The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  Tina sprang up, ready to attack Robert, and Sean placed two hands on her shoulder, firmly pushing her back. “Don’t do it, Tina,” he said. “I’ll make sure Selena’s murderer is bought to justice. I promise you that. We’ll see who laughs then.”

  “It’s downright creepy how friendly everyone in this town is with each other,” Robert said. “I stayed here two years in high school and apart from Selena I never made a single friend. You all close yourself off from the outside world. You take yourselves too seriously and then act surprised when people get killed. Selena was the only one of you lot that was worth a penny.”

  “Don’t take my sister’s name you filthy—”

  “Enough, Sam,” Sean thundered. Nora’s eyes widened. She’d never seen Sean like this. The sheriff was usually so controlled and placid. Robert clearly knew how to push his buttons.

  “You’ve got five seconds to get out of here before I arrest you all over again,” Sean said. “Before you open that mouth to say something, I’d advise you to think hard. Do the sensible thing.”

  Robert shrugged, raised his hands, and walked out.

  Nora took one look at Harvey and Tina, who were speaking in soft whispers to an agitated Sam. Then, thoughtfully, she looked at the door. Sean caught her look and shook his head.

  Harvey looked up, then.

  “I was serious, Nora,” he said. “Don’t try and solve this. Don’t go after him.”

  But, of course, she did. She had to.

  Outside, mist flowed down the mountainside, and dark clouds huddled together. In the small space between clouds, a waning moon shone palely. Robert was by the door of his rental car, head pressed down against the roof, hands resting on his temple.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  He looked up, blinked. “Not really,” he said. He gave a sniff, and rubbed his eyes. “Did Sam send you to deliver a message, or was it Sean?”

  “It occurred to me that you have no friends or family in this town,” Nora said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

  “Sympathizing with a murderer?” Robbie smiled. “I’ve heard that there’s a section of women who are attracted to serial killers. They even send them fan mail in jail. Are you secretly one of them?”

  “Not really,” Nora said. She glanced back at the sheriff’s office. Harvey had appeared at the door. He walked to the sidewalk and leaned on one of the street lamps, crossing his arms across his chest.

  Robert saw this, and laughed. “Ah yes, the overly protective boyfriend.”

  “Harvey’s none of your business,” Nora said.

  “I’d say Selena’s none of yours,” Robert said. “Yet here we are.”

  “Look, I only came because I don’t think you killed her,” Nora said. “Unlike most people in town.”

  “Are you sure?” Robert grinned. “After all, I punched the sheriff. That’s all you know about my character.”

  “You’re smart,” Nora said. “You’re acting abrasive right now because you’re upset about Selena’s death, and you think you’re being targeted. So you’re being rebellious and acting like a jerk, to anger the sheriff a little more. Instead, you could try and cooperate.”

  “Why should I? The sheriff’s had it in for me since he saw me at the library the other day,” Robert said. “If that wasn’t bad enough, I snuck back into town after he’d kindly escorted me out.”

  “Why did you?”

  “Why did I come back in the first place? I had to meet her. I had to exorcise myself of her,” Robert said. “You don’t know what it’s like, Nora. To have a ghost follow you around your life. I was a dirtbag in college. My parents were divorcing then, after years of emotional and physical abuse by my father. I wasn’t in a very happy place. I was stoned every day, and bunking classes. She was a great girlfriend. I was the reason we broke up. I lost the best thing in my life because I was too busy focusing on the worst. It killed me every day, that I’d lost her and there was no way to get her back.”

  “Weren’t you angry at her?”

  “After I slapped her in college? No. I was horrified at myself. I’d become the one person I didn’t want to be. My father. That slap woke me up. I needed to change. I tried to tell her that I had changed, that I’d never do it again. But it was too late. I was desperate, I tried everything I could to win her back, until it sunk in that she’d need time, and a lot of evidence that I’d changed. So I decided to travel the world. To become a real man, the kind of man Selena deserved.”

  “You wrote your book about her, didn’t you?”

