Honeymoon for murder, p.14
Honeymoon For Murder, page 14
part #8 of Lighthouse Inn Series
“Do you have any rope?” Alex asked, panting from the effort.
“Yeah, it’s in the storage room,” Charlie volunteered.
“I’ll get it,” Zinnia offered.
“You have his truck keys, don’t you?” Alex asked the innkeeper.
“They’re in the lost and found under the desk,” he explained as he retrieved them.
The chief looked outraged. “They were here all along? You lied to me!”
“So sue me,” Alex said.
Zinnia came back with a stout rope and started to hand it to Charlie.
“I’ll take that,” Helen said.
“Can you tie a knot he can’t get out of?” Charlie asked her.
“Oh, he won’t get away,” she said with grim satisfaction.
As Helen began tying the chief’s hands behind his back, he protested, “Hey, that’s too tight.”
Charlie leaned over, checked out the knot, and then said, “Maybe you should loosen it up a little.”
“Not a chance,” Helen said.
The chief responded by lashing out his legs, catching Charlie in the shin.
“There’s more rope where that came from,” Zinnia said. “Should I get it for his legs?”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Alex said, still holding the gun on the rotten chief of police.
“I’m done fighting,” the chief said.
“Maybe so, but we’re not taking any chances,” Alex said.
Once he was secured, Alex put the gun away, though he kept it in his pocket, just in case he needed it. As Elise approached him, he said, “Sorry I didn’t say anything to you first, but I just worked it all out.”
“I’m fine with the way you handled things,” she said.
“Don’t kid yourself. If Helen hadn’t distracted him, we’d probably all be dead right now.”
“It took all of us,” Helen said. Alex was afraid to let her get anywhere near the chief. He was afraid of what she might do and how much she’d regret it later. It was a heady thing, having vengeance before you like that, and if he could help Helen resist the temptation, he’d do his best.
“What do we do now?” Zinnia asked.
“What can we do?” Charlie asked. “There’s no cell phone reception, the landline is inconsistent on its best days, and the bridge is washed out. We’ll just have to wait for someone to notice that we’re missing.”
“I have to go to the bathroom,” the chief said.
“Hold it,” Helen replied savagely. “Or don’t. I don’t care one way or the other.”
“It brings up a good point,” Elise said. “How long do you think it will take, Charlie?”
“I have no idea,” he said as they heard something approaching from the air.
“Is that a helicopter?” Zinnia asked.
“It must be,” Alex said as it got closer and closer.
“Let’s go see who it is,” Charlie said.
“You all go ahead,” Helen suggested. “I’ll stay here with the chief.”
“I’ll stay, too,” Alex quickly volunteered.
Helen looked extremely upset by his offer, but she didn’t protest.
As they waited, Alex said, “I’m sorry about Clint.”
“So am I, for a great many reasons,” she replied.
“He deserved exactly what he got,” the chief said.
Helen slapped his face, but Alex made no move to stop her. After he protested, she said, “One more word out of you and I’m going to take that gun and shoot you with it. Do you understand me? Don’t talk. Just nod.”
Chief Laughlin nodded.
It was a serious situation, but from the tension of it all, it was all that Alex could do not to smile.
Officer Ford came in and barely glanced at his former boss. “Where’s his weapon?” he asked.
“It’s right here,” Alex said, pulling it from his pocket slow and easy.
“Good.”
“How did you know the chief was here?” Alex asked as he handed over the weapon.
“I found his squad car parked on the road, so it wasn’t tough to figure out where he was. He’s been acting weird, even for him, since this whole thing happened with Clint, and I’ve had my own suspicions, so I asked a buddy to fly me over here in case you were in trouble. It was tight, but he managed to do it.” He looked at his boss and added, “Looks like I didn’t need to do that, though. You all took care of the situation.” Turning back to Alex and Helen, he said, “You can go on out now. The chopper will get you out of here.”
“What about him?” Helen asked.
“I’ll be here with him until the chopper comes back,” Ford replied. He nudged the chief with his foot. “What’s wrong? Run out of things to say?”
The chief looked at Helen warily and then shook his head in silence. “He was given an incentive not to speak,” Alex explained.
