Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) (13 page)

And then there was his own brother. Alex had
been trying to avoid thinking of Tony as a suspect, but he was
going to have to face the possibility soon. Grilling his only
living relative didn’t appeal to him, but Alex had no choice. He
needed to know the truth, one way or another.

Alex was trying to catch up on some of the
work he’d been avoiding when Elise found him folding sheets in the
laundry room. “So there you are,” she said. “I’ve been looking all
over the inn for you.”

Alex said, “I really am sorry, I know I’ve
been an absentee innkeeper the last few days. It’s just been kind
of hectic, and I appreciate you stepping up.”

Elise said, “No, that’s not it. I told you
to take your time. I know you’ve got a lot going on right now.”

It was clear that there was something else
on Elise’s mind, but he didn’t have a clue what it could be, and
honestly, he was too tired to pursue it.

As Alex kept folding sheets, she said,
“Maybe we can talk later. There are a few things we need to
discuss.”

“
Absolutely.” He hesitated,
then said, “Could you let me

know when the caterers and the band get
here? I’d like them to set up out by the lighthouse. I checked the
weather forecast, and we should have a glorious night for it.”

Elise sobered suddenly. “Are you handling
everything all right? I know it has to be hard on you, losing your
uncle like that. I can’t even imagine the stress this party tonight
is adding to it.”

Alex admitted, “I’m not sure a bon voyage
party is the greatest idea I’ve ever heard of, but one thing’s
certain, Jase never did things halfway. This is what he wanted, so
we’re going to do our best to give it to him.” He felt himself
tearing up and fought the impulse. Alex was determined to mourn
Jase the way his uncle had wanted. It was the final gift he could
grant.

Elise stepped toward him, took the sheet
he’d just folded out of his hands, and said, “It’s okay to grieve
for him, Alex. If you’re not up to this celebration tonight, we can
still cancel it.”

Alex shook his head as he said, “I can’t
bring myself to go against Jase’s last request. I’ll say good-bye
any way he wanted me to.”

She hesitated a moment, then hugged him
fiercely. Alex was surprised by the display, but before he could
say a word, Elise said, “I should have offered you my comfort
earlier, but I just didn’t know if I had the right to do it. Alex,
when I saw Sandra do exactly the right thing by hugging you, I
wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Please forgive me for letting
you down when you needed me.”

Alex pulled away. “Hey, are you crying?”

“
No,” she said as she wiped
away the evidence of her lie. “Alex, I’m so sorry about Jase. I
didn’t know him long, but he always had a smile for me.”

He said, “Thanks; I truly do appreciate
that. I’m just beginning to realize how much I’m going to miss
him.” Alex squeezed her shoulder gently, then said, “Don’t ever
think

you let me down. You’ve always been here for
me when it counted, Elise.”

She started to say something more when Tony
walked in. He started to back away immediately. “Whoa. Sorry to
interrupt. I’ll talk to you later, Alex.”

“
That’s okay,” Elise said.
“I’ve got to finish cleaning room nine. Alex, we really should give
the rooms names instead of numbers. Just think how much more
impressive the Canawba Suite sounds than room nine.” Before Alex
could say a word, Elise added, “Just think about it, okay?” as she
wiped away the last of her tears.

She left without even glancing at Tony.

Once she was gone, his brother said, “Sorry.
I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“
She’s an employee and a
good friend, Tony, nothing more.”

Tony rubbed his chin, then said seriously,
“You should tell her that. I saw the look on that woman’s face,
Alex. She’s smitten with you.”

“
She has a fiancé,
Tony.”

“
Not for long, if I can
read the signs, and believe me, little Brother, that’s what I’m
best at.”

Alex said, “Was there something I could do
for you?”

Tony shrugged. “Okay, we won’t talk about
it. Alex, I want us both to go up to the top of the lighthouse and
rehearse the release of the ashes.”

“
I just figured we’d wing
it. Honestly Tony, I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

Tony said shortly, “Would it kill you to
spend half an hour with your brother?”

