The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  Now here she was, with Alan’s beady eyes staring at her, making her realize how dark the streets were, and how alone she was.

  “No, she doesn’t want to answer me,” Alan said. “I’d be too ashamed to answer too, if I were you.” He took a step forward. His hands were clenching and unclenching.

  “Alan, you better leave me alone,” Nora said.

  “Or what? You’ll set Sean on me?” Alan laughed. “I heard about how he’s being reinstated. It’s all so typical. They listened to us for a few weeks, and now Wallis’ case is being closed and Sean’s back in office. Hey ho, that’s how they blow.” He laughed. “You hear that song, ever? It’s one of Zany Mott’s greatest hits. It’s called Blowhard. I was a big fan of Zany back in the day. He always talked about not giving in to The Man.”

  “You’re drunk,” Nora said in disgust.

  “I’m unhappy,” Alan said, moving closer to her. “I’m unhappy with how this town is run. I’m unhappy that Sean, like his father, the rich rancher, always get what they want, and the rest of us fight for crumbs. I want justice, the same way Wallis did.”

  “Wallis had no family here,” Nora said. “So who did he even want justice for?”

  “Oh, didn’t the doctor tell you?” Alan laughed. He was close enough now that Nora could smell the alcohol on his breath. She winced.

  “No, he clearly didn’t,” Alan said. “Well my dear, I’ll tell you then. Years and years ago, Wallis had a happy family. His parents had worked with a lot of great bands--”

  “Yes, yes, his father even owned an original Motts guitar,” Nora said. “I know.”

  “Well, what you don’t know is that his mother’s sister, Maude, had recently married the love of her life. An older gentleman named Clay Jarvis. Clay had a teenage daughter, Helen. Seventeen and what a peach she was.”

  This sounded familiar... why did this sound familiar? Had she heard rumors of the events that followed? Something about Wallis and his Aunt Maude…

  “Helen, everyone in town knew, was secretly seeing a certain rich rancher. A married man. Of course, in a town this small, it doesn’t stay secret for long.”

  “Wait…” Nora said. “Are you accusing Sean’s father?”

  “Am I?” Alan laughed. “You bet I am. You can ask anyone if your little heart doesn’t believe me. Dracon Sr. was always attracted to young and pretty girls. He’d had plenty of affairs in his lifetime.”

  Was that a habit Sean would carry on with? Or would he be different from his father? Nora wondered.

  “Well, when Helen told him she was going to make it public, that she wanted to marry him, Dracon got really annoyed. After all, that would mess up his pretty life and his perfect family. A few months later, Helen was dead. Poisoning.”

  Nora’s eyes went wide. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything,” Alan said. “But everyone in town knows this. The sheriff at the time was Sean’s Uncle John. Sure, like he was going to investigate his brother-in-law. It was the stepmother who went to jail instead. Wallis’ poor Aunt Maude. He hated that. He was very close to her. He used to live in her house when his parents were touring with bands. He loved that family, and he had to watch as it was slowly destroyed.”

  “So he hated Sean too, then?”

  “He didn’t care about Sean. He just wanted his Aunt to get the justice she deserved. His Aunt Maude has cancer now, and in a few years, she’s going to pass away. In a way, he thought that becoming sheriff would give him access to files that were locked away right now, and that this was his last chance. That’s why he was contesting against Sean.”

  “I didn’t know this,” Nora said, her voice very quiet. “I’ve made a mistake.”

  “Trusting Sean is always a mistake,” Alan said. “That entire family is twisted. He makes me seem normal in comparison.” He barked out a laugh.

  “I have to go,” Nora whispered.

  “No, you don’t,” Alan said.

  She blinked, and realized that he’d backed her against a wall. He was towering over her, and his eyes had that unsteady yet predatory look that men get when they’ve got a hit of artificial confidence.

  Headlights illuminated them, and Nora took her chance to break away from Alan. She ran to the parked car, and saw Harvey get out, his face a mask of fury. Running to him, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulders.

  “Peace, man,” Alan called out from behind her.