  “I did, yes.” He laughed. “It was obvious to anybody who knew me. Along the way, I did change. When you travel the world, you meet people who’ve had a life a million times tougher than yours and still manage to be positive, loving people. I’m a much better person now than I was in college. When I was in Guyana last month, I had a near death experience. I was bitten by a snake, and the antivenom almost didn’t reach me in time because the road to town was washed away by a flood. That’s when I knew there was no point in traveling the world with her invisible presence. I had to go back. I had to find her. I used any excuse I could, and when my agent landed me this small town library talk, I was happier than when I’d first got my six-figure royalty check.”

  “But I was there when you met her,” Nora said. “You seemed angry.”

  “I was nervous,” Robert said. “I’ll be honest with you, I was so nervous that I had three drinks before I even walked into that library. I was trying my hardest not to… not to look desperate. I always get sarcastic when I’m nervous, and Selena seemed like she wanted nothing to do with me.”

  “You told her you were working on a history of the town,” Nora said.

  “My agent is best friends with her agent,” Robert said. “Well… was. I guess I snooped around.” He grimaced. “I sound like a creep, don’t I? I know I do.”

  “I suppose we all do creepy things when we’re in love,” Nora said, though her voice lacked conviction.

  “Exactly!” Robert said. “All the rational thoughts in my head just went flying out the window when I got within a ten foot radius of her.”

  “Why did you sneak back into town? Why did you tell her to meet you?”

  Robert shrugged. “I just wanted to tell her I still loved her and beg her to give me a chance. I knew she wouldn’t agree to meet me if I gave that excuse, so I told her I wanted to talk about the book.”

  “Was it her idea, to meet you at the library?”

  “She said she knew I wouldn’t try anything there.” Robert smiled. “Libraries are sacred to me. Besides, she had an extra key.”

  Nora stayed quiet, letting him continue.

  “When I reached there, she was in a really bad mood,” Robert said. He squinted, trying to remember. “I told her how I wanted forgiveness. That I wanted to start with a clean slate. She said, ‘The problem with this town is how easily it’s willing to forget the past. Well, I’m not, Robert.’”

  “Ouch,” Nora said.

  Robert was chewing his lower lip. “When she found out I wasn’t planning to discuss the book, but I just wanted to discuss us, she flipped out. She told me to get out of there. She said she was expecting someone else.”

  “Well, what did you do?”

  “I left.” Robert shrugged. “I wasn’t going to give up, but I was pretty depressed that she had rejected me again. I decided to go back to my room and get plastered. The next thing I remember is the sheriff waking me up, so clearly I succeeded. When Sean told me she was dead- I thought it was a horrible joke. I… I lost control of myself and punched him. I’ll admit, I have temper issues still, but I swear, I would never have harmed Selena.”

  “Did you… did you see the letter opener?” Nora asked. “When you were at the library with her?”

  “I don’t remember.” Robert shrugged. “I might have, but I was too distracted by her to care about my surroundings.”

  “Nora. Robert. What a pleasant surprise
.” May Almand slammed the door of her car. From the other side, Grant got out. He smiled at both of them, and shuffled nervously.

  “Hello, May. Here to see the sheriff?”

  “Grant and I are organizing Selena’s memorial,” May said. “Someone told us Sam and Tina are here.” She looked down her nose at Robert. “This event will exclude those who aren’t from our town. We’re planning to have it tomorrow.”

  “I’m shattered,” Robert said drily. “This is a wound I’ll take to my grave.”

  “Awkward choice of words for a man who’s about to hang.” May sniffed, as she walked away.

  Harvey appeared, and put his hand around Nora’s shoulders. “Could we leave, if you’re done talking?” he asked. His voice was cold.

  “Hey man, chill. Your girlfriend only has eyes for you. Believe me, I was trying my hardest to flirt.” Robert leered, his head lolling almost grotesquely.

  “You’ve got lovely teeth,” Harvey said. “Someone should punch them out and hand them to you.” His voice was still smooth as he said it.

