“Yeah but Sean went missing at a very convenient point in the evening, and returned with an injury and no real memory of what happened,” Harvey said. “Isn’t it possible, just a little bit possible, that he got into a fight with Wallis and… did something regrettable? Maybe he doesn’t even remember. Maybe that’s why he’s so good at lying about it.”
“He doesn’t remember, yet he was smart enough to wipe off his prints?” Nora said doubtfully. “Remember, besides the 8 men who hauled up the boat, there were no prints found.”
“Which means the murderer had wiped it off, right?” Harvey nodded. “So what does that tell us? Whoever did it, took time and patience to commit this crime.”
“That’s the one thing I disagreed with Sean about,” Nora said. “He’s arrested a boy named Ricky, the kid who Wallis fought with the morning of the festival.”
Harvey frowned. “The roadie?”
“That’s the one. Sean thought that the roadie had killed Wallis in a fit of anger because he was humiliated by him.”
“A sound motive,” Harvey said.
“Only it doesn’t fit,” Nora said. “If the kid had done it, he would have run away. I don’t even think he would have had the sense to wipe off his prints. He wouldn’t have bothered to stay with the crowd at the fair.”
“Wouldn’t he?” Harvey asked. “You’re judging a person you don’t even know. What if he’s the kind of person who can hold a grudge for a very long time?”
“He struck me as a hard working, but terrified newbie,” Nora sighed. “Though of course, you’re right. I’d need to spend a lot more time with him before I can just casually make judgments like that.”
“Still, he’s a suspect,” Harvey said.
“But is he the only one?” Nora asked.
“From what Wallis told me and Milly, there were a lot of husbands around the state that wanted to get him,” Harvey said. “He was a bit uncouth. He was bragging about his rock star behavior and how he’s had fans throwing themselves all over him.”
Nora considered this. “Did you believe him?”
“After the way, he riled up the crowd? Yeah, I did,” Harvey said. “There’s a class of women who are very attracted to men like Wallis. Bad boys with dark pasts and brooding eyes.”
“You sound like you’re describing yourself,” Nora said.
“Does that make you one of the women?” Harvey asked.
She flushed. “Anyway, it’s not just the husbands. Couldn’t a jealous lover from Wallis’s past have, you know, done away with him?”
“That’s a theory.” Harvey nodded. “But at this point, we’re only playing with theories. The evidence is all sitting untouched at the sheriff’s office.”
“Poor Dean,” Nora sighed. “I wonder how he’s coping. He looked utterly terrified at having to handle things himself for the day.”
“Dean’s new, isn’t he?” Harvey asked. “Just hired six months ago?”
“Fresh out of the academy,” Nora agreed. “It’s going to test him.”
Harvey scratched his chin. “I think I have a good idea fermenting in my brain right about now.”
“Harvey, leave the poor boy alone,” Nora said.
“Probably best.” Harvey sighed, parking and opening his car door. “I guess I should go back and focus on making sure Milly’s all right. I don’t want her father to get turned off from investing in our town.”
Nora shook her head and bit her lip.
“What?” Harvey asked.
“It’s just that. You’re always so focused on the bottom line. It’s what makes you an excellent businessman, I suppose. When you were helping Sean today, you were doing it because it would help you. You didn’t want a less capable sheriff to harm the town and thus your business.”
“So?” Harvey asked. “Did that mean my help was unappreciated?” He paused. “Well, knowing you and knowing Sean, it probably was.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” it was Nora’s turn to ask.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just that, sometimes, Nora, you should just appreciate a person’s help instead of criticizing their motives.”
“Motive is everything,” Nora said. “It’s the heart and soul of a person. I believe I’d be able to forgive a murderer if he had the right motive, and condemn a charitable man if he were doing it for the wrong reasons.”
“You don’t even see the wrong in that, do you?” Harvey said. “For me, it’s all about the end result. I don’t care how charitable a person’s motives were. If they mess up, they should be punished. And no matter how dishonorable a person’s motives are, if they’re contributing to humanity, they deserve to be celebrated. That’s just how the world works.”
“It comes down to selfishness and selflessness,” Nora said. “I guess that’s not something you’d understand.” She got out and closed the door behind her. Harvey kept looking at her, his eyes large.
“I tried to. I tried to understand the difference,” Harvey said, his voice pained. “With you. I tried to offer you everything, and you refused.”
“You tried to bring me down to a level I wasn’t willing to come to,” Nora said.
Harvey opened his mouth, but in his pocket, his cell phone began ringing.
“Go on,” Nora said. “I suppose that’s Milly, calling to check on where you are. You wouldn’t want her father to change his investment plans, would you?” Her voice was brutally sharp, and Harvey winced.
Nora turned and walked away.
*****
Chapter 13
“Hey, Nora! Haven’t seen you since last time. I guess we always end up meeting at the pancake house.” Tina was all smiles as she found Nora sipping a coke.
“Tina,” Nora said with a smile. “I’m here to meet Anna, actually.”
“Anna?” Tina said. “As in the owner of Anna’s Pancake House, that Anna?”
“The one and only.”
“What are you up to, Nora?” Tina sat down, and put her head in her chin. “This is getting interesting.”
