“I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth. Then I ask myself the same question. That’s a good quote by Harun Yahya.” A deep baritone filled the quiet of the library, as did the sound of heavy boots.
The man who had walked in had dark circles under his sparkling green eyes, and a thick, full salt-and-pepper beard that made him look rather like a greek king. He stood a head above the rest of them. Loose clothes were casually draped over his body, betraying the muscle underneath when he shifted and stretched, dropping his backpack to the ground with a thud.
Nora saw Selena’s fists clench. “Robert Foxworthy, I presume?” she said.
“You knew me as plain old Robbie Jones.” He smiled. “Hello, Selena. You’ve put on a few pounds since college.”
“And you… you’ve lost about half your bodyweight,” Selena said. “Too bad you haven’t gained a sense of humor in the process.”
Grant stepped in between them. “Sorry, is there a problem? I thought you said you were friends, Mr. Foxworthy.”
“Yes. We…were,” Robert said. “A long time ago, we used to be friends. But I haven’t talked to her lately at all.”
“Well, it’s no wonder you haven’t. You look like you just came back from Antarctica.” Selena gave a haughty look at his dirty cargo pants and paint flecked black T-shirt. “You didn’t have a clean shirt?”
“Actually, I just landed back in the country,” Robert said. “I was out on an expedition bringing solar electricity to remote villages in Guyana.”
“That sounds amazing!” Grant exclaimed. “You must tell our audience all about it.”
Robert smiled at Grant, his face looking a little more relaxed.
Nora, whose eyes had been glued to Robert and Selena’s obvious little drama, couldn’t help but notice how staged it all seemed. As if he’d rehearsed every word in his head a million times before he stepped into that library. The false casualness with which he chatted with Grant was completely revealed by the quick glances he threw at Selena. Selena on her part was studying Nora’s plate, and picked out another cookie.
“Well, we’ve got fifteen minutes to go,” Grant said. “I’m going to go check on the mic and speakers again. Why don’t you and Selena come up onstage too?”
“After you.” Robert made an exaggeratedly polite motion with his hand, allowing Selena to walk ahead of him.
“Um, Mr. Foxworthy, before you go…” Nora shot out from behind her counter, and bought out a copy of her book. “I wonder if you’d be so kind as to autograph my—”
“You’ve read Magpie to the Morning?” Robert smiled at her. He pulled out a fountain pen from one of the many pockets on his pants and signed the first page with a flourish. “Nora, right?” he asked, nodding at the name tag on her shirt.
“Yes. Nora Newberry.”
He fumbled and dropped the book, then bent down to pick it up and bumped heads with Nora. “Sorry…sorry.” He took a step backwards, rubbing his head, and took the book she held out. “Nora Newberry? Seriously? You’re the one woman I’d come into town to meet.”
“That’s not totally true, I’m sure,” Nora said, looking beyond him and to Selena, who was now giving acid looks toward the two of them.
“Just forget Selena.” He made a gesture of crumpling and throwing away a sheet of paper. “Nora Newberry, amateur detective whose solved not one, not two, but three whole crimes all in one small town. You’re a modern day Miss Marple.” He looked her up and down. “A more attractive version, perhaps.”
“Everything good here?” Harvey waltzed in, his face mild and expressionless, though Nora could see the immediate suspicion that sprang up in his eyes as he scanned Robert’s face.
Robert shook hands and introduced himself to Harvey. “I’m a writer,” he said.
“I’d have pegged you for a bodybuilder.” Harvey smiled. He walked over and very deliberately kissed Nora on the lips. “How’s your day going?” he asked her warmly.
“Hasn’t started yet, really,” she said.
“I swung by to remind you we’ve got dinner with Mayor Almand tomorrow,” Harvey said. “Also to give you this.” He handed her a wrapped sandwich. “You cook so much for others and completely forget to eat, Nora Newberry.”
Nora laughed, touched. “I’ll be fine, Harvey. See you tonight.”
