Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) (21 page)

“
Whenever you get the
chance then,” Alex said as he drifted back to the reservation
desk.

Cynthia said, “Are you going to just hover
there until we’re finished?”

Alex said, “Sorry,” then moved into his
office. Elise joined him a few minutes later. She said, “You’re not
going to believe this. Cynthia just ordered me out of the lobby
when she saw me waiting for you.”

“
She threw me out, too, and
I own the place. What do you think is going on out
there?”

“
I wish I knew. I can’t
stop thinking about Julie. I wonder how she’s doing?”

Alex pointed to the telephone. “Why don’t
you call the hospital and find out? I’d like to know myself.”

Elise scooted the phone over to him. “Would
you do it?”

Alex nodded, then looked up the number and
dialed. After a brief conversation with the information desk, he
hung up and said, “She’s in serious but stable condition, that’s
all they’d tell me.”

Elise said with a sigh, “At least she’s
still alive. That’s something. I’ve got an idea how we might find
out more about what’s going on over there.”

Elise took the phone and hit Redial, then
asked for Amy to be paged. After a moment, she asked again, then
had a brief conversation with the sculptor. The look of relief on
Elise’s face was apparent.

After she hung up, Elise said, “Amy just
talked to the doctor. It looks like Julie’s going to be all
right.”

“
Thanks to you,” Alex
said.

“
I seem to remember
somebody else there, too.”

Alex nodded. “Okay, we both did good. I’m
just glad we came along when we did. Let’s not mention the fire to
the Trasks yet. We might be able to use it.”

Without warning, Cynthia Shays-Trask burst
into Alex’s office. “What’s this I hear about your brother being
arrested for the attorney’s murder? Did he say what he did with the
will? I still don’t understand why he took it in the first place,
but we would greatly appreciate it if he would return the document
to us.”

Alex said, “I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken.
Tony didn’t kill Jase.”

Cynthia eyed him narrowly. “But he is
currently in jail for the crime, isn’t he?”

Elise said calmly, “He’s being questioned by
the police, but we’re certain he’s innocent.”

Cynthia patted Elise’s arm. “Of course you
are, dear.” She turned to Alex. “If it turns out to be otherwise, I
meant

what I said.” She looked at Alex a moment,
then added, “Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Elise took her cue beautifully “If you’ll
excuse me, I have work to do,” she said as she escaped, no doubt
off her search of Steven.

Alex gestured to the empty chair. “Please,
sit down.”

Cynthia said, “This won’t take long, will
it? I need to speak further with my son.”

“
Is there something wrong?”
Alex asked.

“
That faux daughter is not
going to steal my children’s inheritance. We’re working out our
strategy to stop her, and I think we’ve come up with
something.”

Alex blurted out, “Don’t you even care that
she’s in the hospital?” So much for keeping that information a
secret.

Cynthia’s gaze hardened. She fought to hide
the surprise on her face, but the mask slipped for just a moment.
She was hearing about the accident for the first time, as far as
Alex could tell. “What are you talking about?”

“
There was a fire at the
place she was staying. She was nearly killed.”

Cynthia stood. “But she survived.”

With some satisfaction, Alex said, “The
doctors say she’s going to be fine. Let me ask you something. Have
you considered the possibility that Julie really is Mathias’s
daughter, that she deserves to be included in the inheritance?”

“
My husband was many
things, Alex, but even he wasn’t scoundrel enough to pop this on us
without warning. I wouldn’t believe a DNA test at this point.
There’s something suspicious about this entire
scenario.”

She started to leave as Alex asked, “What do
you think was in the stolen will?”

“
How should I know? My
husband was famous for his erratic behavior his entire life. The
‘sound body and mind’ clause is enough to have the entire document
disputed, even if the will is found. One thing you may bank on: my
children will be provided for; I’ll make sure of that.” Cynthia
hesitated at the door, lost in her own thoughts. After a few
moments of silence, she added, “We won’t make any agreements with
this usurper. My children will not be denied what is rightfully
theirs.”

