Murder Checks Inn - Tim Myers [1]
When no one deigned to answer, Ashley continued, speaking loud enough for everyone in Elkton Falls to hear. “Only Father would book us into a lighthouse motel in the North Carolina mountains!”
As the owner and innkeeper of the “lighthouse motel,”
Alex had to fight to hide his smile. He knew how unusual most people found it to see a lighthouse in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but to him, the original structure on the North Carolina Outer Banks was the one that looked oddly out of place without the lush green hardwood forest and the mountain’s foothills surrounding it.
Cynthia Shays-Trask, the matriarch of the clan, was a slim older woman stylishly dressed in a designer outfit and sporting a graying closely cropped haircut. She said curtly, “Ashley, we are here because your father demanded it. That obese nightmare of a man has found a way to continue to spoil my life even beyond the grave.”
Steven Trask, a young man in his mid-twenties with neatly trimmed hair and a runner’s physique said, “Mother, I won’t have you speak of him that way, do you understand? It’s time to put the past behind us.” Unlike his sister and her outfit, Steven looked at home in a nicely tailored suit.
“Oh please, Steven,” Ashley said. “It didn’t do you the slightest bit of good being his favorite while he was alive, and it matters even less now. He can’t hear you.” All three shared the same hooked nose and prominent chin; the family resemblance was undeniable. Alex would have known they were related even without having the reservation book open in front of him. Though they were booked at the inn for the entire week, the group had refused to check in until Jase Winston, Alex’s uncle and an attorney in town, arrived on the scene.
Jase had just recently moved back to Elkton Falls after retiring from a big law firm in Charlotte, and Alex had been glad for the chance to get reacquainted with his father’s brother. Since Alex and his brother Tony had lost their parents, Jase had done his best to serve in their stead. Alex was glad his uncle had grown bored with retirement and had hung out his shingle in town. The man was coming alive again with cases to keep him occupied. He’d confided to Alex that the two of them were a lot alike; they both dealt with the public and tried their best to serve them. Alex wondered if that was what his uncle had in mind when he’d gotten himself involved with this family.
Ashley rubbed her hand hesitantly across the top of an ornately carved black urn sitting on the table between them. “This is just like Father, popping up like this. It smacks of his annual Christmas postcards to the family. The only way he comes back to us from South America is in a jar full of ashes. He had some kind of nerve, leaving us all behind and sending a card once a year just to gloat about his new life.”
Steven’s face turned red as he snapped, “He just wanted us to know he was okay!” It was obvious his sister knew just what buttons to push to get a reaction from him.
Cynthia said sadly, “Steven, you always were such an innocent.”
Ashley said, “He’s not all that innocent. I could tell you stories about your precious little boy that would curl your toes, Mother.”
Alex could tell that Steven was trying his best to ignore his sister’s jab. “Can’t we all just get along until Jase Winston gets here and reads the will?”
Ashley said, “Don’t hold your breath hoping for family harmony, Steven. I for one refuse to honor a man who deserted me.” Ashley frowned, then added, “I still don’t understand why Donald and the children couldn’t come with us this week. They’re my family; they have every right to be here, too.”
Cynthia said, “We’ve been over this a hundred times. The instructions stated clearly that no spouses or children were to attend. Your father wanted this to be just the three of us.”
Alex had dusted the same spot on the front desk for the seventh time when Elise Danton came up behind him.
“Alex, I need you outside.”
Elise served as the head of housekeeping at Hatteras West. It was a glorified