The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  So Akamai was under arrest and the Chief had resigned. Nora wished she could spend her time quietly thinking over it all, but she’d promised to take care of the three dogs, so she and Elly ended up going with the chief back to his house.

  The house was full of people - they spilled out into the porch, and sat cross legged in the grass in the front yard. From a room inside, they could hear Haku’s mother sobbing quietly, while three or four older ladies tried to console her. What consolation could they possibly give, though?

  Nora and Elly hurriedly collected the three dogs, who looked miserable, and piled them into Elly’s jeep for a trip to the beach. The dogs appeared to know Elly quite well, and greeted her with licks and kisses. With Nora, they were a bit standoffish, but friendly nonetheless.

  The friendliest of them was a chocolate brown lab named Sheba who stuck her head out of the window and let her tongue loll out as they drove along the coast. The youngest was a jet black puppy of mixed breed named Prince, who spent his time jumping from one seat to another in the jeep, yapping happily. The oldest, a dignified German Shepherd named Caeser, seemed extremely depressed, and sat with his paws crossed and his head drooping.

  “Poor Caeser,” Elly said. “I think he understands something’s wrong more than the other two. He’s always been the most mature one.”

  “Was he close to Haku?”

  “No. Haku never particularly liked animals. The three were close to Akamai. He’s raised them singlehandedly.”

  Nora raised an eyebrow. “That’s a surprise,” she said. “I mean, I didn’t expect Akamai to be fond of animals.”

  “He always has been,” Elly said. “Even growing up, Haku was social and loved to be surrounded by people while Akamai, especially after Alana’s death, preferred nature and animals.”

  “If that’s the case, how come it was Haku who was running Degas’ zoo?” Nora asked, surprised.

  “I was surprised myself when Haku lobbied Degas for the job,” Elly said. “I guess I always thought that part of the reason he did it was to impress me. I mean, I love animals, that’s why I worked hard to be a vet.”

  “Have you got any of your own?” Nora asked.

  “I wanted a dog or at least a kitten, but the time never seemed right to adopt. I live in a tiny apartment, and Haku said that we’d soon have an entire zoo’s worth of animals to ourselves. I suppose I lived in the future instead of the present. I always thought that Haku and I would settle down sooner or later, find the money and space and time to have our own family.” Elly’s lips trembled a little, then stilled.

  There it was again, Nora thought, looking at Elly. On the one hand, her grief for Haku seemed genuine. She was saying all the right things. She was looking sad. But on the other hand… she had a crush on Degas, she clearly did. Of course, it was possible that Nora was being judgmental. After all, people could have complicated feelings, and still love a person, right? Perhaps Elly had a crush on Degas, but was committed to Haku anyway.

  They’d reached the beach. The dogs rushed about, jumping up and down. Prince attacked the waves, yapping at them and then leaping back as they rushed toward him. Sheba rolled about in the sand and tried to pounce on tiny crabs who hurriedly buried themselves in the ground. Caeser, however, trotted beside Elly and Nora, his head held high, ignoring the antics of the other dogs.

  “Poor Caeser.” Elly got on her knees, and began hugging and kissing Caeser, who buried his head in her lap and began rubbing it against her stomach. “Poor boy. He’s a good boy, aren’t you? You’re a good boy, Caeser.”

  Caeser whined a little, and Nora felt pity for the dog. Poor thing. He didn’t know why his master was missing or why the house was full of people. All he knew was that the people he loved were upset and there was nothing he could do to change it.

  Right there, Nora swore to herself that she’d figure out the truth. Fingerprints notwithstanding, every part of her body told her that Akamai was innocent, and was only being used as a convenient scapegoat. Whether it was Degas who had done it, or some third person she didn’t know, that she’d have to figure out. But nothing added up - if Akamai loved animals, he could never have harmed that parrot. Akamai’s fingerprints had been found on the spray can, but he was still proclaiming his innocence. If he’d been guilty, surely he would have admitted to ransacking the cottage by now?

  Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Nora sighed, and then stopped, as Prince playfully wound around between her legs.

