Free Innkeeping with Murder by Tim Myers

gold rush in the United States started eighty-five miles from
here down near Charlotte. Rubies, sapphires and emeralds have all
been found as close as thirty miles from where the inn is
standing.”
    Elise sat up straighter in her seat. “Do you
think there’s a chance any of those stones in her room are worth
anything?”
    Alex shook his head. “Not if she picked them
up on her hikes around here. I don’t think there’s ever been
anything of value found near here, but the lure of close riches
keep the guests coming.” Alex smiled. “My dad used to salt the
place just before every tourist season when I was growing up.”
    “Salt it? What does that mean?”
    Alex explained, “He’d go up to a small town a
couple of hours from here called Little Switzerland and buy
worthless pretty stones to throw out on the grounds of Hatteras
West before the brunt of his guests arrived. Whenever a guest found
one of his planted stones, Dad would ooh and ahhh. Mom made him
stop it, though, because she thought it was dishonest. I still
stumble across one now and then myself. I don’t think Dad ever gave
it up entirely. It got to be kind of a joke between us.”
    Elise nodded. “That explains the rocks and
the other odd things I’ve found, but it doesn’t help us with the
murders. It sounds like anybody staying at the inn could have
killed Reg.”
    “It’s worse than that. A lot of the locals
like to climb the lighthouse steps for exercise. It wouldn’t be out
of the question if one of them happened upon Reg and killed him in
the lighthouse. I just wish I could come up with some kind of
motive. Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have when he was up
there looking around. I keep wondering if Reg spotted a pair of
lovers from the observation deck, and somebody wanted to protect
the secret enough to kill.”
    As they pulled into the parking lot, the
lights in the two separate buildings glowed like wayward pockets of
brightness through the thick fog, though the lighthouse itself was
shrouded in darkness. For a single moment, Alex was tempted to fire
up the Fresnel lens and show Elise how well the beacon worked, but
the last thing he needed was problems with the Elkton Falls Town
Council.
    Alex was holding Elise’s door open for her
when a scream split the heavy veiled night air.
    All Alex could think of was that this time he
wouldn’t be too late. The fact that he might be another victim
himself never entered his mind. For some reason unknown to him, a
killer was making Hatteras West his personal playground, and Alex
was going to stop him, or die trying.
    Elise held on to his arm as he tried to pull
away. “What was that?”
    “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
Alex freed himself from her grip and headed for the keeper’s house
at a dead run. It sounded like the scream had come from that
direction, but in the heavy fog, it was difficult to tell for sure.
He glanced back to see Elise close behind, and he paused to take
her hand as they hurried through the misty night. He couldn’t
afford to lose her in the fog.
    When they got to the main part of the inn,
they found one of the guests, Elizabeth Halloway, shivering in the
cold night air. She was a woman who looked otherworldly in the
daytime because of her fine porcelain features, golden translucent
hair and her marked preference for stark white gossamer-thin
dresses. In the dark misty night, Alex almost mistook her for a
ghost.
    “Was that your scream, Miss Halloway?”
    The young woman nodded furiously, but
couldn’t say a word. Alex waited as she composed herself, taking
several gulps of air. Elizabeth Halloway had come to the inn last
week, but Alex had yet to share more than ten words with her. She’d
exceeded the length of her planned stay by two days, and Alex was
frankly grateful for the business.
    He’d noticed that the slim, ethereal blonde
liked to take long walks in the woods surrounding the inn and that
she was a very private person. She’d even