The Milburn Big Box Set
Page 113
Nora hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “I only know that there’s a chance she did it.”
“Why?” Sean asked. “What’s her motive?”
“The stolen collection money,” Nora said.
“From the ladies’ club?” Sean asked. “I thought Lucy stole that. She’s the only one who had a key.”
“Not quite,” Nora said. “Anna Hanes could have stolen it, as well. Or perhaps Claudia James.”
“How?” Sean asked. “The key...”
“Well, Anna and Mrs. Strathclyde were back from Colorado on Sunday night and the money wasn’t counted until monday morning,” Nora explained. So Anna’s alibi isn’t perfect. She might have stolen that money to frame Lucy and get the presidency of the club. That’s one scenario.”
“What’s the other scenario?”
“Claudia James had the keys to Anna’s house that weekend. Mrs. Strathclyde mentioned that Claudia was going to water Anna’s plants while they were away on the road trip. If Anna left the key to the collection box in her house, Claudia might have “borrowed” it,and stolen that money.”
“Wow,” Sean said.
“Exactly. Perhaps Anna initially thought Lucy did it, but then later guessed that it was, in fact, Claudia who stole that money,” Nora said. “Perhaps Claudia killed her for it.”
“Why would someone as rich as Claudia even need to steal money!” Sean exclaimed.
“Well, what we call “rich” is relative. Claudia has a husband, who would probably notice if a large amount of money went missing. Perhaps she stole from the collection box so that she’d have ready cash with which to buy marijuana. It’s strange, though. I’d never have pegged her for a drug user.”
“You’d be surprised, Nora.”
“What do you mean? Milburn isn’t that sort of place!” Nora exclaimed.
“Drugs are everywhere these days. At least marijuana isn’t a ‘hard’ drug like heroin or cocaine. But it’s still quite illegal here in Wyoming, and sometimes it can be a sign of a bigger problem,” Sean said.
“Are you going to arrest her?” Nora asked.
“Claudia?” Sean scoffed. “With what? Those crumbs weren’t gathered by a policeman. They aren’t near proof enough. Besides, everything you’ve laid out is speculation. But it’s useful information all the same. I’ve known for a while that there’s a drug ring in this town. I’m close to cracking down on the kingpin now. If Claudia can tell me who dealt this weed to her, I’ll be a happy man.”
Nora paled. “A drug ring in our Milburn?!”
“Don’t worry, it won’t last long,” Sean said.
“Could you, at least, tell me who’s running it?” Nora asked.
Sean sighed and said, “Only if you promise not to go near him.”
Nora hesitated, then seeing that Sean was serious, she conceded. “Fine. Tell me.”
“Jerry Anthony,” Sean said. “I don’t think you know him. At least, I hope you don’t. He owns a seedy dive bar near the lake. The Three Sisters, it’s called.”
“I know it,” Nora said with a frown. “I think Harvey interrogated him once. When you’d put me in jail, as a matter of fact.”
Sean rubbed the back of his neck in embarassment. “Well, whatever it is, stay clear of Anthony. He’s a dangerous man, with three unproven murder charges lingering around him.”
Nora nodded. “Understood.”
“Good. Meanwhile, I’ll ask Claudia some tough questions, both about the murder and the drugs. When I took her in for questioning initially, I had a feeling she knew more than she was telling me. She seemed almost excited to be on the witness stand. There was a weird sort of light in her eyes. Yes, Claudia James had better talk now, or I’ll rain down trouble on her.”
“Can I come with you?” Nora asked.
“Not a chance,” Sean said.
“Alright. Sean, is there a chance that the same people who run the drug ring could have killed Mrs. Hanes? I mean… if she got tangled up in something without realizing it...”
Sean’s brows drew together. “It’s a possibility.”
“Have you been able to answer why Anna went to the car at midnight?” Nora asked. “Or why she peeked through Lucy Dobbs’ window first?”
Sean shook his head. “No, but I’ve got a feeling Claudia might know something about it.”
“Do you really think she’ll talk?” Nora asked.
