The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “Inside, he was insecure,” Maria said. “I know not many people would believe me. A man like Reynold, insecure? Impossible! After all, he had a multimillion dollar business empire. How could he feel unlovable or unworthy? Yet he did. All his life, he searched for someone who could help relieve the pain that he held in his heart.”

  “Oh!”

  “I loved my husband, but there were many a time when I wanted to separate myself from him,” Maria said. “All the things that made him good could be forgotten when he was in one of his moods. When he was in one of his moods, no matter how much you loved him, you were the enemy. No matter how much he had achieved, he was a loser.”

  Nora said, “He was a very unhappy man, was he?”

  “He was more than unhappy.” Maria sighed. “I think there was something wrong with the way his brain worked on a fundamental level. If one has a disease on the skin, it’s visible, and you take more efforts to cure it. But a thought pattern that’s wrong or twisted? That’s not so easily visible. He was great at denying things too. If I confronted him after his temper tantrums about the things he’d said, he’d either deny that he’d ever said them, and do it so well that I’d be convinced he was right. Or worse, he’d tell me that I deserved every single thing he’d said.”

  “So why did you stay?”

  “Because…” Maria said. “Because he’d hold me sometimes, and sob. He’d tell me all the ways he’d failed in his life. He’d count them off. He couldn’t save his younger sister from dying of scarlet fever. He couldn’t save his father’s business from imploding. He couldn’t save his mother from her grief when his father ran away. He couldn’t save himself when he’d gotten beaten up by bullies.” Maria sighed.

  “I loved my husband, Nora. Not just for his weakness, for his strengths too. He could be a bad man, but he was, at times, very generous. When I told him about a bad drought in my old village, he went and paid everyone’s taxes that year, and he never even told me about it. I didn’t find out until five years later, when I visited!

  “He could be romantic, too. He’d make me feel like I was the most wonderful woman in the world. More than once, he filled my house with flowers for no reason at all! One time, he rented out an entire theater just so the two boys could see their favorite cartoons, and he let in all the children in their class for free, with popcorn and soda paid for.”

  “It sounds like he was trying to buy love,” Nora said.

  “It does,” Maria admitted. “I can see why you’d think that. But it isn’t true. He was generous, and he was creative and he was a good man. Unfortunately, he was too many things at once. He was also cruel to the children and me at times, and almost always cruel to himself.”

  “The children didn’t love him for it,” Nora said. “It sounded to me like Johann and Petyr both had issues with their father.”

  “Oh, these children,” Maria said. “They’ve had it easy in life. They haven’t come up the hard way, the way Reynold and I did. We struggled for every penny we’ve ever earned, and we had the heart to give it all away and start again, even now, in our old age. The children were a little spoiled. Especially Petyr. He insisted on things being his way. He couldn’t understand that his father needed understanding love, not toughness.”

  “Johann was good to his father,” Nora pointed out. “Yet he just said that he was relieved when his father died.”

  “Johann says things,” Maria said. “It doesn’t mean anything. Johann is just very upset.”

  “So are you,” Nora said. “Yet you realized that your son’s words could be misinterpreted, and now you’re taking great care to make sure they aren’t.”

  “I have to,” Maria said. “I don’t want you thinking things about Johann.”

  “I’m not one to judge,” Nora said. “But we have to face the facts. He might have killed his father.”

  “Ridiculous! Johann would never do that!”

  “If you didn’t kill Reynold and Johann didn’t either, that leaves one of three people,” Nora said. “Katya and Lila have no real motive as far as I can see.”

  “You’re missing out a main culprit.” Maria said. “Reynold himself.”

  “What!”

  “Yes. This isn’t murder, this is suicide. Plain and simple,” Maria said. “Just like my Uncle Joseph. Reynold’s company was suffering because of some decisions he’d taken. Lately, he’d began feeling like a loser. I think he decided that it was no use, and killed himself.”

  “That’s impossible,” Nora said.