“No you won’t. I’ve got a meeting with the mayor and a few others. About that resort we were proposing, remember? Knowing these guys and their enthusiasm to talk, it’ll probably take me until 2am to get back.”
“That’s right. I forgot.” She smiled. “Alright. Good luck, darling.”
He kissed her once more, this time snaking his hand across her waist and putting one hand on the back of her neck. Nora let out an appreciative purr. With a grin and a final kiss on her forehead, Harvey left.
Robert watched him leave with an amused expression, and asked Nora, “Is he always that obvious about his insecurities?”
“Aren’t you?” Nora snapped, feeling her temper rise.
Robert looked at Selena, and said, with a thoughtful look. “I guess us men always are.”
*****
Chapter 3
“Where do you get your ideas from?” someone in the audience asked.
Selena and Robert were both sitting on stools, with a nervous Grant holding the mic between them. There were forty chairs set in front of the makeshift stage, and almost three quarters of them were full, a huge turnout indeed. Nora had already refreshed the jug of pomegranate tea three times. The jar next to her had a pleasing amount of dollar bills and change rattling in it.
Selena, a crowd favorite, answered quickly, “I get my ideas at Costco. I buy a few dozen at a time. They sell them cheap…in bulk.”
There was laughter and applause.
Smiling so that her dimples showed, Selena said, “Well, in all honesty, I think most of us had no problem with having ideas as children. It’s when we grow up that the problems start. Ideas are … fragile things. They’re like bubbles that pop at even the slightest hint of criticism, even if that criticism comes from ourselves. All ideas are tied to our deepest psyche. Anyone who has a truly original idea is getting it from the child in him, and the child inside you is a fearful, secretive creature. So I guess the question is not really where do you get your ideas but rather how do you keep them? How do you avoid criticizing an idea, no matter how bad it sounds initially, and how do you avoid killing an idea by being over enthusiastic about it and then losing steam? Personally, I’ve had to learn the hard way. I went through two years of writer’s block before I could function again. I finally decided that no matter how terrible an idea seems at first glance, I’d always give it a chance.”
“Great point, Selena,” Robert said, “I’d like to add that while the ideas themselves are very important, it’s doing the work that’s even more important. Look at Shakespeare. Everyone knows he heavily “borrowed” ideas from others. There’s historical indications he may even have been a plagiarist. He was a genius, yes, but the important thing was, first and foremost, he was a craftsman. He worked.”
There was a stir as various audience members spoke at once about Robert’s views. Grant stepped in immediately.
“Alright, on that note, I’d like to call a fifteen minute recess,” Grant said. “I’m sure everyone’s thirsty and Nora’s tea is delicious. It’s waiting for you right by the jar where you can drop some money to help out our library’s renovation plans.”
Tina walked over to Nora, and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie. “How’s it going? Need some help?”
“I’m good.” Nora smiled. “You were right about Selena. She’s much more fun on stage than in person.”
“Told ya.” Tina grinned and took a sip of the tea. She was tapping her feet and biting her lip, and Nora paused to really look at her. “What’s the matter with you?” Nora asked. “You look like a kid waiting to open up her birthday presents.”
“Well… I didn�
��t want to tell you like this, but I’ve got some news. Some really good news.”
“What is it?”
“Sure you wouldn’t rather wait for us to do it over champagne?” Tina grinned.
“Tell me!”
“Our diner’s licenses are finally all in place. We can open up as early as the 20th!”
Nora let out a little shriek that had a lot of heads turning towards her. Ignoring them all, she’d grabbed Tina and squeezed her hard. “I can’t believe it!”
“It’s going to happen! Are you ready, really and truly ready?”
“You bet I—”
“What’s with the squeaking?” Selena wandered over, dropping a dollar in the jar.
Tina told her and Selena congratulated both of them.
“It’s really nice how Sam’s supported your newest little venture,” Selena said.
Tina glared at her. “It’s not a little venture, Selena. We’re quite serious about it.”
