Murder Checks Inn - Tim Myers [45]
Cynthia snapped, “You just try to stop me.”
“I’d be delighted.” Alex recognized the tone in Sandra’s voice and didn’t envy Cynthia. The iron there was unmistakable.
“Don’t think I’m going to just roll over and play dead for you people,” Cynthia said when she realized that Julie was gone.
“I would be disappointed in you if you did,” Sandra said.
Cynthia clearly didn’t know how to react to that. She turned and headed back to the inn, and only then did Alex see Ashley and Steven on the porch, waiting in the shadows for their mother.
Cynthia had lost the battle, but it was clear to all who’d just witnessed the confrontation that the war was still far from over.
After the guests were finally gone, Shantara’s famous teenage cleaning crew swept through the grounds like human vacuums, picking up every piece of litter in sight. In order to see well enough to collect the trash, they had parked their cars and trucks with the headlights pointing inward, lighting up the land around the lighthouse like broad daylight.
Sandra handled the payment; as Alex had suspected, Jase had provided for it in his will. The attorney was the last one to leave. As she was getting into her BMW, she said, “I’m going to miss him, Alex. It was one fine send-off.”
“He would have approved, wouldn’t he?”
Sandra said, “Oh, yes. He told me once that his only regret setting this up was that he wouldn’t be around to see it.” Sandra looked up at the extinguished light above them, always a very real presence on the grounds. “He truly loved your lighthouse, Alex.”
Alex stared up at the structure. “So why didn’t he ask to see it lit when he could enjoy it? All this doesn’t make sense. We should have had this party while he could still be a part of it.”
Sandra touched his shoulder lightly. “You’re right, but in a very real way, he was here tonight. It was exactly the good-bye he wanted. Good night, Alex.”
Alex said, “Good night, Sandra. Thanks again for handling everything.”
She shook her head. “Don’t thank me. Jase did all the work. All I had to do was follow his instructions.”
After she was gone, Alex was finally alone. He wanted to forget, just for a few moments, how his uncle had died and focus instead on how the man had lived. He was just settling back into a rocker on the dark porch when he heard someone approach. “Mind if I join you?”
He was so startled he nearly fell off his chair. It was Vernum, and for the first time Alex could remember, the man
had engaged him in conversation, instead of the other way around.
“Pull up a chair,” Alex said.
Vernum settled instead on the bottom step, resting his back against the rail. “I just wanted to say that your uncle was a fine man, Alex.”
“Did you know him?” Alex asked, wondering what could have possibly brought the two men together.
“Our paths crossed a lifetime ago.” Vernum started to explain when the door to the inn opened. Before Alex could turn to see who was coming out, Vernum was gone. What an odd fellow he was, but no more unusual than most of the other inhabitants in and around Elkton Falls. They seemed to be drawn to the place like magnets, not resting till they settled there.
“Hello,” Alex said as the front door closed. His vision had adjusted to the darkness, and he had no trouble making out his guest.
Ashley Trask-Cooper looked startled to find Alex sitting alone in the darkness. “Alex, is that you? Why are you out here all alone?”
“To be honest with you, it’s the first chance I’ve had today to get away by myself.”
Ashley turned back to the door. “Then I’ll leave you to your solitude.”
Alex said, “Don’t rush off. Actually, I could use the company.”
Ashley leaned against the railing and stared at the darkened lighthouse. “Why did you turn it off?”
“It ran its course, one minute for every year of Jase’s life,” Alex explained. “That’s all the time the town council would allow.”
Ashley said wistfully, “Your uncle must have been a true romantic. It sounds like something Donald would do. He’s my husband.”
“Why isn’t he with you?