  “You get out of here, Alan,” Harvey said, his voice holding all the menace of a snake’s rattle.

  Alan put up his arms, and with an evil grin, moved away.

  Nora, with tears in her eyes, looked up at Harvey and placed her lips on his. She could sense his initial shock, but within seconds, he had warmed to her. His arms wrapped around her, comforting her, his lips soft as he rained kisses on her cheek.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Nora said to him.

  “How about apologize?” a sharp voice said from the passenger seat of the car.

  Harvey took a step back, putting a hand through his hair.

  Milly got out of the car, slamming the door so hard that the entire frame shook. Nora thought she heard a window crack.

  “Well,” she said, her voice icy.

  “Look, Milly,” Harvey said.

  “This is why you haven’t kissed me. Ha! You haven’t even held my hand since the funeral services,” Milly said, almost to herself. “Of course that makes sense. You wouldn’t care about me the minute your one true love gave you the green signal.”

  “Milly--”

  “Oh no, don’t bother about me,” Milly said, stalking off. “You and your precious girlfriend can carry on. I’m going to leave this stupid town as fast as possible, and you better believe it.”

  “Where will you go? Didn’t your father threaten to disown you if you left here within a year?” Harvey asked.

  “I got money now,” Milly said. “I made some good investments, don’t you worry about me, Harvey. Or do you feel like you need to pay me off?”

  “Milly, I’m sorry. It’s just--.”

  “I’m sorry too,” Nora said. “I thought he’d have told you by now.”

  “I wanted to tell her,” Harvey said, turning to Nora. “I really did.”

  “But you had no chance,” Nora said. “I get it.”

  “Nora…” Harvey was looking a little desperate, caught between his desire to stay with Nora and race after Milly.

  “Go after her,” Nora said. “She deserves a proper break up. Whatever was or wasn’t between you two, she deserves an apology too.”

  “But you--”

  “I’ll be all right,” Nora said. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  *****

  Chapter 26

  She didn’t go home that night. At least not immediately. The first place she went to was the station, where Dean Elbert, Officer Rudy and Detective Jason were all sitting in a circle, having a beer.

  “Nora?” Jason looked surprised. “What brings you here so late?”

  “Sean,” Nora said.

  “Well, that’s no surprise,” Jason winked and nudged Rudy. “See? You owe me ten.”

  “You were betting on us?” Nora said.

  “This town’s a little boring, we spiced it up by betting on couples,” Detective Jason said. “Harvey was Rudy’s pick for you, and Sean was mine. Guess I win.”

  “Boy, you lose. You lose big time,” Nora said. “Sean has never been interested in me because Sean is dating Wallis’ wife Karen.”

  Dean spluttered a little and almost fell out of his chair. Jason and Rudy only froze for a moment, before raising an eyebrow, giving each other a look, and then staring at Nora.

  “You’re saying he murdered Wallis?” Jason asked.

  “I’m saying his alibi is full of holes and he should not be handling this case,” Nora said. “Sean told me himself that he’s in love with Karen. He’d do anything to protect her.”

  “You
know this about Sean?” Dean asked, still sounding shocked.

  “It’s true,” Nora said. “He was with Karen, in the woods when he found Wallis’ body. He isn’t lying about being hit in the head, at least I don’t think he is, but he’s lying about a lot of things so that her reputation isn’t harmed.”

  “So why would he tell you about it?” Jason asked.

  “Because I caught them together,” Nora said. “Because I found out. He begged me to keep it a secret, and he promised me that he’d do his best to find Wallis’ killer. Only I don’t believe him anymore. Not after what he did, or what his father possibly did.”

  “Dracon Senior?” Jason looked surprised. “What did he get up to?”

  “He may have been the one that killed the girl that Wallis’ Aunt was sentenced to life for,” Nora said.

  Jason laughed. The spell seemed to break. Dean and Rudy laughed too.

  “What is it?” Nora asked, furious. “I’m telling you, Wallis was investigating it. He swore his Aunt Maude was innocent.”