“Sorry, Tina. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise,” Selena said, but the smirk on her face told Nora that she was still smarting about Nora’s earlier comments on Grant writing a book.
“Well done with the talk, Selena,” Nora said, offering an olive branch. “I especially liked that bit when you said that all writing is autobiographical.”
“Thanks. I plagiarized that bit from a writer named Donald Murray,” Selena said. “I’m sure Shakespeare would heartily approve.” She said this last bit while looking at Robert, who had managed to shrug off a few fans and walk over to them.
“More tea please,” he said to Nora, ignoring Selena. His face was a little flushed.
Nora handed it over to him while he shook the jar, and then dropped some coins in.
“Well, anyway, as I was saying, we should seriously consider the 31st. It’s a good day to start the diner, I think,” Tina said.
“Nora, I was wondering if you’d be free to catch dinner with me sometime,” Robert said abruptly, interrupting her.
Nora was a little taken aback. She noticed the mad twinkle in Tina’s eyes and hurriedly said, “Robert, I’m already seeing—”
“Yes, yes, you’re already seeing that perfectly charming man who kissed you three times to make sure I got the message,” Robert said. “Nora, I’m talking about a business dinner. I’d love to interview you.”
Selena gave out a low, infuriated gasp. “What?”
“I’m considering writing a history of this town, and you’ve been involved intimately in three of its murders,” Robert said. “I thought maybe—”
“How dare you!” Selena said, her voice rising. “How dare you march into Milburn, and steal my idea and act as if—”
“Ideas don’t have legal protection, do they?” Robert grinned, not bothering to even look at Selena.
Selena grabbed a chunk of his shirt and pulled him roughly. “I’ve already got a book deal for this! I’ll have my lawyers—”
“Your little book deal is nothing to me,” Robert said coldly. “For your information, I’ve been to Milburn three times before, acting like I was a tourist. I’ve wanted to talk to Nora for a while now, but never had the guts. If it’s a true crime book, you can’t claim copyright on the idea. It is mine as much as yours.”
Tina moved between the two. “Selena, you’re making a scene, let’s just all calm down and—”
Selena slapped at Tina, who was trying to hold her back, and shouted at her. “You! Get your useless hands off me. You’ve got no business telling me to calm down. Go play chef with your little friend back there and let the rest of us be adults.”
Tears gathered readily in Tina’s eyes, as did blind fury. “A fine person to be talking. You’re living off your brother right now, aren’t you? Or did you think you’d fooled anybody that a writer like you makes enough money to live a cushy life?”
Robert was grinning widely, and had stepped back. A small circle had gathered around the two women.
Her face flushed, her eyes glittering, Selena said, “Fine. I’ll leave. I don’t want to stay in that filthy pigpen you call home anyway.”
Tina was ready to jump on her, when Nora put an arm around her shoulders and very deliberately led her away. “Come on, Tina. Walk it off. We want to remember today as the day we took our first decision about when to open the diner. Right? You don’t want to waste the day fighting her. Let it go.”
“I’m telling Sam to get her out,” Tina said loudly. “Good riddance too.”
Selena’s voice rang out, “Oh sure, and maybe I’ll tell Sam about—”
“Now, now, now…” Grant was wringing his hands as he blocked Selena from moving towards Tina. “Selena, why don’t we all just relax and—”
“I don’t want to relax,” Selena said. “This stupid talk is over, as far as I’m concerned.” Turning her back on everyone, she raced up the library stairs, presumably to compose herself in the shadow of the shelves.
Grant gave Robert a helpless shrug. “I’m really sorry to ask you this, but is it possible for you to continue on your own?”
“I’d love nothing more,” Robert smiled. To the audience, he said, “Don’t worry about Selena. You know how high strung we writers are. I’m sure this will all just be excellent material for her next book.” He began walking to the stage, and the audience flowed back in uncertain drips to their chairs.
“Well, now, where were we?” Robert said heartily. “Questions, questions. Let’s have a brand new question.”
