’s cottage. It was pretty clear that Elise had been right.
If he didn’t give in, they’d do what they wanted to anyway.
Alex felt his hands tremble a little as he started to put the key into the lock of the cottage door. Before he turned it, though, he looked back at his guests. “No one touches anything. Is that understood?”
“Just open the door,” Jackson said. It was clear that he would make no such promise.
Alex knew he was fighting a losing battle. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. For a fleeting moment, he was afraid that the body was gone, but it was exactly as he’d left it that morning, an event that seemed like years before.
Greg Morrison, upon seeing the body, immediately pivoted and ran toward the beach. He made it a dozen steps before he fell to his knees and began to vomit in the sand.
Elizabeth looked at her brother with distaste. “He always was the weak one among us.” She turned back to the body, and then said, “We can’t see his face. Turn him over.”
“What?” Alex asked incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I haven’t seen his face,” Elizabeth explained. “He managed to hide it last night even as he was fleeing the dining room. John, did you get a clear look at him?”
“No,” her brother admitted.
She turned to Jackson Benning. “And you?”
“No, I never saw him.”
“Then we must get a look at him,” Elizabeth said. “If you’re squeamish, I’ll do it myself. I was a mortician’s assistant for two years. I’m not afraid to handle a dead body.”
He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I still say that we shouldn’t touch him.”
“Nonsense,” Elizabeth said as she stepped past Alex before he could react.
“Don’t,” Alex commanded, an order that was quickly ignored.
She flipped him over, and then looked down at the body. Alex wasn’t certain what reaction he was expecting, but the slight nod she gave wasn’t even on the list. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Do you know him?”
She frowned, and then shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not.”
Alex was about to ask the other three men standing there when he spotted the drained expression on Jackson Benning’s face.
“You recognize him, don’t you?”
Jackson nodded once. “I sure do. That’s the man who’s been following us.”
Chapter 6
“Following you? What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“He’s been tailing us for three days. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but now I’m not so sure. What could he possibly want with us?”
“Maybe we should ask Michelle,” Alex suggested.
Jackson shook his head as he frowned. “I’m not making her look at a dead body.”
“No problem. I’ll take a picture of him with my phone,” John said as he took out his cell phone. He took a quick snapshot, and then said, “At least it’s good for something, even if we can’t call out on it. We can show her this, and that way she doesn’t have to see the body itself.”
“But that still doesn’t answer who he is, or was, actually,” Elizabeth said. “We should search his pockets and see if we can find anything there.”
“That’s way over the line,” Alex said, feeling the situation slipping faster and faster through his fingers like dry sand.
“I don’t think it’s inappropriate at all,” Elizabeth said as she patted him down. “Odd. There’s nothing here.”
She looked at the dresser,
and then quickly opened the drawers. The only thing she found was a single car key, and the cottage’s key on its lighthouse chain.
“He has no wallet, no ID, and no cash. How did he pay you?” she asked Alex.
“Cash,” Alex admitted.
“And you didn’t ask for identification?” Jackson asked.
That sounded too much like an accusation for Alex’s taste. “No, cash still works here.”
“Maybe there’s something in his car,” John suggested.
“Let’s go see,” Elizabeth said, clearly done with the body. As she stepped away, Alex noticed that she slipped something into her pocket.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw that,” Alex insisted. “You took something and put it in your pocket.”
“I did not!” she protested. “I don’t appreciate you calling me a thief!”
John bristled. “My sister is many things, but she doesn’t steal.”
Alex wasn’t about to back down, though. “I don’t care what you say. I saw it.”
“You’re imagining things,” Elizabeth said. She reached into her pockets and pulled the lining out, showing that there was nothing there.
“Satisfied?”
“How about your hands? You could have easily palmed whatever you took.”
“This is ridiculous,” Elizabeth said.
She tried to bully her way out of it, but Alex wouldn’t budge.
“I want to see your hands,” he repeated, wondering if the next thing he was going to feel was a blow from behind.
Elizabeth appeared to consider pushing past him, but finally, she sighed and opened her hands. There was a pack of matches there.
“Satisfied? I promised my brothers I’d quit smoking, but stress brings the craving out in me. I have a single cigarette in my luggage, but no way to light it. I saw the matches, and I took them.”
“Elizabeth,” John said accusingly.
“Forgive me,” she said.
Alex held out a hand. “I want to see that pack myself.”
“You’ve gotten paranoid all of a sudden,” Elizabeth said.
Jackson, for a change of pace, was on Alex’s side. “What’s the harm in showing him, then? I wouldn’t mind seeing them myself.”
Elizabeth handed the pack over, and Alex flipped the cover open. There wasn’t anything obvious at first, and he was about to hand them back to her when he noticed that there was writing on the side covered by the matches. Only a handful of discarded matches revealed that anything was written there at all.
Printed in all capitals, Alex read: ‘M w/ B. M 2?’
What on earth could that mean?
Alex read the letters aloud, and Elizabeth reached for the book of matches when he finished. Alex had a hunch that if he gave the pack to her, he’d never see it again. Instead, he carefully tore the cover off, leaving the striking strip and matches intact, but keeping the penned note for himself. “There you go.”
She didn’t look happy about his action, but there was really nothing she could do about it.
As they all walked out of the cottage, Alex asked, “Are you just going to leave him like that? At least flip him back over the way we found him.”
Elizabeth shrugged, and then reached down with one hand and flipped Brown back in the position where Alex had first discovered him.
