Berry The Dead

by Nancy McGovern

  Contents

  Berry The Dead

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  RECIPE!

  One More Thing

  Let's Connect!

  Disclaimer

  RETURN TO MILBURN

  A Sequel Series To “A Murder In Milburn”

  BOOK 1:

  Berry The Dead

  By

  Nancy McGovern

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  At the end of this story there is an offer to join my mailing list, through which you will receive updates, special offers & discounts on my future books as well as information about joining my Street Team. Plus, you will receive a FREE BOOK as a Thank You for signing up! If interested, the link is immediately after this story…

  Chapter 1

  Happy 55th!

  The first birthday Nora could really remember was her 6th — a marvelous occasion when she’d been given her first real bicycle with no training wheels. She’d also eaten half a ton of delicious walnut brownies. The brownies had been her idea. She wasn’t a big fan of cutting cake, as her rowdy classmates always tended to smoosh it into each other’s faces. So she’d asked her mother for a small mountain of brownies instead, and it had worked out brilliantly. Even at six years old, when normal kids loved playing around in the mud, Nora had been a stickler for cleanliness.

  A birthday had really meant something back then — an occasion when the shy Nora would blossom and grandly distribute pencils or candy to each of the kids in her class, feeling like a benevolent fairy. Then, sometime around her early teens, celebrating her birthdays with an actual party had stopped feeling cool and then, from her twenties on, it had mostly meant having a nice meal with a few friends. It wasn’t until her daughters were born that grand birthday celebrations came back into Nora’s life again. Decking the house up with streamers and balloons, making all sorts of fancy cakes, hanging up fairy lights, it was all so wonderful. Then, first Grace and then Hazel had descended into the chaos of their own teenage years and, like Nora, they began to think of parties as “uncool”. Soon enough parties, once again, faded out of her life.

  Now it was her fifty-fifth birthday, and Nora was parked outside her house, ready to go in. Twenty five years and the pretty red-brick house still looked as cozy as it had the day she and Harvey had bought it. Nora paused a moment to admire the house that had become their home. She had dinner plans with Harvey in an hour so, really, she ought to be rushing. But, if the years had taught her anything, it was the importance of stopping to smell the flowers once in a while. She took a breath and tilted her head this way and that, wondering if it were time to paint the window frames again.

  “Nora!” A beat up Toyota pulled up behind her and a window rolled down. Surprised, Nora got out. She walked up to the passenger door and peered into the car. Zoey, Nora’s housekeeper, was tapping the wheel nervously. It was a messy car, with a big, brown package on the front seat and a mop, broom and various cleaning supplies in the back.

  Nora had hired Zoey more than twenty years ago, when the rush of being a new mother and managing her own diner had become too much for her. Ever since, Zoey had appeared like clockwork at 3pm on Mondays and Thursdays, helping lend a little order to the house. Zoey had doubled as a babysitter sometimes, and Nora’s daughters had both been very fond of her. Still, funnily enough, in all those years Nora had never really talked to her for more than ten minutes at a time. And the last thing she’d expected at 7pm on a Saturday was to see Zoey pull up to her house.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” Nora tried to sound unconcerned, and failed.

  Zoey seemed flustered. Her hair, which was normally done up in a rigid bun, was half-loose, and her dark eyes were skittering this way and that, distracted. She rubbed the back of her neck and opened her mouth, then shut it.

  “Can we talk?” Zoey asked, finally. “I mean, if it’s not too inconvenient.”

  “Of course!” Nora said. “What’s the matter?”

  “That’s the thing. I’m not entirely sure there is a matter.” Zoey sighed. “I’m just being an idiot, probably. Maybe I’m overreacting totally. But…maybe I’m not.”

  “Okay, look,” Nora checked her watch, “I have to meet my husband for dinner in an hour, but why don’t you come inside for some coffee? We can talk it over.”

  “I don’t know…” Zoey hesitated, then nodded. “Actually, you know what? I’d like that very much. I think you, of all people, would know the right thing to do. I mean, I don’t want to make a fool of myself. I even thought of going to the police, but...”