  “Wallis was a nut,” Jason said. “Well, that’s not fair. He wasn’t a nut. He just couldn’t accept that his precious aunt was anything but guilty, even when all the evidence was pointed against her. We know already that he was trying to prove her innocence. He had her case file, and stayed up many nights studying it, Dean told us.”

  “It’s true,” Dean said. “He was bent on rescuing her, as he saw it. He thought it was a tremendous miscarriage of justice. But I’ve read the files myself and they had a watertight case against Maude. Wallis was blinded by emotion. Finally, Sean had to ban him from accessing the files, because we were afraid he might damage some of the evidence.”

  “Sean banned Wallis from accessing a file that could have revealed proof Sean’s father did it,” Nora said. “Don’t any of you find that odd?”

  “That’s… Nora, have you been listening to Alan?” Dean asked. “For goodness’ sake, you know Alan’s a drunk. He makes up these things sometimes. There’s no proof that Helen was ever involved with Sean’s father. Even if she was, do you really think that he would be able to access her food long enough to slowly poison her? No, it was Wallis’ Aunt, who hated Helen, and she killed her. It’s tragic, but it’s true.”

  “I see you’re determined to think that,” Nora said.

  “We’re telling the truth,” Dean said. “Why won’t you believe that? What could we have to gain by lying?”

  “What would you gain by telling the truth?” Nora said. “Maybe it’s in all your interest that Sean becomes Sheriff again. That way you, Jason and Rudy can go back to your city department and you, Dean, get your old mentor back.”

  Angrily, Dean said, “I’m not as evil as that, Nora. You think I’d let Sean back in here if I thought he’d killed Wallis?”

  “Maybe he’s protecting the murderer,” Nora said. “Ever think of that?”

  “Sean told us about Karen already,” Rudy said, gently. “He told us, he told our higher ups too. He’s being made to write a report about it. We’ve been told to stay in town another day. We’re also going to question Karen. But so far, we believe that he’s telling the truth.”

  “He came to you already?” Nora asked, a little deflated.

  “He did, yes,” Rudy said. “I’m sorry, Nora. Your theory’s all wrong. He said that he felt guilty about hiding the truth and would take whatever punishment was doled out to him.”

  “So why did you act so surprised?” Nora asked.

  “We were surprised you knew,” Rudy said. “Given how sensitive the matter is, we wanted to make sure that… unnecessary rumors were avoided.”

  “You’re saying I’m not to tell anyone in town about this?” Nora asked. “I’m just to accept that Sean is reinstated?”

  “Well… the department has made a decision to observe his handling of the case closely,” Rudy said. “That’s all I can say. He’s told us enough that makes us believe him. We’ve also had forensics check his wound and we know for a fact that the injury he received is in line with the story he’s telling. Karen and he stumbled on Wallis’ body, but she went away, and then the killer attacked Sean.”

  “What if they’re making up the entire story?” Nora asked. “This one’s a little unbelievable.”

  “If they were making up a story, it would be less convoluted,” Rudy said. “We’ve made him take a lie detector test, Nora. He’s telling us the truth.”

  “Aren’t those machines notoriously unreliable?” Nora asked.

  “Look at it this way. If Sean was the person who killed Wallis, wouldn’t you be dead too? Why would he come to us and confess? He’d simply murder you instead,” Dean said.

  Nora shivered at his words.

  “Makes sense to me,” Rudy said, taking a swig of his beer. “Nora, relax. Please don’t involve yourself in this case any more than you have already. It’s taken care of.”

  “So the case will be closed, and Sean will be sheriff?” Nora asked, disgusted.

  “No, the case is open, and Sean will find out who the killer is,” Rudy said. “Unless, of course, he doesn’t, in which event it will sadly become a closed case.”

  “I can’t believe you people,” Nora said.

  “That’s common,” Sean said, walking into the station. “You can’t believe me either, can you?”

  Nora whirled around, and there he was, filling the doorway with his powerful shoulders, his eyes cutting as shards of glass.