  “Harvey!” Nora pulled away, a little shocked at the violence in his words.

  He gave her a smile not entirely without warmth. “Shall we leave? We were supposed to have dinner with the Mayor tonight, remember?”

  *****

  Chapter 11

  She had to talk to Harvey sooner or later, Nora knew that. He had this habit of internalizing things. Bursting out randomly, and then never speaking of it again. The problem was, so did she. Everything was easier when it could be swept under the carpet. Bringing emotions out into the open was a risky business.

  Dinner with Mayor Almand and May was the last thing Nora wanted to be doing, but she knew it was important to Harvey, and she was very willing to at least pretend to like them both. Personally, she thought May was a little too sharp for her tastes, and Brett was a little too pompous. Still, the restaurant they were visiting was supposed to have the best lasagna in Wyoming. That would compensate a little bit.

  She didn’t have much time to change, so she opted for the classics. A dark navy dress, a wide belt to emphasize her waist, tan pumps and a beige cardigan on top. She turned this way and that, making sure everything was alright, before finally putting on a pair of mock-sapphire earrings.

  The doorbell rang, and there Harvey stood unsmiling, leaning against the doorpost. He ran his eyes over her, and a smile brightened his face.

  “How do you manage to look so gorgeous all the time?”

  “How do you manage to be so smooth?” Nora laughed, and kissed him on the cheek.

  He wrapped his hands around her, his eyes looking deep into her. “I’m not being smooth,” he said, “Never am with you. Just honest.”

  She felt a blush crawl up her neck, and looked away. He gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead, and then the nose. “Shall we go?”

  “Hang on, let me see if Mrs. Mullally is all set. I’ll tell her to not wait up for me.”

  “How is your landlady now?”

  “She’s fine, thankfully,” Nora said. “We had to call Dr. Neil again last week. She had a bit of a problem breathing. But it’s nothing serious, he promised us. Still, I’m making sure she’s well rested. She has a tendency to be hyperactive.”

  Half an hour later, they were at the restaurant. Mayor Almand, Nora and Harvey were talking politics, including the new policies of a recently elected governor, while May sat quietly beside them.

  Trying to draw her out, Nora asked, “Well, I’ve never seen you so quiet, May. Did your meeting with the sheriff go well?”

  May blinked, as if she were emerging from deep thought. “My meeting with Sean? I didn’t have a meeting with Sean.”

  “But I saw you today. In the parking lot?”

  “Oh. That.” May bit her lip. “Yes. Grant and I were only there to ask him about the memorial.”

  “So is it all set? Tomorrow?”

  “Sam and Tina said they’d prefer it day after. They plan to have her funeral tomorrow now that the body’s been released,” May said. “We adjusted that, of course. Grant said it might be a good idea to have someone do a reading from one of her books. A suitable passage.”

  “Sounds like a wonderful idea.” What was wrong with May? Nora wondered. She’d never seen the Mayor’s wife look like this. Her eyes were almost haunted.

  “What about the sheriff elections you were discussing the other day?” Harvey asked. “Any opposers to our very own Sean yet?”

  “I’m a little too busy these days,” May said. “The Arts Council was planning to put up a series of plays in the park this summer, and with Selena gone, it’s up to me to supervise the content.”

  “I remember that,” Mayor Almand said. “She had some crazy idea about putting up stories from the town’s history as part of the play, didn’t she?”

  “That was never going to work,” May snapped. “I told her it was better to stick with classic authors like George Bernard Shaw or Tennessee Williams. Honestly, I thought it was a little unethical of her to try and allocate town funds to stories she was writing.”

  “That’s funny,” Nora said. “Had she finished the play? I thought Selena only worked on novels.”

  “Oh she did, but she said sections of her novel-in-progress would make an extremely good play,” May said. “Personally, it felt a little too much like marketing to me.”

  “I think I’d love to watch a play about the town’s history,” Harvey said.

  “She came to you for an interview, didn’t she?” May said.