  “It’s what I told the police,” Maria said. “Over the course of our marriage, there’s many a time when he’d become suicidal. He might have seemed confident to the rest of you, but I know the insecure man he was. That man was capable of suicide, and I think he did commit it!”

  *****

  Chapter 6

  In the kitchen, Katya had poured Johann a shot of Vodka, and mixed it with Sprite. He downed it in one gulp, and then asked for another, as Nora entered.

  “What did my mother tell you?” Johann asked. “The same tall story she’s feeding the cops? That he killed himself?”

  “Is it so farfetched?” Nora asked. “I felt it was quite believable.”

  “Rubbish,” Johann said. “I’ve worked with father for more than fifteen years now. I know what he was capable of but…killing himself? It’s ridiculous!”

  “Your father was clearly a sensitive man.”

  “He was sensitive, yes. But he wasn’t one to harm himself,” Johann said. “If you accused my father of committing a murder, why, I might have readily believed you. But suicide? No. It would be the ultimate disrespect.”

  “You only saw one side of him,” Nora said. “Perhaps your mother, as his wife, saw more.”

  “Oh, I know what side of him she saw.” Johann gulped down a third glass of vodka, and tottered a little as he stepped away from the counter. Behind him, there was a whirring noise. “Why is that dishwasher on?” He kicked it. “Who on earth thought to turn it on anyway?”

  “Maybe the police?” Nora looked doubtful.

  “Well, at any rate, my father was too full of himself to ever commit suicide,” Johann said. “As for my mother, well, she’s suffered with him silently so many years. He’s committed one crime after another, and she bore it because he was her husband, and because she’s a saint.” Johann laughed. “But if she’s saying it’s suicide, I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  “She said that he’d suffered losses in his business.”

  “We had,” Johann admitted. “We’d suffered a lot. Father made some bad mistakes these last two years. As a matter of fact, he was growing old. He needed to be retired.”

  “Ah,” Nora said, suddenly understanding why Reynold had been so sure that Johann was talking of him and not the dog.

  “It’s true,” Johann said. “Maybe I sound like an ungrateful child, and maybe I am. But my father was nearly 70. He wasn’t as sharp as he had been twenty years ago. He didn’t understand marketing the way I do. He did business the way he’d always done, creating good products and hoping people would buy them. I wanted to spend more and more money on building relationships with the right people. He thought I was talking of bribing people! Can you imagine?” Johann took a smaller sip of vodka.

  “All advertising is just bribery, really. You bribe someone into buying your product one way or another. The smart men understand that bribery isn’t about money, it’s about making someone else feel powerful. If you can make the client feel smart, and happy, then he’ll make you happy.” Johann shook his head. “I’m blabbering again. This is a fight my father and I had over and over. I told him he’s doing things wrong, he told me to shove my head into a cement mixer. That sort of loving father-son talk was common. The police are going to ask around at the office, so they’ll know soon. Just last week, I was yelling at him, and he was yelling at me. I told him that he had two choices, to either quit himself, or I would quit.”

  “Oh,” Nora sai
d.

  “Yes. I loved my father but I was very close to quitting,” Johann said. “I knew he wouldn’t let that happen. He loved me. More than that, he loved his company, and somewhere deep inside, he knew that my work was the only reason it was alive.”

  “Careful, Johann.” Lila walked in. She went up to him, and draped her arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek. “They’ll think you’re boasting.”

  “I’m stating facts,” Johann said. “Von Kyburg Industries was doomed if father had continued to run it even a year more. I was a month away from quitting forever. He was probably egotistic enough to let me.”

  “How did your mother feel about it?”

  “My mother was heartbroken, of course,” Johann said. “She couldn’t believe that I would do such a thing. She thought Petyr leaving us was horrible enough. For me to leave too? She told me I must never think of it.”

  “But you did.”

