There was a ringing silence in the room. Mrs. Mullally looked down into her tea cup, suddenly interested in the contents.
“I’ve got one word for you,” Nora said. “No.”
“Oh sure,” Tina laughed. “I told you Raquel and I were close, Nora. She was my best friend too though I know you two were closer. Still, you were away for the last ten years, and I was the one who met Raquel every day. I knew the two of you were as close as sisters. You haven’t gotten over it yet, and that’s why you won’t accept help.”
“I don’t want pity,” Nora said, her words suddenly a scream. “Can’t you and Harvey ever understand that? I don’t want my dream diner opened because people gave me money out of pity. Oh, poor Nora, lost her parents, then lost her best friend. I want to do it on my own. I had bad luck, yes, but someday, I will open the Madness Diner, or maybe I’ll just call it Raquel’s this time. When I open the diner, Tina, and I promise you I will one day, it won’t be because a rich girl who felt bad for me opened up her purse strings on a whim. It won’t be because my rich boyfriend decided he’d “loan” me the money. To do that would be betraying Raquel and all the hard work she’d put into our dream. To do that would be spitting on her legacy.”
Tina stared at Nora with tears in her eyes. “Do you really think that little of me and Harvey?” she asked. “Actually, I don’t care what you think of Harvey. Do you really think so little of me?”
Nora’s phone began buzzing, next to her. There was a moment of silence, as Tina’s question floated in the air, unanswered, and then, Nora said in a slightly cracked voice, “I have to go now. I needed to meet--”
“No need,” Tina said, putting her hand up. “I give up, Nora. Go chase your suspects. I’m out of here.”
*****
Chapter 19
“Here,” Sean said, turning the car into a small alley that was packed with cars. People dressed in black were crowded around one house, talking in small groups and occasionally dabbing at their eyes with handkerchiefs.
“The town’s here and many besides,” Sean said. “Wallis was a popular man, with a lot of friends. Funny thing is, he didn’t have much of a family.”
“Who took charge of the funeral arrangements then?” Nora asked.
“His wife, Karen. Well, Ex-wife, sort of. The two of them were separated, no thanks to Wallis and his rock star ways,” Sean said. “Still, she’s very upset.”
Karen was a pointy-chinned woman with deep chestnut hair that looked painted on, as it rested on her dark grey and black dress. Her eyes looked puffed and red, but she had a brave smile on as she greeted each person in the line. Sean and Nora handed her some flowers and paid their respects to the body.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Nora said. What must she be feeling? Nora wondered, her eyes resting on the widow’s face. In a few months, she would have been a divorcee, but once, she must have loved the man who now lay still in the casket. Was she regretting the words she’d said to him, regretting leaving him? Or was she glad, secretly, that there would be no messy procedure? No division of assets?
Karen nodded, poker faced, and gave Sean a frigid glance.
The wake was filled with whispers. Dean Elbert stood with five rough men around him, looking obviously nervous as they pressed him for details about the investigation. In another corner, Nora saw the Detectives Jason and Rudy talking amongst themselves with a glass of beer in each hand. Casually, she wandered nearby, pretending to be interested in the cold meats.
“You really think so?” Jason was saying.
“We’re fairly sure,” Rudy said in a whisper. “I got a call confirming it not five minutes ago. He’d hired Doctor Gerard Hansen just last month.”
“Ok. Let’s discuss this later,” Jason said, giving Nora a look filled with suspicion. “Never know who’s listening, right, Nora?” he said, in a louder voice.
“Sorry?” Nora asked, turning around. “I didn’t hear what you just said?”
“Oh, funny.” Jason smiled. “Look, about Ricky. Don’t worry too much. We’ve got word that he might be trying to escape the county and head back to his hometown in Nebraska. A cop last night saw someone matching his description in a red pick-up truck, but the boy had a legitimate ID. Rudy and I think Ricky was using fake ID in his job here and used his real ID to escape. We’ll get him and bring him in for questioning sooner or later, though, don’t you worry.”
Nora felt a load lift from her heart. “Thanks, Jason,” she said, “And I’m sorry if I was a little--”
“Rude? Judgmental?” Jason laughed and waved it off. “Life’s too short to hold a grudge, right, Rudy?”
