The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  Her laughter was cut short as the door open and Joe stormed in. He gave Simone a malicious glare, and strode right up to her. “You! You put him up to this! You got me fired!”

  “What are you talking about?” Simone shrunk away from him. She hopped off her stool, and scooped Will up. “I think I’m going to leave, Nora.”

  “Oh, no, you’re not! Not until you’ve told me why you always hated me!” Joe exclaimed. “I haven’t done a thing! I’ve called women sweetheart sometimes or told them that their skirts looked good. Just harmless comments! Can’t you women take a joke anymore?”

  “I’m leaving, Joe. It’s in your best interest if you stay calm. No one is firing you, though we ought to. You’re simply being offered an early retirement.”

  “You’re not firing me because you don’t want to pay severance,” he said. “Well, I’m not quitting so easily. I’ve got a lot of friends at the factory, and they won’t take too kindly to what you’ve done either. I’ve helped build up this factory while you sat around with your fancy ideas! You can’t just throw me out!”

  Nora could see the expression change in Simone’s eyes, from fear to a fierce pride, to anger. “My fancy ideas?” Simone spat out. “You mean the ideas that helped launch the factory, and distinguish us from our competitors? You mean the ideas that got us write-ups in national newspapers or air-time from celebrity radio shows? Those ideas? You’re just an old fashioned man who thinks all women are only fit for the kitchen. You’ve been really nice to Bernard, but I’ve seen your true face. You always burned inside that I was your boss. You always pretended that I was only your boss because I was Bernard’s wife. Well enough is enough, you’re not stepping inside that factory again. Not while I’m the chief.”

  At this outburst from his normally cheerful mother, Will burst out in sobs.

  “You’re no chief! You just have a fancy title and a doting husband,” Bernard sneered.

  “If I didn’t have Will here with me, I’d give you a fitting reply,” Simone said. “Right now, I’m just going to leave, and if you try to stop me, Joe, I’ll be calling the sheriff.”

  Almost as soon as she had said his name, the door opened and Sean walked in. He had on his uniform, and was biting his lower lip. He locked eyes with Nora and came up to her immediately, not even noticing Simone or Joe.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hi.” Nora smiled. “Can I get you a coffee?”

  “Yes,” he said. “As quickly as possible, to go. If you could wrap up a sandwich too, that’d be perfect.”

  “Something’s wrong,” Nora said, studying his face.

  “Dillon never showed up,” Sean said. “I’ve got to go check on him. I’m getting antsy. Ellerton was supposed to follow Chase, but he was given the slip. Chase has been missing all morning.”

  Nora felt her stomach sink. “That’s bad news.”

  “It’s just news, right now,” Sean said. “Let’s see how things develop.” He accepted a wrapped steak sandwich and a thermos of coffee from her, “Thanks, Nora. Keep it on my tab, please.”

  “Of course. Good luck, Sean.” She wished him that for two reasons - the first was that she wanted to see Tiffany’s suspect brought to justice. The second - if it was Chase, then it wasn’t Harvey.

  Simone had left already, leaving money on the counter. Joe sat where Will had been sitting, looking very annoyed.

  “I was here before the sheriff, but he gets served first,” Joe said. “That’s the way it is in this town. Us honest hardworking men get stood up, and the richie-rich people have their way.”

  “Sorry about that, he was in a big hurry,” Nora said. “What can I get you?”

  “Well, I’m in a big hurry, too,” Joe fumed. “I’m in a big hurry to find me a lawyer who can sue that… that absolute witch!”

  “Sir,” Nora said sternly, “I don’t want you cursing people here.”

  “Well, of course you don’t, darling. Sorry.” Joe calmed down a little. “Now how about you get me some coffee and maybe a plate of scrambled eggs with bacon and home-style potatoes? Anger helps build the appetite.”

  “Coming right up,” Nora said, without a smile.

  When she came back out with his food and coffee, he was scanning through the paper, tsking as he read about Tiffany’s murder. “It’s always the poor who suffer,” he said. “What did Tiffany ever do to anyone? She liked to have fun, but she wasn’t evil. Her murderer clearly is.”