After Cynthia was gone, Alex stared at the
door after her departure. The woman was single-minded about
protecting what she thought of as rightly hers and her children’s.
He couldn’t help wondering if she would go so far as to try to use
a match and a can of gasoline to settle the dispute once and for
all.

Elise came in a few minutes later. “Well,
that was useless. Steven would barely talk to me. I could hardly
get a word out of him when his mother stormed out, accusing me of
browbeating her son. I hope you managed better than I did.”

Alex said, “I’m not sure.” He shared
Cynthia’s comments and his theory that she might have taken matters
into her own hands.

“
Alex, I have a hard time
believing she would go that far. We don’t even know how much money
Mathias left behind. How can we possibly know if it was enough to
kill for?”

Alex leaned back in his chair. “I don’t
think it matters all that much to Cynthia. I believe she considers
it a matter of principle.”

“
So where does that leave
us in our investigation?”

Alex stood. “There’s nothing we can do here
at the moment. Why don’t we head over to the hospital and see if
Julie saw something Amy might have missed. I particularly want to
ask her if she remembers hearing a car pull up, or if the arsonist
was on foot.”

“
Let’s go,” Elise
said.

“
Aren’t you worried about
our guests?” Alex said with a smile.

“
They can take care of
themselves,” she said.

They found Amy stationed just outside
Julie’s room. Someone had cleaned her face and tended to the cuts
on her hands where she’d tried to break out of the barn, but she
hadn’t changed clothes yet.

Elise said, “Amy, I didn’t even think about
what you’d wear. Can I run back to your house and get you something
to change into?”

“
It’s kind of you to offer,
but I’m fine.”

Alex asked, “Any news about Julie?”

“
The doctor’s in with her
now. Armstrong came by ten minutes ago. He wanted to know if we
heard or saw anything unusual before the fire.”

“
And did you?” Alex
asked.

“
No, neither one of us had
anything to tell him. It just kind of happened, do you know what I
mean? I was caught completely off guard.”

“
I can only imagine how
frightening it must have been for you two in that barn,” Elise
said.

Amy sighed, still hoarse from the smoke
she’d inhaled. “Do you want to know the truth? All I could think
about was that it was all my fault.”

Alex asked, “How can that possibly be
true?”

“
I knew Julie was in
danger. I should have been taking more precautions than I did to
protect her.”

Alex asked, “What are you talking
about?”

“
Come on, it sounds like
there is a ton of money at stake here, and people go crazy
sometimes when that much temptation is involved. What was I
thinking, trying to protect her all alone? I’ll never forgive
myself for what happened.”

Elise leaned over her and hugged Amy. “How
could you possibly know that some maniac would come after her? Amy,
you saved both your lives today, you know that, don’t you? If you
hadn’t covered yourselves with those soaked tarps, you’d both be
dead.”

Amy said, “What if it wasn’t enough? She’s
not completely out of danger yet.”

The door opened, and a doctor in a white lab
coat stepped out. He approached them and said, “Amy, are you all
right?”

“
I’m fine, Doctor. How is
she?”

“
Better, actually. I
increased her medication, and she’s sleeping now.”

“
When can we see her?” Alex
asked.

“
She’s not up for
visitors,” the doctor said. “Until and unless her family arrives,
I’m restricting her visitors to Amy at the moment.” He turned back
to the sculptor and added, “You can go back in, but don’t wake her.
She needs her sleep.”

“
I won’t say a word,” Amy
said as she slipped back inside.

Alex said, “How’s she really doing?”

“
May I ask your connection
with the patient?”

Elise said stiffly, “He pulled her out of
the burning barn. Doesn’t that give him the right to some
answers?”

The doctor nodded, a slight smile spreading
on his face. “Not officially, but it certainly does in my book. I
didn’t know. I believe Ms. Hart should recover completely, given
that she’s young and strong.” He turned back to Elise. “Amy told me
about you as well. Her description was flawless. I’m assuming you
were the one who administered CPR.”

