Free Room for Murder (Book 4 in the Lighthouse Inn Mysteries) by Tim Myers

then put it out of
his mind as Elise walked in.
    “ Morning,” he said as he
offered her the paper. “How’d you sleep?”
    “ I tossed and turned all
night,” she said.
    “ Yeah, I’m pretty excited,
too,” Alex admitted.
    “ About that man’s death?
Alex, that’s not like you.”
    Alex said, “I’m talking about our date. It’s
tonight, remember?”
    Elise said, “Of course I do.” She finished
the breakfast setup without another word about it. He wanted to say
something else to her, but before he had a chance, Corki and Jan
came down, followed by Denise and Greg, a couple who were
rockhounds on their way to Hiddenite, and on their heels came Paul
and Sheila, the battling newlyweds. The lobby of the inn was
buzzing with conversation, but nothing substantial was spoken
between Alex and Elise.
    The housekeeper finally said, “If you don’t
mind, I’m going to go ahead and get an early start on Dual.”
    “ That’s fine, I can take
care of things here.” He took a deep breath, then added, “Listen,
if you don’t want to go out tonight, that’s okay with
me.”
    Elise’s lips were pressed together in a thin
white line. “No, tonight will be fine.”
    Alex laughed in spite of himself. “It will
be a lot better than fine, I can promise you that.”
    Elise smiled softly. “Of course it will.
I’ll see you later.”
    “ Bye,” he said as she
hurried away. Elise had something on her mind, and Alex thought for
a moment he should go ahead and cancel their date. But he just
couldn’t bring himself to do it. They had both waited too long for
this, and he doubted he could stand another delay.
    As Alex waited for the guests to finish
their breakfasts so he could clean up, he took a chance and dialed
Doc Drake at his office. Madge, the doctor’s nurse who also
happened to be his wife, answered the phone.
    “ Hi, Madge. Any chance I
can steal a minute from your husband?”
    Madge said with a snort, “You’re welcome to
try your luck talking to him. I’m surely not having any luck.”
    Drake came on the phone, and Alex asked,
“Trouble in paradise?”
    The doctor said, “You don’t even want to
know. Madge has been after me to take a vacation, but I don’t know
how we can get away.”
    “ Hey, you still owe her a
honeymoon,” Alex said. “We’ll manage to limp along without you
somehow.”
    Drake spoke to his wife and said, “Alex
thinks you’re being unreasonable, too.”
    He could hear Madge’s laughter through the
line. “I know better than that. He’s backing me up, isn’t he?”
    Drake admitted, “Yes, but what does he know?
He’s still a bachelor.”
    Alex said, “Much as I’d like to be your
couples therapist, I was wondering if you’ve had any luck with Toby
Sturbridge.”
    “ Well, at this point, all I
can say for sure is that I’m pretty certain he’s still
dead.”
    “ No clues at
all?”
    Drake said, “I’m out of my league on this
one. I’ve got a special coroner coming from Raleigh, but he won’t
be here for three days.”
    “ Three days? What’s the
delay?”
    Drake mumbled something into the phone Alex
couldn’t hear.
    “ Repeat that, Doc, I missed
it.”
    Drake took a deep breath, then said loudly,
“He’s on vacation in Hawaii.”
    Madge’s whoop of laughter in the background
was more than the doctor could take. “I’ve got to go, Alex. I’ll
let you know when I find something else out.”
    Without an official cause of death, the
sheriff would probably back off from the case until he had a
definite idea about what had really happened to Toby Sturbridge.
Besides, he had his hands full with Oxford Hitchcock’s murder. Alex
admired Doc Drake as much for his abilities as for knowing his
limitations. A thorough job was important, and if they had to wait,
then there was no escaping it.
    Alex had just finished cleaning the
newlyweds’ room when he heard someone call him from the hallway. As
he stepped out with his cart, he saw Tracy Shook standing in