"A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library (11 page)

“It’s quite beautiful,” Tina said to May. “I know Selena would have appreciated it.”

“Grant would too,” May said, her voice soft. “Poor man.”

“He’ll recover,” Tina said. “He’s sure to.”

“It’s not guaranteed,” May said. She shook her head. “Maybe I’m just pessimistic. This is a horrible turn of events.”

“Is anyone… guarding him?” Tina asked. “I mean, the sheriff or a deputy? He’s just had an attempt made on his life, after all.”

“Well, I’m quite sure no one will attempt anything at the hospital,” May said dismissively.

As Nora appeared, May clasped her hands. “You poor thing,” she said. “That cruel man must be caught as fast as possible! I’ve asked Sean to use every resource he needs. He has my support and Brent’s.”

“This is a beautiful remembrance of Selena,” Nora said politely.

“Grant was planning to select a passage from one of her books,” May said sadly. “I know he won’t be able to now. I’m really busy, but I suppose I’ll do it. Her headstone at the cemetery hasn’t been engraved yet, and Sam thought it’s a wonderful idea to use her own words.”

“Oh, I don’t mind doing it if you’re very busy, May,” Nora protested. “I’d love to help.”

“That’s all right,” May said. “You’ve just come out of the hospital, I couldn’t possibly ask you to.”

“It’s all right,” Tina said. “You’ll be doing me and Sam a favor, Nora. Honestly, May, I think I’d prefer Nora to do it. You’ve done plenty just setting this memorial up for us. As for me and Sam, we honestly don’t have the energy right now. We’ve decided to put her house on sale as fast as possible.”

“So her will… there were no problems there?” Nora asked.

“Sam is her nearest kin. She had no will, so it’s pretty clear that it’s all his now,” Tina said. “It’s a headache, really. Estate management’s no joke. Plus the memories… I don’t think Sam’s fit enough to be looking through all her things. Nora, it’d be a big relief to me if you did.”

Nora nodded. “Of course I will,” she said. “Tomorrow, then?”

“Whenever you’re better, of course,” Tina said.

“All right,” May said grudgingly, handing over the keys to Nora. “Here. Tina gave these to me and Grant, but I suppose you’ll want them now.”

Near the fountain, the high school band began a wonderful rendition of Motts’
Gently to the Night
. As one, the crowd gathered around fell silent. Slowly, one voice among the many began singing, and for a few seconds, it was alone. Then, one by one, other voices began joining in, until, at the chorus, the entire crowd was chanting,

And even when you’re gone,

This door is open still,

The night will stay till dawn,

And love you dear, I will
 

Lighters and cellphones were raised into the air, and for minutes, the crowd sang. Then, slowly, breaking off into smaller groups, the crowd began to disperse.

Sam and Tina, along with Harvey and Nora were the last couples to leave. Nora noticed Sam discreetly palming a pill somewhere in the early stages of the memorial. By the end, he looked as if he were sleepwalking. Tina was supporting him, looking fairly frail herself.

“Do you need a ride home?” Harvey asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Tina said. “All I want is for Sam to get some rest. I feel like between the funeral, the memorial, and Robert being revealed for who he is, Sam has got some sense of closure. Now all we need to do is begin going about our normal lives.”

“Grief takes time to process,” Nora said. “Especially when it’s the shocking death of a sibling.”

“I’ll give Sam all the time he needs,” Tina said, brushing a tear from her eye. “I’d much rather he express all his grief than lock it away, hidden.”

They parted ways, Harvey and Nora waving as Tina’s Chevy roared off into the night. It was just the two of them now, standing in a sea of flowers and candles, hands linked.

Harvey looked back at the blown up photo of Selena. It was in black and white, not showing her neon hair. In the photo, she looked dignified, speaking from a lectern at some university.

“May’s idea of Selena’s personality,” Harvey said. He laughed. “I think Selena herself would have loved a color photo of hers, maybe in a punk rock T-shirt with a rebellious look on her face.” From his own coat pocket, he now took out a single white rose, and lay it near the photo.

“Goodbye, Selena, and good luck in the next world.”

“You met her,” Nora said. “She interviewed you a little while back, didn’t she? We were talking about it at dinner with the mayor.”

Harvey sighed. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you just forget it? Oh, who am I kidding. I knew you wouldn’t forget it. Even if you did have a blow shaking your brains about a bit.”

Undeterred, Nora asked again, “Why didn’t you tell me, Harvey?”

“Because I don’t tell you every single detail about my life, alright, Nora?” Harvey snapped. “Just the way you don’t share much about when you’re in a mood to investigate.”

“If you asked me something, I’d share it with you,” Nora said.

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to ask when I don’t know what to ask,” Harvey retorted. “Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you she interviewed me, but you can ask me what you like now.”

“What was it about?” Nora said.

“Not so fast,” Harvey said. “If I’m going to be interrogated, I demand the right to interrogate you back. All right? Let’s trade a question for a question.”

Nora nodded. “Sounds fair.”

“Lovely.” Harvey cracked his knuckles. “Ok. Round 1. Ladies first.”

“What did she interview you about?”

“I own a real estate firm, what do you think she interviewed me about? I told you already. She was interested in some of my property,” Harvey said. “I thought she might be interested in investing, and told her the details. I also gave her options that I thought were cheaper and would fit her budget, though she was very fixed on this particular property.”

“Which one?”

“The one I met you in that day,” Harvey said. “The place with the yellow gate.”

“Why were you there?”

“Hold it,” Harvey said. “Now that’s two questions you’ve asked me. I’m asking one back.”

Nora puffed her face impatiently, but when he looked stubborn, she said, “All right. Ask.”

“Why are you investigating Selena’s death?”

