The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

Outside, looking pleased, Alan was standing at the crowd’s head and shouting, “Now, people, we’ve got to make some demands. We’ve got to demand that we get justice. We got to demand that the death of a man like Wallis isn’t just dismissed because it suits those in power. I say we exercise our birth-given right to vote, and--”

  “There’s no need,” Sean stepped out, his jacket flapping in the wind. He took his hat off, and the crowd booed him. He stayed silent, his eyes scanning the crowd. “So,” he said. “I’ve been told you gentlefolk would like me to resign. Perhaps because you think I’m not fit for the job, perhaps because you suspect I murdered Wallis myself. All right. But I’ve got a few questions for you. You, Jake Tamerin, did you think I wasn’t fit for the job when I raced down in the snow, lifted your father out of his house and saved him when he’d fallen in the bathroom? Or are you, instead, remembering the time I confiscated your gun at the football game?”

  Jake, who had been cheering, suddenly fell silent and looked uneasy.

  “And Andy, Andy Ratwitz. I guess you think I’m unfit because I had the nerve to fine you for those silly zoning commission irregularities in your house. Is that right? Did you forget the time my department helped your niece out when she’d crashed her sled off Pinakin slope?”

  Andy looked a little ashamed too, and shouted, “Hey, I got nothing against you, Sean. I just think you’re a little in need of outside help, that’s all.”

  “Outside help I got no problem with,” Sean said. “But this guy…” he pointed his thumb at Alan. “This is the guy who riles you up against me? Alan Bridges? I’ve had five separate complaints against him for bullying and threatening to assault some of you. ‘Course, he was always smart enough to do it without witnesses, so there was never a case against him. But is this the man you’re going to elect? I think I’d just about leave town, and I’d suggest you all do so, too, if that’s going to happen.”

  “Well, what do you suggest?” someone shouted from the crowd.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” Sean said. “I’m going to resign. Just temporarily, until the case is solved. Dean Elbert will replace me for a few days until someone from State Police can come take over. Will that be all right with you lot?”

  The crowd murmured its agreement.

  “Great,” Sean said. “I gotta tell you, though, that when I’m proved innocent, I’m going to think long and hard about whether I want to come back as sheriff, or even come back to this town at all.”

  “Oh, that’s no issue,” Alan said snidely. “What you gotta think about is what if you’re proved guilty, Sean?”

  *****

  Chapter 12

  Sean had turned in his badge and left for home, and despite Nora’s protests, had insisted that he wanted to be left alone. Harvey drove her back home. He had a new car now. After he’d permanently totaled his classic Ferrari in an accident, Harvey had bought himself a new flaming-red Porsche instead.

  “You really do care for Sean,” Harvey said as he pulled away from the sheriff’s office. “Don’t you?”

  “I care for all my friends,” Nora said.

  “Not like this,” Harvey replied.

  “What would you know?” Nora asked. “The only friendships you’ve ever been involved with had a long fat check dangling at the end of it.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Harvey asked, his voice dangerous.

  “Just that,” Nora said. “Look, this isn’t the right time to fight.”

  “Apparently it is since you’re comfortable implying I don’t make friends,” Harvey said.

  “Well, you don’t,” Nora bit back.

  Why am I acting this way? she asked herself. Sure, she was frustrated about Sean’s troubles, and it had been hard seeing Milly with Harvey, but Harvey was the one who’d knocked some sense into Sean. Who knows what Sean would have done otherwise? She should be thankful, she decided.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You should be,” Harvey replied, and knocked her good intentions out the window.

  “I’m tired of fighting you, Harvey,” she said. “Can’t we please just once, act like we’re friends?”

  Harvey burst out laughing. “Boy, you do use the word a lot. Friend. All right, Nora, we’ll be friends.” He turned up the music, and the car filled with guitar and the deep voice of the radio host.

  “This is KYOK121 giving you all time classic rock. Up next, we’ve got Zany Motts’ with his soul-crushing Amber Eyes, Dark Surprise.”

  It wasn’t fair, the way he was treating her, Nora decided. After all, he’d been the one who broke up with her.

  After Raquel’s murderer had been revealed, she and Harvey had bonded together. They’d started dating, and, despite being messed up over Raquel’s death, Harvey had given her some of the happiest moments of her life in those six months. Remembering how it felt, how perfectly content she had been with him, Nora wondered now how it could so easily have turned sour between them.

  It was the money, she knew. It was always the money that had come between them. Harvey had walked out on her because she refused to take his help. But how could she?

  She remembered a picnic in the mountains, when they had sat together under a tree, watching the clouds go by. Harvey had told her about the series of women who had dated him, before and after he grew rich.

  “Funny thing is, there was always a pattern,” Harvey said. “Before I grew rich, they’d leave me for a richer man. After I grew rich, I’d leave them because I couldn’t bear the thought of feeding them my money any more. It was inevitable. The more beautiful they were, the more they’d act like being with me meant a free ride to the better life.”

  “Maybe you just have a terrible choice in women,” Nora said. “Some of us don’t need money to find love.”

  “Thank god for that.” Harvey had smiled at her.

  They’d kissed under that tree as the clouds gathered and rained down on them, and Nora had felt light, and free, as if she were floating.

  Then, three months later, he’d offered her his money. It had felt worse than a slap in the face.

  “What are you thinking about?” Harvey asked, trying to make his voice sound light.

  It was on the tip of her tongue, but she resisted. “Turn left here,” she said.

  “The town’s not wrong, you know,” Harvey said.

  She snapped at him. “The town behaved disgracefully. Sean’s been nothing but good to them.”

  “Do you think there’s not even the tiniest chance Sean did it?” Harvey asked.

  “Sean’s innocent,” Nora said. “I’m sure of it.”

  “Sure, you’re sure of it,” Harvey said. “But does the evidence point to his innocence?”

  “The evidence… there’s no real evidence. We’ve just got a whole lot of conjecture,” Nora said. “At some level, humans can’t lie. The tiniest of their facial expressions give them away. When you look Sean in the eyes, there’s not a hint of calculation in them. There’s no way he could have done it.”

  “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 ki
lled 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?”

  “Wellllllll…” 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 real estate 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 are working to get the diner running. It makes me want to cheer you on.”

  “Poverty’s not very noble,” Nora said. “Most of the time 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--”