“I have one,” Nora said.
“Sure.” Robert gave her a fixed smile.
“What gave you the idea that the people of Milburn would allow an outsider like you to come into our town and write about it?”
“But I’m not an outsider,” Robert said. “What very few of you know is that I used to live here. I didn’t meet Selena in college like I claimed. I knew her from both high school and college. So yes, I’m going to write a book that exposes Milburn for exactly what it is. A town full of hypocrites and snakes!”
*****
Chapter 4
About an hour later, Grant sat with an ice pack over his head. Nora was attempting to soothe his nerves with hot ginger tea.
“The nerve of that man!” Grant protested, for the thirtieth time. “The nerve! He pretended he was friendly, but all he wanted was to make a scene at my library!”
“Well, I’m sure he’s gone and he’d have to be a fool to even think of coming back,” Nora said, recounting how unceremoniously he had been booted out of the library.
“We should call Sean and have him thrown out of town,” Tina said with relish.
“Hey now, he’s not really done anything against the law,” Nora said. “If it were illegal to be a jerk, the world would be a much better place. Unfortunately, it isn’t.”
“Well it ought to be,” Grant said. “I feel my blood pressure rising. I just know it. I should go home and check. By the way, Sean’s already had a talk with Robert and escorted him out of town.”
Nora didn’t approve of that but shrugged. “So now what, do we try and salvage the talk?”
“No, I think I’m just going to ask everyone to leave and go home,” Grant said. “I need a break.”
“Just as long as it isn’t a break-down.” Tina grinned.
Grant groaned. “Well, we better start shutting down,” he said. “You still know your way around, right, Tina?”
“Yes, of course.” Tina giggled. “Sam and I were both employed here in our freshman year of high school,” she told Nora. “That’s how he and I actually got together, you know. All those summer days spent in cozy nooks in this very library. Grant, we owe you our marriage.”
Grant laughed, Nora gave her a nudge, and after a bit more fussing to make sure Grant was alright, they all parted ways.
“What now?” Nora asked.
“How about coffee at my place?” Tina asked. “I don’t really want to go home and face Sam alone. Selena’s probably told him about our little scene already, and if sh
e hasn’t… well… he’s probably heard from, oh, half the town.”
Nora pursed her lips. “It was rather nasty.”
“I know!” Tina exclaimed. “I felt so bad about it afterwards. I had no time to think. When she snapped at me like that I just lost my temper. I exploded in anger, and I really, really shouldn’t have.”
“What, regretting that urge to be destructive already?” Nora mimed throwing a bottle over a parapet.
Tina groaned. “Don’t, please. Sam’s going to be really angry.”
“If it helps, I can tell him that Selena started it. You just reacted.”
“Yeah…” Tina still looked guilty. “I don’t know. I know I said that I can be destructive sometimes, but the truth is I’m just a regular ol’ play-it-safe type. I’d hate for Selena and Sam’s relationship to be harmed over my quarrels with her. She’s overbearing and everything, but she’s family.”
Nora felt a little nervous herself as their car came closer to Tina’s house.
Sam had built up a business selling leather goods and spurs and had developed quite a cult following over the years. Consequently, Tina’s house was one of the largest in Milburn. After getting married, the couple had purchased land a few miles outside of town and spent a year building exactly what they wanted. While not as large as other mansions in the area, their home had been decorated with enough love and good taste that it had been featured in numerous magazines. It stood at the end of a large driveway with willow trees on each side, nestled in the shadow of the mountains. This late at night, the glowing windows were like flames from a lighthouse guiding ships at sea. All around, the forest crouched, dark and still. Driving to the house was, Nora mused, almost as if she were guiding a spaceship to a distant moon.
Inside the house, the living room had a sunken portion which housed the sofas, a wall that was covered from floor to ceiling with a TV screen, and expensive landscape paintings that softened the sharp lines of the ultramodern furniture.
The Milburn Big Box Set Page 33
