Room for Murder - Tim Myers [35]
Alex suddenly went cold. “Are you certain your door was locked when you laid down?”
Mrs. Nesbitt said, “I’m positive. Alex, I’m not about to take a nap with an unlocked door anywhere but in my home.”
He patted her hand. “Would you be more comfortable switching rooms? I might be able to talk the newlyweds into swapping with you, if you’d feel more comfortable somewhere else. They mentioned an interest in this building.
She laughed gently. “It will take more than that to drive me out of my favorite room. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She sat there a moment, then added, “You know, now that I think about it, perhaps I did forget to latch my door. Yes, I suppose it could have happened that way.”
Alex said, “Just in case, I’ll take a look at the door and make sure there’s nothing wrong with the lock.”
She patted his hand. “You’re a good man, Alex. Thank you for catering to an old woman’s frailty.”
Alex looked around the room. “Old woman? Where?”
She laughed again. “Oh, you two are good for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I never did get that nap.”
After she was gone. Elise said. “Alex. I’ve got something to confess.”
“You were the one trying to break into her room.” he said lightly.
Elise looked grim. “No. but I left my key on the cart, and when I checked on it, it was gone. I swear I wasn’t away from it for more than ten seconds.”
This was serious business. “Elise, you know you’ve got to keep that master key with you all the time.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I made a mistake, Alex.” She looked as if she was ready to cry.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it will turn up.” he said, trying to reassure her. It would be an expensive process to have Mor or a locksmith retool all the locks at the inn, but if the master key was floating around somewhere, he didn’t have any choice.
He added, “Before we do anything rash, let’s go see if we can find it.”
“Don’t you think I looked?” Elise asked. “I was still hunting for it when Mrs. Nesbitt screamed.”
“You didn’t see anyone nearby, did you?”
“No, but I heard a door slam in the hallway just before I got there,” Elise admitted. “I must have just missed whoever it was.”
“Who is close by?” Alex asked.
Elise ticked the guests off on her fingers. “Corki and Jan are up in that part of the inn, the newlyweds are there, I just moved them this morning as soon as a room opened up, and Greg and Denise are there, too. I can’t imagine any of them trying to break into Mrs. Nesbitt’s room. What in the world could anyone want with that sweet old woman?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Alex admitted.
They walked back to Elise’s cart, and Alex glanced down at a load of towels. He reached under one edge and plucked out a tarnished old key on a wrist bungee.
“Is this it?” he asked as he held it up to her.
“You know it is,” she said, grabbing the key from him. “Alex, it wasn’t here before. I swear it.”
Alex said, “There’s no chance it could have fallen into the towels when you moved your cart?”
Elise frowned. “I don’t think so, but even if it did, how do you explain someone trying to break into Mrs. Nesbitt’s room? I don’t believe in coincidences, and I know you don’t, either.”
Alex said, “Well, she said she was trying to take a nap. Is there any chance she dreamed it? I’ve had some pretty realistic dreams in the past myself.”
“I heard the door slam myself, Alex. She didn’t dream that. Someone was trying to get into her room.”
Alex said, “Tell you what, why don’t we keep an eye on her in the meantime. Elise, have you seen anything suspicious about the other folks staying with us?”
“Odd, yes, but suspicious? No, nothing I can put my finger on.”
Alex tried to break the tension as he said, “If folks were arrested for being odd, we wouldn’t have any guests left at Hatteras West.”
Elise wasn’t buying it, though. “I still don’t like this,” she said.
“There’s nothing we can do now but keep our eyes open,” Alex said.
Alex had been right about the slow grindings of the law. Emma had to spend one night in jail while Sandra worked at