Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) Read online

  “I still can’t believe it,” Alex said haltingly.

  Armstrong coughed once, then said, “I hate to do this right now, Alex, but I have to ask you something. Is there a Trask family staying with you?”

  “They’re over there,” he said softly. “Jase was on his way out to talk to them. Do you think one of them might have had something to do with his murder?”

  The sheriff ignored his question and walked over to the group.

  Armstrong approached Cynthia and said, “Ma’am, are you Cynthia Trask?”

  “Cynthia Shays-Trask,” she corrected him. “What can I do for you, Officer?”

  “It’s Sheriff, ma’am. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. Jase Winston isn’t going to be able to make his appointment with you today.”

  “Why not?” Ashley demanded.

  Armstrong explained to the family, “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you folks this, but Jase Winston is dead.”

  Cynthia said, “What do you mean, he’s dead? Who could possibly have a reason to kill an old country lawyer?”

  “Now, I never said anything about murder,” Armstrong said calmly.

  Cynthia was unruffled by the intensity of his stare. “So he died from heart failure. He’s still dead, isn’t he?”

  Alex fought the urge to strangle her.

  Armstrong said, “No, as a matter of fact it was murder, but I’m curious to know why you jumped to that particular conclusion.”

  “Sheriff, I live in a large city. When I hear someone has died, my mind jumps naturally to murder.”

  Steven asked, “Have you caught the killer?”

  “Not yet,” Armstrong admitted.

  Ashley said, “I’m assuming you’re not out here on a courtesy call. Sheriff, what exactly does this have to do with us?”

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d be able to tell me. The safe in his office was standing wide open, but as far as his secretary can tell, there’s only one thing missing. She found an empty folder inside with the heading. ‘The Last Will and Testament of Mathias Trask.’”

  At that moment, Cynthia Shays-Trask fainted dead away.

  Ashley cradled her mother’s head in her lap. The matriarch quickly came around from her faint.

  “Mother, are you all right?” Steven asked softly.

  “I’m fine, Steven, it was just the shock of hearing the horrid news.”

  She hadn’t fainted when she’d found out Jase was dead, Alex thought bitterly; it was the fact that the will was missing that had made her swoon.

  Elise said, “Maybe you should drink this,” as she offered Cynthia a glass of water.

  After taking a healthy swallow, Cynthia said, “That’s much better. Thank you, my dear.” She turned to Armstrong and asked, “Now, why in the world would anyone want a copy of Mathias’s will?”

  “It’s more serious than you think. Seems it was the only copy there was.” Armstrong looked at the people gathered in the lobby and asked, “Would you all mind telling me where you were between six and nine this morning?”

  Ashley exploded, “Do you mean to tell me we’re suspects?

  You’re out of your mind, Sheriff. Do you honestly believe any of us would kill a stranger for our father’s will?”

  “The way I figure it, one of you didn’t like the contents of that new will. I’m sure the thief didn’t mean to kill old Jase, but it happened. If Mathias wrote one of you out of the will, I’m betting you figured a little cut of the pie was better than nothing at all. That’s probably what’s going to happen if this will doesn’t turn up; most likely his worldly goods will get split up between the three of you. Now, one at a time, I need to know where you were.”

  Steven said, “Back up a second, Sheriff. We didn’t know there was a will involving us until last week, or even that there was anything my father had that was worth leaving to any of us. How in the world could we have learned the contents of it in that short a time?”

  Armstrong said, “Now, how can you prove something you didn’t know? I’ve got just your word for it that your dad didn’t have contact with any of you all along.”

  “All we got were postcards once a year, and they were always addressed to Mother,” Steven said.

  Armstrong shrugged. “I still need to know where you all were this morning.”

  Cynthia regained enough of her composure to say, “I’m afraid we won’t be answering any of your questions until we consult with our attorney, Sheriff.”

  Armstrong said, “Unless you’ve got a Ouija board, I don’t think you’re going to have much luck doing that.”

