• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 188 0

arrival. Elise’s predecessor—her cousin Marisa—a born crier if ever there was one, had nearly driven him crazy with her constant tears. With Elise on the scene, his world had settled into a blissful routine of competence. However, his heart had been thrown into turmoil since then, too. They had tried a disastrous date the month before, a debacle that still stung. There was still something between them, there was no doubt about that, but finding their way to what it might be was more perilous than he’d expected. Dancing the fine line between love and friendship was proving to be difficult. Someday, someday soon, he was going to ask her out again, and this time he planned to be better prepared for it than he had been before.

At last she finished her list. “Okay, what can I do for you?”

Alex said, “I wanted to see if you were interested in one last look at the Carolina Rhapsody before Reston gets here.”

“You never get tired of staring at it, do you? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to get one more look.” As she spoke, there was a loud clamor out front, and Alex realized they’d waited too long.

Reston was in the lobby, along with his entourage.

The dapper fellow said, “There you are. We’re getting ready to move the stone for the final time. Want one more peek before we do?”

“That would be great.”

Reston offered Elise his arm, and she smiled slightly as she took it. It was obvious the older man still considered himself a temptation. As Alex followed behind them, he heard Reston say to Elise, “If you’d like, you may hold the emerald for a moment.”

“Thanks, but I’d be too afraid I’d drop it.”

“Nonsense,” Reston said, “If something should happen, which I’m sure it won’t, the emerald is fully insured. I insist.”

Elise nodded. “I’d love to, if you’re sure.”

“Absolutely,” Reston said as they neared the room.

One of his escorts went through the door first, and Alex saw the man’s entire body stiffen.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked as he tried to see around the bulky form.

“Call the police,” the guard said as he hurried into the room.

Alex held off obeying the order. After all, he couldn’t bring Sheriff Armstrong up to speed if he didn’t know what had happened himself.

Reston looked ashen as stumbled into the room, Elise’s arm released and forgotten. Alex saw Cliff’s body lying on the floor at the base of the pedestal. An object he was well familiar with was protruding from a sharp angle out of the guard’s chest, a stain of blood slowly spreading on the uniform. The murder weapon was a lighthouse letter opener sent to him by one of his guests.

Buried to the hilt in the man’s chest, it looked as if the lighthouse, or at least the image of it, had played a part in another victim’s demise.

“The emerald is still there,” Alex heard one of the guards say as his partner checked for a pulse.

The man kneeling beside Cliff shook his head after finding none. “He’s dead.”

Alex decided it was time to make that call to the police. He found Sheriff Armstrong in his office, and quickly secured the man’s assurances that he’d soon be out there along with Doc Drake and Irene Wilkins, Elkton Falls’ beautician/crime scene specialist. Alex hung up and returned to the room where the emerald was being displayed.

As Alex walked in, he heard Reston saying, “This is all my fault. I never should have taken the Carolina Rhapsody out of the vault. It’s cursed.”

One of the guards said, “Cliff knew the risks of the job. I’m disappointed in him, though,” he added as he looked down on the body.

“Why is that?” Alex couldn’t help himself from asking.

“The blade went into his chest. He let his guard down with the wrong person. It was obviously someone he knew.”

Alex agreed with the logic of it. “Are you an off-duty cop or something? You don’t look familiar.”

The big man shrugged. “My name’s Skip Foreman. I was a deputy sheriff in Mecklenburg County before I retired up here for the peace and quiet.”

The other guard said, “Skip, come take a look at this.”

“Excuse me,” the big man said as he joined his partner.

Reston was standing by, staring at the stone