They were to the rental car when Elizabeth flipped the keys to her brother Greg, now recovered from his queasiness. “Feeling better?” she asked.
He merely nodded.”
“Good. You need to check out Brown’s car.”
“What are we looking for?” Greg asked.
“A clue would be nice.”
“To what?”
“His identity, why he was murdered, take your pick,” Jackson said.
Greg nodded as he unlocked the car. Alex had lost complete control over the group, and all he could do now was stand close and see if they found anything. Greg opened every door, so at least they could all watch as he went over the car from top to bottom.
“He’s a fanatic about automobiles,” Elizabeth explained. “If there’s anything there, Greg will find it.”
After a brief but thorough search, Greg stood and said, “There’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?” Jackson asked.
“Not even a rental agreement in the glove compartment. Somebody must have gotten to it before we did.”
“Maybe the killer cleaned it out,” Jackson said.
“Why would he steal a rental agreement?” Alex asked.
“We don’t know who Brown really is, do we? I’d say that if that was the murderer’s goal, they succeeded, wouldn’t you?”
“But how did they know we wouldn’t be able to just call the police? There have to be records kept with the car company. It can’t be that hard to find out.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t kill Brown until after the storm, when he knew he’d be safe for the moment.”
“Or she,” Jackson added.
“Are you accusing me of something?” she asked harshly, turning on him.
“I’m just saying, we’re all suspects here.”
“Including your wife,” Elizabeth said.
“And your brothers,” he countered.
“Don’t forget the inn staff,” Elizabeth said. “Any one of them could just as easily have done it.”
Alex had heard enough of that. It wasn’t the first time he’d ever been named as a murder suspect, but that still didn’t mean he had to like it. “We’re not getting anywhere debating who might be guilty. Let’s lock the car up, take the keys into the main building, and see if Michelle has ever seen the man before.”
“I told you before, he was following us,” Jackson said.
“I’d like to hear her say that as well,” Elizabeth replied. “We all would.”
“Fine, show her the picture,” Jackson said, clearly disgusted with the idea.
They all walked into the kitchen, and Jackson said to Michelle, “You need to do this, no matter how unpleasant it is.”
“Do what?” she asked, clearly disturbed by his words.
“Don’t say another word, Jackson.” Greg showed the picture to her and asked, “Have you seen this man before?”
Michelle glanced at the image, and then looked quickly away.
“No,” she said.
Jackson’s voice was more urgent now. “Look again, Michelle. This is important.”
“I don’t want to,” she said plaintively.
“Leave her alone,” Elise said.
Alex touched her arm. “Elise, this is necessary. I’m sorry, but we wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
She seemed to take that in, and then said, “I’ll look first, then.”
Greg pointed the telephone toward her.
Elise nodded and then said, “That’s the man who checked in as Mr. Brown.”
Michelle looked at the image again, and then a puzzled look crossed her face. “I was wrong. I have seen him before.”
“Here at the inn?” Alex asked, despite the dirty look Jackson shot her.
“No, he’s the man who’s been following us, right Jackson?”
Her husband pushed the phone away. “I told them, but they wouldn’t believe me. Sorry to put you through that.”
Michelle asked, “What’s going on? Who was he? Why was he here?”
“We’re not sure,” Jackson said.
Elizabeth added, “There was no identification on him. Anywhere.”
“That’s crazy,” Elise said. “He paid us yesterday.”
“That was in cash,” Alex reminded her.
“Don’t you remember? He took the money from his wallet. I saw him do it.”
Alex frowned. “I didn’t see that.”
“You were getting his registration form ready,” she said. “I know what I saw. It was brown leather, and it looked really old.”
“Then where is it
?” Jackson asked her.
“How should I know? All I know is that he had it on him yesterday.”
Dutch said, “Hang on a second.” He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out an old wallet. “Is this it?”
Elise nodded. “Where did you get that?”
“Off the body after you killed him?” Elizabeth asked pointedly.
Dutch shook his head. “It was in the surf. I found it when I was looking for a way out of here. It was washed up on the beach, so I picked it up.”
Alex asked, “May I see it?”
Dutch nodded. “Sure. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
Alex took the wallet and felt the dampness in it. One whiff was enough to tell him that it had been in the ocean, at least for a brief time. That helped Dutch’s story, unless he’d been the one to dunk it into the waves himself. Alex hated being suspicious of everyone, but he really had no choice. There was a murderer amongst them, and he couldn’t drop his guard, not even for a second.
The first thing Alex did was open the wallet to look for bills.
It was empty.
He held it up to Dutch. “Was there any cash here when you found it?”
“What are you accusing me of, Alex? I know some people might judge me by the way I look, but I’m not a thief.”
“Take it easy,” Alex said. “I’m just trying to get some information.”
Dutch frowned. “It was empty when I found it. There’s a driver’s license and a few business cards in there, but there wasn’t any money.”
Alex nodded, but it was clear that some of the people gathered in the kitchen didn’t believe Dutch’s story, especially given the way he looked. He’d never be mistaken for a banker or a lawyer, or in fact, anyone currently holding a job. The man looked like a drifter, though he’d come highly recommended by Harry and Barbara. Until Alex knew otherwise, he wasn’t going to condemn him. Alex flipped open the section with the driver’s license, and saw that it was from North Carolina, with a Charlotte address. Brown was clearly a long way from home, nearly as far as Alex and Elise were from their lighthouse.
“What’s his name?” Jackson asked, trying to see for himself.
“Steve Danvers,” Alex replied as he read it off the license. “Does that name ring any bells to any of you?”