  “Sean,” she said.

  “I asked you to trust me,” Sean said. “I begged you to. But you don’t.”

  “You bet I don’t,” she replied. “I believe I’m going to join Harvey in petitioning this town to get a new sheriff.”

  “You’ll regret that,” Sean said. “I’m the best sheriff for Milburn and you know it.”

  “You’re… emotional at best, corrupt at worst,” Nora said. “I wouldn’t want you here any more. Nor, I think, would the rest of town once they know about you and Karen.”

  “Do you have to bring her into it?” Sean thundered. “Ruin my reputation if you like, burn down my house if you have to, but leave Karen alone. She’s already in a world of pain. Her ex-husband is murdered, she finds out he left her nothing but debt, and now she’s got to have her reputation flung in the mud?”

  “He left her a house and an amazing guitar collection,” Nora said.

  “The house is mortgaged and will soon be foreclosed,” Sean said. “The guitar collection is missing its key piece. Presumably, it burnt down with him on the Viking boat. You’ll be kicking Karen when she’s down if you tell the town about her and me, and I promise you I will never forget it.”

  “I have to,” Nora said. “I can’t keep this a secret any more. It makes me feel dirty. Like I’m being an accessory to the crime.”

  “Didn’t you do enough meddling with Ricky?” Sean asked. “Look what it got you. Do you really want to meddle in this case more, Nora? The next person to get hurt might be you.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “It’s… advice,” Sean said. “If you’re smart, you’ll take it.”

  “Real smooth, Sean, reminding me of Ricky,” Nora said. “But do you cops remember him? Or is he less of a victim because he was only a poor drifter, while Wallis was a deputy? Ricky’s dead too, which means the murderer is still in Milburn, and--”

  “Ricky was a drifter,” Sean said cruelly. “Do you know how many drifters die each year? Violence is very common in their circles. Someone may have robbed him, or maybe he did talk a little too much and the murderer got him. Either way, Wallis’ death is the bigger picture here.”

  “Then solve the case,” Nora said. “Solve it by being objective, by starting with the one woman who is probably behind it. Sean, you can’t be so blind. Wallis cheated on Karen repeatedly, and then was making trouble when she was with you. He stood between her and her happiness one too many times. She might have killed him in a fit of rage.”

  “She was with me when Wall
is died,” Sean said. “She and I were… So unless she could be in two places at once, or unless you think I’m a liar, she didn’t do it.”

  Defeated, Nora backed away. “I’m going back to Harvey,” she said. “The one man who’ll see this the way I do.”

  “You’re a fool, Nora,” Sean said. “But go ahead, go back to the man who’s so obviously cheating on his girlfriend with you. Or didn’t you think the whole town knows about it?”

  “Leave Milly out of it.”

  “Oh, look at that. Protective about her instead of him,” Sean laughed. “Why? Because she’s one of your favorite film stars? She’s just a washed up actress. She’s got two prior convictions in other states, you know that? If it weren’t for her father’s money and lawyers, she’d be in a filthy jail instead of enjoying herself here in Wyoming.”

  “She’s recovering from alcohol abuse,” Nora said. “She’s done some things she’s not proud of, I’m sure, but Milly has bounced back.”

  “Sure she has,” Sean laughed. “Now let’s see how fast she bounces out of here once Harvey loses interest in her.”

  *****

  Chapter 27

  Determined to leak the news about Sean and Karen, Nora was planning to head to Harvey’s house. Halfway there, though, something changed her mind and she went to Karen’s instead. When Karen wasn’t home, Nora thought for about thirty seconds before realizing where she would be, and went to Wallis’ old house instead.

  “Sean told me you might come here,” Karen said.

  The house was a mess. Unlike the neatness order it had been in during the wake, it was now chaotic, with clothes, furniture and baggage strewn about. Nora watched Karen carefully as she took out a drawer, emptied the contents into a garbage bag, and tied it up.

  “Wallis was never a neat man,” Karen said. “Always leaving debris behind him, emotional and physical.”