  Nora looked at Harvey, startled.

  He was looking down into his glass of wine. He took a sip, then had a bite of his lasagna. “Amazing food, isn’t it?”

  “I like the pasta at Giovanni’s better, personally,” Mayor Almand said. “But the garlic bread here is divine.”

  “You should try the cannelloni,” May said. “They put a hint of saffron in it. Gives it an amazing flavor.”

  “You didn’t tell me,” Nora said, looking right at Harvey. “You didn’t tell me about Selena visiting you, or interviewing you.”

  “Well, it was quite some time ago,” Harvey said. “It actually slipped my mind completely.”

  “Why did she want to talk to you?” Something in Nora’s tone made the Mayor and his wife drop their forks to look at her. There was silence around the table.

  In a pleasant, if forced voice, Harvey said, “You know, I have so many meetings, I barely remember. She wanted to talk about some property, I think. Maybe she was thinking of buying?”

  “She can’t have been thinking of buying. Tina told me she was spending her savings getting her house renovated,” Nora said.

  Harvey shrugged. “Maybe it was research for a book or something. Maybe her heroine is a real estate agent. Anyway, have any of you tried their buttered oysters? Let me order a plate.”

  “I heard her tell Grant she was going to talk to you about the yellow gated property down on Finch road,” May said.

  “Right,” Harvey said.

  “That’s where you were yesterday when we met,” Nora said. “Right?”

  “Yes.” Harvey’s voice was clipped. He raised a hand, calling the waiter over.

  What was wrong with him? Nora wondered. Why was he refusing to talk? There was nothing wrong with having talked to Selena, yet Harvey was acting as if Nora was pushing him about a secret he didn’t want revealed. He’d only succeeded in making her more curious by being so closed off.

  “Do you think we could talk about something other than Selena?” the Mayor said. “I’m sorry, but I’d rather have a happy discussion over dinner than mull over the tragic murder.”

  “I second that,” May said. “So… let’s see. Shall we talk about you two instead?” She gave Harvey a wink and nodded at Nora. “You’re the town’s favorite couple, you know. It’s about time you both settled down.”

  “We’re just casual about it right now,” Nora said.

  “We are?” Harvey raised an eyebrow.<
br />
  She blushed. Honestly, what had gotten into him? “I mean… we aren’t thinking about the future right now.”

  “Harvey strikes me as the kind of guy who never does think about the future.” May laughed. “Why I haven’t seen such a Casanova in all my years. That was before you came along, of course, dear.”

  “Well, reformed casanovas make the best husbands,” Mayor Almand said. “Just ask my wife here.”

  “Brett, honey, you were never the ladykiller you like to think you were.” May laughed. “Though, I’ll grant you had your share of admirers.”

  “Speaking of Grant, is that old bachelor ever planning to settle down?” Mayor Almand laughed. “Why, people around here have never seen him date a girl. Makes one wonder if he doesn’t get lonely.”

  “Yes, I agree. Grant’s an odd one. He has his books, and that’s all he needs.” May laughed.

  The Mayor nodded. “Ah. Well, if that’s what he says.”

  “The truth is, he had a girl he was madly in love with, way back when he was young,” May said. “But you know Grant, he’s a nerd if there ever was one. She used him when she needed work done for college, but then the girl ran off with some macho type. She probably has ten kids by now. Grant’s still in love with her, I’d reckon. He was awfully heartbroken.”

  “How romantic,” Nora said.

  “How unrealistic,” Harvey said. “He should just have moved on and gotten another girl.”

  “Some men are sensitive,” May said. “They meet one girl, they fall in love, and they live the rest of their lives thinking about her even if they’re married to someone else. I say it’s better for him to be a bachelor if he can’t emotionally be there for his new girlfriend.”

  “Robert was like that, I think,” Nora said. “About Selena, I mean.”

  “So I heard,” May said. “I read his book, you know. I started skimming through it as soon as he got arrested. It seems obvious that he was writing about her. I suppose he got so angry that he eventually killed her.”