“
I did,” she said
simply.

“
Nicely done. You saved her
life today, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

As the doctor walked away, Alex saw movement
down the corridor in the other direction. A masked male doctor was
hurrying away from them, and Alex wouldn’t have thought a thing out
of the ordinary if he hadn’t noticed the man’s shoes.

They were thick-soled boots, not the shoes
he’d expect from a doctor on duty at all.

Alex rushed down the corridor, but by the
time he turned the corner, whoever had been there was gone.

“
What was that all about?”
Elise asked as she caught up to him.

“
It’s not important,” Alex
answered. “My imagination must be on overtime.”

Elise said, “So where do we go from
here?”

Alex thought about it a moment, then said,
“I think it’s time we head back to the inn. I’ve got the germ of an
idea on how to get the real killer out into the open.”

“
What do you have in
mind?”

“
If I tell you now, you’ll
just try to talk me out of it,” Alex said with a slight
smile.

“
So it’s dangerous. Are you
going to at least tell Sheriff Armstrong what you’re up
to?”

“
He’d just try to stop me,
too.”

Elise looked at him solemnly. “If I promise
not to interfere, would you tell me then?”

Alex thought about it a moment, then said
with a grin, “Tell you what. Maybe you can even help, if you’re
interested.”

“
Count me in.”

Chapter 19

As they drove back to Hatteras West, Alex
explained his plan to Elise. “I’m going to spend some time going
through the boxes from Jase’s office. At just the right moment, I’m
going to find a copy of Mathias’s will.”

Elise protested, “But how can you do that?
Cynthia’s going to demand to see it.”

Alex said, “I’ll pretend to call Sandra,
then lock it up somewhere I can keep my eye on it. Then we’ll see
who comes after it.”

“
It sounds dangerous to me,
Alex.”

“
What choice do I have?
Armstrong’s not going to let Tony out, he doesn’t believe the arson
and murder are related, based on the phone conversation we had
earlier. I know better than anybody else how strong the evidence is
against my brother. That anonymous caller really got to
him.”

“
Alex, you believe me when
I say it wasn’t me, don’t you?”

He risked a quick glance at her. “Of course
I do. I just wish I knew how Armstrong got the information.”

“
You should try calling
Nadine again.”

Alex said, “You know I won’t carry a
cellular phone; I don’t want to be accessible all the time. It can
wait till we get back to the inn.”

He swung the truck up Point Road and saw the
parking lot in front of the inn sported all the cars in question.
“Looks like everybody’s here. Are you ready?”

“
I’m still not sure about
it, but I’ll do all I can to make it work.”

He patted her shoulder. ‘‘Don’t worry. It’s
going to be fine.”

After they were inside, Alex checked the
answering machine and saw he had one message. It was Mor. “Alex, we
need to talk. Fighting that fire really brought things to a head
for me. I’ve made my decision.”

When Alex tried to call his friend back at
Mor or Les, there was no answer at the handyman’s shop. Instead of
playing telephone tag and leaving a message, Alex hung up. His
friend would just have to wait.

The lobby was empty, so Alex made sure his
door was open as he and Elise started going through boxes. Elise
said softly, “Do you really think they’re going to buy this?”

“
It’s the only thing left I
can do,” Alex said. “We just have to wait a little longer, then
we’ll be able to start the show.”

Alex and Elise kept digging through the
boxes of books. At first, Alex thought he might have actually found
a single copy of the will serving double duty as a bookmark, but it
turned out to be a detailed letter from one of Jase’s clients
firing him. There was the oddest collection of documents Jase used
to mark his place from whatever was handy. It was a glimpse inside
his uncle’s life as he moved from book to book, more for the
flotsam and jetsam than from the actual reading material. Alex took
one legal-sized envelope and found a canceled Deed of Trust in it.
The envelope itself was blank, so Alex scrawled something mimicking
Jase’s handwriting on the front and showed it to Elise. “What do
you think?”