“Sometimes life’s too short because people hold a grudge,” Rudy said. “You know what I’m saying?”
“I hear you.” Jason smiled and took another sip. “You’ll want to watch out for Sean, Nora. There’s a section of people here who aren’t too fond of him right now.”
“Like anyone who was friends with Wallis and trying to get him elected,” Rudy said.
Nora nodded. “I’ll go see where he is,” she said.
“You do that.” Rudy raised his glass to her.
Surprisingly, Sean seemed to have vanished. Nora wandered from one room to another, lost in a sea of black suits and dresses, but he was nowhere to be found.
Finally, she climbed the stairs to the upper levels and was about to pass into a room when she stopped. From inside one of the closed doors, she could hear a faint conversation. It was barely above a whisper, but once she concentrated, she heard the words quite clearly.
“I had to get away,” a woman’s voice said. “It was too much, downstairs. God, it was the same when I lived here. Day and night, there was always someone in the house. Wallis was never happy unless he was surrounded by his courtiers.”
“He was the kind of man who blooms when given attention,” another voice said, this one so low that Nora could barely make it out.
“Oh, I’ve missed you,” the woman said, a little bit louder. “Take me into your arms, will you? I need a strong hug right now.”
There was a few second’s silence, and Nora, embarrassed, wondered whether she should go back downstairs.
“We can’t meet, can we?” the woman said. “No, you’re right. It won’t look good. Wallis and I may have been separated, but it will still seem like I’m being, well, disrespectful. Oh, it’s so unfair! Wallis cheated on me all the time. I don’t believe he was faithful to me for one month of our five year relationship. But still, I’m the one who has to sneak around with you like I’m doing something wrong.”
The man must have replied, but Nora couldn’t hear what he said.
“I hated him,” the woman, clearly Karen, replied. “That’s the whole truth. I hated him. I loved him too, and that’s what makes it so much worse. Being here, being forced to greet strangers as if I was still his wife, feeling their stares and their whispers, it makes me feel like I’m being torn apart, inside out. Why? Why did he have to choose me as his wife? Why couldn’t I have been like all the others, just a fling?”
The man said something, soothing her, but Karen continued. “No, no, that isn’t true. I tell you, Wallis loved me, once. He was never able to be faithful, but he fought hard to keep our marriage intact. When I finally left him, well, I didn’t tell you this at the time because I thought you’d… you’d react,.. but he nearly killed me the day I told him I was leaving. He said that no matter how many women he’d slept with, I was the one who he came home to, and that’s what mattered. If I hadn’t been seeing you already, I think I’d have… reconsidered, even. But he was scary, that day. He broke a guitar, smashing it to pieces. He blocked the door. He sobbed at my feet, begging me to stay. I know you can’t understand a man like him, but Wallis did love me. It was just a very destructive love, and I eventually had to choose my own life over it.”
The voices behind the door ceased, suddenly. Feeling uneasy, as if the couple knew she was here, Nora decided to tiptoe back down the stairs.
Downstairs, she nearly bumped into a man and gave a startled gasp.
“Easy, dear,” Dr. Kurt Neil said, steadying her by the shoulders. “You look a little pale. Are you all right? I haven’t seen you since the to-do at the pancake house the other day.”
“I’m fine, Dr. Neil, thank you.” Nora smiled. But she did feel a little off balance. The woman she’d overheard had been Karen, clearly. But who was the man?
Had Karen killed him? She had said Wallis had become violent when she tried to leave him. Had he hurt her? Had she decided to take revenge? Or had the man with her hurt Wallis? Had he been jealous that Karen still had a soft spot for him, and decided to take his life?
She had to find out who the man was, Karen decided, and there was only one way. She’d stay right where she was, near the stairs, until the man came down.
*****
Chapter 20
Deciding to stay by the stairs until Karen and her sweetheart came downstairs was one thing, executing it was another. It seemed that everyone wanted to talk to Nora, and pull her away. It was hard to stay rooted where she was.
Dr. Neil, who had got her in a corner, seemed to think that she was upset about Wallis’ death, and was trying to be a gentleman by changing the topic to more cheerful subjects. Only he was terrible at it, his conversation inevitably circling around to death.
