Ring for Murder (Lighthouse Inn Finale) (8 page)

“Why not?” Emma asked. “I thought you wanted
to solve your brother’s murder.”

“I do, but we got lucky. Our suspects found
us instead.”

Mor whistled softly. “Are you telling me
that they had the nerve to come back here, after what happened?
They have to know that they’ll be suspects in Tony’s murder. It had
to be something pretty compelling to get them here.”

Alex looked around just to be sure they were
alone. He still wasn’t satisfied, though. “Let’s go into my office
for a second.”

Mor and Emma looked puzzled by the request,
but they followed it nonetheless.

Once the door was safely closed behind them,
Alex unwrapped the bar of soap housing the first coin he’d found
and handed it to Mor. “Be careful. There may be fingerprints.”

“Gotcha,” Mor said. He studied the coin,
still encased in the soap, and then handed it to Emma as he said,
“I’m guessing you found this in the room were Tony was
murdered.”

“We did,” Elise replied.

“Is it real?” Mor asked.

Emma said, “Unless I miss my guess, it
appears to be off the Santa Angela shipwreck. Most folks believe it
was lost off the Florida Keys, but no one’s been able to find
it.”

“Until now,” Mor said.

Alex knew that Emma was an amateur
gemologist and generalized treasure hunter. Until he learned
otherwise, he was going to go with her theory. “So, do you think
it’s legitimate?”

“
I can’t say for sure
without running some tests. It would help if I could study the back
of it so I could get a closer look at what’s there.”

“Hang on a second,” Alex said as he had a
sudden thought. “Mor, how are you at counterfeiting?”

Mor got it instantly, a quickness that Alex
cherished about his friend. “How close does it have to be to pass
as legit?”

“As close as you can manage,” Alex said.

Mor thought about it, and then after a few
moments, he said, “I’ll need the real coin for the casting. I think
lead will do nicely, with some gold paint to make it look real.
Sorry if I mess up the fingerprints on it, but there’s really no
way around it.”

“You can use it,” Elise said. “It’s got to
be clean.”

“I’d hope so,” Mor said.

“Of fingerprints,” she added.

“Alex?” Mor asked.

“Go ahead.”

Mor took out his pocketknife, selected a
blade, and then pried the coin of the soap. “This will do just
fine,” he said as he hoisted the coin in his hand.

Emma reached out. “Let me see that.”

He did as he was told, and after a moment,
Emma said, “Don’t hold me to it, but I’m guessing this is the real
thing. How on earth did your brother get his hands on it?”

“I wish I could ask him,” Alex said.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Emma said. “I didn’t mean
anything by it.”

“Hang on. There’s more,” Alex said as he
pulled out the shower-cap bag and dumped the rest of the coins out
onto the washcloth sitting on the desk.

Mor whistled softly. “My, oh my.”

“Don’t get too excited. I have a hunch these
aren’t real. Emma, what do you think?”

“
Let me look,” Emma said.
She glanced around Alex’s office, found a cellophane wrapped
plastic cup, and removed it from its sleeve.

Putting her hand into the plastic, Emma
chose a coin from the washcloth cache, held it for a moment, barely
glanced at it, and then put it back in the pile, her expression
ever cryptic. She chose three more coins at random, barely glancing
at them as she did so, and then said, “They’re all fakes. How did
you know?”

“I’m betting my brother tried
double-crossing the wrong person,” Alex said. “Who knows where the
real coin came from, but he must have had the counterfeits made up
off them. I wonder how many copies he sold before he finally got
caught?”

Elise touched his shoulder. “Alex, I’m so
sorry.”

“I just wish I could say that I was
surprised,” Alex said. “Mor, how long to make the dummies?”

“Alex, I don’t mind doing it, but why not
just use these?”

“We might need them as evidence,” Alex said.
“I’d feel better if we used coins we make ourselves for bait.”

“Understood. If I bust my hump, I can have
them ready in about three hours.”

“It’s that easy?” Elise asked.

“I didn’t say that, but I’ve done it before,
not with coins, mind you, but the process is the same. I’m going to
do sand castings. They’re quick and dirty, and I can use my tools
to polish them right up. Piece of cake.”

Alex glanced at his watch. “If you don’t
mind, I’d appreciate it if you’d get right on it.”

“How about me?” Emma asked. “Do I have a
task as well?”

Alex knew that Emma was a whiz at
researching things on the Internet. “Dig into this coin’s history,
and the shipwreck you think it came off of. Find out what the
rumors are, if anyone’s claimed to have found it in the past.” He
nearly didn’t add the last bit on his mind, but there was no way he
could let that particular stone go unturned. “Do a search on my
brother, too. See what you can turn up.”

“Even if it’s bad news?” Emma asked. It was
clear the large woman was uncomfortable with the prospect of
digging up even more dirt on his brother.

“Make it as thorough as you can,” Alex said.
“We need to know what he’s been up to lately.”

“Got it,” Emma said.

“We meet back up here this afternoon, then,”
Alex said.

“What are you two going to be doing in the
meantime?” Mor asked.

“Two things,” Alex answered. “First, we’re
going to see what we can uncover about our guests, and second, we
need to come up with a plan on how best to use those coins you’ll
be making for us.”

