Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) (22 page)

“
It either says, ‘Last Will
and Testament of Mathias Trask’ or it’s a party announcement for an
eleven-year-old girl named Emily Hannah.”

Alex smiled, “Good enough. We want to leave
things as vague as we can.”

Alex heard someone moving around on the
porch, then the front door opened. Cynthia and Steven walked in,
and Alex winked at Elise. “It’s show time.”

“
Here it is!” he shouted.
“I found it.”

“
Oh my goodness. What are
you going to do?” Elise asked in a like voice.

“
I’ve got to call Sandra.
It’s a legal document; she’ll know what to do with it.”

Alex pretended to dial the phone and watched
as Cynthia hurried toward them. As she reached the door, he said
into the dead telephone, “I found the will.”

After a pause, he added, “Can’t you come out
and get it now?”

Cynthia said, “What’s going on here?”

Alex held his hand up, then said, “I
understand. I’ll keep it safe out here and bring it to you in the
morning. Thanks.”

After he hung up, Cynthia spied the document
in his hand. “What have you got there?”

“
It’s Mathias’s will,” he
said proudly. “I found it in one of the boxes of Jase’s
things.”

“
Give it to me,” she
demanded as she tried to snatch the document out of his
hands.

“
I can’t,” Alex said,
moving away from her. Cynthia’s sharp nails clamped down on air,
but just barely. “Alex Winston, you are an innkeeper, not an
attorney. As a representative of my late husband’s estate, that
document belongs to me.”

Alex shook his head. “As much as I’d like to
oblige, Cynthia, Sandra instructed me to hold onto it until
tomorrow, and since she’s taken over Jase’s cases officially, she’s
the executor of Mathias’s will.” Alex didn’t know or care if he was
technically right; it sounded good and would mostly likely be
enough to satisfy Cynthia.

He was wrong.

“
I’m calling my own
attorney. I won’t tolerate this for one moment. Do you understand
me?”

Alex said, “Is the call long distance?”

“
Of course it is. Do you
think I would ever agree to use an attorney in this backward little
town?”

Alex said, “Sorry, then, you’ll have to use
the telephone in your room. It’s the only way I can bill it out
properly.”

Cynthia started to burn when Steven said,
“You want privacy anyway, don’t you, Mother? Why don’t you walk out
onto the porch? You can use my cell phone.”

She agreed and stormed off outside after
grabbing the telephone from her son’s hand. Alex hoped the attorney
was out of the office. He’d waited as long as he could, but there
was a chance his plan would be thwarted before it had time to work.
It would be embarrassing admitting that he’d lied, but if it helped
save Tony, it would be worth it.

Steven drifted upstairs, no doubt to avoid
his mother’s foul mood, and after they were both gone, Elise said,
“So what do we do now?”

He tapped the document with his finger.
“There’s nothing much we can do but wait.”

Half an hour later, Steven and Ashley came
downstairs together, with Ashley holding the urn full of their
father’s ashes. Cynthia had stormed upstairs long ago. Evidently,
her lawyer was already gone for day, just as Alex had hoped. Steven
was carrying the urn that held his father’s ashes. “Alex, do you
have a minute?”

“
I’m sorry, Steven, but I
can’t give you the will any more than I can turn it over to your
mother. Sandra’s instructions were firm.”

“
That’s not it at all,”
Ashley said. “Steven and I were so impressed with the ceremony
scattering your uncle’s ashes hat we wondered if we could do the
same with our father.”

“
I don’t know if I’m up to
another send-off, Ashley, and I know the town council won’t approve
a lighting so close to last night.”

Steven said, “We don’t want any of that. We
just wanted to make sure it was okay with you if we did it
ourselves at the top of the lighthouse, just the two of us.”

Elise said, “Don’t you want to ask your
mother to join you?”

“
No, she doesn’t have a
sentimental bone in her body,” Ashley said. “Steven and I want to
do this together.”

Alex looked at them intently, then said,
“Let me ask you this. If Julie’s truly his daughter, too, doesn’t
she have a right to be there as well?”

