Innkeeping with Murder - Tim Myers [12]
Alex led his friend back to his own modest quarters and retrieved a cold beer from the dormitory-sized refrigerator. Alex had taken for himself the inn’s only room without a fireplace. Since taking the space over it had become his own little nook where he could temporarily get away from the constant demands of running the inn. There was a sampler quilt hanging on the wall at the head of his bed that his mother had made. She had loved to tell the story of how Alex had come to her on a Halloween night in the middle of a rare hurricane appearance in Elkton Falls. It was their special bond, surviving the storm together, and Alex missed his mother terribly. He and his father had been close, but their relationship had been nothing like the one he’d had with his mother. Alex wondered briefly if his father was haunting the place, making sure his son stayed on his toes.
It would have been just like him.
Alex took an extra beer out of the refrigerator for himself and the two men headed for one of the Backgammon boards set up in one corner of the lobby. It was an odd time to be playing a game, but he couldn’t face dealing with Reg’s death. Worst of all, Alex didn’t want to see them carry the body down the steel steps.
Mor set his hulking frame in one of the chairs and took a white game piece off the board. “Pick a hand. Better yet, you can play white, and I’ll still beat you like a drum.”
Alex suddenly shook his head. “To tell you the truth, I don’t much feel like playing. I forgot. You haven’t heard what happened, have you?”
Mor dropped the white piece back on the game board. “What’s going on?”
Alex brought his friend up-to-date on what had happened at the inn. When he got to the part about finding Reg’s body, Alex had to pause to steel himself enough to deliver the words. It was finally sinking in. Reg was really gone.
“So that’s what Sheriff Strong-arms was in such an uproar about. I heard him ripping around town right before I headed out your way. That man is a menace in his patrol car. Wonder how many wrecks he’s caused himself?”
Alex shrugged, suddenly too disheartened to rise to the bait.
Mor got up from his seat and said, “Tell you what. Why don’t we take a raincheck on that game of backgammon? I’ve got some errands to run in town, and I don’t want to be late for class.”
Alex nodded as he got up from his seat. “What are you studying this time?”
Mor said, “I’m taking photography this semester, and my homework’s due tonight. I brought my camera so I could snap some photos on the way back to town. I want to get a few shots of the lighthouse and the inn before I leave.”
“Be my guest.”
Mor and Alex had enrolled in an adult education class together a few years back, figuring it would be an excellent place to meet single women and perhaps learn something while they were at it. After a great deal of debate, they had settled on a Chinese cooking class. The first night of class, the only woman in the room had been Mrs. Hurley, the high school’s home economics teacher for the last fifty years. There were seventeen men enrolled, and not a single woman. Many of the men dropped out the first night, having failed to find any eligible women, but Alex and Mor figured that since they were already there and they’d paid their tuition fees, it couldn’t hurt to learn something new. Mor was still taking classes every quarter, finding that he enjoyed learning new things more than sitting around during the evening drinking beer with his old buddies from high school, reliving glory days long gone. Alex joined him in some of the classes during the off-times for the inn, but he still had the fall leaf season ahead of him, one of his busiest times of the year.
Alex watched Mor take a few quick pictures, then walked his friend to his truck.
After Mor was gone, Alex stood in silence staring at the tower, trying to decide whether he wanted to head up to the top of the lighthouse