The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “But he didn’t.”

  “No,” James said. “He just left.”

  Nora stared at him, not quite sure if she believed that. “Just left? He just punched you and left?”

  “I’ll be the first to admit I deserved that punch. But I swear with every fiber of my being that I did not kill May. I am not a murderer,” James said. “I don’t know why he left just like that.”

  “Me, either,” Nora considered. “But here’s another question - how did Tyler know? How did Tyler know what you'd said to May?”

  James shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “Let’s go back.” Nora frowned. “I’m missing something here. What time did you go over to their place?”

  “About 5:30. Maybe 5:45,” James said.

  “And where was May? What was she doing? Who else was in the house?”

  “Tyler was nowhere to be seen. May was working out, I think, because she was all sweaty. There was nobody else in the house,” James said.

  “Why didn’t you tell the police?” Nora asked.

  “I’m not an idiot,” James said. “I didn’t want to get arrested. Besides, what difference did it make if I saw her? I didn’t kill her.”

  “No? Then who did?” Nora asked. “You were in love with May. You confessed your feelings to her. She rejected you. And you hid that fact from everyone. Everyone.”

  “I told Natalie,” James said quietly. “I asked her what to do and she told me it would be best if I left it alone. She said anyone would do the same in my position.”

  “Nothing makes sense,” Nora said. “I believe you. I believe you, despite everything. But there’s something…something I’m missing. How did Tyler know what you told May? Where did he go when he left here?” Frustrated, Nora paced around the room. “There’s got to be something he said to you. Anything at all. Can’t you remember? Didn’t he say something about where he was going?”

  “I was a bit distracted considering he’d just punched me in the face and I was in fear for my life,” James pointed out. "He just stared down at me and said, 'She’s dead because of you. You should know that.' Then he stormed away."

  Nora stopped. She stared down at James.

  “After that, well, it became obvious what had happened. Tyler had heard me confess my love, misunderstood the situation, and killed Maybelle after I left. Probably in a fit of anger. In his rage, he blamed me for her death instead of himself,” James said. “Then, after punching me that night, he drove away and killed himself as punishment for what he’d done.”

  “That’s the explanation you came up with?” Nora asked. “If Tyler was angry enough to murder his wife, why didn’t he murder you, too? Why would he murder her in the first place if May had rejected you? No. That makes no sense.”

  “It’s the best explanation I could come up with,” James said.

  “No. It wasn’t Tyler. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Tyler confronted you and then went to confront the murderer, resulting in his death,” Nora said. “It’s all beginning to make sense now. There’s just one thing I don’t understand - how did Tyler know what you’d done? He wasn’t there!”

  “I don’t know. This is all too complicated.” James sat down. “I just need to take a deep breath and think things through.”

  Nora froze. She turned and stared at James. “What did you say?”

  “I said I need to take a deep breath and think things through.”

  “That’s exactly what I told Tyler the night he came to see us,” Nora said. “Take a deep breath. Those were the words I said before he ran out of the door. That was the final connecting link. Tyler understood right then.”

  James stared at Nora. “What? What?”

  “It’s not what she knew, it’s what she didn’t know,” Nora whispered. “Tyler said that to me before he left.”

  James stared at Nora quizzically. “Nothing makes sense. You’re just talking in circles.”

  Nora began pacing the floor again, holding her hands to her head.

  “Look, you need to give me an explanation, Nora,” James barked. “If Tyler didn’t kill May, then what did he mean when he said that May was dead because of me?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Nora stared at him.

  “No! Of course not! The only explanation I could come up with was that Tyler killed May in a jealous fit. Why else would May be dead because of me? What could I have done that caused someone to kill her?”

  “We know exactly what you did.” Nora stilled. “You confessed your love to May. That’s what Tyler meant. Your confession led the murderer to kill May.”

  “But why?” James pleaded.

  “Because, James. The murderer is in love with you. Has been in love with you for a very long time,” Nora said.