Ashley said, “Steven and I grew up with him.
She knows him through a single letter. Even if they share DNA, he’s
still not her father. Please.”

Elise said, “She’s got a point, Alex.”

“
Go ahead then,” Alex said.
“Put this sign up when you go in. Everyone around here will respect
it.” Alex dug through a drawer and pulled out a Lighthouse Closed
sign.

“
Thanks, we greatly
appreciate it,” Ashley said as an errant tear ran down her
cheek.

“
Are you all right?” Elise
asked her.

“
Excuse me,” Ashley said as
she hurried out of the room.

Steven lingered behind. “Ashley’s been
really feeling Dad’s absence lately. This is all too much for
her.”

“
Funny, she said the same
thing about you, Steven,” Alex said.

“
Sure, I was upset, but she
was his favorite, no matter what she says. I’d better get up there.
She shouldn’t be alone.”

After Steven was gone, Elise said, “So,
where’s your safekeeping spot?”

Alex moved over to his bed and pulled out
one of Jase’s books on hidden treasures from beneath it. It was the
volume he’d taken from his uncle’s desk in his office. “It’s kind
of appropriate we use this as a bookmark, don’t you think?”

As Alex opened the book to put the document
inside, a single sheet of stationery fluttered out. Alex retrieved
it, and as he read, his face went white.

“
What is it?” Elise asked
as Alex bolted for the door.

“
Call Armstrong, Elise. I
know who killed Jase, and if I don’t act fast enough, somebody else
is going to die.”

Alex heard voices above him as he raced up
the lighthouse stairs. He had to get to the top before something
happened! For one of the few times in his life, he cursed every one
of the 268 stairs that led to the top of the lighthouse. As he
raced upward, Alex’s heart pounded in his chest. Would he get there
in time, or would another victim be taken at the top of the
lighthouse he so loved?

No, he couldn’t let that happen.

Not again.

Chapter 20

“
Go ahead, Ashley, pour the
ashes out over the edge.”

“
Steven, you should help
me, too.”

“
Okay, I’m coming,” Steven
said as Alex burst through the door.

Ashley saw him and said, “We’d really rather
be alone right now, if you don’t mind.”

“
Yes, Alex, this is a
private ceremony,” Steven said in a hard voice. Alex saw he was two
steps from his sister as he said it.

“
That’s close enough,” Alex
said. “Ashley, move away from the railing.”

Steven saw the look on Alex’s face and knew
instantly he’d been discovered. Taking a bold step, he moved toward
his sister, pinning her against the narrow railing.

“
Steven! What are you
doing?”

“
Shut up, Sister dear.
You’re going to have a little accident up here.”

“
Have you lost your mind?”
Ashley yelled.

Steven put more pressure on her, and Alex
could see

Ashley beginning to go over. There was no
safety net below, and if she went off the side, it was a 200-foot
drop.

“
Are you going to push us
both over, Steven?” Alex said, stalling for time.

“
That’s exactly what I’m
going to do. You’re going to fall trying to save her. Sadly, I
couldn’t get to you in time,” Steven said. “Congratulations, Alex,
you’re going to die a hero.”

“
Why are you doing this?”
Ashley cried.

“
Stop your whimpering,”
Steven said. “Good old Alex finally found the will, so as soon as I
take care of you both, I’m going to go to his room and destroy it.
I just happen to know where Dad’s old will is. Mother keeps a copy
in her desk at home. She thinks it’s useless, can you believe that?
I slipped a look at it, and guess what? If either of us dies before
the will’s read, that share is gone, whether we have children of
our own or not. I tried to take care of Julie before it became an
issue, but she’ll just have to wait. I have to kill you now,
Ashley, before the old will is legally entered into the
record.”

Alex, trying to stall until Armstrong could
arrive, said, “Was your mother in on this as well? Did she help you
try to kill Amy and Julie?”

“
Mother?” Steven laughed.
“She doesn’t have it in her. I ditched her in town and drove back
to that barn by myself. If you hadn’t stumbled along, it would have
worked perfectly, too. Oh well, half the pie is better than a
third, as soon as I take care of my newly discovered sister. She’s
going to suffer from complications tonight, whether she knows it or
not.” He grinned slightly, then added, “As to the rest of Father’s
fortune, after today, I’ll be Mother’s only beneficiary. Who knows
what might happen to her then.”

