Free Ring for Murder (Lighthouse Inn Finale) by Tim Myers Page A

took two innkeepers to deliver them.”
    Elise shrugged. “I’ll tell her you were
supervising me.”
    He kissed her, and then asked, “Is that what
we’re calling it now?”
    “Work now, play later,” Elise said.
    The two of them stepped inside, and were
immediately taken aback. Monique had been in the room less than two
hours, but it looked as though a hurricane had hit it. Clothes were
scattered everywhere, the quilt Alex’s mother had made was
haphazardly thrown on the floor, and the faucet in the bathroom had
been left on, leaving a stream of water running down the drain.
    Alex immediately shut it off. “She’s quite
the whirlwind, isn’t she?”
    “More like a slob,” Elise said. “How can
anyone live like this?” She started to straighten up, but Alex took
her hand.
    “We’re not here to clean up,” he said. “Look
for clues.”
    “Anything in particular?” she asked.
    “Just something that doesn’t match what we
know so far.”
    Elise nodded, and as she began to search,
Alex helped.
    He found a large black handbag tucked under
one pillow, and as he pulled it out, he handed it to Elise. “Look
at this.”
    “You can search it yourself,” she said.
    Alex looked at the bag as though it were
radioactive. “I learned long ago that there were some things that a
man shouldn’t do, and near the top of the list is going into a
woman’s purse.”
    “Not even his girlfriend’s, or his wife’s?”
Elise asked as she started to open the bag.
    “Especially not then,” Alex answered.
    Elise smiled briefly, then began hunting
through the bag. Alex wanted to stay and watch, but he wasn’t at
all certain how much time they had, so he began looking in the
drawers, and then the bathroom. If Elise found anything, he knew
that she’d tell him about it. He wasn’t having much luck when he
spotted something in the garbage can in the bathroom. In the bottom
of the can, hidden by some old newspapers, Alex found a slim
catalogue with listings in it.
    It was from an auction house, and several
items had been circled on the pages as he glanced through it.
    Including a single rare coin from the
1600s.
    “Elise, look at this,” he said as he walked
into the bedroom.
    She didn’t even look up.
    Alex approached her quickly. “What is it?
What’s wrong?”
    A great many things were spread out on the
bed, from a compact to lipstick to a small brush. Along with those
items, there were three pens, a battered old day planner, and a
cancelled ticket from a movie theater in Charlotte.
    “Look,” Elise said as she held the bag out
toward Alex. With a slight hesitation, he leaned over and looked
down. There, in the bottom of the bag, were two things that alarmed
him more than he could imagine; a small ladies hand gun with a
pearl handle, and his brother’s class ring from college.
    “Tony never took this off,” Alex said as he
reached for the ring. “It was his pride and joy.”
    “Well, she got it somehow. That’s not what’s
worrying me, though. She has a gun, Alex.”
    Alex shrugged. “Tony was stabbed with a
knife, remember?”
    Elise nodded, and then said, “I know that,
but wouldn’t you say this tells us the girl has a predisposition
for violence?”
    “Who knows why she carries it? A lot of
people have guns. Just because we don’t doesn’t mean anything.”
Alex gingerly picked up the weapon, opened the breach, and removed
all of its bullets.
    “What are you doing? She’s bound to notice
that her ammunition is missing.”
    “Maybe so, but I feel better knowing that
her claws have been pulled.”
    Elise stared at it, and then said, “We could
just take the gun ourselves.”
    “I’ll confiscate her bullets, but I won’t
steal her gun,” Alex said.
    “That’s an awfully fine line.”
    “I agree, but it’s as far as I’m willing to
go.”
    Elise frowned. “What if she has more
ammo?”
    “Then we’re in trouble, because that means
I’ve misjudged her. I can see Monique carrying this