  “You got any ideas?” Nora said. “About who did it, I mean?”

  “Oh, I got plenty of ideas,” Joe said. “There are rich people involved, who had a lot to lose if Tiffany told her secrets. Now Sean’s a mighty fine sheriff, but I told him when he asked me, this case is bigger than he thinks. There’s a lot of depth to it. There’s things he doesn’t understand. ”

  Or maybe, things he’s involved in. With a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach, Nora remembered what Harvey had told her. Tiffany had come to him saying that Sean was involved in something big. Now the way Harvey put it had made Nora suspect that it was just a tall tale to get money out of him. But Harvey was a good judge of character, and if he didn’t think she was lying, maybe she wasn’t.

  But what about Dillon, why hadn’t he shown up? Nora had firsthand experience of how creepy Chase was - did that necessarily mean he was a murderer? Maybe Sean was just looking for somebody to pin the blame on. Someone who the town would just assume had done it. Hadn’t she been almost relieved when Sean suggested that it could be Chase?

  “You knew Tiffany well, right Joe?” Nora asked.

  “I could tell you a lot about her,” Joe agreed.

  She wanted to hear more, but the phone rang. After ignoring it for two rings, Nora picked it up. “Madness Diner. This is Nora speaking.”

  “Nora! I’m Dillon. We met yesterday remember? At the bar? Look, I need your help. I don’t know what to do and I’m scared. I need help. Please!”

  “Dillon? What happened?”

  “I… I was clearing out all of Tiffany’s stuff. I found something. I found something that makes it really obvious…” He took a deep gasping breath. “I can’t talk. They might have tapped her phone.”

  “Hang on,” Nora said. “Where are you? I’ll come out at once.”

  “I’m at her house,” Dillon said. “But meet me at the bar. There’ll be no one there right now.”

  *****

  Chapter 17

  In fifteen minutes, Nora was at the bar. She’d called Harvey, but not Sean, asking him to be there as fast as possible. Whatever it was that Dillon had found, he seemed very eager to share.

  She parked outside, and saw that Harvey was already there, leaning against his car while fiddling with his phone.

  “Hi!” He smiled as he saw her, and gave her a big hug.

  She kissed him hurriedly on the lips, and looked into his eyes for a second, drawing strength from them. “Hi,” she said.

  “So what’s this about?” he asked.

  “Dillon’s sure he’s got something concrete,” Nora said. “The interesting thing is, he’s asked me very specifically not to tell Sean.”

  Harvey frowned. “So this is related to Tiffany.”

  “Of course, it is,” Nora said. “I’ve been trying my hardest to prove your innocence.”

  “Which one is it?” Harvey asked. “What’s more important to you? My innocence or the identity of the killer?”

  “I… Harvey, what are you talking about? In my mind, proving the identity of the killer will automatically prove your innocence. Won’t it?”

  Harvey nodded, looking pleased. “All right. Let’s go ask Dillon what he’s found.”

  They knocked on the doors of the bar, and then tried to open it, to no avail.

  “I don’t understand,” Nora said, unease beginning to stir the hairs at the back of her neck. “He told me to get here as quick as possible. He was very afraid.”

  “Dillon called you?” Harvey asked.

  “Yes.”
>
  “Nora, are you sure it was him?” Harvey asked. “I mean, are you very sure it was him?”

  “Of course. I met him just last night, and…” Nora broke off. “I don’t know, actually. I just assumed it was him because he told me so. Are you saying…”

  “It could be the murderer, trying to lure you out here,” Harvey said. “One possibility is that it was Dillon and he didn’t want you to bring Sean here, but another possibility is… well… the murderer wanted you to come here alone.”

  Nora shuddered. “Surely not.”

  “What do we do now?” Harvey asked.

  “I vote we break in,” Nora said. “I mean, he did invite me, right?”

  “The last thing I need is a breaking and entering rap on my record.” Harvey smiled. “How about this… we just use the key to get in.”

  “Oh, sure, the key, where do we get that?”

  “Right here.” Harvey took it out of his pocket.