  “The police?” Nora’s eyebrows hit her hairline. Taking Zoey’s elbow, she firmly ushered her to the main door and pulled the storm door open. “Let’s go inside, sit down and talk it over.” Nora liked Zoey, and she’d never seen her like this. Her diligent housekeeper was usually cheerful — always on a diet, always a little gossipy and always in control. Zoey was one of those square-shouldered women who went out into the world and made it a little better. So for her to look as if she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown, well, Nora was determined to find out why.

  Nora turned the key in the lock and opened the front door. There was a flash of light as she stepped in and cries of “Happy Birthday!” Nora stood stunned for a minute, then clapped her hands to her mouth.

  Everyone important in her life was here. Just for her! She spotted Tina and Simone in one corner, along with their husbands, Sam and Jake. She gave a gasp of surprise to see Mrs. Mullally, in a wheelchair with a blanket covering her legs, but her eyes bright as ever.

  “How...” she began, but was cut off when the crowd began singing to her. Harvey and her two daughters, meanwhile, approached her, wheeling along a table with a mountain of brownies on it.

  “Happy Birthday, Mama!” Grace, Nora’s older daughter, gave her a bone-crunching hug, while her younger daughter, Hazel, smiled and clapped along with the singing crowd.

  “Hey, I get a kiss, too,” Harvey said. “Happy Birthday, wifey. I know you wanted a quiet day of it, but we decided we’d do things in style this year!”

  Nora shook her head, her smile radiant. “Thank you,” she managed. “You remembered…about the brownies.”

  “How could we not? Now come on and blow out that candle! We’re all hungry!” Hazel patted her stomach.

  “Happy birthday, darling!” Tina, Nora’s co-owner at the Madness Diner, approached. She had her hair cut in a smart bob and highlighted to cover any silver strands. She kissed Nora on both cheeks with a big smack and handed her a wrapped gift. “To the best partner I could ever have asked for! And the best friend, too.”

  The evening passed in a pleasant blur, with never a moment to pause and think. Nora was especially pleased to see her former landlady, Mrs. Mullally.

  “It was Grace’s idea to have me.” Mrs. Mullally smiled. “Very kind of her, too. I didn’t think she’d remember an old biddy like me.”

  “Oh, knock it off, Mrs. M! You’re the closest thing to a grandmother we’ve ever had.” Grace seated herself on the arm of the wheelchair and gave her a tight hug.

  “Careful, don’t hurt her!” Nora exclaimed.

  “You worry t
oo much, Mom!” Grace grinned. “Mrs. Mullally is strong as an ox, isn’t that right?”

  “For a ninety two year old? Yes, indeed.” Mrs. Mullally smiled.

  “She can still beat me in arm-wrestling.” Mrs. Mullally’s nephew, Tom Shepherd, grinned and winked at her.

  “To me you’re still the same little toddler running around in diapers, creating messes everywhere.” Mrs. Mullally laughed. “Tom was the naughtiest child I ever did see, you know. Still is.”

  “He’s a child, alright. We should call him Peter Pan.” This comment came from Tom’s wife, Ronnie, whose face was twisted in a scowl. She held a glass of wine in her hand, and drained it. “I’ve got to check up on the kids,” she said, excusing herself from the others. There was a brief moment of awkward silence as Nora met Mrs. Mullally’s eyes. Tom’s chin went down and his eyebrows knitted together.

  Changing the subject, Mrs. Mullally chirped, “But I heard you had surgery since I last saw you, Nora dear. Is everything alright now? I know you don’t tell me these things anymore because you think I’ll be upset! But honestly—”

  Upset! Remembering Zoey suddenly, Nora looked around but her housekeeper had apparently slipped out silently amid the ruckus. For a moment, Nora wondered if she should run out and look for her. Then, before she could make a move, she was once again engulfed in conversation.

  “Well?” Mrs. Mullally asked. “What happened to you?”

  “Oh, that…” Nora looked down at her hands and sighed. She’d developed carpal tunnel syndrome in her wrists a few years back — a common injury for longtime chefs. She’d put off getting the surgery for as long as she could, until the pain had become too much to bear.