  *****

  Chapter 19

  Confessions

  James and Nora both pulled up to Brooke’s house half an hour later. Nora felt a tremor inside her heart at what she was about to do. An eerie feeling of deja vu descended upon her. Jessica’s sedan and Natalie’s convertible were parked outside Brooke’s house, just as they had been the day after Maybelle had been murdered. The charming craftsman house sat stolidly on the curb, it’s striped chimney puffing out smoke. Nora felt regret course through her - she’d be doing the right thing, but she’d be breaking friendships forever. She walked up to the door with its hand-painted sign and knocked three times. There was movement inside, and then an astonished Jess opened the door.

  “Nora? You again?” Jess looked from Nora to James. “And…James?”

  “Hi, Jess,” James managed.

  “Why are you here?” Brooke asked sharply from behind Jess.

  “Let them in, Jess,” Natalie said quietly from beside Brooke. “I think we can all guess why they’re here. Tyler’s death.”

  Nora walked in, studying the house. It looked messy and lived-in. Papers were strewn about, bags thrown under chairs and dishes on random tables. Clearly Brooke had been far too distraught to do much cleaning the past few days.

  Jess stood in the doorway, her eyes refusing to meet James. She finally shut the door quietly and turned around. Leaning her head back on the door, she asked Nora, “Why are you here now? More accusations?”

  “Something like that,” Nora said. “I’m here to tell you all who killed Maybelle and Tyler.”

  There was a gasp from around the room. Brooke let out a small cry and fell back on the sofa. “Don’t believe a word she says!” Brooke cried. “All she does is spin stories! She knows nothing.”

  “I know quite a lot, Brooke,” Nora said. “I know that you’re tough. Tough enough to scare even James into submission when he tried to throw your child off the team. Tough enough to undergo a medical procedure instead of bowing in to your husband and your in-laws’ pressure to have more children. Tough enough to stand toe-to-toe with May and not give in. Some feat, that, considering how stubborn May could be.”

  Brooke shrank away from Nora.

  “You told me you hated May,” Nora continued. “And I do believe that some part of you did. For a little while.”

  “It’s not true,” Brooke said. “She was my best friend.”

  “More than that.” Nora’s face softened. “You called her your sister. And I believe it.”

  Brooke relaxed. “You do?”

  “You loved her,” Nora said. “All of you did. But in your own way, you hated her, too - all three of you. She pushed you beyond your comfort zones, and that’s never pleasant.”

  “I didn’t hate her!” Jess exclaimed.

  “No?” Nora asked. “What can I say? You wrote it down in your diary. Plain as day, you said you hated her.”

  Jess trembled.

  “Any idea where that diary is now, Jess?” Nora asked.

  Jess looked scared. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. I looked all over for it when…when Maybelle died. But I couldn’t find it. I thought you stole it, Nora. I thought that’s how you knew.”

  “I didn’t steal it,
” Nora said. “Natalie did. Isn’t that right, Natalie?”

  Natalie was sitting on the armchair, her legs crossed. She had a cool smile on her face. “You should leave, Nora. Brooke’s already warned us about you. She said you’d say anything to try and get a confession. The truth is, Tyler killed Maybelle and then killed himself. End of story.”

  “Is that how you’re playing it, Natalie?” Nora smiled. “Or wasn’t your intention to anonymously forward Jessica’s diary to the sheriff eventually?”

  Jess stared at Natalie. “What?!”

  “Don’t listen to her, Jess,” Natalie said.

  “Oh, but you should listen to me, Jess,” Nora said. “Natalie’s no friend of yours. She’s your biggest enemy. I’m not sure when, exactly, she started hating you, but I’m sure the rage has been bubbling for a long time now. Probably ever since she first fell in love with James.”

  Natalie’s fists clenched. “Lies.”

  “May saw my daughter, Grace, a little while back, you know,” Nora said. “May told her that she wished people would move on from their high school obsessions. '...It’s hard to let go, but it has to be done. Especially if it’s obvious that you’re not a good match, you know what I mean? It’s the only way you can grow in life.' That’s what May said.”