  “What?” Nora gaped at him.

  “I’m the landlord of this place.” Harvey smiled. “Bought it a little while back. It turns a tidy profit for me. All right, step back while I break down the door!” He laughed. “Just kidding. Let me unlock it.”

  “But why didn’t you just go in?” Nora asked.

  “I’m not a stupid man,” Harvey said. “It occurred to me that if there was the slightest chance that this was a gambit by the killer, I’d be very foolish to walk in alone and unarmed. Now that I’ve got a taser-bearing warrior at my disposal, I can walk in freely. You do have it on you, right?”

  “Right here.” Nora took it out.

  “Good. Keep it handy. Now be careful, I don’t know what we can expect in there.”

  Harvey opened the doors, and they stepped in.

  At night, the neon-lit bar had been cheerful and inviting. In the daylight, it seemed like a dank and slightly dusty place. The dance floor lay empty, with a disco ball sadly hanging over it. The jukebox lay dead in the corner. The bar, too, was empty.

  “Dillon?” Nora called out. “Hello?”

  “Dillon!” Harvey’s loud shout seemed to cause dust to fly out of every corner. Somewhere, Nora felt very sure a rat had scurried away at the sound of his voice. She shuddered.

  “What a dump,” Harvey muttered. “I have to talk to Smith about maintaining this place properly. We could get hit with a safety and health violation.”

  “Harvey, why isn’t he here?” Nora whispered.

  Harvey shrugged. “Maybe it will just take him longer to get here.”

  “He said he was at Tiffany’s house.” Nora walked around the bar, checking to make sure Dillon wasn’t hiding. “Dillon!” She called out again. “Come out! It’s only me, no Sean.”

  Harvey came out after checking the kitchen, shaking his head. “No luck. It’s all empty.”

  “Can we leave?” Nora asked. “I’m getting creeped out here.”

  “Just a minute.” Harvey was standing by a staircase. “The restrooms are upstairs. Let me go check it out. If I remember right, there’s an attic too. The bar always keeps it closed, but I can go explore.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Nora said.

  “You’ll stay right here,” Harvey replied. “I’ll be back down in a second. Can you check to see if Dillon’s number is noted by the bar’s phone? Maybe you can call him?”

  Like Harvey had predicted, Dillon’s number was noted down beside the bar’s phone. But after several tries, Nora had only gotten through to his answering machine.

  “Hey, it’s your man ArmaDillon! If you want to give me some love, leave me a message, otherwise, buzz off!”

  She left him a message, spelling out her phone number, and asking him to call as soon as possible.

  The door creaked open. Immediately, she whirled around to face it. The sunlight made it hard to see the man standing in the doorway, until he walked a few steps in and shut the door behind him.

  “Well, well well.” He smiled. “Look who’s here.”

  “Chase,” Nora said. “I should have known it’d be you. Where’s Dillon?”

  “That’s a good question,” Chase said. “I’m looking for him myself. Where is he?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Well, I heard from a little bird that he’s trying to get me thrown in jail,” Chase said. “That’s not very nice of him, is it? I just wanted to have a talk with him. See if we could… settle our differences.”

  “Well, he isn’t here,” Nora said.

  “That’s okay.” Chase walked up behind the bar, and helped himself to a glass of scotch. “You’re here, though. We can have a little chat ourselves. I’d love to know why you’re so interested in Tiffany.”

  “Funny. Sean would love to know why you were so interested in her.”

  With a violent movement, Chase threw the glass on the ground. Jumping forward, he caught Nora’s collar, and yanked her to him.

  Smoothly, Nora bought up the taser, and pulled its trigger. In seconds, he was on the ground, twitching in pain, and crying. In between curses, he gasped for breath.

  “Now, how about you play nice?” Nora asked.

  The thump of boots announced Harvey’s arrival downstairs. “Nothing upstairs,” he said, then did a double take when he saw Nora standing above Chase.

  “What did I miss?” he asked.

  “I was just persuading Chase to be nice,” Nora said, fingering her collar, and pressing it back into shape.

