Murder Checks Inn - Tim Myers [49]
It wasn’t going to happen though, with the man hovering nearby.
Peter coughed once, and when Alex looked up, Elise’s fiancé said, “Interesting place you’ve got here, Alex.”
“You mean the lighthouse and the keepers’ quarters? Thanks, I think Hatteras West is kind of special myself.”
Peter smiled. “No, I didn’t mean that in particular, though it is rather magnificent. I was referring to all of Elkton Falls. How did the name come about, do you know? There must have been a great many elk here at one time, I imagine.”
Every school kid in town had cut their teeth on the story. Alex said, “In all of this area’s recorded history, there has never been a single elk spotted within twenty miles of the place.”
Peter raised one eyebrow. “And I suppose there are no waterfalls nearby, either.”
“Not a one,” Alex said truthfully.
“Then how do you explain the name?” Peter said, a shortness in his tone that showed his frustration with being wrong.
“The man in charge of updating and recording the names for cities in North Carolina back in the 1800s was not very happy about his stay here on his way through town. Evidently the man woke up in a bad mood the day he rode in, and it proceeded to get worse as his time here wore on. When he found the tavern was completely full, he was forced to sleep outside in the cold rain. The next morning, he ran into a grizzled old man who offered him the worst breakfast he’d ever had in his life, a cold porridge that could glue boards together. The government man asked the codger what the name of the town was, and the old fellow replied it was Elkton, which happened to be the old man’s name and not the name the city fathers had chosen at all. The young man looked around the town in disgust and said, ‘Well, all I can say is I hope that someday soon, Elkton Falls!’ With that he rode off, and in a fit of anger, he recorded Elkton Falls in his book, hoping that his prediction would come true someday. It’s the honest truth that there’s never been an elk spotted in town, and the closest waterfall, if you can call it that, is all the way over in Granite.”
Peter wasn’t buying any of it, but the story was true, as far as Alex or anyone else in town knew.
Elise came over as Alex finished his story, but Peter wasn’t ready to let it go. “So what was the town’s original name?”
“Canawba Valley. To be honest with you, I like Elkton Falls a lot better, myself.”
Elise said to Peter, “You asked him about the origin of the town’s name, didn’t you?”
“Don’t tell me you actually believe his story, Elise.”
She said, “I’ve heard it a dozen times around town; he’s not making it up.”
Peter shook his head as they walked out the door. “Utterly amazing,” he said a few times before they made it out.
And then he was gone, with Elise by his side.
Alex had been happy enough to let Elise go before he’d discovered Peter was involved, but there was another, ulterior motive that made him even happier he’d sent her off early.
Cleaning the guest rooms by himself would give Alex the opportunity to search for whatever clues he could find that might point to Jase’s killer. In Alex’s opinion, every suspect involved with the case, with the exception of Julie Hart, was staying at Hatteras West, at least until that night. As he finished straightening up the lobby, Alex realized that Julie had access to the inn herself, being so close to Hatteras West. Certainly, it was a long drive from Amy’s to the inn, but if Julie cut through the woods, she only had two miles to cover, and the young woman certainly looked fit enough to make that round trip easily.
But Alex couldn’t worry about her now. At the moment, he had to focus on the guests staying with him at Hatteras West. If nothing came of his in-house investigation, then he could turn to Julie as a suspect. Besides, the sheriff was probably covering that ground himself.
It was time for Alex to look where no one else was searching.
Tony was the first one up. He met Alex in the lobby. , “Hey Alex, do you