Innkeeping with Murder by Tim Myers Page A

but she really is a nice girl.”
    Mor managed to stop his humor jag. “Irma
thinks so, too. She wants to adopt her. Listen, I didn’t mean to
hit a nerve, I’m sorry. You’ve had a lot happen lately, haven’t
you?”
    “More than I even want to think about.”
    Alex walked out of the shop feeling better,
but that soon turned to dust when he spotted Sam Finster getting
out of his Jeep Cherokee. Alex tried to duck back into the repair
shop, but the eagle-eyed little weasel caught him before he could
get inside.
    “Alex Winston, just the man I want to see.
You’ve saved me a trip out to the lighthouse.”
    Alex fought the urge to run. “Finster, I’m
not selling. I told you, it’s final.”
    Sam Finster missed Alex’s cutting tone, or
more likely chose to ignore it. “Since you’ve saved me the gas, at
least let me buy you a cup of coffee and a doughnut.”
    Alex shook his head. “You go ahead, don’t let
me stop you. I was just on my way back out to the inn.”
    Finster smiled, his canines gleaming in the
sunlight. “Now Alex, surely you have time for an old friend.
Especially in your time of need.”
    Of course, with Finster’s connections, he
probably knew more about the murder and Emma Sturbridge’s fall than
Alex did himself. If he didn’t go with the realtor now, he’d be
hounded by the little ferret until he agreed to hear him out.
    “I’ve got ten minutes to spare. Let’s get
this over with.” Alex had found early on that no matter how rude he
was to Sam Finster, the realtor still acted as if the two of them
were the best of friends. Finster was the only person on the planet
Alex was patently discourteous to, but then the rest of the town
acted the same way toward him too. Finster had a way of bringing
out the worst in people. For a fleeting moment, Alex wished if
anyone had to take that fall from Bear Rock, it should have been
the real estate man, then he quickly chided himself for wishing bad
on anyone, even Sam Finster.
    They walked over to Buck’s Grill and found
the owner’s daughter Sally Anne waiting tables. Sally Anne could
always be counted on for her bright, sunny smile.
    In the hours between breakfast and lunch, the
restaurant was oddly deserted.
    Alex had heard from Buck that Sally Anne had
decided to postpone college a year in order to save more money, but
local gossip had it that she was more interested in seeing which
college offered a scholarship to the town’s local football hero,
and incidentally, her boyfriend.
    Alex asked, “How’s Eric doing this season?”
as he walked in.
    Sally Anne’s smile brightened even more.
“He’s on his way to breaking all the old school records. You should
come out and watch him play sometime.”
    “I’d like that.” He glanced at the menu board
on the wall behind her. “Let me see, I’ll have two of your freshest
glazed doughnuts and a glass of chocolate milk. Finster’s
buying.”
    Her smile shifted to a grim crease as she
turned to Finster. The real estate man winked broadly and said,
“I’ll have the same, honey.” He turned to Alex. “You grab a booth,
will you? I’ve got to make a quick call. Time is money, you know
what I mean, sport?” His hacking laughter followed him all the way
to the pay telephone outside the diner. The realtor was too cheap
to invest in a cellular telephone even as the world around him went
wireless.
    Sally Anne delivered the two milks and the
doughnuts before Finster had a chance to come back from the pay
phone.
    Alex said, “You don’t like him much, do
you?”
    An uncharacteristic fury crossed the girl’s
face. “Every time he’s in here he tries to pinch my bottom or find
an excuse to brush against me. The man makes my skin crawl.”
    “You shouldn’t have to put up with that. Why
don’t you tell Eric or your father?”
    She grimaced. “Are you kidding? Eric would
get thrown off the team if he got caught beating Finster up, and
Daddy would kill the little sleaze.”
    She had a point.