Room for Murder - Tim Myers [34]
Elise shook her head. “That’s not funny.”
“Hey, I was just teasing.” Elise had already run one batch of sheets through the wash and had popped them in the dryer earlier. It was a constant job, washing and folding sheets and towels for their guests. As they worked, he added, “Aren’t you going to ask about Emma?”
“I already heard all about it. The mayor was out here again while you were gone. He said he was in town talking to Sandra about raising more money for the covered bridge when you called her.”
“What was he doing out here anyway, looking for more donations?”
Elise said, “Ever since he’s announced his retirement, Grady’s been hovering everywhere. Irma Bean told me he’s been hanging out at the restaurant just about every night. Do you want to know the truth? I think the poor man’s just lonely.”
Alex said, “Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine.” As Alex took a sheet from the dryer, he said, “Last I heard, Grady’s going to do his retirement up in style. He’s selling his house and buying a motor home, if you can imagine that. That life might be perfect for him, but I’ve got to have my roots.”
“Sometimes I think about traveling,” Elise admitted.
“So where would you go if money were no object?” Alex asked. “France? Ireland? Australia?”
Elise said, “No, there’s too much in America I haven’t seen. Do you know what I’d really love to do? There are so many wonderful lighthouses in our country; I’d give anything to see them all.”
Alex laughed. “You’re worse than I am. Do you know where I went on my last vacation?”
“I didn’t think you took vacations,” Elise said.
“It’s tough with the inn and all, but three years ago I shut down for a week and drove to the Outer Banks. I spent all my time haunting the lighthouses out there. I even made a new friend on the coast with his own lighthouse inn.”
“I think that’s a perfectly sensible vacation.”
Alex said, “Tell you what, next time you can go with me.”
“Perhaps,” Elise said.
“Hey, that wasn’t a proposition. I was just making conversation.”
Elise bit her lower lip, then said, “Can you finish up here? I just remembered something I need to take care of immediately.”
“Absolutely.”
After she was gone, Alex wondered what he’d said to set her off. There was no doubt about it. Since their disastrous date, things had taken a decidedly awkward turn between them, and no matter how hard he tried to break the ice dam, he couldn’t manage more than chipping a few small chunks away at a time.
Elise came back just as he finished folding the last sheet.
“Your timing is perfect,” Alex said. “I just finished.”
From the expression on her face, Elise was in no mood for joking. “Alex, something’s happened. Somebody just tried to break into Mrs. Nesbitt’s room.”
Alex said, “In broad daylight?” As he hurriedly left the laundry room, he asked, “What happened?”
“She’s in the lobby. You need to talk to her yourself.”
As Alex and Elise rushed out into the lobby of the Main Keeper’s Quarters, they found Mrs. Nesbitt sipping a cup of hot tea in one of the rockers near the windows in front
Alex said, “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Honestly, I hate to be causing such a fuss. It was probably nothing.”
Alex took the rocker beside her. “Tell me what happened.”
“I was going to go out for a walk, I even got on the path to Bear Rocks, when I suddenly changed my mind and decided a nap would be more in order.” She looked apologetic as she added, “I can still do nearly anything I set my mind to, but sometimes I need a little more rest than I used to.”
Alex smiled. “I’ve seen you on your walks. I couldn’t keep up with you.”
She answered his smile with one of her own. “I know better than that; running an inn is hard work. My sister worked an entire summer at an inn in Nantucket in the fifties.”
Elise prompted her. “Tell him what happened.”
Mrs. Nesbitt said, “As I said, I decided to rest, so I went back up to my room and stretched out on my bed for a quick nap. I had just fallen asleep when I heard someone trying my doorknob. At first I assumed it was either you or Elise, but you both knock