Innkeeping with Murder Read Online Free PDF

on her list.
    Alex walked back to the utility room to see
if Mor was having any luck with the boiler.
    The big man was putting the last of his tools
back into his steel tool chest.
    Alex groaned. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me it’s
hopeless. You’ve at least got to try.”
    Mor offered him a huge grin. “Come on, Alex,
lighten up. I’ve already taken care of the problem. You got lucky
today, but I wouldn’t bet on it next time.”
    Alex thought of Reg’s body at the top of the
lighthouse and of the impact it would have on his guests, wondering
just how lucky he could be. “Does this mean we have hot water?”
    Mor said, “Give the boiler a few minutes to
get
    warmed up, and you’ll be back in business. I
bet that water is freezing straight out of the well.”
    Alex watched with trepidation as Mor began to
fill out a bill. Alex must have caught his friend’s eye, because
when the handyman looked up from his paperwork, Mor was grinning
broadly.
    “I didn’t need any parts, all I had to do was
adjust the air intake valve. I’d teach you to do it yourself, but
then where would I be without all these hefty fees I charge you?
All you have to pay for today is my labor. Les said something about
collecting up front, since Marisa threatened on the answering
machine to stick us with your bill from last month.”
    Alex tried to return his grin, but couldn’t
manage it. “I don’t blame you a bit for asking. I just hope I have
enough to cover it. How much do I owe you?”
    Mor made a careful study of his watch. “Well,
I’ll be. I’ve been on my own time since I left the shop. How about
if I tell Les the boiler fixed itself? That and a cold beer, we’ll
call it even.”
    “That sounds like a deal to me. Thanks, I
really appreciate it, Mor.”
    Maybe Alex was due to have a little good luck
come his way. More likely, his luck came from having Mor as a good
friend. The two of them had grown up together in Elkton Falls;
they’d even been on the high school football team together when Mor
was a senior and Alex was a sophomore. While Alex wasn’t nearly as
good as his friend on the gridiron, he’d still been enough of a
ballplayer to make the all-county squad during his own senior year,
albeit as a member of the third team.
    Alex walked Mor back into the lobby where
they both happened to catch a glimpse of Elise entering a guest
room on the first floor.
    Mor whistled softly. “That is one sweet
heartbreaker you’ve got on your hands there. Since when did Elise
sign on at the inn? When you said Marisa was gone, I had no idea
you’d set your sights so high on your next maid. Not that I blame
you. I’d work side-by-side with that young lady any day of the
week.”
    Alex said brusquely, “She needs a job, and I
happened to have an opening. Do you know much about her?”
    Mor’s eyes twinkled. “Not nearly as much as
I’d like to. From what I hear, she’s just been in town a few weeks.
I ran into her over at the grocery store. Asked her out right off
the bat, too; some opportunities are too good to pass up.”
    Alex knew Mor was famous throughout seven
counties as a heartbreaker in his own right. Fathers had been known
to send their eligible daughters out on phantom errands before
calling Mor for a job, just to be sure they were well out of the
handyman’s reach.
    “So what did she say when you asked her
out?”
    The big man chuckled softly. “She was polite
enough, but I got the message pretty fast that she wasn’t
interested.”
    Alex smiled gently at his friend. “I’ll bet
you were floored. Is that the first time you’ve ever been turned
down?”
    Mor slapped him on the back. Alex couldn’t
believe how much the harmless-looking tap stung. “Well, she told me
she was engaged, that’s what made the message loud and clear. What
are you worried about? You’re still dating Sandra, aren’t you?”
    “Off and on,” he admitted. Sandra Beckett was
a lawyer from town Alex went out with occasionally. They kept