  “We’ll find new representation in Charlotte,” Cynthia said stiffly.

  Steven said, “I’m going to call Sandra Beckett. She’ll know what to do.”

  Ashley said, “Honestly, Steven, do you think your old girlfriend is up to it?”

  “She was never my girlfriend, Ashley; we just went to college together. Sandra’s the only top-notch attorney I know anywhere near Elkton Falls, and I doubt we’re going to get a decent lawyer from Charlotte willing to come up here. If Sandra isn’t acceptable, do you have a better idea?” It was more of a challenge than a question.

  “Just make the call,” Cynthia said. “Let me meet her first, and then we’ll decide.”

  As Steven went off to make the call, Alex still couldn’t believe it. Jase was gone. And it wasn’t the quiet, peaceful death he’d deserved, either. Alex realized long ago that Jase wouldn’t be around forever, but losing him to murder was too much. Alex stood there in the lobby in a daze, Elise close by, not talking but giving him space and time to get used to the fact that his uncle was gone.

  After Steven finished his call, the threesome sat with Sheriff Armstrong until Sandra came in fifteen minutes later, along with a young woman in her early twenties Alex didn’t recognize.

  Sandra ignored the family and walked straight to Alex. She wrapped her arms around him and said, “Alex, I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved your uncle.”

  “Thanks,” he said as he returned her embrace. Elise had stayed close, but what he’d truly needed was a hug. He just hadn’t realized it until Sandra had put her arms around him. They had dated for quite some time, but it turned out that Sandra was a much better friend than girlfriend.

  When he and Sandra broke free, Alex noticed that Elise hadn’t moved an inch away from him.

  Sandra turned to the group and said, “Hello, Steven. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Thanks for coming,” Steven said.

  “I’m afraid there’s a problem. I won’t be able to represent you in this matter. I’ve got a conflict of interest.”

  “What are you talking about, Sandra?” Steven asked.

  Sandra motioned to the young woman with her and said, “I was supposed to meet with Jase this morning before he came out here to read the will.” She gestured toward the woman, then said, “There’s no easy way to say this. Everyone, I’d like you all to meet Julie Hart. She’s Mathias’s other daughter.”

  “That’s absurd,” Cynthia said as she scowled at the young woman. “Mathias Trask had only one daughter.”

  Julie looked as if she might cry, but she kept her bottom lip steady as she said, “I only just found out myself. I’m still having a hard time believing it.”

  Ashley said, “It’s obvious she’s a fake. Why, she doesn’t look like any of us.”

  Julie said simply, “I favor my mother.”

  Steven asked, “Is it true, then? Are you really our sister?”

  Sandra stepped in. “It appears so. A few weeks ago, Julie received a letter from Mathias’s business manager in South America. There was an explanation in the packet, then a message from Mathias himself. There was no doubt in Mathias Trask’s mind she was his true daughter, and he promised to treat her as such, in writing.”

  Cynthia scoffed. “A letter from a dead man will not stand up in court. We’ll have DNA tests run! She’ll get nothing. I’ll make sure of that.”
>
  Sandra grinned. “Oh, I think she has a very good chance of inheriting her share, Cynthia. With Mathias’s declaration, a DNA test isn’t necessary. He wanted her to have a full share in his will, regardless of her parentage, and she’s going to get everything she deserves. That’s why I’m here, to make certain that happens.”

  Steven said, “I can’t believe you’d take her case against me, Sandra. I thought we were friends.”

  Sandra said softly, “I’m sorry, Steven, but I’m friends with most of Elkton Falls. I can’t turn my back on a client in need.”

  Ashley said defiantly, “There’s more at issue here than a case of hurt feelings. We won’t stand for this. Do you understand?”

  Julie started to say something, but Sandra put a hand on her arm and said, “It wasn’t exactly the warm embrace my client was hoping for. We’ll see you in court.”

  Sandra started to leave, but Julie lingered. Though her voice quivered, there was steel in her words. “I didn’t do this on purpose. I’m just respecting my father’s last wish.”

