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

the words of derision
aimed at him, and Elise patted his arm. He wanted to protest, but
he knew it would be exactly the wrong thing to do.
    “If I find them first, I’m keeping them all
for myself,” Monique said.
    “Good luck with that.”
    “Finding them, or keeping them?” Monique
asked. Alex could hear a taste of fear in her voice. She truly was
frightened by Jackson’s presence, and he couldn’t blame her. The
man seemed ruthless, willing to stop at nothing to get what he
thought belonged to him.
    “Both,” Jackson said.
    “ What if we worked
together?” Monique asked, unable to keep the angst out of her
voice. “How could I ever trust you?” she asked him, which Alex
thought was a perfectly reasonable question.
    “The same way I have to trust you, on
faith,” Jackson said. “We’ll split what we find, right down the
middle.”
    “ I don’t know,” Monique said
hesitantly.
    “I don’t have all day, lady. What’s it going
to be? Yes or no?”
    “Yes,” she said. “Do you have a plan?”
    “I’ve been thinking about breaking into the
other building again, but I don’t want to get caught doing it this
time. They nearly nailed me before. That’s where you come in.”
    “I’m not some common thief,” she said.
    “I’m not asking you to do anything illegal.
Just keep the innkeeper and his maid occupied while I dig around
some. I had to slip out the back window when they came over there
snooping around the last time.”
    “Do you think they found anything?” Monique
asked.
    “No, I doubt they even know what’s going
on.”
    “So, we’re splitting the coins,” she
recounted. “And you’re going back to your employer with less than
you are supposed to have. How can I believe you’re willing to
settle for half of what you think is all rightfully yours?”
    “Tony had more than coins,” Jackson
said.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “ He stole something else
from my employer that’s more important than gold, and I mean to get
it back.”
    There was more than a hint of avarice in
Monique’s voice as she asked, “What is it? Is it valuable?”
    “Not to anyone but my boss. It’s just a slip
of paper.”
    Bingo. Alex and Mor had been right after
all. The paper they’d found in the room where Tony had been
murdered was tied into the case.
    He just didn’t know how yet.
    “I’m taking off,” Jackson said as he voice
suddenly grew louder. “Just do your part and nobody has to get
hurt.”
    “No one else, you mean,” she said. “Tony’s
dead, isn’t he?”
    “Sure, if you’re counting him.”
    Alex grabbed Elise’s hand and pulled her
away. There was no way they could get across the grass and back to
the inn before Jackson and Monique spotted them.
    “Are we going to do this right now?” Monique
asked.
    Alex looked wildly around. There was only
one choice. They had to go up if they didn’t want to be caught.
Alex raced up the steps to the lighthouse, with Elise close behind
him. As he opened the door, he could hear Jackson say faintly, “Not
now. Tonight at nine, when no one else is around.”
    He closed the lighthouse door softly behind
him, and then locked it.
    It was a good thing he had. Ten seconds
after he dead bolted it, the handle jiggled a little. “This stupid
thing is locked,” Jackson said from the other side of the door.
    “What of it?” Monique answered him.
    “What kind of lighthouse stays locked all
day so the guests can’t get in?”
    “You can check it out later,” Monique said.
“We don’t want to look suspicious.”
    “I could break into this door with a credit
card in three seconds,” Jackson said.
    “Let’s just go,” she answered. “We don’t
want to make them suspicious.”
    Jackson’s laugh was cold and full of scorn.
Alex had no trouble believing that he was a cold blooded killer.
“Neither one of them has a clue. The only we’ll get caught is if we
get sloppy, or they get lucky.”
    After the voices were gone, Alex