  “I had no choice,” Johann said. “Lila told me to reconsider, but I was determined to quit. I didn’t want to stay on a sinking ship if I didn’t have the chance to at least try and steer it to safety. It burned me up, really. I’ve worked so hard on that company. I’ve tried my hardest to do good by my parents. Now because of my father’s ego, I had to consider leaving.”

  Nora said nothing.

  “I know that look,” Johann said. “You’re judging me. You think I’m a bad son for badmouthing my father like this.” He took a huge gulp of vodka. “Well, I’ll tell you something. You haven’t walked a mile in my shoes. You couldn’t if you tried. It was work, trying to hold this family together. It was just as hard as running the company. In some ways, running the company was easier because at least logic ruled the day. Over here, all my father cared about was his own ego. He was easier to handle when we were working together. I could respect him.”

  “Johann, stop it, please,” Lila said.

  “No. I want to talk. I want to talk without feeling like someone will interrupt,” Johann said.

  “You want to be understood,” Nora said sadly.

  “Exactly!” Johann said. “I want to make it clear that I had nothing against my father. I wanted to leave the company, but that was for my own emotional survival. It had nothing to do with him, really.”

  “He can’t have been happy about it.”

  “He threatened to cut me off without a penny.” Johann laughed. “But I’d seen Petyr make it work. I was confident I’d make it work too. I told him I’d rather be poor for the rest of my life than ever take handouts from him again.” He broke down, suddenly crying. “I was bad to him. I was a bad son. After everything he did, I said hurtful things. I hate myself! I hate all of this!”

  Lila embraced him, holding on to him with all her might as he sobbed and struggled. Gradually, his sobbing ceased, and he began to give little sniffs. Lila led him away, giving Katya and Nora a desperate look as she did.

  “Please,” she said. “Let him be. No more talking about this. All right?”

  “All right,” Katya said.

  They watched them walk away, the tall blonde man, and the slender brunette with her big brown eyes.

  “Do you think there’s a chance he did it?” Katya asked. “He’s reacting so badly. Johann is normally very stable, but today, he’s had mood swings right left and center.”

  “His father died,” Nora said. “That might be a natural reaction.”

  “Yes, of course it might. Except… maybe he’s a little too emotional,” Katya said. “It’s like he’s trying to prove to everyone that he’s actually sad. You know?”

  Nora shrugged.

  “He said that Reynold was ruining the company,” Katya said. “That he wanted a chance to steer it right. That’s a pretty strong motive. He knew Reynold would never give in, and he thought that the best thing to do would be to handle it himself. What do you think?”

  “It’s possible,” Nora said.

  “But it’s not your top theory,” Katya said.

  “No. It isn’t.”

  “Well, who do you think did it?” Katya asked. “Are you still focused on Petyr?”

  She said this casually, but her eyes were fixed on Nora’s. They were hard and calculative.

  “I really don’t judge,” Nora said. “Investigating this was your idea, not mine.”

  “But you’re better at it than I am,” Katya said. “I know about you. I know that in your hometown, you’ve solved a few mysteries. I read all about those writers who died. There was a big splash in the papers about it.”

  Nora blushed.

  “So you’ve been snooping on me?”

  “Snooping? Not at all. Just a simple Google search,” Katya said.

  “It isn’t a coincidence that you called me out here, is it?” Nora asked. “You… suspected something.”

  “No. No.” Katya shook her head.

  “Yes. Yes,” Nora said. “Even before Reynold died, there was something off about you. I couldn’t place it, really. But if you knew about me, then it makes sense why you were so insistent that I come here. You wanted me to figure something out for you.”

  “I just needed your advice!” Katya said. “That’s all!”

  “You arranged for me to be brought here, even though your father-in-law didn’t want it,” Nora said. “Why?”

  “I called you here because I didn’t know what to do,” Katya said tearfully. “There was something about Petyr that was just odd. He’s hiding things from me, and he’s never done that before. I could feel it.”

  “Do you have any idea what it could be?” Nora asked.