  “Whoever he may be,” Cynthia said with cold dismissal in her voice.

  Alex had watched the exchange as if he were seeing it through someone else’s eyes. His own part of the tragedy was just starting to sink in. Nothing would be the same with Jase gone.

  After Sandra and Julie left the inn, Elise asked, “Alex, is there anything I can do?” Her words brought him back as she lightly touched his shoulder.

  He said, “I need to sit down.”

  She led him to a nearby chair in the lobby, and Alex slumped into it. Elise asked, “Would you like anything?”

  “Water,” Alex croaked.

  He looked up at the sound of voices and suddenly realized that the Trasks were still there. He was going to have to pull himself together. Jase would have expected nothing less of him.

  Alex heard Ashley ask, “So what happens now? I’m not about to let that imposter get her greedy little hands on Father’s money.”

  Steven said, “You heard Sandra. If she’s really our sister and Dad wanted her to inherit, how can we stand in her way?”

  “Just watch me,” Ashley said.

  Cynthia looked at both her children. “Is it agreed, then? We fight this imposter’s claim?”

  Ashley nodded, but Steven refused to meet her gaze as he said, “I still don’t think it’s right. How can we go against his wishes?”

  Cynthia said, “I’m warning you, Steven, if you don’t stand with us against this woman, you’ll be cut off yourself. I’ll see to it.”

  Steven stood, and as he headed for the door he said, “Do what you have to, Mother.”

  After he was gone, Cynthia said to Ashley, “Don’t worry, he’ll come around. I’m sure Steven is wrong; we should have no problem getting representation from Charlotte here once they find out what’s at stake. Now, let me call a few friends and see if I can come up with any recommendations. Dear, I’m afraid this isn’t going to be as simple as we thought.”

  Ashley groaned. “So we’re really going to have to stay here the full week?”

  “At least that,” Cynthia said with an air of resignation in her voice.

  Elise gave Alex his water, then said, “Why don’t I send the Trasks to a hotel in Hickory? You don’t need to have guests around right now, especially ones tied in with all of this.”

  Alex said softly, “I want them to stay.”

  “It’s too much,” Elise insisted. “You need some time to deal with losing your uncle.”

  Alex said resolutely, “Check them in, Elise. I need to find out if one of them killed Jase. I can’t do that if they’re staying somewhere else.”

  Elise nodded. “Whatever you say.”

  As she checked the three guests into their rooms and showed them the way upstairs, Alex was happy to have the lobby back to himself. What had started out as an interesting situation had suddenly turned very ugly.

  But one thing was certain. No one was leaving Hatteras West until Alex uncovered the truth about his uncle’s murder.

  Chapter 3

  “Tony, it’s Alex.”

  He’d dreaded making the telephone call to his brother, but he really had no choice. As Alex dialed the number, he suddenly realized that they were the last of the Winstons, their particular branch of the family tree, anyway. Tony was a confirmed bachelor after a pair of failed marriages with no children from either union, now wedded only to his work, while Alex wondered if he’d ever get married himself. His relationship with Sandra, the last woman he’d dated seriously, was over and finished. The only woman he was interested in now was Elise, but she was engaged to a man in West Virginia, hundreds of miles away.

  Tony said, “You don’t have to identify yourself to me, Alex, I’d know that voice anywhere. So tell me, are you finally going to sell that white elephant you got saddled with?” Tony had opted for money instead of a half share of Hatteras West after their parents died, and he’d been urging Alex to get rid of the lighthouse in the mountains ever since.

  “You know I’m not about to sell Hatteras West. It’s home.”

  Tony said, “So why are you calling me in the middle of the day? I know it’s not just to catch up on old times.” That was Tony, always straight to the point. The two brothers had never gotten along all that well as children, much to their parents’ chagrin. Growing older hadn’t improved things between them, either. They were two strangers bound only by the common blood that ran through them.