  “That means nothing!” Natalie spat.

  “I thought at the time that she was talking about James’s obsession with May,” Nora said. “Only, May never thought that James was obsessed with her. She thought, rightfully, that he was just in denial about his feelings for Jess. But no. Right before May said that to Grace, she’d talked about how you needed to improve your taste in men. She even warned James more than once that you got all your ideas of romance from novels - not very healthy for an adult. May knew that you were fixated on James. May also knew that the two of you would never work out. Your personalities just weren’t a good match,” Nora said.

  Brooke was staring at Natalie now. “That’s true,” Brooke said slowly. “May told me more than once that she wished you’d move on from your high school crushes and start talking to men who you’d actually have a chance with in life. She just never mentioned that James was your crush.”

  “Loyal to the end,” Nora said. “May didn’t want Natalie’s secrets exposed. Sad, isn’t it? Natalie didn’t deserve such a good friend. All she cared about was herself.”

  Natalie’s lower lip trembled, but her sharp eyes remained fixed on Nora. Her shoulders were thrown back and her jaw jutted out. She remained silent, however.

  “I should have known when I saw you in the woods with James,” Nora said. “The whole thing felt fake. It felt like a game you were playing. But, I have to say, your acting was top notch. You played the damsel in distress, and appealed to James’s chivalry. You cast doubt on Jessica’s character, all the while pretending to be a loyal friend. What you wanted was for James to begin to suspect Jess - and it worked. From then on, he was unsure of her. What’s more, you took advantage of the moment to kiss him, and trap him into a relationship.”

  Natalie shook her head, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “None of that is true!” she said.

  “I never could find a motive for you to kill May,” Nora said. “Until James told me that he’d casually suggested dating you to May, only to have the idea shot down as ridiculous,” Nora said. “It was just May being herself, of course. Deciding on what was good for her friends and following through. In May’s mind, you two weren’t suited for each other. Only Jess and James were meant to be together. She saw a chemistry between them that she just didn’t see in you and James. How you must have hated her, Natalie. How you must have hated her for so casually crushing your dreams.”

  “Lies!” Natalie said again. But she couldn’t disguise the slight tremor that racked through her body.

  “Did you plot it from the start?” Nora asked. “Did you act sweet and concerned and ask me to investigate a so-called knitting feud, only so that I’d remain suspicious of Jess when May was murdered?”

  Natalie shook her head. “You’re making all of this up. You can’t prove a thing!”

  “Can’t I?” Nora asked. “You saw it as a breach of trust, didn’t you, Natalie? You, the ever loyal friend, felt like May had kicked you in the stomach when she told you that James would never be yours. She asked you to let go of your most cherished dream, and you decided you’d rather destroy her than destroy your dream. How many nights did you lie awake wondering why your best friend would tell you to let go of James, and then turn around and encourage him to chase Jess? How dare she do that to you? She didn’t deserve to live for being so callous.”

  Natalie was trembling.

  “Then, the final nail in May’s coffin - James confessed his own love to her, and May turned him down. May wielded her magic tongue and convinced him it was Jess that he loved all along, and betrayal hit you all over again. If she could convince James of anything, why couldn’t she convince him he loved you? Why, after all your years of loyalty, was she giving the prize away to Jess?”

  Natalie clenched her jaw, the muscles in her neck straining as she stopped herself from nodding yes. Nora could see from the glitter in her eyes that she’d hit on the chink in her armor.

  “So you killed her,” Nora said. “You were smart about it, too. You wanted everyone to suspect Tyler at first so that, when you planted Jessica’s stolen diary, people would turn on her. You made a disguised phone call to the cops that you knew the sheriff would ignore at first, and then wonder about later. Who was the mysterious woman caller who tipped them off? You wanted the police to think that Jess was trying to frame Tyler. Because, of course, you knew that Jess had the ideal motive - she had May’s money.”