  “The perks of getting old, I suppose.” Nora sighed, rubbing her wrists and still thinking of Zoey.

  “Old? Pshaw! You’re 55! That’s middle-aged, not old. From where I stand, you’re practically a baby!” Mrs. Mullally said. “You’ve got a whole lot of life left in you, sweetie. No matter what all the ads and media say. Good years, too.”

  Nora nodded, “I hope so.”

  “A toast to you, then.” Tina appeared with glasses of champagne in her hands, and passed them around. “May the next fifty-five years be as…interesting…as the last.”

  “Oho, interesting.” Grace took a sip. “You know that’s an old Chinese curse, Aunt Tina? May you live in interesting times. Not good, interesting.”

  “Hard to imagine mom’s life being very interesting,” Hazel joked, wrinkling her nose and trying to grab a glass of champagne for herself. At twenty, she thought anyone above thirty was a dinosaur.

  “Uh-uh.” Grace wagged a finger at her sister and pulled the champagne out of her reach. “Not just yet! You’re still too young for that, little lady.”

  “Oh, come on! I’m turning twenty-one in three months!” Hazel protested. “Some alcohol is okay this once, right Mom?”

  “Them’s the rules, kiddo. Go get yourself some apple juice instead,” Grace teased.

  “You’re only three years older, you know. You don’t get to boss me around.”

  “Ah, but those three years have made all the difference. You’ll understand when you’re twenty-four.” Grace put her glass aside and grabbed Hazel in a friendly headlock.

  “Behave, you two.” Harvey came up from behind Nora and put his arms around her waist. Kissing her gently on the cheek, he said, “Happy birthday again, love.”

  “But, seriously, Aunt Tina. You should be careful what you wish for — interesting times aren’t always good times.” Grace grinned.

  “Oh, sure. But I could do with something to relieve my boredom.” Tina sighed. “Life’s been in a boring rut these days. I feel like a tree that’s shed all its leaves. My two little ones have spread their wings and flown away.”

  “Your kids are twenty-five years old, Aunt Tina. Hardly babies,” Hazel said with a smile.

  “They’re always going to be my little babies,” Tina pouted. “Even when they’re old and wrinkled. You’ll understand one day when you’re a mom.”

  Hazel rolled her eyes. “You, too? I understand plenty, believe me!”

  “Well, I know exactly how you feel,” Nora agreed. “Since Grace moved out, the house has been so much quieter. And one day Hazel is going to move out, too. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself then.”

  “Oh, mom.” Hazel shifted from one foot to the other, looking uncomfortable. “You know it has to happen sometime.”

  “Yeah, it should have happened already, like three years ago.” Grace said. “You’re totally a kid still, Hazel. I keep telling you it’s time to leave your safety net and get out into the world.”

  Instantly, Hazel’s face turned mutinous. Nora, who privately agreed with Grace despite loving having her daughter at home, said nothing and moved away. Leaving them bickering, Nora headed to the table for another chocolate brownie. Warm yellow light filled the house, along with music and laughter and, personally, even if it wasn’t very interesting, Nora was definitely very happy with her life.

  *****

  It wasn’t until later that night, long after the lights and music had faded, that Nora sat up in bed suddenly.

  “Zoey!” she muttered, clapping a hand to her forehead.

  “Hmmwhazzit.” Harvey turned over in bed and pulled her close to him. “Go back to sleep,” he said, his eyes still closed.

  “Harvey, Zoey came to me for help today. I completely forgot. I didn’t even call her back.” Guiltily, Nora looked at the clock on her nightstand — 3am.

  “Well, it can wait one night, whatever it is. I’m sure she won’t like it if you call in the middle of the night,” Harvey said, opening one eye hesitantly. “Call her first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “I don’t know. She seemed really…off.” Nora hesitated. “I feel terrible. I could have taken five minutes at the party and phoned her. But I was just so excited to see everyone…”

  “It was a good party, wasn’t it?” Harvey sat up and stretched. “Grace’s idea, all of it. That girl sure does love her mama.”

