Murder Checks Inn - Tim Myers [68]
“Shut up, Sister dear. You’re going to have a little accident up here.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Ashley yelled.
Steven put more pressure on her, and Alex could see
Ashley beginning to go over. There was no safety net below, and if she went off the side, it was a 200-foot drop.
“Are you going to push us both over, Steven?” Alex said, stalling for time.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. You’re going to fall trying to save her. Sadly, I couldn’t get to you in time,” Steven said. “Congratulations, Alex, you’re going to die a hero.”
“Why are you doing this?” Ashley cried.
“Stop your whimpering,” Steven said. “Good old Alex finally found the will, so as soon as I take care of you both, I’m going to go to his room and destroy it. I just happen to know where Dad’s old will is. Mother keeps a copy in her desk at home. She thinks it’s useless, can you believe that? I slipped a look at it, and guess what? If either of us dies before the will’s read, that share is gone, whether we have children of our own or not. I tried to take care of Julie before it became an issue, but she’ll just have to wait. I have to kill you now, Ashley, before the old will is legally entered into the record.”
Alex, trying to stall until Armstrong could arrive, said, “Was your mother in on this as well? Did she help you try to kill Amy and Julie?”
“Mother?” Steven laughed. “She doesn’t have it in her. I ditched her in town and drove back to that barn by myself. If you hadn’t stumbled along, it would have worked perfectly, too. Oh well, half the pie is better than a third, as soon as I take care of my newly discovered sister. She’s going to suffer from complications tonight, whether she knows it or not.” He grinned slightly, then added, “As to the rest of Father’s fortune, after today, I’ll be Mother’s only beneficiary. Who knows what might happen to her then.”
Alex said desperately, “Steven, I didn’t find a copy of the new will. I was just bluffing.” Alex paused a moment, then added, “I did find the letter you wrote Jase, though. That’s what you were looking for when you snatched the envelope, wasn’t it? He must have stuffed it in the book on his desk just before he died. You had to have had a good reason to believe that your father had written you out of his will going in. Why?”
“Somehow he found out about my gambling all the way down in South America. I got a postcard three weeks before he died telling me that I was no longer his son, if you can believe that. I wrote to Jase, since he drafted the earlier will, to see if it was true, but he called me, dismissed my questions, and wouldn’t tell me a thing. That’s when I decided to visit him in his office and put a little extra pressure on him. He flaunted my letter at me, or at least the envelope I’d sent it in. I reached for it, even had two fingers on it, but the old man hit me with a book, can you believe it? By the time I got off the ground, the letter was gone. All I found was the envelope. The crafty old buzzard hid it in plain sight.”
“Is that why you killed him? Did you push Jase too far?”
“He started for the safe, and I knew in my heart the will had to be there. The second Jase opened it, I tapped him on the back of the head with that lighthouse paperweight. I wasn’t trying to kill him, but I guess his old skull was a little too fragile. And then I couldn’t find the blasted thing! The folder was empty,” Steven protested, easing up on his grip on Ashley. “You’re bluffing, Alex. You really found it, didn’t you? Lying now isn’t going to do you any good.”
Alex heard a foot scraping on the edge of the top stair, and he hoped it was Armstrong. Instead, out of the comer of his eye he saw that it was Vernum!
And Alex suddenly knew why he was there.
He said, “That’s the thing, Steven. I’m willing to bet that folder was always empty. There wasn’t any need for a new will at all. It just wasn’t an issue. Come on out, Vernum, this concerns you. Or should I call you Mathias?”
Alex held his breath, wondering if his leap of deduction was correct. Too many things had added up for him