The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “I told you,” he said. “You stay right here.” He gave her a last warning look, and then turned away.

  The iron gates were barricaded, and two men stood by them. They’d obviously been expecting someone.

  “Mahaan had a vision that you’d be here,” one of the guards said.

  “Who?” Sean narrowed his eyes. “Is that what you call Stanley?”

  The guard remained expressionless. “Come in. But the girl must stay outside.”

  Giving Nora a last look, Sean nodded and walked inside. He didn’t have to walk for long.

  Stanley was standing at the door, all smiles. “Sheriff. What a pleasure to see you again.”

  “The pleasure’s all mine,” Sean said, with as much insincerity as he could muster. He gave a smile that mimicked Stanley’s perfectly, cold and hard.

  “What can I do for you?” Stanley asked.

  “I want to see Davis,” Sean said.

  “There’s no need for you to see him.”

  “I’ve been told he has a fresh black eye,” Sean said. “I’ve come to check that everything is all right.”

  “Of course he’s all right,” Stanley said. “This is bordering on harassment, sheriff. Just because our way of life is alien to you, you can’t keep coming and interfering! You have no right to be here!”

  “I do if I feel somebody is being held against their will,” Sean said. “Step aside, Stanley, and let me see Davis, or I’ll single handedly haul you and every one of your goons to jail.”

  “Try it,” Stanley snarled.

  “Very well then.” Sean called his bluff, and pulled out his handcuffs. “I’m serious, Stanley. Last chance. I’m not leaving till I’m reassured that Davis is alright.”

  For a minute, each man stared into the other’s eyes, unwilling to back down. Then, defeated, Stanley stepped aside.

  “Very well,” he said. “I’ll take you to see him. But be warned, I’m going to hire the best lawyer possible, and see if I can’t file a civil suit against you and your office for harassing us.”

  “Sure, buddy,” Sean said, “Do your best. See if it doesn’t get laughed out of court.”

  He stepped inside, and looked around. In the hall, a cluster of Stanley’s fanatics were whispering together. They jumped apart when the two of them entered, and resumed their earlier position- sitting cross legged on the floor, eyes closed.

  “You interrupted our meditations,” Stanley said. “It’s an essential part of growing closer to the ultimate consciousness. Wait here. I’ll go get Davis.”

  “You’re one part mumbo jumbo and three parts bull spit, aren’t you?” Sean muttered to himself as Stanley left. Stanley turned around and shot him a suspicious look.

  “Sure, go ahead,” Sean said in a cheery voice. “I’ll wait right here.”

  He turned to the others, who had their eyes open again, and asked, “Are you folks comfortable? Shouldn’t you at least buy a carpet? The wooden floors can’t be very easy to sit on.”

  They refused to meet his eyes, or talk to him. Sean made eye contact with one of the men, Jonah. “How’s it going, Jonah. Long time since High School, right?”

  Jonah bit his lip, and refused to answer.

  “You dated Raquel, didn’t you?” Sean asked. “Just a rebound after she broke up with Jeremy, I guess.”

  Jonah still didn’t answer.

  Undeterred, Sean walked up and squatted right next to him. He put his face uncomfortably close to Jonah’s, and said, “I asked you a question, friend.”

  “I’m not your friend, buddy,” Jonah said, pulling away.

  “Sheriff, is what you call me,” Sean said. “Not buddy. As for you, I’ll call you what I see fit. Now answer me. Did you see Raquel lately?”

  “No,” Jonah said. “I haven’t seen her in years. Except…”

  “Except what?”

  “Except when she came to visit Davis, on his birthday,” Jonah said. “But I never talked to her. None of us did. She wasn’t one of us, and she refused to be.”

  “Well, Raquel was always smart, wasn’t she?” Sean asked. “Did you let her see Davis? Or did Stanley kick up a fuss about it each time?”

  Jonah looked almost tearful. “He didn’t let her in the last two times. She stood out for hours anyway. She left a birthday cake by the gate.”

  “Did you folks eat it all, or at least give Davis a slice?”