Alex stacked the last sheet he’d folded onto
the pile, then said, “Listen, I’m sorry; you’re right. I know you
lost your uncle, too. Let’s go.”

It was most likely the last thing the two
brothers would ever do together in the world, and Alex couldn’t
blame Tony for wanting them to do it right.

Chapter 12

They were all the way to the second window
inside the lighthouse when Tony said, “I dropped the slip of paper
with my lines on it for tonight. I’ll be back in a second.”

Alex said, “Can’t you just do your best from
memory?”

“
Alex, this is important to
me.”

Alex said, “Okay, I’ll go back down with you
and help look for it.”

Tony protested, “That’s okay, I’m sure I
dropped it at the door. You go on ahead, and I’ll be with you in a
minute.”

Alex said, “Fine by me,” as he moved up the
steps.

At least the place was deserted for their
rehearsal. Several townsfolk used the lighthouse as a StairMaster
with a twist, and Alex tried to climb the steps whenever he could
manage to get away himself. Unfortunately, running an inn didn’t
always give him enough free time to do that, though he did manage
to get in his walk to the mailbox and back almost every day, a
pretty long hike itself.

But there was nothing like being inside the
lighthouse.

He caressed the walls as he climbed, feeling
the coarse, cool texture as he ascended.

Alex got to the top and was relieved to find
the observation platform itself deserted. That was a little
unusual; normally, at least somebody was up there during the
afternoon.

As promised, Tony joined him a few minutes
later. Alex asked, “Did you have any luck finding your note?”

“
I had it in my pocket all
along,” he admitted sheepishly.

Alex looked down at the two buildings of the
inn, one the same as always and the other being reconstructed right
beside it. He said, “I figure we’ll pour his ashes out here. If
there’s any wind at all, they’ll spread out over half of Canawba
County.”

“
That’s fine,” Tony said.
He hesitated a moment, then added, “Alex, we need to
talk.”

Alex asked, “About what?” as he took in the
view he so cherished.

His brother said firmly, “It’s about Jase’s
money.”

“
What about it? You got
most of it, and the Preservation Society got the rest. It was nice
of you to offer to share your part, but I can’t take it. This is
how Jase wanted it, and I’m respecting his wishes to the
letter.”

Tony snapped, “I’m not trying to break his
will, I’m trying to give you a gift. Why can’t you take it? Are you
too proud to ask for help from your big brother?”

Alex said, “I honestly just want what Jase
wanted me to have. Would I have accepted a ton of money from him?
Absolutely. Am I happy with what he chose to leave me? You’d better
believe it. His books were the most important part of his life. In
a way, you got the short end of the stick, Tony.”

“
If I live to be a hundred,
I’ll never understand you,” Tony said, exasperation thick in his
voice.

“
I never claimed to be all
that easy to figure out,” Alex admitted.

Tony looked out at the view, taking in the
edges of the

Blue Ridge Mountains. After a period of
silence, he said, “I miss him, too, you know that, don’t you?”

“
He was the last bit of
family we had,” Alex agreed.

Tony nodded. “And then there were two. It’s
just you and me, Bro, the last of the Winstons.” He looked out into
the distance another minute or two, then said, “Thanks for coming
up here with me, but I know you’ve got a ton of work to do.”

“
Not a problem,” Alex said
as they went back inside the lighthouse. As the two brothers walked
down the stairs, Alex wrestled with the possibility that Tony could
have had anything to do with Jase’s death. It was hard to believe
that the man he’d just spoken to could have been capable of such a
brutal act. Alex felt guilty for even considering it, but even as
he chided himself for the thought, another voice whispered that
their trip up the lighthouse steps could have all been for show, a
way for Tony to make amends and ease his conscience about what he’d
done. No matter how much it troubled his heart, Alex had to admit
to himself that there was no reasonable way he could eliminate Tony
as one of his suspects.

Elise met them at the bottom of the
lighthouse.

Tony said, “Well, I’d love to hang around,
but I’m heading into town to look up a few old friends. I’m glad we
had the chance to talk, Alex.”