  “Look at that, he likes you.” Elly laughed.

  “Yes,” Nora said. “Yes, he does.”

  “I wish sometimes that all humans were more like dogs,” Elly said. “Predictable, easygoing and happy.”

  “For the most part, I think us humans are,” Nora said. “It’s just that sometimes, a wolf wanders into the pack, and lives with us. We treat him like he’s one of our own, but he’s not. He’s nothing more than a predator. Identifying that wolf, that’s really hard for us.”

  *****

  Chapter 15

  Ashes

  They took the ashes out on a boat, and gently scattered them in the ocean.

  From the beach, a few of the locals sniffed into handkerchiefs, while others gathered in small groups, speaking about Haku, telling tales of how he’d been as a boy, or how they’d known him. “Remember that time…” Nora heard, as she passed by several of these groups.

  A small buffet was laid out on a cheap folding table, and Degas stood by it alone, a glass of cola in his hand. From his jacket, he took out a flask, poured something into the glass, and quickly hid the flask again.

  “I saw that,” Nora said, walking up beside him.

  “I don’t suppose I care,” Degas said, taking a sip.

  “It’s a beautiful day,” she said, glancing across at the clear sky and the soothing waves of the ocean.

  “The funny thing is that Haku hated clear skies,” Degas said. “He loved gloomy, rainy days. He said when the sky’s overcast, that’s when the plants look greener than ever before. Funny, huh?” He gave a hollow laugh.

  “You seem depressed,” Nora said.

  “Oh, astounding.” Degas took another sip. “What an observation. They don’t make detectives like you anymore. Did you get your detecting degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Obviousness?”

  “Um.” Nora put a hand up. “Are you alright? You aren’t normally this sarcastic.”

  “I’m not all right, actually. Thanks for noticing,” Degas said, and Nora wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic again. He let out a sigh, and supported himself by clutching the edge of the table. “I don’t know,” he said. “The last few days, I’ve… I think I’ve been in denial. Today, seeing his ashes scattered, it finally hit home that I’ll never see Haku again. I can’t tell you what that feels like. Have you ever had someone in your life that you never really thought about, but who was just always… there? Like the color green.”

  “What?”

  “I mean, it’s not like I go about on a day to day basis thinking, “Thank heavens for the color green. I don’t know what I’d do if the color green didn’t exist.” No. On a daily basis, I hardly notice the color at all, unless I’m at a stoplight. But then one day, I wake up and find the color’s gone, gone forever. I think… I don’t know how I’d cope. It was always there. It was part of my life.” Degas took a deep breath, and then bought out the flask. This time, he upended it, gulping till it was gone. “Now it’s gone. Now he’s gone.”

  “Degas, I had no idea you felt so much for Haku.”

  “The funny thing is neither did I,” Degas said. “Look, I don’t want to make this day about me, this day is about him. It’s about a great guy who got taken away from us far too early. But the thing is, well, it just hit me today what he meant to me. He was my brother. I don’t say this lightly, Nora, but Haku was like a brother to me. My parents never cared much for me, and my nannies, much as I loved them, they weren’t around either. The one constant in my life, since I was a
kid, has been Haku. He was my first friend, and he was my assistant, and I was comfortable with that. He was going to take care of my home while I travelled the world, and there was always going to be something and someone to come back to. A family of sorts.”

  Nora nodded. He was clearly drunk and rambling. He took a look at her, and saw the sympathy in her eyes, but it only seemed to annoy him.

  “You won’t get it. You’ll probably think I’m being melodramatic, or that I’m just acting up because I’m drunk. But it’s true. What I’m saying right now is true, and it’s a truth my sober self will never be able to admit. Right here? This is the moment I become an orphan. Because Haku was the last tie I had to this island, and now I’m floating free of chains.” He stumbled a bit, and Nora reached out to steady him. He batted her arm away. “Scuse me,” he said. “I’m going to go back to my car. I don’t know why I came here in the first place.”

  “I thought you came to support Elly,” Nora said.