Alex opened the door and followed his
friends outside.

“See you soon,” he said.

They waved as they got into their car and
drove away. “Where should we begin?” Elise asked.

“We need to put those counterfeit coins away
in our safe,” Alex said. “Real or not, they might be the evidence
we need to find Tony’s killer.”

Their female guest came down the steps just
after Emma and Mor left the inn. Alex approached her and said, “I’m
sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Alex Winston.” He
held out his hand, and she took it hesitantly. Alex felt a band-aid
on her hand in his grip, and he wondered if that was why she hadn’t
been eager to shake hands, or if it was because she’d been the one
who had killed his brother. Alex watched her face, searching for
some kind of reaction, but he didn’t see anything in her eyes to
betray the fact that she’d known his brother. She let go of his
hand and took a step back from him.

“I’m Monique Combs,” she said simply.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alex said. “What
brings you to our inn?”

Monique clearly didn’t care to answer that.
“Nothing more than a whim,” she said. “If it’s all the same to you,
I thought I’d take a stroll around the grounds.”

She tried to brush past them, but Alex took
a step and placed himself between her and the door. “How well did
you know my brother?”

“Your brother?”

Alex wasn’t buying the innocent routine.
Normally he was quite careful with his guests, but this woman
wasn’t here to take in the ambiance of the lighthouse or the inn.
“Tony Winston. He’s the man you slapped at my rehearsal dinner two
nights ago. Funny, but I didn’t remember inviting you to the
event.”

“That’s because you didn’t,” Monique said a
little petulantly. “Tony did.”

Whether that was true or not, there was
really no way of proving it, since Alex couldn’t exactly ask his
brother to confirm it.

Elise said, “You had an odd way of thanking
him for the invitation. Everyone at our party saw you slap
him.”

Alex added, “You looked mad enough to kill
him.”

She laughed off the accusation. “Okay, if
you want to talk about it, we’ll talk about it. Tony and I had a
great many highs and lows in our relationship. It was nothing for
us to argue one minute and fall into bed together the next.”

“You don’t seem all that torn up by his
murder,” Alex said, a touch of anger leaking through into his
voice.

“We all mourn in different ways, don’t we?
Tony told me often about this place, growing up here with you. I
won’t be in Elkton Falls ever again, so I wanted to experience a
little of what he told me about firsthand.”

Alex didn’t believe her, and everything she
said from that point on would be carefully tested and weighed. Tony
had hated the lighthouse and the inn growing up. He hadn’t been
able to wait to get away, and there was no way Alex would ever
believe his brother would look back on his childhood with anything
even approaching nostalgia.

“How did you two meet?” Elise asked.

“It’s really not something I care to
discuss,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I really do need some
air.”

Monique swept out of there, and Elise looked
at Alex. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drive her off.”

“Don’t blame yourself. She couldn’t wait to
get out of here,” Alex said. “I wouldn’t believe the lighthouse was
outside our door if she told me. I’d have to go out and check it
myself.”

“What do you think she’s lying about, Tony,
their relationship, or what?”

“Everything,” Alex said. “My brother hated
it here. There’s no way he’d ever speak fondly of it. Of that I’m
certain.”

“Could he have changed in the years since he
was away from it?” Elise asked.

Alex loved her for the thought, and that she
was always looking for the silver lining to any cloud. “No. It took
everything I could do to get him here for our wedding, and if he
hadn’t thought of scamming me out of money, I doubt he would have
come back even for that.”

Elise took his words on faith. “Then we need
to uncover her real story.”

Alex nodded. “There’s only one way to do
that. It’s time to violate her privacy. You don’t have to come with
me, if you’re not comfortable with that.”

“She lied to us. As far as I’m concerned,
she forfeited any rights she had. Besides,” she added with a smile,
“we’re innkeepers. It’s our duty to make sure our guests are well
taken care of. I believe Monique needs more towels than I put in
her room earlier.”

“Then we really should remedy that,” Alex
said, matching her smile.

They started for her room upstairs, and
Elise paused at the linen closet. As she grabbed more towels, she
said, “Just in case she comes back.”

“I believe we’ll have a harder time
explaining why it took two innkeepers to deliver them.”

Elise shrugged. “I’ll tell her you were
supervising me.”

He kissed her, and then asked, “Is that what
we’re calling it now?”

“Work now, play later,” Elise said.

The two of them stepped inside, and were
immediately taken aback. Monique had been in the room less than two
hours, but it looked as though a hurricane had hit it. Clothes were
scattered everywhere, the quilt Alex’s mother had made was
haphazardly thrown on the floor, and the faucet in the bathroom had
been left on, leaving a stream of water running down the drain.

Alex immediately shut it off. “She’s quite
the whirlwind, isn’t she?”

“More like a slob,” Elise said. “How can
anyone live like this?” She started to straighten up, but Alex took
her hand.

“We’re not here to clean up,” he said. “Look
for clues.”

“Anything in particular?” she asked.

“Just something that doesn’t match what we
know so far.”

Elise nodded, and as she began to search,
Alex helped.

He found a large black handbag tucked under
one pillow, and as he pulled it out, he handed it to Elise. “Look
at this.”

“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.