“One of these days you’ll have to tell me about it. Now go on. Stan won’t wait around for you forever.”
Alex did as he was told, glancing back at the police chief one last time before he left Bear Creek Lodge forever. He wished Charlie the best of luck, but he’d had enough. It was time to get back to Hatteras West and find out what his life was going to be like with Elise, his new bride.
Chapter 17
A week later, they were back at Hatteras West and just getting used to running the inn as husband and wife. “We got a postcard from Zinnia,” Elise said as she handed the mail to Alex. Though Alex loved the walk to the mail and back, he and Elise had been trading off days, since she enjoyed the stroll as well. They’d tried walking to collect the mail together at first, but since they spent virtually every waking second together, even the newlyweds could use a short respite from each other.
“What does it say?” he asked.
“She and Charlie are coming next week.”
“Is he shutting the lodge down?” Alex asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I think Zinnia’s given him new hope,” she said with a smile.
“Does that mean they’re dating?” Alex asked.
“I don’t think it’s gone that far, but it can’t be too long before they start, if you ask me.” She put the rest of the mail on the front desk. “We have three guests coming this afternoon. It’s good to be working again, isn’t it?”
“I don’t feel like we ever really stopped,” Alex admitted.
“It wasn’t much of a honeymoon, but I never needed a fancy trip to start off my marriage to you,” she said as she put her arms around her husband.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Alex replied.
All was well and good with his world, but he knew that things couldn’t stay that way forever. Something was bound to happen at the inn; it always did, but when it did occur, he’d be ready to tackle it, with Elise right by his side.
And that made him a very happy man indeed.
To learn more about Tim Myers’s novels, please visit www.timmyersfiction.com.
Books by Tim Myers
Lighthouse Mystery Series
Innkeeping with Murder
Reservations for Murder
Murder Checks Inn
Room for Murder
Booked for Murder
Key to Murder
Ring for Murder
Candlemaking Series
At Wick’s End
Snuffed Out
Death Waxed Over
A Flicker of Doubt
Waxing Moon
Soapmaking Series
Dead Men Don’t Lye
A Pour Way to Dye
A Mold for Murder
Cardmaking Series
Invitation to Murder
Deadly Greetings
Murder and Salutations
Slow Cooker Mysteries
Slow Cooked Murder
Simmering Death
Standalone Cozy Mysteries
A Family of Strangers
Coventry
Volunteer for Murder
Paranormal Adult
Werewolf PI
Zombie PI
Romantic Fantasy
The Fairy Godfather
Suspense
Caved In
Cornered
Hunted
Iced
Trapped
Short Story Collections
A Touch of Romance
Beauty Times 3
Can You Guess What’s Next? Vol. 1
Can You Guess What’s Next? Vol. 2
Crimes with a Twist
Dark Shots
Dark Sips of Mystery
Did You Solve the Crime? Vol. 1
Did You Solve the Crime? Vol. 2
Did You Solve the Crime? Vol. 3
Hidden Messages
Long Shots
Marriage Can Be Murder
Money Mysteries
Murder Is a Special Occasion
Murder Nine to Five
Pet Mysteries
Repeat Performances
Senior Sleuths Again
Senior Sleuths Times 3
Turning the Tables
Middle-Grade Readers
Book of Time and Ben Franklin
Book of Time and Thomas Edison
Book of Time and Archimedes
Crispin Livingston Hughes, Boy Inventor
Emma’s Emerald Mine
Lost in Monet’s Garden
Lost in Picasso’s Cubes
Young Adult Mysteries
Lightning Ridge
Rebuilding My Life
Tackling the Truth
Voltini
Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Paranormal Kids
Paranormal Camp
Wizard’s School Year 1: The Wizard’s Secret
Wizard’s School Year 2: The Killing Crystal
Books by Tim Myers writing as Chris Cavender
Pizza Mystery Series
A Slice of Murder
Thin Crust Killers
Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder
A Pizza to Die For
Rest in Pizza
Killer Crust
The Missing Dough
Books by Tim Myers writing as Casey Mayes
Mystery By The Numbers
A Deadly Row
A Killer Column
A Grid for Murder
Tim Myers, Honeymoon For Murder