Sean hitched his thumbs through his belt loops and gave her a measuring glance. “Nora, I know I keep telling you to stay out of these things. One of these days, you’re going to start listening to me.”
Nora grinned. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“It’s a ‘no comment’ or a ‘I refuse to divulge police business to a citizen’,” Sean grinned back. “You’ve done your part, now let Milburn’s best handle the rest.”
Nora waved goodbye but she wasn’t very satisfied. The pieces didn’t quite fit right. Why had Anna Hanes acted so strangely that night? Clearing her mind, Nora tried to think of Anna’s behavior on bingo night. First, Anna had refused to give Lucy the car she’d rightfully won. Then, when Norman won it, Anna had refused to give it to him, either. Why? What had she been thinking? Why had she woken in the middle of the night and stared into Lucy’s window? Why had she gone to examine the car late that night?
Nora had no answers.
*****
Chapter 9
The Raincoat
Before she could answer any of those questions, however, there was one thing Nora sorely wanted to know- had Lucy Dobbs imagined the yellow raincoat? She thought not. Claudia had implied she might have seen a flash of it, too. She’d tossed around all night, trying to come up with a suitable theory that tied in all the details of the case together. However, there were too many loose ends, and too few concrete facts. Nora wondered if this would be the one case that she couldn’t crack. She was convinced that Lucy Dobbs was innocent, but what if she couldn’t prove it? Finally, sick of the thoughts crowding her brain, she’d called Lucy Dobbs and asked her to come back to the square where the murder had occurred.
“Why did you call me back to this horrible place?” Lucy Dobbs asked as they stood in front of the hall. The police cordon was still up, although the car and Mrs. Hanes’ body had both been removed.
“I’m sure Nora has her reasons,” May Almand said. “Isn’t that right, Nora?”
“More of an intuition,” Nora said with a sigh.
“I heard Sean took Claudia James in for questioning,” May said. “Did you have something to do with that?”
Nora didn’t answer. Changing the topic, she said, “So, could you show us exactly where you were standing that night, Mrs. Dobbs? When you saw the person in the raincoat?”
“Sure,” Lucy Dobbs nodded. She moved to a spot in front of the cordon, and said, “Well, I was two or three steps within the lines, but this is the right place.”
Nora nodded and moved beside her. She looked outwards, scanning the roads. From the large square where they stood, there were six different roads visible. Behind them was Claudia James’ house, and to their left was the catholic church. The hall was straight ahead, but the road next to it was a dead end.
“Where did he or she run off to?” Nora asked.
Lucy Dobbs pointed to the church. “The lane next to the church,” she said. “I’m very sure that’s where they went.”
Nora nodded. That particular lane, she knew, led directly to the cemetery. A shiver went up her spine. “Alright, let’s go” she said, heading towards it.
“Do you think we’ll find a clue?” May jogged forward a little to keep up with Nora’s brisk pace. “Perhaps the murderer dropped something, or… I don’t know… left the raincoat behind?”
“I doubt it,” Nora said. “Then again, we might get lucky.”
But there was nothing in the cemetery, although all three women looked very carefully. Nora even rooted about in the dumpster at the end of the road, to no avail.
“It’s no use,” Lucy said, sounding sad. “Even if they’d left something behind, the murderer had enough time to come get it.”
“Wait!” Nora cried out. Bending down, she pointed to a flowerbed near the entrance of the cemetery that had been trampled on.
“What does that prove?” May asked, a little disappointed.
“Imagine this, I’m on the run from a murder I’ve just committed, I instinctively dive into a lane. That lane leads to this cemetery,” Nora proposed. “Now remember, this happened near midnight. The cemetery was clearly locked!”
“So, whoever ran in here, had to have climbed the wall to get in!” May exclaimed. “You’re a genius, Nora!”
“Not just that,” Nora said. She looked around outside the cemetery. “This is the most convenient spot from which to climb. If you use this nearby tree as a foothold, you can easily scale the wall. And you’d land right here in the flowerbed.”
“We have to tell Sean!” May exclaimed. “This is brilliant, Nora!”
