Murder Checks Inn - Tim Myers [66]
He patted her shoulder. ‘‘Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine.”
After they were inside, Alex checked the answering machine and saw he had one message. It was Mor. “Alex, we need to talk. Fighting that fire really brought things to a head for me. I’ve made my decision.”
When Alex tried to call his friend back at Mor or Les, there was no answer at the handyman’s shop. Instead of playing telephone tag and leaving a message, Alex hung up. His friend would just have to wait.
The lobby was empty, so Alex made sure his door was open as he and Elise started going through boxes. Elise said softly, “Do you really think they’re going to buy this?”
“It’s the only thing left I can do,” Alex said. “We just have to wait a little longer, then we’ll be able to start the show.”
Alex and Elise kept digging through the boxes of books. At first, Alex thought he might have actually found a single copy of the will serving double duty as a bookmark, but it turned out to be a detailed letter from one of Jase’s clients firing him. There was the oddest collection of documents Jase used to mark his place from whatever was handy. It was a glimpse inside his uncle’s life as he moved from book to book, more for the flotsam and jetsam than from the actual reading material. Alex took one legal-sized envelope and found a canceled Deed of Trust in it. The envelope itself was blank, so Alex scrawled something mimicking Jase’s handwriting on the front and showed it to Elise. “What do you think?”
“It either says, ‘Last Will and Testament of Mathias Trask’ or it’s a party announcement for an eleven-year-old girl named Emily Hannah.”
Alex smiled, “Good enough. We want to leave things as vague as we can.”
Alex heard someone moving around on the porch, then the front door opened. Cynthia and Steven walked in, and Alex winked at Elise. “It’s show time.”
“Here it is!” he shouted. “I found it.”
“Oh my goodness. What are you going to do?” Elise asked in a like voice.
“I’ve got to call Sandra. It’s a legal document; she’ll know what to do with it.”
Alex pretended to dial the phone and watched as Cynthia hurried toward them. As she reached the door, he said into the dead telephone, “I found the will.”
After a pause, he added, “Can’t you come out and get it now?”
Cynthia said, “What’s going on here?”
Alex held his hand up, then said, “I understand. I’ll keep it safe out here and bring it to you in the morning. Thanks.”
After he hung up, Cynthia spied the document in his hand. “What have you got there?”
“It’s Mathias’s will,” he said proudly. “I found it in one of the boxes of Jase’s things.”
“Give it to me,” she demanded as she tried to snatch the document out of his hands.
“I can’t,” Alex said, moving away from her. Cynthia’s sharp nails clamped down on air, but just barely. “Alex Winston, you are an innkeeper, not an attorney. As a representative of my late husband’s estate, that document belongs to me.”
Alex shook his head. “As much as I’d like to oblige, Cynthia, Sandra instructed me to hold onto it until tomorrow, and since she’s taken over Jase’s cases officially, she’s the executor of Mathias’s will.” Alex didn’t know or care if he was technically right; it sounded good and would mostly likely be enough to satisfy Cynthia.
He was wrong.
“I’m calling my own attorney. I won’t tolerate this for one moment. Do you understand me?”
Alex said, “Is the call long distance?”
“Of course it is. Do you think I would ever agree to use an attorney in this backward little town?”
Alex said, “Sorry, then, you’ll have to use the telephone in your room. It’s the only way I can bill it out properly.”
Cynthia started to burn when Steven said, “You want privacy anyway, don’t you, Mother? Why don’t you walk out onto the porch? You can use my cell phone.”
She agreed and stormed off outside after grabbing the telephone from her son’s hand. Alex hoped the attorney was out of the office. He’d waited as long as he could, but there was a chance his plan would be thwarted before it had time to work. It would be embarrassing