  “We did good with that one, didn’t we?” Nora smiled.

  “We did good with both of them,” Harvey said. “You know my favorite memory from tonight?”

  “What?”

  “When Hazel coaxed Mrs. Mullally into doing the Macarena with her.” Harvey threw back his head and laughed. “I wish I’d recorded that. It was so cute.”

  Another twinge of guilt hit Nora. “I should visit Mrs. M. more often,” she said. “I know her grand-nephew and his wife have moved in to help care for her but still...”

  “Ah, yes. Handsome, young Tom Shepherd and his wife, Ronnie.” Harvey nodded. “Word in town is those two aren’t too happy with each other right now.”

  “Really?” Nora leaned forward. Tom had grown up in Milburn, then moved out to Colorado for college, where he married his wife. In their late twenties, the two had decided to relocate to Milburn when Tom’s great aunt, Mrs. Mullally, needed help. After all, Milburn was a wonderful place to raise kids. And it had worked out well — Mrs. Mullally was able to live at home instead of going to a retirement community, and she was surrounded by family. As for Tom and his wife, they got to live rent-free. Definitely a win-win.

  “Word is, Harvey’s grown a bit too close with one of his clients down at his accounting firm,” Harvey said. “At least, that’s what my spies tell me. Apparently Shepherd & Co. Offers different services for their more attractive patrons. Or at least one of them.”

  “Oh, no.” Nora bit her lip. “If Ronnie takes the kids and leaves him, Mrs. Mullally will be devastated. She loves the little ones.”

  “How many do they have again?”

  “Two. A four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.”

  Harvey whistled. “That’s a handful. I don’t know how we ever managed it.”

  “The house was just one big, dirty pile of laundry away from collapsing in on itself back then.” Nora laughed. “Zoey’s helped me thro
ugh a lot of that, you know. You were always so busy with your sixty-hour weeks, and I had the diner…”

  “Life’s better now,” Harvey said. “Easier, isn’t it? Funny, at thirty, I never thought I’d turn sixty and be glad those days were over. I wanted my youth to last forever.”

  “Are you really glad those days are gone?” Nora asked. “I mean…sometimes I feel like I just blinked and life flew by me.”

  Harvey pulled her back into his arms. “What I mean is that life was good and now it’s even better! And I have no desire to be chasing any more little kids around! We raised two strong young women and it’s their turn to be young.”

  “I don’t know…” Nora sighed. “I’ve got one of those bad feelings, you know? Like a wave’s about to break over our heads. It’s the kind of feeling you only get at three in the morning.”

  “Hmm.” Harvey scratched his chin. “Let’s see… how do I make those bad feelings go away? I know!” With a sudden grin, he began tickling Nora and she batted his hands away, shrieking with laughter. They ended up in a pile together and, eventually, fell asleep in each other’s arms. Nora slipped into peaceful dreams, once again forgetting all about Zoey.

  It wasn’t until morning, when the phone rang, that it all came rushing back to her. Even before she picked up, Nora had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

  Tina was on the line. “It’s Zoey!” she exclaimed, distressed. “I just found out. I can’t believe it! She’s dead, Nora!”

  *****

  Chapter 2

  Death Knocks Once Again

  Zoey lived in a small, whitewashed house on Orchard Street in East Milburn. Half the houses on the street were up for sale or foreclosed, their windows cracked and their lawns overgrown. The handful of neighbors who still lived on the street had gathered around the yellow tape the police had put up and were having hushed discussions about what had happened.

  Nora’s car, a black BMW, attracted a lot of looks as it screeched down the street and parked next to Zoey’s house. Tina and Nora got out, slamming the doors in sync. A man in a sheriff’s uniform walked out of the house, hitching his pants up as he strode down the lawn. He caught Nora’s gaze and rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed. Nora was unimpressed, too. She’d always liked Sheriff Sean Dracon, who was tough, but fair. Since Sean had retired and gone off on a year-long RV trip with his wife, Karen, a few months ago, his former deputy, David Ellerton, had become sheriff. He was an experienced man, but not quite as bright as Sean, in Nora’s opinion.