  “Don’t say that!” Jonah shouted, suddenly losing his cool. “Don’t talk about us that way!”

  “Hey, easy…” Sean held up his hands. “Easy, buddy. Why are you so rattled?”

  “We were all sleeping here. Right here. When Raquel was murdered,” Jonah said. “She shouldn’t have been out so late anyway. Evil walks free at night. She should have known better!”

  “Sure,” Sean said, disgusted. “Blame it on the victim.”

  “I don’t care. We didn’t do it. None of us did. Mahaan says the town is all infected with evil. All of you hate us, and all of you will DIE. Just like Raquel died!”

  “Is that a threat, now?”

  “The forces of evil have you in their grip!” Jonah was still sitting, his body frozen, but he was screaming now, and the muscles on his neck stood out in sharp relief. “Wait and see! You’ll all suffer! We will be saved because we are pious! But you’ll all die! There is one Supreme Truth. You will be struck down by the sword of evil if you don’t accept our teacher’s truths!”

  “Are you okay?” Instead of being offended by this outburst, Sean was merely concerned. Jonah didn’t look like he wanted to hurt Sean. Jonah looked like he was very hurt himself.

  It baffled Sean how ordinary folks could get so hypnotized by a charlatan. There was no other explanation for why they’d leave society behind and follow him. Still, he had heard one of Stanley’s speeches himself. He knew how magnetic Stanley could be when he wanted to. He knew how persuasive he could be.

  It frustrated him greatly that there was no way to lock him up. The people here were essentially harmless, but brainwashed by Stanley’s constant promises of redemption and threats of a vague, nebulous evil, they had become lost to normal society.

  It had been a slow process. Stanley had taken years and years to brainwash each one of his chosen. But he’d done it well.

  “Jonah! Quiet.” Stanley appeared again, a pleased smile on his face. With a flick of his hand, he dismissed the others. Immediately, Jonah bowed his head, and walked away. It was scary, how fast he obeyed.

  “You’ve got him well trained,” Sean said.

  Stanley smiled. “You came here to meet Davis? Here he is.”

  Jolene and Davis stood behind Stanley. Jolene’s eyes were far away, and she was humming to herself. As for Davis, he had a black eye, but was otherwise unharmed.

  “Davis, what happened?” Sean asked. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Davis said. “I walked into a door.” He said it in a monotone, not meeting Sean’s eyes.

  “Davis.” Deliberately shoving Stanley aside, Sean went up to Davis, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Davis, maybe you should come with me? We can go to the hospital, and get that black eye looked at.”

  “He doesn’t want that,” Stanley said. “Do you, Davis?”

  Davis’ eyes flicked from Stanley to Jolene, and then back to Sean. “I don’t want that.”

  “Davis.” Sean didn’t know what to say. “Are you sure it was an accident?”

  “He’s said so already!” Stanley exclaimed.

  “Stanley, if I hear one more word out of you, you’ll regret it,” Sean said. Turning back to Davis, he said, “Do you need help, Davis?”

  With a deep breath, Davis shook his head. “I do not. I’m fine. This was all a misunderstanding. You can leave.”

  “And you can tell May Almand she’s not welcome back here either,” Stanley said. “She’s the one who called you, isn’t she?”

  Sean ignored him. For a moment, he was tempted to punch Stanley right in his smiling fac
e, but better sense prevailed. He couldn’t do anything, and he had to accept that.

  “I’ll be back, and Davis, if you need anything at all, there’s an entire town of friends waiting out there for you. We’ve got your back.”

  *****

  Chapter 28

  Harvey’s Plan

  “Nothing?” Nora asked, as Sean slammed the door of the car.

  “Nothing.” Sean slapped the steering wheel in frustration. “Davis has a black eye, but it was all a misunderstanding. He walked into a door, apparently.”

  “You don’t believe that!” Nora said, appalled.

  Sean shrugged. “I can’t help people unless they want to help themselves. You have to let this go, Nora. There’s nothing we can do for him.” He started the car, then began to drive away.

  “There has to be something we can do!” Nora said.

