Innkeeping with Murder - Tim Myers [59]
Then Alex let his fertile imagination rest a moment and thought about it as objectively as he could. “Wait a minute, let’s think this through. If Finster had been found beaten to death, I might believe your theory, but do you honestly think your father is the type of guy who would stab a grown man in the back of the neck with an ice pick?”
Sally Anne’s face regained some of its color. “Alex, you’re right. Daddy would never do something like that.” Sally Anne added, “I can’t tell you how much better I feel now. I’d like to buy you lunch. Is that okay with you?”
“Sounds great. You know what I like.”
Sally Anne gave him her brightest smile. “Thanks again, Alex. I could barely get to sleep last night, wondering if Daddy was going to prison.”
Alex walked over to a corner booth away from the traffic flow. In such a small town, it was hard to find any place where he could go to be alone, but the booth offered his best chance.
The club sandwich was excellent, but Alex’s thoughts were not good for his appetite. His chain of reasoning kept leading him back to Finster. If Alex could find out from Nadine, the realtor’s secretary, who the prospective buyer was, then the pieces might all fit together. Deep in his gut, Alex believed that Hatteras West itself held the key to all his questions.
After thanking Sally Anne for the meal, he decided it was time to visit Finster’s office. He only hoped that Nadine had come in to work today to accept condolences for her late boss.
As he started to open the realty office door it was suddenly jerked out of his grasp by someone trying to exit. Alex was stunned to see that it was Joel Grandy.
“Mr. Grandy? What are you doing here?”
The older man looked the slightest bit guilty. “Wanted to offer my condolences.”
“I wasn’t even aware that you knew Finster.”
Grandy stared at Alex for a few moments, then swept through the door without answering.
Nadine was behind her desk, blotting a tissue to her eyes. Now somewhere in her early sixties, Nadine Crowley had been Alex’s fifth-grade teacher, and in his mind she hadn’t changed a bit. She’d taken an early retirement to be with her husband, but during her retirement party at the school Thad had dropped dead with a massive coronary. When Nadine had tried to get reinstated, the school board apologized but said the papers had already been processed and a new teacher had been hired to take her place. To keep from going crazy, she’d gone back to work. The only job in town that had been open was a secretarial position for Sam Finster. It had taken Alex years to stop referring to her as Mrs. Crowley and start calling her Nadine, as she had so often insisted.
“Nadine, that man who was just here. Mind telling me what he wanted?”
Nadine’s voice still had the sharp edge she’d used to such good effect in the classroom. “Now what type of greeting is that, young man?”
Alex stiffened his spine. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but we’ve been having a little trouble out at Hatteras West I think he might be involved.”
Nadine Crowley swabbed the tissue at her eyes again before answering. Alex broke in, “Excuse me for saying so, but surely you couldn’t have been that fond of Finster.”
She frowned slightly, then added a smile of apology. “You know better than to speak ill of the dead, Alex. But confidentially, I’m not all that sorry to see him go.”
“Then why the tears?”
“Young man, feel blessed that you haven’t been afflicted with allergies. My eyes have been like this for two weeks. I just can’t stand all of the allergens in the air.”
That explained the grieving secretary.
“Now, would you mind telling me what Joel Grandy was doing here?”
Nadine said primly, “Not that it’s any business of yours, but the fellow appears to be sweet on me. He keeps telling me I’m a dead ringer for his dearly departed spouse. I’ll tell you, it’s not the kind of compliment a girl dreams of getting, but then again, it’s better on average than what I’ve been managing lately.”
Of all the people in the world Alex