Reservations for Murder - Tim Myers [61]
She’d come back to Hatteras West after all.
Chapter 23
“Oomph,” Alex grunted as Elise accidentally brushed against him. The pain in his right arm was really intensifying now that his adrenaline rush was nearly over. Waves of angry bolts shot through him every time he so much as moved.
“Oh, Alex, I hurt you! I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not that bad,” he said. “I’m so glad you’re back, Elise.”
She frowned gently. “I wouldn’t leave for good, Alex, you should know that. This place is too important to me. Listen, we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get you to the hospital.”
“Okay,” he agreed as he fished his keys out of his pocket. “You’d better drive, though.”
“Alex, I’ve missed you,” she said calmly as she helped him into the passenger seat of his truck.
“I’ve missed you, too. How’s your dad?”
As Elise drove, she said, “He’s good enough to go back to the inn and recuperate there. I stayed as long as I was needed, but it just wasn’t the same anymore.”
“Sometimes I imagine it’s tough going home again,” Alex said.
“That’s the whole problem, Alex. It wasn’t home. Elkton Falls is my home now.”
It was the best thing in the world she could have said to him.
Doc Drake was at the emergency room, having just taken care of young Jimmy Hickman’s broken arm.
As he worked on cleaning Alex’s wound, he said, “You are the luckiest man I know. The bullet just grazed you, Alex. I’ll be able to stitch you up and have you out of here in no time. I never would have believed Jenny Harris would snap like that.”
“If you’d seen what I had, you’d believe it easily enough.”
As he finished bandaging the wound, Doc said, “Well, you’ve been through a lot today. You need anything to help you sleep tonight?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” Alex said.
Doc Drake grinned. “I hear someone’s waiting for you outside. You’d better not keep her standing there in the hallway much longer.”
Alex offered his left hand to the doctor to shake.
When the door suddenly opened, Alex expected to see Elise, but he found Sheriff Armstrong instead.
“Got a second, Alex?”
“Just about that. I need to get home, Sheriff.”
Doc Drake said, “If you two will excuse me, I’ve got another patient to see.”
After the doctor was gone, Armstrong said, “I just wanted to let you know what I found out.” He gestured to Alex’s arm. “I figure I owe you that.”
“It wasn’t your fault I got shot.”
Armstrong hung his head. “Nice of you to say so, but I can’t say I’d agree with it. I shouldn’t have been so bent on pinning the murder on Yadkin. I made a mistake there, one I won’t likely repeat.”
“It’s okay,” Alex said.
Armstrong nodded, then said, “I just found out where Marilynn Baxter was hiding out. Her neighbor Ruby Garnet came into the station an hour ago and told me she’d been helping Marilynn lie low. Ruby feels something awful about letting her go back alone when she was still so distraught, but she couldn’t have known.”
“The only thing she’s guilty of is having a big heart,” Alex agreed.
Armstrong said, “On the way to the station, I asked Jenny about breaking into Jefferson Lee’s shop. Seems Jefferson had himself a Polaroid Camera, and he liked to use it when they were, uh, you know, together. Jenny said she found the pictures and burned them before she came after you. She kept saying you were her last loose thread. You’re lucky to be alive, Alex.”
“Don’t I know it,” Alex said as he got up, holding his arm gently. “Thanks for the update, Sheriff, I truly do appreciate it, but I really need to go home.”
Armstrong made a motion to pat Alex’s shoulder but stopped abruptly. “I’ll be out at the inn later to check on Irene. She’s working the crime scene.”
Alex almost tripped over Elise as he opened the door to leave.
“Alex, I was so worried about you. Are you all right?”
He lifted the sutured arm gently in the air. “I’m just glad I’m left-handed, or I would have never been able to throw those rocks at Jenny. I think that’s what saved my life.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you, Alex. You needed me, and I let