  “There’s nothing. Stanley is a scumbag, but he’s good at his job. He knows how to make people listen to him. Davis is a grown man. I can’t save him unless he wants to be saved.”

  Nora was quiet. She closed her eyes and put her head back against the headrest.

  “Taking a nap?” Sean asked.

  “Thinking,” she said. She wished Harvey was here. Maybe he’d be able to help. Sean could only follow the letter of the law, but Harvey, maybe he’d come up with some scheme that would get Davis out of Stanley’s clutches.

  “Can I drop you off somewhere?” Sean asked.

  “Harvey’s office, please,” she said.

  Sean’s mouth tightened in distaste, but he didn’t say a word.

  *****

  Nora knocked on the door of Harvey’s office, and when no one answered, she tried the knob to find it open.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  The hallway was deserted, and Nora remembered that Harvey had given Ashley the week off. Nora felt glad that she wouldn’t have to meet Ashley, it would be really awkward to face her after seeing Jeremy cry the way she had. Still, Ashley was a nice person. Nora felt guilty to be thinking like that.

  She spied a light in the corner office, probably Harvey. She called out his name, and received no answer.

  Harvey was seated on his desk, dressed in a light blue button down with khakis, his hair looking like he’d just run his hands through it. He was working on the computer and simultaneously looking into a book filled with statistics that was open next to him. A pair of thick earphones covered his head, and even from the distance, Nora could make out the heavy beat of drums and the scream of guitars.

  “Harvey. It’s me. Nora.”

  Harvey looked up, still caught in the fog of his own thoughts, and blinked as if he didn’t recognize her. As soon as he saw her, his face fell.

  He slammed his laptop shut, and got up, putting his hands on his desk. As an afterthought, he tossed his headphones on the desk. “What can I interest you in, Nora? Planning to buy some real estate?” His voice was cold.

  “No. I … I just came to talk,” she said.

  “I’m a busy man,” Harvey said. “I suppose Sean has time to talk to you for hours. I don’t. I certainly don’t have three hours to waste waiting for you under the shade of an oak, in Main Street Park, with a sandwich that I eventually throw away.”

  “Harvey, I’m really sorry about that,” she said, pressing her hands together.

  “You were incredibly rude,” Harvey said, his voice still cold. “You went to talk to Sean, and then you just never came. I thought…” He broke his thought off and shook his head. “Nora, this won’t work. You don’t trust me, not one inch, and I’m all right with that. Trust can be built with time. But if you ignore me to spend time with Sean. I won’t be part of a love triangle. I don’t play those games.”

  “What?” Nora exclaimed. “You’ve got it all wrong, Harvey.”

  “Have I?” he asked coldly. “You ditched me and went off to gallivant with Sean.”

  “I argued with Sean because I was defending you,” she said. “He shook my faith in you, Harvey, that’s the truth, and I’m sorry that I let it be shaken. But after all the things he said, I just had to run away, to be alone somewhere.”

  Harvey’s eyes narrowed, and then he shrugged. “All right.” He was still stiff and cold, however. “Look…” he took a deep breath. “Things are crazy right now, Nora. Take all the alone time you need. Whatever helps you.”

  “What would really help is figuring out some way to get Davis out of Stanley Staten’s hands,” Nora said. “But even…” she’d been about to mention that even Sean couldn’t manage it, when she wisely decided not to bring him up again.

  “Even what?” Harvey asked.

  “Even after I’ve racked my brains, I can’t figure out what to do. Davis is trapped in that old ranch, and Stanley won’t let him out under any circumstances.”

  “Davis is a grown man.” Harvey shrugged. “Surely he shouldn’t need anyone’s permission if he really wanted to come out.”

  “I don’t know, Harvey. You’d have to be in that horrible place to have seen it. Davis is almost a prisoner, and in there, in that atmosphere, he can’t think straight. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Bust him out,” Harvey said.

  “But how?” Nora flopped onto one of his chairs with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I know this is just one more complication in your life. I just…”

  “Nora.” Harvey got on his knees next to her, and patted her hand. “We’ll figure out a way.”

  She sighed again, and flopped her head back, staring at the ceiling. “I just wish I could free him.”