  Natalie only smiled, the smile of a piranha. “Big talk, no evidence,” she said.

  “Do I really need evidence?” Nora asked gently. “I’ve done my damage, haven’t I? James believes me. So do Jess and Brooke. Even if you never end up behind bars, they’d never see you the same way again.”

  Natalie’s gaze leapt to James. James looked away from her in disgust. She jumped up and reached out to him.

  “James, she’s trying to trap me. Don’t believe her,” Natalie said desperately. “I was May’s most loyal friend. I could never have hurt her. Never!”

  “Loyal? Don’t make me laugh. You don’t know the meaning of friendship, Natalie,” Nora said. “May was flawed, but she only ever wanted the best for you three. She was your biggest champion. She wanted you all to bloom. She worried and thought about how best to help you three. Jess and Brooke may have fought with May, but they loved her, too. Even when they hated her, they still loved her. But you, Natalie? You only cared about yourself.”

  “Just stop talking!” Natalie screamed. “How do you explain Tyler? He killed himself, didn’t he?”

  “You killed him,” Nora said. “But it was too late. By following Tyler’s tracks, I figured it all out. See, Tyler was the one who first realized that you’d killed May.”

  “How?” Jessica asked quietly. “How did Tyler realize that?”

  “May must have told Tyler all about Natalie’s crush on James,” Nora explained. “She told him everything, even if he didn’t always pay attention. When he came to see me the night he disappeared, Tyler was distraught. He had all the puzzle pieces in his mind, but they were in a jumble. I told him to take a deep breath, and something suddenly clicked together for him.” Nora smiled. “Something that Brooke first told me about.”

  “Me?” Brooke looked startled.

  “You.” Nora nodded. “You told me that May often posted videos of herself doing yoga poses on the internet.”

  Brooke’s eyes widened. “She was in her yoga gear when she died. Oh, my goodness.”

  Nora nodded. “Exactly. Asking Tyler to take a deep breath reminded him of May’s yoga videos. He rushed to the house to grab the video camera. That was what you saw, Jess. You saw him run out of the house with the video camera in his hand.”

  “But wo
uldn’t the police have had that already?” James asked, confused. “I mean, they searched the house pretty thoroughly.”

  He turned to Nora but, for the first time, Nora didn’t have an answer. It was a question she’d asked herself and hoped to skip over while she got a confession out of Natalie.

  “No,” Brooke said quietly. “The police never saw it. It was too well disguised.”

  “What do you mean?” James asked.

  “May was like all of us - she liked her interiors to be cool and fun, and wanted a camera that was as unobtrusive as possible. I remember last year she bought a small camera that fit into the palm of your hand, and she set it up near the TV.

  “Well, surely the police would have seen that.”

  “They wouldn’t,” Brooke said. “Because she knitted a camera case. Remember that? It was one of her projects at the knitting club. A black and red plush toy gnome that can perfectly conceal the camera inside it. She set it up leaning against the TV in her living room. It was perfect for recording her yoga moves and, after all, no guest who comes into their living room wants a big camera pointed in their face. She loved that little thing. I’d forgotten about it totally.”

  “So had I!” Jess exclaimed. She stood up, glaring at Natalie. Brooke moved to stand by her.

  “Yes, and so had Tyler,” Nora said. “And, of course, so had Natalie. She had no idea the camera was running. It wasn’t what she knew, it was what she didn’t know.”

  “She didn’t forget,” Jess said, her voice hard. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Natalie actually didn’t know. After all, she was away for two weeks at a conference when May bought that contraption and knitted the toy.”

  “Unlucky for her.” Brooke’s voice was dripping acid.

  “But…but why didn’t Tyler go to the police?” James asked in frustration. “He could have had her arrested right then and there! Why was he so stupid?”

  “Tyler watched you confess to May, he watched Natalie murder May,” Nora said. “I don’t think his head was on straight after that. He just wanted revenge. And he got his first bit of it by punching you in the face, James. Then, he headed to Natalie’s house, intending to kill her.”