“What are you up to?” Nora laughed. “Don’t you have work today?”
“Urgh no. The factory was getting me down so I decided to blow it off today,” Tina said. “Shockingly irresponsible, I know. Luckily for me, my husband is a charmingly capable man.”
“You’re lucky to have Sam,” Nora said. “But he’s lucky to have a graphic designer like you too.”
“I know he is. But to be honest, right now, the work’s kinda dull. I just finished redesigning our logo last week. Now Sam’s Spurs has changed its motif from grey and blue to a more attractive mahogany and orange color. About time too. But I’m left with not much work this quarter.”
“So you decided to come harass me instead,” Nora teased. “What happened to your many committees?”
“Every once in a while,” Tina said, “Every once in a while, I channel my inner child. And as a child, let me tell you, I was notorious for bunking school. Well, here I am.”
“You bunked school a lot?”
“Are you kidding? I think I had about a 5% attendance. I got away with it too because my dad owned a bit of property here and there.”
“A bit of property here and there? Your dad was a proper magnate,” Nora said.
“Yep. So’s Sam,” Tina stretched. “It’s nice to be filthy rich and never have to work if you don’t want to.” Seeing Nora’s face, she dropped her hands and looked apologetic. “I mean… I’m… Nora. Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s all right,” Nora laughed. “I’ve known you since school. You were never able to keep your tongue from flying out of your face every once in a while.”
“I mean I admire you,” Tina said. “I love how hard you work to get the diner running. It makes me want to cheer you on.”
“Poverty’s not very noble,” Nora said. “Most of the times it’s a grinding bore full of stress and anxiety. Don’t worry, I completely agree. It is nice to be filthy rich and never have to work if you don’t
want to. I think that’s one my goals in life.”
“How about fame and fortune?” Tina asked.
“Never had much interest in those,” Nora said. “I used to work in a really good restaurant in New York. We had celebrities coming in every day. Funny thing is, I never saw a famous person who also looked happy. I’m talking the kind of contentment you see on the faces of some of the people in town. People making an honest living and having their family close by. They have a contentment that radiates out of them. In New York, it was mostly just stress that everyone radiated. Me included.”
“Small towns aren’t some placid, content retirement houses,” Tina said indignantly. “We’re full of stress down here.”
“Oh I know we are,” Nora said. “Still, there’s that sense of community you don’t get anywhere else.”
“What did Anna want to see you for, anyway?” Tina asked.
“She was interested in sponsoring the diner,” Nora said. “She told me that she could help me with the investment money, if I gave her a share of the equity, or if I worked for her for six months.”
“Huh. Funny. You’re not thinking about it, are you?” Tina asked. “You’re going to say no, aren’t you?”
“I’m… considering it,” Nora said.
“What?” Tina’s eyebrows shot up. “But… but you refused to, I mean…” she kept her hands folded on the table, and concentrated on them.
“Say it, Tina.”
“The entire town knows Harvey broke up with you because you refused to let him invest in your diner,” Tina said.
“Why is everyone so fascinated with me and Harvey anyway?” Nora asked testily.
“Because you’re the town’s version of Ross and Rachel,” Tina laughed. “We’re all making bets on who it’ll be.”
Nora glared at her. Tina was friendly and sweet, but there were times when Nora really had to resist the urge to smack her.
“I should probably quit talking now,” Tina said.
“If you have a rewinding mechanism, five minutes ago would be ideal for a restart point,” Nora said coolly.
“I’m sorry,” Tina sighed. “My brain needs a filter installed between it and my mouth.”
“Never mind,” Nora said, a little more kindly. “What’s new with you, anyways?”
“Well, nothing much till I met you,” Tina said. “But now, I’m getting a few ideas.”
“What do you mean?” Nora asked.
“I mean… look, being a graphic designer and marketing manager at Sam’s Spurs is all okay,” Tina said. “But the truth is, the main work in that joint is designing and manufacturing the spurs, which is all Sam’s job. He’s nice to me and I contribute, but I need something more challenging.”
“Thinking of quitting the family business?” Nora asked.
“Only if a certain friend lets me buy my way into her operation,” Tina said.
Nora stiffened. “What are you saying?”
“I want to give you money for the diner,” Tina said. “I know that you’ve got everything set up. You just need a few hundred thousand dollars more--”
“A few hundred thousand dollars more,” Nora laughed. “Tina, did you even hear the casualness with which you said that? It’s an insane amount of money.”
“Well I have an insane amount of money,” Tina said. “I’ve been thinking about it for three months now, Nora. I turned 35 and inherited all that money from my trust fund opening up. I got to invest it all some place. I would have asked you before, but I thought that if you refused Harvey, I had no chance at all.”
“I can’t take your money,” Nora said, stiffening.
“Why not?” Tina asked. “You’re fine with taking it from Anna.”
“Because you’re giving it to me from the same reason Harvey did,” Nora said. “Pity.”