Alex said desperately, “Steven, I didn’t
find a copy of the new will. I was just bluffing.” Alex paused a
moment, then added, “I did find the letter you wrote Jase, though.
That’s what you were looking for when you snatched the envelope,
wasn’t it? He must have stuffed it in the book on his desk just
before he died. You had to have had a good reason to believe that
your father had written you out of his will going in. Why?”

“
Somehow he found out about
my gambling all the way down in South America. I got a postcard
three weeks before he died telling me that I was no longer his son,
if you can believe that. I wrote to Jase, since he drafted the
earlier will, to see if it was true, but he called me, dismissed my
questions, and wouldn’t tell me a thing. That’s when I decided to
visit him in his office and put a little extra pressure on him. He
flaunted my letter at me, or at least the envelope I’d sent it in.
I reached for it, even had two fingers on it, but the old man hit
me with a book, can you believe it? By the time I got off the
ground, the letter was gone. All I found was the envelope. The
crafty old buzzard hid it in plain sight.”

“
Is that why you killed
him? Did you push Jase too far?”

“
He started for the safe,
and I knew in my heart the will had to be there. The second Jase
opened it, I tapped him on the back of the head with that
lighthouse paperweight. I wasn’t trying to kill him, but I guess
his old skull was a little too fragile. And then I couldn’t find
the blasted thing! The folder was empty,” Steven protested, easing
up on his grip on Ashley. “You’re bluffing, Alex. You really found
it, didn’t you? Lying now isn’t going to do you any
good.”

Alex heard a foot scraping on the edge of
the top stair, and he hoped it was Armstrong. Instead, out of the
comer of his eye he saw that it was Vernum!

And Alex suddenly knew why he was there.

He said, “That’s the thing, Steven. I’m
willing to bet that folder was always empty. There wasn’t any need
for a new will at all. It just wasn’t an issue. Come on out,
Vernum, this concerns you. Or should I call you Mathias?”

Alex held his breath, wondering if his leap
of deduction was correct. Too many things had added up for him to
deny it.

One look at Vernum’s face told Alex that
he’d guessed correctly.

“
Did Jase tell you?” was
all Mathias could say.

Alex said, “No, he’d never violate a trust.
It’s the only way things added up. Whenever I spotted you on the
grounds, you were near where your family was, even if it meant you
had to be around other people to be close to them. I found you
trimming shrubs you’d already tackled the day they arrived,
remember? It was out of character, and it made me suspicious. Then,
on the porch, I swear you were getting ready to tell me something
when Ashley came out. You admitted knowing Jase, and I couldn’t see
your paths crossing in that many ways until I realized that you’d
need an old friend to help pull this off, and I could easily see it
appealing to my uncle’s off beat sense of humor. Then when I found
an odd-looking stamp in the shed where you were sleeping, I
remembered Ashley talking about your stamp collection on the day
she arrived. As soon as I put it all together, it was the only way
your behavior made sense.”

Ashley said, “This can’t be true. Our father
is dead.”

Steven said, “Nice try, Alex, but I’m not
buying it either. He’s not Mathias Trask.”

Vernum said wearily, “I suspected you’d
doubt me. You both need proof? Steven, when you were nine you had a
crush on Lilly Taylor. You sold your bicycle to a friend in order
to buy her flowers, remember? And Ashley, when you were seven you
scraped your knee on a fence rail. Remember how you cried in my
lap? I gave you one of my rings to cheer you up, and you asked me
if you broke your arm would you get a new car, remember?”

Ashley said, “But you were so fat! And your
hair! Nothing’s the same about you.”

In a deep, rich tone, Vernum said, “Nothing?
Don’t you recognize my voice? I have changed rather dramatically,
haven’t I? I don’t miss carrying around all that extra weight, but
I must admit, I’m looking forward to being clean-shaven again.”

Ashley was ready to believe, but Steven
couldn’t. “So Cynthia told you all that family history. So
what?”