  “Elly.” Degas sighed. “Right. Elly. You know, I tried. I tried reaching out to her, I tried writing out what I’m feeling. But I could never get beyond one or two words.”

  “Feeling?” Nora asked. She was suddenly alert. Was he talking about the letter she’d found in the wastepaper basket? Suddenly, she felt thrown off. Was Degas pretending? Was his entire rant just a way to test whether she had been snooping? Had he noticed that the piece of paper was missing? If so, had he also noticed that he was being recorded?

  Or was she just being harsh on him? Did he genuinely feel sad that Haku had passed away? Perhaps he was truly in pain, and…

  And she was so confused. She looked into his eyes, trying to make out truth from lie, but her instincts couldn’t make out.

  “Degas.” Elly came up to them, dressed in a modest black dress and fingerless gloves. “There you are. I just spoke to the chief and his wife. Do you think you’ll pay your respects too? We can get out of here once you do.”

  “I’m not sure I’m in good shape,” Degas said.

  “You’ve got to say something to them,” Elly said. “Just give your condolences, and we can leave.”

  “I’ll have to resist saying something to all these nosy old grandmothers who’ve been whispering and eyeing us sideways,” Degas said.

  Nora had noticed it too. When Elly and Degas had appeared together, it had caused quite a stir. It wasn’t as though they’d come alone - Nora, Tina, Simone and the professor were there too. But the rumors had started spreading almost as soon as they’d stepped out of the car.

  “I don’t care what anyone else thinks,” Elly said. “Let’s go, Degas.”

  “All right,” Degas said, with a stiff smile.

  She led him up to the chief and his wife, and Nora saw Degas exchanging a few words with them. The chief gave him a nod, while his wife sobbed into a handkerchief. Behind them, the grandfather very deliberately turned away. Degas trembled a little, and then said something.

  Whatever he said, it caused a stir. The grandfather turned around now, bristling with anger. He pointed a finger at Degas, and then said something angrily. Tom the security man, who was standing next to the grandfather, put an arm around his shoulders and led him to the side to calm him down.

  Nora rushed toward them, but the scene was already over. Degas nodded, and with no prompting from anyone, left the venue.

  “Whoa, what just happened?” Nora asked Elly.

  Elly sighed. “It went as well as it could, I suppose. Degas said something to Haku’s grandfather about how he’d always been a good friend to Haku. The grandfather said that his type was incapable of being friends with anyone. Luckily Tom intervened, and Degas didn’t push it any farther either.”

  “Everyone’s just emotional, I suppose,” Nora said.

  “I wish they weren’t,” Elly said. “This isn’t about their ego. It’s about Haku finding peace.”

  “Do you think he will?” Nora asked. “I mean…”

  “While his killer roams free? No I don’t think so,” Elly said.

  “Akamai is behind bars, though,” Nora said. “You think he did it, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know,” Elly said. “It’s up to the court to decide, I guess. I suppose it has to be him. All the evidence points to him, doesn’t it?”

  Nora said nothing.

  “Doesn’t it?” Elly asked again.

  Nora shrugged. “I’m baffled, to be honest. There’s a lot of things that make it hard for me to believe Akamai did it.”

  “But if he didn’t, who did?” Elly asked. “Me? Degas?” She laughed, then sobered when she saw the look on Nora’s face. “You aren’t seriously suspecting Degas, are you?”

  Nora shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not the police anyway. What does it matter who I think did it?”

  “It matters. It matters to me,” Elly said. “Nora, Degas is a good guy. He wouldn’t ever dream of hurting Haku. Besides, what motive could he possibly have? Certainly not money, Degas has plenty.”

  “Of course,” Nora said. She really couldn’t say more. She wanted to ask Elly why, at Haku’s funeral, Elly felt the need to defend Degas so. They’d mocked the people who spread rumors about them, but the truth was, there was no smoke without fire. The rumors had a grain of truth somewhere, and that grain of truth might be the seed of a motive to kill Haku.

