Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) (5 page)

Alex said, “It’s never let me down yet, and
my truck’s got real character.” He’d promised himself to do his
best to get along with Tony, no matter what.

Tony held up one hand. “Just kidding. I
haven’t seen old man Crassey in years. I guess he’ll be handling
the funeral arrangements. He’s the only man I ever knew who owned
six black suits.”

“
You haven’t heard? Jack’s
running the mortuary now, Tony.”

“
So the old man finally
retired and let his son take over. Did Crassey move to Florida like
he’d always threatened to?”

Alex shook his head sadly. “Nothing as happy
as all that. He died two years ago in a car wreck. I fired up the
Fresnel lens for him the night of the funeral just long enough to
keep from getting into trouble with the town council. A lot of the
older town residents still think of it as a sign of respect.”

“
It’s too bad the old guy
didn’t make it to live out his dream. I always liked him. Well,
here we are.”

They parked in front of Sandra’s law office,
a quaint old house with gingerbread trim and scalloped shingles
painted in Victorian hues. The building was right on Main Street,
down a block from Shantara’s General Store and across the road from
Irene’s beauty parlor. To Dye For was painted a bright shade of
neon blue, in stark contrast with Sandra’s more traditional color
choices.

Alex heard someone calling his name as he
got out of the BMW.

It was Sheriff Armstrong, just across the
street at the beautician’s. “Alex, got a minute? I need a word with
you.”

Alex turned to his brother. “Tony, why don’t
you go ahead and get started with Sandra. I’ll catch up with you in
a minute.”

After Tony disappeared inside Sandra’s
building, Alex walked over to Armstrong and asked, “Any leads on
Jase yet, Sheriff?”

To Alex’s surprise, he nodded. “Irene found
something odd, and she wanted you to have a look. She’s doing Mrs.
Grishaber’s perm right now. I know this isn’t the best time in the
world for you, but I could use a minute if you’ve got it to
spare.”

Alex knew he needed to be with Tony in
Sandra’s office, but what he wanted more than anything else was to
help find Jase’s killer.

Tony would just have to get along without
him.

“
I’m right behind
you.”

Chapter 5

Irene Wilkins was Elkton Falls’ crime scene
investigator as well as the owner of To Dye For, the biggest beauty
shop in town. Alex had been skeptical about her criminology
abilities until she’d taken top honors in a regional competition,
beating out several other, more experienced forensic
professionals.

The beauty shop was filled with the smell of
chemicals as Alex and the sheriff walked in. Irene said, “I’ll be
with you boys in a minute.”

Armstrong coughed into his handkerchief as
he said, “We’ll just wait outside, if it’s all the same to
you.”

Irene smiled. “You always were the sensitive
type, Ducky.”

As the two men walked back out into the
fresh air, Alex said, “So what’s this clue you want me to see?”

“
I’m not sure if it’s one
or not; that’s the whole point. But you know Irene, when she gets
something in her head, there’s no stopping her. Why don’t we wait
for her?”

Alex asked, “Do you have any real leads,
Sheriff? Any suspects at all?”

“
You know me, Alex, I
suspect everybody at first. There’s the entire Trask family to
start with: Ashley, Steven, and momma Cynthia. Any one of them
could have done it. Then there’s this mysterious daughter nobody
knew about until yesterday. To be honest with you, at the moment,
I’m leaning toward her, myself.”

Alex couldn’t imagine sweet Julie bashing
Jase’s head in, not after she’d cried in his arms at the top of the
lighthouse. But Alex was the first to admit that he wasn’t the most
objective person when it came to judging the women around him.

He asked, “Is there any reason in particular
you think she might have done it?”

“
That letter from Jase
bothers me, Alex. Where’s all this proof that she’s really his
daughter? I keep asking Sandra, but she won’t show me one shred of
evidence that’s convincing. Says she doesn’t want to show her hand
before she has to, and I can’t make her, not at this point,
anyway.”

“
Do you have a theory why
Julie would want to get her hands on the will?”

Armstrong hitched at his belt as he said,
“What if there was something in there that contradicted what she’s
been claiming? If she knew about it, she’d have every reason in the
world to want that particular document to disappear.”