  “Want me to beat him up for you?” Harvey asked. “I mean, looks like you’ve done the job pretty well.” He stepped over, trapping Chase between them. “So what’s this all about, Chase?”

  “I’m innocent!” he cried. “I’m not talking to her.”

  “Sure you are,” Harvey said. “Anyone can see you’re just a little baby. Now how about you come tell your elders and betters what you know about Tiffany.”

  “She owed me money!” Chase cried. “She owes it to me still! I wanted to collect. Since she was dead, I thought Dillon should pay up. That’s why Dillon was trying to frame me!”

  “Dillon broke up with Tiffany,” Nora said.

  “No, he didn’t,” Chase sniffed. “He married her a month ago. Now he did it while they were drunk, so maybe it isn’t very clear. Maybe it’s not very official. But as far as I know, they were married. It was kind of weird that he chose to say he’d broken up with her after she was found murdered.”

  “Is that really true?” Harvey asked. “Because if you’ve got any witnesses, or any proof, Sean really deserves to know.”

  “I don’t,” Chase said. “It’s just something Tiffany told me when she was drunk. But Tiff lied all the time.” Slowly, he began to sit up. “She was a right character, that one. Kept using all the same sob stories to make men fall for her. It surprised me no end when they did. Men like to be white knights, saving the damsel in distress. It’s like an instinct for some of them. Me, I realize that the female of the species is always deadlier. I stay far away from drama queens like her.

  “Still, she was so good looking, she managed to hook me. But she was evil, she was. I mean, I grew up in this town, I knew her parents. They weren’t all that bad. Wouldn’t be surprised if she was making up all her stories about them. Then there’s her claims about Sergio and her poor dead child. Every time I tried to ask her how the child died, she’d suddenly go silent, as if there was something she was hiding. Wouldn’t surprise me if she’d killed the kid herself!”

  “No mother is capable of that!”

  “This one was capable of selling her own grandmother for a chocolate bar.” Chase laughed. “I should never have lent her any money. It all went to drugs anyway.”

  “So you admit that she owed you money,” Harvey said. “I wonder if this little loan-shark business you’ve got going on is legal.”

  “Sure it’s legal!” Chase said. “I’m doing the community a service, aren’t I?”

  “By charging 25 percent interest a week?” Harvey asked. “I’ve be
en down in the dumps, enough that I had to take a loan from a creep like you just to pay my grocery bills. Ended up paying him twenty times the loan before he left me alone. Creeps like you belong in jail.”

  “Well, where would you be if you had no money to buy your groceries?” Chase asked. “Look, I’m sorry I came on a little strong. I won’t do it again. Let me go now, all right? Let’s just forget any of this happened.”

  “Oh, sure,” Harvey said. “Let’s just shake hands and be best friends now. Ha. No. I’m calling Sean over.”

  “Don’t!” Chase begged. “Please don’t.”

  “Not a choice you get to make,” Harvey said, phoning Sean.

  Ten minutes later, two police-cars were parked outside the bar. Chase was in handcuffs, being put in the back of one, while Sean leaned against the other, talking to Nora and Harvey.

  “So to be clear,” he said. “Chase attacked you, after entering the property illegally. That’s what I can charge him with?”

  Harvey shrugged. “It’s a slim chance that you’ll be able to prosecute.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry, Chase has a couple of semi-illegal things he’s been doing for a while. I can throw the book at him if I want. I haven’t yet because he’s a good source of information at times. But if he was involved in Tiffany’s death, you can bet I’ll make sure he’s thrown in jail for good. The thing I don’t understand is, what were you and Nora doing here?”

  “Us?” Harvey shrugged. “Just looking for a romantic place to host our next dinner party, I guess.”

  Despite everything, Nora had to bite back a smile at that.

  *****

  Chapter 18

  As they drove away from the bar, Harvey asked her, “What now?”

  “I’m still worried about Dillon,” Nora said. “Somehow, I feel like we should have told Sean.”

  “What could we have said?” Harvey asked. “Sean’s already looking for him, and it’s not like we have any clue where Dillon could be. He isn’t answering his phone either, right?”