“I’ll call him,” Nora said. “But… I’m not completely sure of my own theory. After all, it could just be teenage boys having fun or some other person who accidentally trampled the flowerbed.”
“Nonsense. It’s a perfectly valid theory,” May said.
“No. She’s right.” Lucy Dobbs was pessimistic. “It’s just a shoeprint in a flowerbed. It proves nothing. It isn’t even fresh anymore.”
Nora squatted down and took a photo of the print. It was large and probably belonged to a sneaker of some kind. “Not what I expected,” she mumbled.
“What do you mean?” May asked.
“It’s just that…” She shook her head. “Look, Anna Hanes was murdered, there’s no doubt about that. But there are three things that strike me as odd.”
“Go on.”
“First of all, if - and it’s a big if - whoever made this bootprint was her killer, then all my theories are wrong. This bootprint belongs to a man, and probably a young one at that, because scaling that wall wouldn’t be easy for most women.”
“What’s the second thing?”
“A clear suspect,” Nora said. “Anna Hanes was mean, but she lived a fairly clean life centered around the ladies’ club. I still cannot find a motive for someone wanting to kill her. Especially now, when there are signs a young man might have done it.” Nora shook her head, trying to clear it. “This bootprint might just be a red herring. I’m just not sure.”
“Leave that aside for now,” May Almand said. “What’s the third thing puzzling you?”
Nora sighed. “It’s silly but… it’s the murder weapon.”
“The knife?” May Almand asked.
Nora nodded. “Yes. Anna Hanes was stabbed in the back, is that correct?”
Lucy Dobbs nodded. “Horrible.”
“Well, the knife was a simple kitchen knife, was it not?”
Lucy nodded again. “Yes. A chef’s knife, with a black pommel.”
“Well, think about it,” Nora said. “Was there anything distinctive about it? The knife, that is?”
Lucy rubbed a finger against her chin. “Well, no. Nothing distinctive about it. It was a good quality knife. You could tell because it was heavy, not that I was thinking about the quality of the knife when I pulled it out of her back but, I mean…” She stuttered a bit, and paused. Nora reassured her.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Dobbs, we won’t judge you.”
“Thank you,” she said. “It was the type of knife you’d see in any good kitchen, really. Unremarkable.”
“That’s what’s remarkable about it,” Nora said. “If the murderer was a man, how did he conceal the knife in the first place? It’s not like Anna Hanes would have cheerfully turned her back on him if he’d been waving it around. A chef’s knife is large, and not so easy to keep concealed. Unless you carry a purse, that is.”
May Almand’s eyes widened. “So it had to be a woman who killed Anna Hanes?”
“If we consider that point, it makes the most sense,” Nora said. “But it was most likely a man who scaled this cemetery wall. There’s also the question of why. Why was the murderer carrying a chef’s knife around? It’s a smart murder weapon if you’re inside a house. But in the middle of a huge square? A gun or a rock or a club would have been far easier to tote around. Why carry an unwieldy knife, fish it out of your purse and stab Anna Hanes? And why did Anna have her back turned in the first place?”
Mrs. Dobbs and May Almand both stared at Nora, as if expecting her to answer the question. Nora, however, was defeated. She slumped against the wall, sighing. “There’s something I’m missing here,” she said.
“Claudia is younger than us, and quite fit,” Lucy Dobbs pointed out. “Couldn’t she have scaled the wall? Perhaps that’s her footprint.”
“No. Claudia wouldn’t be able to run at all,” May Almand said. “She has terrible arthritis in her knees, remember? Anna and Claudia would both complain about it every chance they got.”
“Anna Hanes had arthritis too?” Nora asked.
May nodded. “She loved to complain of it. She had weird theories, too. When she went to Colorado, she said that the sidewalks there had ruined her legs, because she had a much harder time getting out of Mrs. Strathclyde’s car afterwards.”
Nora’s eyes widened. “What? What do you mean?”
“She said that she’d hopped out of the car like a sprightly young thing on Friday but, by the time she returned on Sunday, she had to painfully pull herself upright,” May said. “I mean, it’s irrelevant, really-”
“No. It’s not irrelevant!” Nora exclaimed. “It’s not irrelevant at all, May! I believe you’ve done it! Come on, we have to go immediately! Sean needs to know something.”