Nora shrugged. “At first, it was because I cared for Tina, because I was there to witness her fight with Robert, and because I was curious. Now, it’s become a little more personal. The assailant tried to murder me. I got lucky that you rushed in, and even luckier that he didn’t also try to attack you.”

“The only reason he didn’t attack me was because I was smart and ran right out of there with you,” Harvey said. “I didn’t even call the police till I was already at the hospital. I wasn’t going to stick around and fight with a lunatic in the dark, even if I did feel like murdering him myself.”

“I didn’t thank you for that, did I?” Nora said. “For saving my life.”

“Forget it,” Harvey said. “I’m just glad you didn’t think of me as a suspect because I was there.”

There was a pause, and Harvey inhaled sharply as he saw the look on Nora’s face.

“You did,” he said, and his voice grew very soft. “It crossed your mind that I might be lying.”

“Harvey--”

“Did you seriously think, even for a second, that I murdered her, or that I attacked you and Grant and somehow made Robert disappear?” Harvey asked. “Did you think that even though you know Sean’s currently organizing a massive hunt for Robert and that he’s most likely the killer?”

“It’s not just intuition that tells me he’s the killer,” Nora said. “Robert is an incredibly smart, well travelled man. He’s also written several crime novels. Would a man like that commit murders that were, well,
sloppy?
”

“Sloppy?” Harvey laughed. “So, you think Robert couldn’t do it, but that
I’m
sloppy enough to commit these crimes?”

“Harvey, I never thought you committed Selena’s murder,” Nora said. “Not for a second.”

“Now, why do I feel like you’re lying?” he scoffed.

“I didn’t,” Nora said. “I don’t believe you’re a murderer. I just thought, and still think, that you’re hiding something about Selena from me.”

“So what, you believe I didn’t kill Selena but there’s a chance I decided to follow you, bump off Robert and Grant, and pretend to rescue you?” Harvey looked disgusted.
 

“No!” Nora caught his jacket and pulled him towards her. “Harvey, I meant it when I said I love you. I do. But I feel like I don’t really know everything about you. There’s dark pockets in your soul that I have to feel my way around.”

“Here’s a hint, Nora. If there’s anything you want to know about me,
ask
, and then do me the favor of believing what I say.”

“All right,” Nora said. “What’s so special about that property with the yellow gate?”

Harvey’s lips pressed together, and his face changed, became a little more closed. When a few seconds passed without his answer, Nora said, “See what I mean?”

“No. I’ll answer you,” Harvey said. “The property with the yellow gate belonged to the town of Milburn. I bought a portion of it, and the reason I was at the property the other day is because I’d arranged a meeting with investors from nearby towns who might be interested in chipping in to buy the rest. I believe that the property is prime land to create a resort on. I was picturing something really fancy that would attract corporate getaways and the uber rich. Maybe a spa.”

“Why would Selena be interested in a place like that?”

Harvey hesitated, then said, “She believed that the property might indirectly be hers. I told her there was no way it could be.”

“She believed that?”

“JJ Wallis, you remember him?”

“Yes.” Of course she did, he was the deputy who’d been murdered a year ago. Nora had helped catch his killer.
 

“He had an aunt, Maude.”

“Her name sounds familiar.” Nora scrunched her nose. “I feel like there’s a story I heard about her last year.”

“Well, Maude’s husband owned that property, and Selena’ biological father was his brother. Selena thought the land might thus be hers as she was the only surviving descendent. I told her the property had been foreclosed and reverted back to government ownership, so there was no question of it being hers,” Harvey said. “All right?”

“I don’t know,” Nora said. “Is it all right?”

She gave him a long look, and Harvey spluttered out, “Fine, Nora, I was ruder to her than I should have been. That property means a great deal to me. Making that resort will be the difference between me being a multimillionaire or me having barely enough money to fund operations for a year or two more. Happy? I was rough on her. She was threatening to call a lawyer, and I told her that I could make life in this town unbearable if she did. It was an ugly meeting that I’m not very proud of, now that she’s been killed. But I had no way of knowing she
would
be killed. All right? I didn’t… I had nothing to do with her death.”

“No,” Nora said. “Maybe you didn’t. But you had suspicions, didn’t you? You had suspicions that her death might be linked to this somehow.”

Harvey couldn’t look her in the eye. With a heavy sigh, he said, “Maybe I did.”

*****

Chapter 15

Nora spent the next day relatively peacefully. Thoughts about Selena, the murder, Grant all crowded in her head, but Nora’s body seemed to have had a breakdown. By the time she woke up, it was already noon, and Mrs. Mullally, who had been terribly worried about Nora’s condition, had already prepared a fantastic brunch for her.

They sat on the island in the kitchen, each sipping fresh orange juice, while Maynard the golden retriever/lab mix sat thumping his tail below them.

“Maynard was just as anxious as I was,” Mrs. Mullally said. “What you need, Nora, is a day where you don’t think about this terrible business at all. In fact, you need a life where you don’t think about these things at all.”

Nora shrugged. “They seem to fall in my lap, though.”

“Pshht. You actively pursue them,” Mrs. Mullally said. “What was Harvey thinking, allowing you to go off to the library like that? I gave him a good telling off while you were unconscious.”

“Mrs. Mullally!” Nora protested. “That’s really unfair! I made the decision myself. This isn’t the 18th century, after all.”

“Well, you have all the sense of a ten year old, then,” Mrs. Mullally said.

“Poor Harvey. Did you really tell him off? He didn’t deserve that.”

“Well, I was gentle,” Mrs. Mullally said. “I’m sure it didn’t do permanent damage. Maybe you should call him over for dinner some night, and we can cook him a fantastic meal together.”

“Maybe not,” Nora said.

Mrs. Mullally’s sharp eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. Things are funny between me and Harvey right now.”

“Funny? Has he proposed to you, then? Did you reject him?”