  “I’ll tell you something,” Elly said. “The first time I met Degas, I was about ten years old. Haku sneaked me into Degas’ house, even though I didn’t have permission. We were playing in the garden when Degas saw us. Maybe some other guy would have blabbed to his tutor about how his servant’s son was bringing other kids to play. But not Degas. Degas was excited to have a new friend, me. He was so generous and kind. He still is. Did you see the way he just offered to let me move in with him so that I wouldn’t have to be alone? He’s a truly kind hearted man. It’s such a rare thing to find someone like that, and because it’s rare, people make up mean stories about him. They think he must have ulterior motives.”

  “Elly, in your case, are you sure he doesn’t?” Nora asked.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Elly said. “I’m very sure.”

  “You loved Haku, didn’t you?” Nora asked.

  “Of course, I did,” Elly said, but she looked away a little as she said it. She looked back up and met Nora’s eyes, then repeated. “Yes, I did love him.”

  “But were you really happy? Were you really happy with the future Haku had planned for you?” Nora asked. “You were both only 16 when you first got together. You’ve had no other boyfriends. Didn’t part of you want to explore the world?”

  “Of course, it did,” Elly said. “But that’s natural, isn’t it? You can love someone and still have complications. It didn’t mean I… It didn’t mean anything.”

  Nora didn’t comment, but her silence seemed to goad Elly. “Nora, I think I know what you’re trying to imply. You’re just as bad as any of the others here. I thought you were our friend.”

  “I am your friend,” Nora said.

  “Then how can you believe that Degas and I…” Elly broke off, clearly angry. “That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? That Degas, has feelings for me?”

  Nora shook her head. “I didn’t say a word.”

  “Your silence is as good as a speech,” Elly said. “But I’m telling you. I’m telling you Degas has no interest in me. I know it for a fact. He invited me to stay with him out of kindness.”

  Nora shrugged. “All right.”

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Elly said. “I can hear the disbelief.”

  “It’s just…” Nora took a breath. “Elly, you can’t expect us all to believe it’s 100% him being a good man. Somewhere underneath that, Degas likes you. It’s obvious sometimes that—”

  “Degas doesn’t like me,” Elly said flatly. “You want to know how I know?”

  “How?”

  “Because he turned me down when I asked him out,” Elly said.

  ****
*

  Chapter 16

  Akamai’s Return

  For a moment, Nora was far too shocked to reply to Elly’s comments. Elly herself seemed embarrassed, as if she realized she’d blurted out far too much. She made a pattern in the sand with her foot, and tried to act nonchalant.

  “Anyway,” Elly said. “That was a long time ago, and no one cares about that, right? But my point is, Degas is a genuinely good guy, and it burns me up when people are mean to him for no reason. Just because he’s an outsider, they want to make up silly rumors about him.”

  “Elly, did you just admit that you were in love with Degas?” Nora asked gently. “You can talk about it if you want. I won’t tell anybody, I promise.”

  “There’s nothing to tell, really.” Elly said. “I…”

  They were interrupted as Tom the security man and Simone appeared. “Seen Tina around?” Simone asked. “I haven’t seen her or the professor since we came.”

  Nora shook her head. “Neither have I. Sorry.”

  “I actually think they got out of here early,” Elly said. “Tina was saying something about how she was uncomfortable, and the professor asked her if she’d come help him out with something at the zoo.”

  “Oh.” Nora nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “Yeah. I feel really out of place here too,” Simone said. “Like I’m intruding on the family’s privacy.”

  “Never mind that,” Tom said. “You’re here in the right spirit, and that’s what matters. You three were among the last people Haku talked to that night, weren’t you?”

  “Yes.” Nora said. “He showed us his tapes, Akamai getting attacked by the parrot Tutti Frutti.”

  Tom nodded. “Poor parrot. Poor Haku too.”

  “He loved you a lot,” Elly said. “He told me that you were one of the people to whom he owed a huge debt, that you helped him recover.”

  “It was nothing,” Tom said. “It’s what we do for our own people, isn’t it?”