  “You’re the trustee for Raquel’s will, right?” Harvey said.

  “I am, yes.”

  “And Stanley wants that money.”

  “The creep sure does.”

  “Well, that’s how you do it. Lure him with the money.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Men like Stanley are big believers that everyone is secretly as big a thief as they are on the inside,” Harvey said. “Here’s my plan…”

  *****

  Stanley Staten picked up on the third ring.

  “Hello?” He sounded surprised, and a little curious. Nora had chosen to call via Harvey’s office phone.

  “You win,” she said, in exactly the bitter, defeated tone Harvey had coached her on.

  “Excuse me?” Stanley sounded pleased, but uncertain.

  “This is Nora. You win, Stanley.”

  “Nora?” Stanley’s voice dropped a few degrees, turning icy. “What do you want now?”

  “I just wanted to let you know, we’ll do it your way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, come on, Stanley,” Nora said. “You knew the second you saw me in Mason’s office that I wanted Raquel’s money as much as you did. Right?”

  “I don’t want Raquel’s money. It will all go to our joint funds and be used—”

  “Sure, right, be used for charitable purposes,” Nora scoffed. “Come off it, Stanley. I don’t particularly care who the money goes to. I thought Davis would be easy to scam, but you’ve gone and inserted yourself right in the middle. I thought it over, and realized I have to give you a cut.”

  “Not just a cut,” Stanley said, all pretense gone, his voice sounding pleased. “A large portion of it will be mine.”

  “Here’s the thing, I won’t release the money unless you agree to split it, fifty-fifty.”

  “Not a chance,” Stanley said.

  “I’m not going to go any lower,” Nora said. “I want half. That’s only fair. After all the work I’ve put in, I deserve it.”

  “Work you’ve put in?” Stanley sounded amused. “So it was you who killed Raquel after all? I wondered about that.”

  Nora paused, shocked that he could think so. Part of her, though, wondered if he was an elaborate liar, or if he genuinely believed she had done it, which meant he had not.

  “Oh, giving me the silent treatment?” Stanley laughed from the other end. “Don’t worry, Nora.
I know you won’t be dumb enough to make a full confession on the phone. I understand.”

  “We won’t talk about Raquel,” Nora said. Her voice was brusque.

  That only pleased him more. “Sure. She’s gone now. The issue is, what to do with what she’s left behind.”

  “I get half,” Nora said again. Her fists clenched. She hated this. She hated having to act so greedy, and she hated the warmth it inspired in Stanley’s voice, as if she were one of his friends. Harvey was right. Greed was a motive Stanley understood. As long as he thought that she were despicable and slimy, he’d be more likely to want to make a deal with her.

  “Well,” Stanley said. “What can we do?”

  “I talked it over with Mason,” Nora said. “The legal way for us to do this is for me to sign over the money to your accounts, and for you to then “gift” me a portion of it. That’s the only way I’ll see the money.”

  “Why would I do that?” Stanley asked.

  “Because if you don’t agree to gift me the money, I’ll never agree to release it,” Nora said. “Now, do you or do you not agree?”

  “All right,” Stanley said. “Let’s do it.”

  “Great. Bring Davis tomorrow morning to Mason’s office and we’ll draw up the paperwork.”

  “Wait.” Stanley sounded suspicious. “Why do you need Davis? I’m his—”

  “Yes, I know he gave you power of attorney,” Nora said. “But I want to make sure both of you sign on the dotted line. If you double cross me, the more people I can sue, the better.”

  Stanley still sounded unsure. “Perhaps—”

  “Be there tomorrow at 8am, or forget the whole deal. The more time you give me, the more likely Mason will come up with a legal way for me to siphon off the money,” Nora said. “Goodbye.”

  As soon as she hung up, Harvey enveloped her in a hug. She was shaking with rage, and her fists were so tight, her nails had carved little half moons in the skin of her palm.

  “You were wonderful,” Harvey said. “A natural born actress. What a performance!”

  “I don’t feel wonderful,” Nora said. “I feel slimy, like I need a long bath.”