Innkeeping with Murder - Tim Myers [6]
Since there were no guests within earshot, Alex decided reluctantly to go ahead and tell Marisa what had happened to their elderly guest. She’d find out sooner or later. Surprisingly, Marisa didn’t shed a single tear at the news. There was even a stiffness to her backbone that Alex had never seen before. Maybe she’d turn out to be a real trooper when things got tough. Goodness knew he could use a break.
Her next words canceled any hope Alex harbored of finding a silver lining in that particular cloud. Marisa’s voice was strong and clear as she announced, “I quit.”
“Come on, Marisa. There’s no reason for that. I need you here.”
Her voice grew louder, and Alex wondered for a moment if anyone else would be able to hear her. “Alex Winston, I’m not about to stay in a place where people die.”
As Marisa hurried to her small room near the main desk, Alex followed her, talking the whole time. “Maybe you should take a few days off, just to get a rest. With pay, of course. When you come back, everything will be just like it was before.”
His words had no effect on her. During Alex’s pleading, Marisa quietly jammed her few possessions into a worn suitcase that had been tucked under her bed.
“You can’t leave me shorthanded like this,” he pleaded. “Marisa, there’s no way I can run this place without you.”
He watched in disbelief as his maid latched her suit
case firmly and headed out the door. Alex followed her out to her car, a beat-up tan Gremlin from the seventies. She got in the driver’s side without a word and started the engine. Only when she was ready to pull out of the parking lot did she roll down her window and speak.
“I’ll send my cousin out. She’s looking for work. That’s the best I can do.”
Before he could reply, she was spinning her tires on the gravel parking lot, kicking up a billowing cloud of gray dust. Alex had never met Marisa’s cousin, but she had to be better than nothing. He hoped.
Alex couldn’t do anything about Reg that instant, but he had another pressing problem he could do something about. He walked back into the lobby and dialed Mor or Les’s business number. It galled him that he had the seven digits memorized.
Mor picked up on the first ring.
Alex said, “I hope this means you’re free to do a job for me.”
Mor chuckled softly. “I just heard Marisa’s message on the answering machine. I’m not surprised you’re having trouble with the boiler. I’ve told you a hundred times it’s long past time to replace it.”
Alex tapped a pencil on the sparsely signed logbook. “Save the lecture, my friend. Can you come right out and take a look at it?”
“Sure, just let me leave a note for Les. You know, it’s getting to the point where I hate coming out to your place. Friendship should only have to go so far.”
Alex sighed. “Listen Mor, if I had the money, I’d buy a new boiler. I swear I would.”
Mor laughed. “That’s not the problem. I’m just get
ting sick of Marisa hanging around me like a lovesick puppy.”
“Then I can guarantee that you won’t have that particular problem anymore.”
“What’s she done now?”
“Mor, it’s a long story, and I don’t have a whole lot of time. How about if we chat while you’re working.”
“See you soon then. Maybe we’ll have time for a game of Backgammon or two after I finish.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
Alex hung up the telephone and looked out the window toward the parking lot. As he stood there waiting for the sheriff to arrive, his mind went back to happier times at the inn when he had been a boy. He couldn’t remember things ever being in such a constant state of turmoil as he was growing up. His father never seemed to have the problems he had running Hatteras West, but those had been different times. With a start, he suddenly realized that it had actually been his mother who had dealt with whatever problems that came up. Alex could remember her soft and gentle way of handling difficulties as they arose. Unfortunately, he hadn’t inherited that particular skill from her.
It was more than that, though.