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

habit of
calling her by her last name, no matter how much she
insisted.
    “ Hello, Alex. I’m so sorry
about your uncle. I know how close you two were.”
    Alex said, “Thanks. What are you going to do
with yourself now?” Nadine’s husband had dropped dead at her
retirement party a few years earlier, and she’d been forced to go
to work for a shady realtor. When he passed away as well, Nadine
had ended up working for Jase.
    “ I’m afraid to think about
it right now. I haven’t had much luck working in the private
sector. I may just face it and retire in earnest.”
    Alex tried to buoy her with his words. “Come
on, you’ve got a lot still to contribute to the world. Don’t give
up now.”
    She patted his hand. “You always were such a
sweet boy. Now, what brings you here, Alex? Oh, that’s right.
You’ve inherited your uncle’s possessions, haven’t you?”
    Alex said, “That’s what Sandra said, but I’m
not here to take an inventory. I wanted to ask you about what
happened the other day.”
    Nadine selected a fresh tissue after
discarding the shredded mess in her hand, then said, “Alex, I’ve
been over this a dozen times with Sheriff Armstrong. Must I go
through it all again with you?”
    Alex said, “Of course not. I know you’ve
been through a lot. I won’t add to your grief.”
    Nadine’s gaze sharpened suddenly. “You’re
trying to solve this yourself, aren’t you?”
    “ To be honest with you, the
thought had crossed my mind. Nadine, Jase wasn’t just my uncle; he
was a lot more than that to me.”
    Nadine nodded. “Alex, of
course I’ll help you. Jase was a good man and the best boss I ever
had. It’s only fitting that you try to find his killer.” She
stroked the edge of her nose, thought for a few moments, then said,
“Let’s see, Jase had the reading of the Trask will scheduled for
later that morning. As a general rule, your uncle didn’t sleep in.
He was often here well before I started at eight a.m . every day. I wish I
could tell you what happened, but no one else was here by the time
I arrived.” She started to cry but fought back the tears as she
added, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget how he looked
just lying there with that lovely lighthouse you’d given him there
beside him on the floor.”
    Alex realized how hard it must have been for
Nadine to find Jase’s body like that. He quickly switched tracks.
“Nadine, tell me this. Why did Jase keep the Trask will in his
safe? Was that normal procedure for him?”
    Nadine said, “Heavens no, Alex, I’d never be
able to find anything if he did that. No, Jase told me last week
that the situation was a ticking time bomb, and that he’d better
tuck the folder away where nobody could get their hands on it.
Evidently it stood to shake things up quite a bit, but that’s all
he would say.”
    He nodded. “That explains why it was under
such tight security.”
    “ Oh, Alex, that’s what’s so
tragic about it all. The thief didn’t have to kill Jase; that safe
hasn’t worked in donkey years. All you have to do is wiggle the
handle, and it opens right up. It was more of a hiding place than a
safe. Jase was always meaning to get the safe repaired, but he used
to claim that he never had anything valuable enough to store in it
to justify the expense. I don’t have to tell you that your uncle
was a careful man with his money.”
    Alex tried to fight the impulse to say that
Tony was reaping the benefits of that tendency now. He had to
remember that he’d inherited exactly what Jase had wanted him to
have.
    “ So who do you think killed
him, Nadine?”
    She looked down at her desk, shook her head
and said, “I wish I knew, Alex, I truly do. I firmly believe you
have to consider the Trask will as the catalyst in all of this,
since it’s the only thing I can find that’s missing. Taking that
into account, it could have been Trask’s ex-wife or either of his
children. It could have been Julie Hart, for that