“
But she just found out she
was Trask’s daughter a few weeks ago,” Alex protested.

“
So she says,” Armstrong
said as the beauty shop door opened.

Irene said, “Come on in, boys, I’ve got a
few minutes fore I have to get back to work.”

The beautician led them past the salon part
of the building back to her office. Irene had the oddest assortment
of paperweights on her desk he’d ever seen, from a pipe tipped with
red paint to a blue-steel revolver to a thin wire garrote.

Irene smiled broadly at Alex, though her
eyes were reddened. The chemicals she worked with must play havoc
with her senses. “Some collection, isn’t it? Don’t worry, none of
these were used for actual murders.” She added with a flourish, “at
least not that I know about.”

Alex asked, “What’s this clue I’m supposed
to look at?”

Irene went to her filing cabinet, opened the
bottom drawer and pulled out the torn edge of an envelope safely
ensconced in a clear plastic baggie. The jagged tear showed just
the tip of an Old English letter.

It was either a T or a J, as far as Alex
could tell.

“
What’s the significance of
it, Irene?” Alex asked as he flipped over the baggie holding the
scrap of paper to examine the pristine back side.

“
Well, it’s bound to mean
something. I found it in the right cuff of Jase’s pants. I’m
thinking it might have happened during a struggle in his
office.”

Armstrong asked, “You ever seen anything
like that before, Alex?” as he tapped the bag.

“
Not that I can recall. Do
you even know which letter it stands for?”

Irene blew her nose, then said, “The boys in
Raleigh are running a check for me; I faxed them a photocopy. Alex,
I searched that office floor on my hands and knees, but I couldn’t
find a single matching piece of the envelope it came from. My best
guess is the killer may have taken it with him.”

Alex asked the sheriff, “So you’re thinking
it’s a T and it stands for Trask?”

He shook his head. “Nope, I’m leaning toward
it being the tip of a J, and that would be Julie Hart. I’ve seen
women use their first-initial monogram before, Alex, and she had
motive enough.”

“
I just don’t see her as a
killer, Sheriff. You can’t afford not to look at the Trask family,
too.”

Armstrong patted his shoulder. “Alex, you
always did have a weakness for the ladies. They murder too, you
know.”

“
I just don’t think she did
it.”

Armstrong said, “Now, don’t go snooping
around into this, Alex. I’m on the case. I know how much you like
to investigate, but you’re too close to this. Trust me, I’ll find
out who killed your uncle.”

Alex started to say something, but Irene cut
him off. “Why don’t you two take this outside? I’ve got to get back
to Mrs. Grishaber.” She dabbed at her eyes again, and they took the
hint.

Armstrong and Alex walked out front again.
Tony was beckoning to him from the front steps of Sandra’s building
across the street, but before he left, Alex said, “At least talk to
the Trasks, Sheriff. They’ll be at the inn all week.”

Armstrong shrugged. “I’ll be out tomorrow
first thing in the morning. I can talk to them then. Any chance of
getting one of Elise’s famous omelets?”

“
You’ll have to ask her
yourself,” Alex said as he hurried across the street. He couldn’t
believe the sheriff was narrowing his focus in on just Julie. That
was his style: pick a suspect and go after them until he had enough
evidence for an arrest, or until he decided to move on. Alex was
certain the sheriff had agreed to interview the Trasks as much for
the hoped-for omelet as for possible clues in the case.

Well, Alex was just going to have to keep
giving him nudges in the right direction.

If only he knew which way that was.

Tony met Alex on the steps outside Sandra’s
office. As they walked into the waiting room together, Tony said,
“She’s on a long-distance telephone call, and her secretary just
stepped out,” as he gestured back to her office. “Did the sheriff
have anything worthwhile to say?”

Alex considered telling Tony about the torn
envelope, but without more information, there wasn’t any real way
to determine if it was even a clue. Besides, he didn’t want to put
himself in the position of defending the sheriff to his brother
again. “He’s working hard on the case,” Alex said.

“
Let’s hope he’s working
smart, too.”

Sandra came out a minute later and said,
“Sorry about that. Shall we begin?”