*****
Chapter 10
Burning Bright
The clock upon the tower struck midnight with a loud clang. Milburn was asleep. A dark figure crept through backstreets until it stopped at a large wire fence. Effortlessly, the figure cut a hole through the fence and wiggled inside forbidden territory. The figure put a hand inside the ski mask over their head, and briefly adjusted it. Then, moving quickly, the figure stole towards a bright red car parked all by itself in one corner of the parking lot. Taking a can of gasoline out of the knapsack, the figure moved quickly, drenching the car.
Lights came on, and a voice in a loudspeaker cried out, “Freeze!”
Instinctively, the figure whirled around and tried to run, only to be tackled by Sean. There was a brief struggle before Sean had the man handcuffed. He pulled off his hood.
“Well, well, well,” Sean said with a satisfied smile. “Norman Carter. Who would have thought?”
“Let me go!” Norman exclaimed, wriggling this way and that.
“Not a chance, buddy. You have the right to remain silent...” Sean recited the Miranda as he roughly bought Norman to his feet, then pushed him inside the Sheriff’s office, adjacent to the lot Norman had just broken into.
“I want a lawyer!” Norman demanded. “I need a lawyer!”
“Oh, you really do need a lawyer,” Sean agreed. “But even he’ll tell you the same thing I will - life will be much easier for you, Norm, if you cooperate and confess everything.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Norman exclaimed. “I’m innocent! I swear it!”
“Sure.” Sean shoved him into a seat. The interrogation room was sparsely furnished with just a metal folding table, two chairs and a giant mirror on one wall.
Norman looked up and said, “How did you know? I mean, how did you know I’d try and break in today? Did someone set me up?”
Sean shrugged.
From behind the mirrored wall, Nora watched with satisfaction as the sheriff interrogated Norman. Earlier that day, Nora had warned Sean that someone might try and set fire to the Chevy. He had immediately taken the necessary precautions. He had been very reluctant to let the three women stay and watch what happened, but he’d finally been broken down by their chorus of pleas.
Sean had nodded but, even then, he’d known that Nora was rarely wrong about these kind of things.
“How did you know?” Lucy asked Nora. “When did you know?”
Nora gave an enigmatic smile. “I pieced it together slowly but, once I had, I couldn’t believe what a fool I’d been.”
“Meaning?”
“It all starts and ends with Anna Hanes and her behavior on Bingo Night,” Nora said. “First, she refused to give you the car. Then, later that night, she refused to give Norman the car, either.”
Lucy nodded, “Why?”
“Well, here’s the thing,” Nora said, “I thought it was mean of Anna Hanes to refuse to give you your winnings for such a silly technical reason. I was the fool, however. It was never Anna Hanes’ idea to refuse you. I’d seen it with my own eyes, but never bothered to think about it. Mrs. Strathclyde was the one who whispered to Anna that you technically shouldn’t have the car. She counted on Anna’s spite towards you and. sure enough, Anna refused you.”
“Mrs. Strathclyde?” Lucy’s eyes grew big. “Do you mean she’s involved?”
“Involved? Mrs. Strathclyde is the one who murdered Anna Hanes,” Nora said.
“It can’t be!” Lucy cried. “Not her!”
“Yes, her,” Nora said. “She planned it all right from the beginning. But bad luck kept waylaying the best of her plans.”
“How so?”
“Bingo night was a farce right from the beginning,” Nora explained. “I suspect that Norman was given a pre-made ticket and that Mrs. Strathclyde had rigged the setup somehow. Norman was to be the winner. Except, lady luck intervened and you, Mrs. Dobbs, ended up having an even better ticket than that cheater, Norman!”
Lucy’s eyes widened.
“Mrs. Strathclyde must have been horrified when you won. But she thought fast. She whispered to Anna that, as you had previously been on the organizing committee, surely you should not be allowed to participate in Bingo Night. Anna happily agreed. She took your rightful prize away from you and a painful scene followed.”