  Before Katya could answer, Petyr walked in, looking ten years older. His shoulders were slumped, and his feet were dragging.

  “I need a drink,” he said.

  “Oh, no.” Katya put it away. “I’ve seen what drinking does to your brother. You aren’t getting any.”

  “Please, Katya,” Petyr said. “You don’t know the kind of questions the cops have been asking me. They’re convinced it has to be me. Why? Because I laid the mushrooms out on the plate. As if that’s even… it’s ridiculous! They haven’t even tested the mushrooms yet. For all we know, father died of something else.”

  “Petyr. Come on,” Katya said.

  “So you think I did it too?” Petyr raged. “I thought you’d stand by me.”

  “I’m right here by you,” Katya said.

  “Then why are you so far away?” he asked.

  “Why are you?” Katya asked. “I’ve had a premonition, you know. Far before we came here. That’s the real reason I wanted Nora along. Something felt off about you. When you talked about your parents, you weren’t yourself.”

  “Of course I wasn’t,” Petyr said. “I didn’t care for my father much. I make no secret of that.”

  “Yet you wanted me to come here and meet them before marrying me,” Katya said.

  “I wanted you to meet my mother,” Petyr said.

  “You wanted to show me off to your father,” Katya said. “That’s what it felt like.”

  “You don’t understand! My father tried to forcibly get me engaged to some business partner of his,” Petyr said. “I didn’t want that. I didn’t want a marriage like Johann’s, where he married Lila only because of her father’s money. I wanted a wife of my own.”

  “Johann did what?”

  “Oh, everybody knows it,” Petyr said. “Lila’s a fool about him, but Johann? He married her because it was a good match. Of course he’s fond of her. But… it isn’t the same. It isn’t the way it is with us.”

  “So, you brought me here to prove that you had the right idea?” Katya said.

  “I did,” Petyr said. “Johann and Dad had both warned me about moving out of the house. When I rejected Dad’s choice, he told me that any girl I married would only want me for my money. Johann agreed that I’d only find gold-diggers out in the world. But me, I believed in love. I wanted someone who loved me for myself, and not my money, and I was determined to find her. When I did, I wa
nted to throw it in their face. I was right and they were wrong. I had a wonderful girl who I loved wholeheartedly and they had… their sad, ego-driven lives.”

  “Petyr. Oh Petyr.”

  Katya hugged him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I exposed you to all this.”

  “It’s all right,” Katya said. “I love you. I do.”

  “What did your mother think?” Nora asked.

  “What?”

  “Did she like Katya?”

  “My mother?” Petyr shrugged. “Of course. She was never one to create any trouble. My father was always the problem. I knew he’d probably forbid her from talking to me if he didn’t like Katya, but I didn’t care. I was feeling a bit mad, and a bit reckless.”

  Nora nodded.

  In her mind, she wondered what it would be like to be the mother in a family like this, constantly forced to choose between the love of her boys and the ego of her husband. Would it eventually have driven her mad? Mad enough to kill?

  *****

  Chapter 7

  “What are you thinking?” Katya asked Nora.

  “Just that it’s all very strange,” Nora said. “Nothing seems to add up.”

  “Maybe this was a bad idea,” Katya said. “I mean, you and me, we’re really not going to find anything out just by talking to people, are we? It’s the police with their fancy equipment who’ll figure out the truth.”

  “Figure out the proof,” Nora corrected. “The police’s job is to work with no theories. To gather proof impartially until they stumble on the truth. Me, I prefer to go into the motives. If you can find out why. Not just the obvious, surface why, but the hidden why. The motive that nobody will admit to. Then you can find out who did it.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Petyr looked confused.

  “Never mind,” Katya said. “Petyr, we should go out and check on your mother.”

  “She’s talking to Officer Shane,” Petyr said. “Johann and Lila are upstairs.”

  They went out to the living room. Maria had tears flowing down her eyes, while the two officers talking to her looked grave. When Petyr entered, they moved swiftly.