They followed Sandra into her office, and
Alex glanced at her diplomas proudly displayed on the wall next to
her desk. The entire room was decorated in Bob Timberlake
furniture, with a beautifully crafted desk and matching chair as
elegant as any found in New York City. There was a richness there,
a confident aroma of success in the place, that matched Sandra
perfectly.

Sandra picked up a document on top of her
desk, studied it a moment, then said, “This is all fairly
straightforward, gentlemen, but Jase wanted the reading of his will
executed as soon after his death as possible. Let me say again how
sad I am about this entire business.”

Tony said tersely, “Yes, I can understand
your displeasure when the people of Elkton Falls start killing
attorneys.”

“
That’s not what I meant at
all, Tony. Jase was a good man, someone I was proud to call a
friend of mine. In fact, we handled each other’s wills.”

“
Tony, will you let Sandra
do her job?” Alex remembered how he’d ended up dating Sandra
instead of Tony back in high school. She’d rebuffed his older
brother’s last-minute invitation to the prom, going with Alex
instead, since he had asked her first. There had been a wall
between Sandra and Tony ever since.

Alex and Sandra stopped dating after she
went off to college, not picking up again until a few years before
Elise first came to Elkton Falls.

Sandra took another lengthy document from
the folder on her desk as she said, “The arrangements for Jase’s
funeral are easy, in that there isn’t going to be one.”

Before Tony could protest, Sandra went on.
“Jase has gone into great detail about the farewell he wanted. His
final request was that you both scatter his ashes from the top of
the lighthouse one hour past sunset as the beacon rotates one
minute for every year of his life.” Sandra tapped another document
as she added, “Somehow Jase got the town council to approve it. I
still don’t know how he managed it; he must have called in every
marker he had.”

Alex found it incredible that his uncle had
managed the variance even then. Alex had been fined three times
over the past two years for turning the beacon on over and above
the once-a-year Lighthouse Lighting ceremony that had turned into a
festive event for folks from seven counties.

Sandra went on. “The scattering of the ashes
is to happen only after the executor, that’s me, spends quite a
considerable amount of cash on a farewell party, including
balloons, party hats, and streamers, as well as an extravagant
buffet and a dance band. Jase wanted to go out in style, and he’s
going to get exactly what he wanted. Is Monday night good for you
two?”

“
Monday night’s fine,” Alex
said, and Tony reluctantly agreed. The Hatteras West Inn was going
to host the oddest funeral Alex had ever heard of, but it was just
like Jase to go out with his own sense of humor at the
forefront.

As Tony gestured to the open document, he
said, “What about the rest of it? Are you going to finish reading
the will now?”

Alex said, “Come on, Tony, there’s no rush.
Why don’t we wait until after the funeral? We can’t really call it
that, can we, and I refuse to call it a party. Maybe send-off is
the best term for it.”

Sandra said, “I’m sorry, Alex, but Jase
wanted the entire will read as soon as possible, and seeing that
you two are the main parties mentioned with specific bequests, we
might as well go forward.”

She picked up the document again and began
to read aloud. “To my nephew Tony, who always valued money above
nearly everything else, I leave three-quarters of the bonds and
stocks in my estate.”

“
Just how much money are we
talking about here?” Tony asked.

Alex said, “Tony, is that really an
appropriate question right now?”

Alex’s brother didn’t look the least bit
fazed by the comment. “So money matters to me. Jase knew it; I’ve
never hidden it from anybody. After I’ve made my fortune, you’ll
still be stuck running a broken-down old inn.” He tapped Sandra’s
desk with his fingers. “So, how much do I get?”

Sandra frowned as she looked through a stack
of papers still in the folder. Finally she said, “As close as I can
figure it, you’ll be getting around one hundred thousand
dollars.”

Tony’s smile was substantial. “Good old
Uncle Jase. He understood me after all.”

Alex had been surprised by the revelation
that Tony would receive the lion’s share of the inheritance. He’d
always thought he and his uncle had shared a special bond. Alex was
more hurt that it hadn’t been an even split than upset over the
fact that his inn could have really used the healthy influx of
cash. Hatteras West would find a way to get by, no matter what. It
had to; it was his life.