Tina’s jaw seemed to come unhinged. “Wh-”
“Tina, the kind of people who can throw around money like this on a whim…” Nora shook her head. “I’m sorry but they’re the kind of people I’m scared of. You haven’t looked over my business plan, you haven’t seen any of my past work, and you’re ready to invest a few hundred thousand into my business? That’s just scary. No, I’d rather work a few more years and have the bank give me a loan, or get a loan from Anna and buy back the equity eventually.”
Tina scoffed. “You’re being closed minded, Nora. I’ve eaten what you’ve cooked. That’s the only thing I need to want to invest in you. Well, that and the fact that I know how hard you work. You don’t need a genius to know that the diner will succeed.”
“Success isn’t always just about how good your product is or how hard you work,” Nora said. “It’s a combination of luck, timing and opportunity.”
“Well said,” Tina said. “But here’s the thing, Nora. You’ve got the opportunity, right in front of you. I’m willing to invest but you’re saying no. What’s up with that?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Nora said, angrily.
“I think you should,” Tina said. “I think you should have a talk with yourself about why you really refused Harvey’s money. Why you’re refusing mine.”
“What are you saying?”
“Do you really want to achieve your dream?” Tina asked. “Or do you want to be a caterer doing odd jobs all your life?”
Nora shoved back her chair. “I don’t have to listen to this.”
“No. You don’t,” Tina agreed. “But you’re going to listen anyway, because I’m your friend. You pushed Harvey away on the flimsiest of excuses. Now you’re pushing me and my money away too. You told me that you’d probably have enough money to think of asking the bank for a loan after the Viking festival, but you haven’t approached anyone, have you? Instead, you’re telling yourself you’re chasing your dream of owning a diner when you’re not. You’re going to talk to Anna, you’ll take her money, you’ll work for her for six months, and at the end of that time, you’ll make new excuses about why you don’t want to start the diner.”
Nora’s face hardened. “I don’t want to see you again, Tina,” she said. “You can keep your armchair psychology to yourself.”
“I’m telling you this because I love you and I’m your friend, Nora,” Tina said.
“I had a friend,” Nora replied. “I had a best friend already, and you, no matter how hard you try, aren’t ever going to come close.” So saying, she tossed down a few dollars and headed out the door.
*****
Chapter 14
The nerve of her. Nora was fuming. The cheek! How dare she suggest that Nora wasn’t trying her hardest to open the diner? For ten years, she’d been killing herself, working every job she could, to save up the money.
She and Raquel had been so close, too, Nora thought. They’d been so close to making their dreams a reality, and it had all been snatched away in the blink of an eye.
Nora remembered the blow of it, losing first Raquel, and then her dream of opening the diner.
With the exception of the few moments that she’d shared with Harvey, the last time Nora had felt truly light and carefree had been with Raquel. They’d been struggling, but it had been their struggle. They’d shared something together that no one else would understand, a dream of transforming the world.
Now Raquel was gone, and Nora was left with…
With what?
Was Tina right? Nora wondered. Was she saying the same things that Harvey had tried to tell her?
The truth was, Nora couldn’t picture opening the diner any more. Every picture she’d had, in her ten years of struggling for it, had involved Raquel. She’d pictured the two of them, best friends forever, working together. They’d even mapped out their roles neatly, each of their strengths complementing the others perfectly.
After Raquel’s death, Nora continued to struggle, almost considering it her duty to do what Raquel had wished. She’d worked very hard to earn the money that would go to opening the diner, or so she’d thought.
Maybe, without Raq
uel involved, Nora’s heart had come to believe that there could be no diner.
She felt an absurd flood of tears come to her eyes.
Luckily for her, she was in the most comforting of Wyoming’s forests. The woods she’d grown up playing in. Even now, as an adult, Nora came into the folding embrace of this green patch, whenever she felt vulnerable. It was here, in fact, that the final confrontation with Raquel’s murderer had occurred. Nora shivered as she recollected the horrible moment when the sound of a bullet had rung out, and Harvey had dived to save her.
She walked on further in the woods and then paused. In between the trees, she could see movement. A bright cloth flashed and then vanished just as quickly.
Intrigued, she followed. Moving closer, she heard sounds too. A voice.
“Well, I know what I saw,” the voice was saying. “I know I saw you with him, and I think that’ll interest a lot of people.”
Nora froze. Who was this? It sounded young. A boy’s voice, not a man’s. She crept closer to the sound of the voice.
“You can say that again,” the boy was saying. “I only know what I want, and I’m going after it. In this world, you take what you can, when you can. That’s what I’ve learnt. So let’s make a deal.”
Nora crept closer, trying to minimize the noise she made, but each shiver of a tree’s leaves against her body, each crunch of stone against her boot, convinced her she’d be caught soon.
“No, that excuse won’t work on me,” the boy was saying. “Fifteen’s too little. Fifty. In unmarked notes, or there’s no deal.”
She could see him through the trees now. He was wearing an orange and bright blue windbreaker, blue jeans and white-toed converse sneakers. His hair was a floppy black, and he was of average height.
She realized who it was even before he turned around.
“I’ll meet you tomorrow at--” The boy turned around, saw her, and froze. He pushed a button on the phone in his hand and dropped the phone quickly into his pocket.
Death Of A Deputy: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (A Murder In Milburn Book 2) Page 5