  “It’s about Uncle Jase. He’s dead.”

  There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then Tony said softly, “So his heart finally gave out on him.”

  Alex took a deep breath, then said, “I wish it were that simple. Somebody killed him, Tony.”

  “Jase? Why?”

  “The sheriff thinks it had something to do with a will Jase was supposed to execute today. There was only one copy, and now it’s missing.”

  Tony asked, “Did he catch the killer?”

  “Sheriff Armstrong is working on it.”

  “That’s hardly reassuring. He’s not exactly the South’s greatest lawman, is he?”

  Alex said, ‘Tony, he’s a much better sheriff than you remember. Armstrong can handle this.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re not going to snoop around yourself. I know you too well. Get a room ready for me, Alex, I’m coming back to Elkton Falls.”

  Alex knew his brother would want to come back home, but it wasn’t something he’d been looking forward to.

  “I’ll wait to handle the arrangements until you get here,” Alex said.

  “I’m on my way.”

  It would be odd for Alex to see his brother again, but he knew he’d manage to get through it somehow, for Jase’s sake if nothing else. His mother and father had never understood the break between their sons, or the reasons for it. Instead, they’d remembered the old days through the log of wishful thinking, believing all had been happy and harmonious in the Winston household.

  Alex knew better.

  Elise walked up to him at the reservation desk and said, “Alex, is there anything I can do?”

  “We’d better get room ten ready. My brother’s going to stay with us.”

  She said, “It will be good for you to have your family here.”

  Alex shook his head. “I’m not so sure, Elise. We talk on the phone once or twice a year, but he hasn’t set foot on the grounds of Hatteras West in six years.”

  “What happened between you?”

  “Nothing; that’s the whole point. We’ve always been strangers. Once our folks were gone, there was no need for us to even pretend to keep in touch. Elise, he may be my brother biologically, but Mor Pendleton is more of a brother to me than Tony ever has been.”

  Mor wouldn’t be happy to see Tony back in Elkton Falls either. The two had been rivals in high school.

  “I’ll go freshen up the room,” Elise said.

  Alex wanted to reach out to her, to hold her in his arms, to
share some of his grief with her. But he couldn’t burden her with his feelings for her, even now. At least not as long as she was still engaged to Peter Asheford. The man had looks, money, and Elise’s heart.

  But Alex was jealous only of the last part.

  There was one place in the world Alex could go to lift his spirits: the top of the lighthouse. He only hoped no one was up there now; he needed to be alone.

  As Alex ascended the steps that led to the top, his hand kept trailing against the cool, whitewashed stone of the tower. Hatteras West was the one constant in his life, always there, always watching over him. It was a part of him in more ways than he could ever express, and it gave him a very real comfort being within its shelter. Alex had taken his very first breath inside the lighthouse on a stormy Halloween night thirty-some years before, and the tower had been linked to him ever since.

  Climbing the 268 steps kept him in shape, though the older he got, the longer the ascent took him. Alex didn’t even stop at the windows on his way up this time, needing to get to the top as quickly as he could.

  It was deserted on the observation deck that ran all the way around the top. Alex leaned against the rail and looked down on the nearly completed Main Keeper’s Quarters, with roof shingles that were still glossy and new, then let his gaze drift over to nearby Bear Rocks. A lot had happened in his life, and Alex could tie nearly all of it to this spot in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He could see the rolling ridges in the distance from his vantage point, smoky with an azure haze. Jase had loved the lighthouse nearly as much as Alex did, though he hadn’t climbed it since he’d come back to Elkton Falls. The stairs were just too much for him.

  But how he had enjoyed sitting on one of the rockers on the front porch of the Dual Keepers’ Quarters, staring up at it.

  At least his uncle had had the chance to come back home before dying.

  Alex heard footsteps behind him, and he suddenly wished he’d locked the lighthouse doors on his way in.

  When Alex turned to the door leading out to the platform, he was surprised to find Julie Hart standing there.