“
Me, too,” he said as he
brother headed for his car.

Elise waited until Tony was gone before she
told Alex, “The sheriff just called.”

Alex asked, “Has he made any progress on the
case?”

“
No, he wanted to know if
you needed crowd control tonight. I said you’d call him back later.
It sounds like most of Elkton Falls is coming out to the
inn.”

“
I never even thought about
all the people who loved Jase. Tell the sheriff to call Shantara
Robinson and get her

to round up her crew from the Golden Days
Fair. She’ll know what he means. No doubt Jase left a budget for
cleanup, too, knowing him.”

“
I’ll call him right away.”
Elise studied a sparkling new pendant watch pinned to her shirt,
then said, “The caterers should be here in ten minutes, and the
band will come along an hour later.”

Alex gestured to the watch. “Is that
new?”

“
Yes,” Elise said
simply.

“
From Peter?” Alex
asked.

Elise said, “No, he brought it to me from my
parents.”

“
Any reason in particular?”
he asked.

Elise mumbled something, and Alex said,
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“
Today is my birthday,”
Elise admitted.

Alex said, “I’m so sorry, Elise, I didn’t
know.” He added with a shake of his head, “You never exactly filled
out a formal application when you came to work for me.”

“
You had your hands full at
the time, if I remember it correctly.”

“
I usually do. Happy
birthday, Elise. I just wish we could have celebrated it under
better circumstances.”

“
Thanks, Alex.”

He said, “You know what? I think I’ll call
Armstrong myself. Why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off,
in honor of your birthday?”

“
I can’t do that to you,
Alex; you’ve got your hands full here.”

He said, “I won’t take no for an answer,
Elise. Think of it as my birthday present to you.”

Elise said, “To be honest with you, there’s
nowhere I’d rather spend my birthday than at Hatteras West.” The
smile spreading across her face was genuine. It was the part of her
that kept pulling him in, a joy in her words and heart that
attracted him to her. Okay, the fact that she was stunning didn’t
hurt, but Alex had long since looked past her outer beauty to find
the even lovelier woman just beneath the surface.

He’d have to make it up to her, missing her
birthday like that. Maybe when things settled down some, he could
take her out to dinner.

And then he remembered that all her evenings
would be taken, now that Peter Asheford was in Elkton Falls to
stay.

That evening, as the party started to gear
up, Alex saw Irene Wilkins hovering near the edge of the crowd. He
cut through the well-wishers and said, “Why don’t you come join
me?”

She had been crying, he could see that even
with the fading light of the day. “I can’t, Alex.”

“
Irene, you know you belong
here. Jase would have wanted you around.”

She shook her head. “I thought I could take
it, but it’s too painful. Forgive me,” she said as she hurried
away. Alex watched her go, sad that Jase’s farewell party had hit
her so hard. He’d have to find time to talk to her sometime in the
next few weeks to reassure her that he was thrilled she and Jase
had found a small corner of their lives to share with each
other.

Later, with the festivities in full gear,
Tony found Alex and said, “Okay, Bro, are we ready to get this
farewell started?”

Alex looked over to find his brother
standing nearby as he took in the crowds that had come to say
good-bye.

“
We might as well. Let me
go talk to the band.” A quartet from town had set up at the base of
the lighthouse under blinking white lights Vernum had strung up in
the trees. They looked like starlight up there, casting a gentle
glow over the festivities. Alex had to admit, it was a good
turnout, especially for a funeral. The buffet table was a hit, and
several couples were dancing under the real stars.

Shantara Robinson, a friend from town who
ran the general store, had asked Alex to dance, but he told her the
same thing he’d told Sandra; he was there to say good-bye to Jase.
Alex smiled grimly, wondering if he would have refused if Elise had
asked him. He’d only seen her a couple of times since the party had
started. Both times, she’d been standing close to Peter.

Alex approached the band, gave the
bandleader the signal they’d agreed on earlier, and they stopped as
soon as the song was over.