Murder Checks Inn (Book 3 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) by Tim Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

“Listen, I hate to interrupt you,
but do you have a second? I really need to talk to you. I know the
timing stinks, but it’s important.”
    Alex felt his heart race. “Is something
wrong?”
    “ No, no. At least I don’t
think so. Not yet, anyway. Well, maybe, it depends on how you look
at it.”
    “ That certainly clears
things up,” Alex said with a smile.
    His best friend didn’t respond to the jab,
and that’s when Alex knew just how serious Mor was.
    Alex walked out onto the abbreviated porch
with Mor close behind, and the two men sat on the steps out front,
avoiding each other’s gaze.
    Mor said, “Sandra told me I could find you
over here, but she didn’t want me to come. She said you needed some
time alone. That woman’s an overprotective hen when it comes to
you. I don’t remember her being so careful of your feelings when
the two of you were dating.”
    “ Sandra means well, but I
don’t have to have perfect solitude to say good-bye. What’s
up?”
    Mor took a deep breath, then said heavily,
“It’s Les. He’s talking about retiring again.”
    Alex knew Mor’s partner talked about
quitting their business a dozen times a year. Though the man was in
his early seventies, he could probably run circles around folks
half his age. “Mor, he’s been threatening to quit forever. What
makes this time any different?”
    Mor rocked back as he said, “This is the
first time he’s ever been serious enough to offer to sell his share
of the business to me. Seems he’s found a new girlfriend, and he’s
thinking about leaving Elkton Falls with her and seeing the
world.”
    That was news to Alex. Normally, in a place
as small as Elkton Falls, it was as tough keeping a secret as it
was to repeal the law of gravity. The kudzu vine was faster than
any regular grapevine known to man.
    “ So who is this mystery
woman?” Alex asked.
    “ I have no idea,” Mor
admitted, “but I think she lives in Saint Dunbar.” Saint Dunbar was
a town twenty miles away, closer to the mountains than Elkton
Falls. It was in such an odd place geographically that it could be
raining in Elkton Falls and snowing up a storm in Saint Dunbar.
That could explain the mystery. Saint Dunbar was far enough away to
be out of the reach of Elkton Falls radar. The kudzu vine only
traveled so far when it came to gossip.
    “ So, what are you going to
do?”
    Mor scratched his chin. “I can come up with
most of the money, but Les would have to take a note for the rest.
Not that he’d mind, but I hate carrying paper like that. But that’s
not the real problem, Alex. To be honest with you, the whole thing
is just too permanent for my taste.”
    “ What’s Emma think about
all of this?” Since Mor and Emma had started dating, she’d become a
very real part of the handyman’s life, Alex knew.
    “ She doesn’t know about it,
and I’m not sure I want to tell her. Not just yet, anyway.” Mor
stared at his hands a moment, then said, “She’s already been
badgering me about my lack of commitment to anything, and now this
comes up.”
    Alex patted Mor’s shoulder. “So where does
that leave you?”
    “ Alex, I swear I don’t
know. When I lost that scholarship and came back home, I kind of
fell into working with Les by accident more than design. Even
though he made me partner a few years later, I still felt like I
could pick up any time I wanted to and leave, do you know what I
mean? Is Elkton Falls all I’m ever going to know? There’s a whole
world out there, my friend, and I’m afraid I’m missing it, staying
in one place my whole life. What would you do if you were in my
shoes?”
    Alex shook his head. “That’s the whole
point, isn’t it? Mor, I’ve seen some of the world, and for me, it
just isn’t the same as home. Tony still thinks I’m a fool for
taking Hatteras West instead of the money when our folks died, but
for me it was the only decision I could make. That lighthouse is a
part of me. I could never leave