Some of Wallis’ bandmates had joined the conversation too. Joe, his bass player, was leaning against the wall next to Nora, nodding his head to something Dr. Neil said.
“He played guitar all his life, didn’t he?” Nora asked, trying to participate in the conversation.
“He was born a rockstar,” Joe said. “That’s the truth. If his daddy had been richer, and Wallis had been able to afford going to LA, who knows what he might have become. We were all so surprised when he decided that he was going to become a deputy to pay the bills. It’s not exactly the world’s best side job. But Wallis, he was crazy enough to think that being exposed to real life like a Deputy is would make him a better songwriter. Crazy thing is, he was probably right. Seeing all the pain of victims, living the stressful life that cops do, it changed Wallis. He was a kinder man for it, and a better performer too. On some level, he always connected to the crowd’s pain, and that’s why they loved him.” Joe took a swig from the can of beer in his hand and sighed. “Poor guy. Poor Karen too.”
“Oh, Karen will be all right,” Dr. Neil said. “She’s young. She’ll recover.”
As if her name had summoned her, Karen appeared on the stairs. Dr. Neil immediately stopped speaking, and the three of them nodded quietly as Karen passed them by, the red of her hair now contrasted by the red on her cheeks.
“Oh, she’ll recover,” Joe said, a tad cynically, as he watched her go. “It’s Wallis’ fans I’m more worried about. Without him, our band is dead too. I suppose I might as well sell off my instruments.”
“Yes. Karen will sell off Wallis’ collection too, I suppose,” Dr. Neil said. “I heard he had some really classic guitars.”
“Wallis was really proud of his guitars.” Joe sighed. “He was always showing off about having one from Zany Motts, signed too. But that was Wallis, always boasting about himself, his house, his wife, his guitars. It hit him really hard when Karen left. He spends three months getting drunk and talking about her. Man, he was such a great player, though, that we didn’t mind all his boasting. He was kind too, though he’d always let you know you owed him if he helped you out.”
“Oh, that kind of kind.” Dr. Neil sighed. “The I’ll be nice to you but you better thank me and praise me a long time after. No, that’s not true kindness, I feel. Though I’m an old-fashioned man, and I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”
“Plenty of people here who are,” Joe said, getting a bit quieter. “There’s men whose wives he slept with. Like Luke Taggart there, he’s the owner of Luke’s sporting goods up in Maple Street. Luke looks downright gleeful. He’s only sorry he didn’t kill Wallis himself, I think.”
“Maybe he did, though,” Nora said, her voice dropping.
“Maybe,” Joe said, looking startled at this. “I don’t know. I don’t want to accuse anybody.”
“Joe,you were with Wallis when the rock show ended,” Nora said. “After the set, what happened? Shouldn’t you all have been partying together?”
Joe looked a little ashamed. “We were,” he said.
“So you might be among the last people to see him alive?” Nora asked.
“I was the last person to see him alive,” Joe said. He looked furtively at Dr. Neil. Then, looking back at Nora, he said, “I want you both to promise you won’t say a thing. Especially to the cops.”
They both nodded.
“The truth is, he and I and the boys… we were… in the bus, getting a little drunk,” Joe said. “Well, a lot more than just drunk, but I won’t tell tales. Us rock stars need energy.”
Drugs? Nora thought, feeling disgusted.
Seeing her look, Joe said, “It was harmless. We knew we had another set coming up after the fireworks. Nothing that’d knock us out. Anyway, Harvey and that girl of his came into the bus, and Harvey lost it.”
“Harvey fought with him?” Nora asked.
“Fought? Harvey was furious enough to throw all our stash down the toilet,” Joe said. “He yelled at Wallis that this was the kind of behavior that would make Sean win. He threatened to call the cops. Wallis was a little out of it, and he began yelling back at Harvey. He said Harvey knew nothing about the kind of pressure he was under, and that Harvey was just a pretty little rich boy with his pretty little rich girl,” Joe said.
“What happened then?” Nora asked.
“Harvey grabbed him by the collar, and asked him to apologize,” Joe said. “Wallis refused. He grabbed his guitar, and said, “Harvey, the only reason I ain’t breaking this guitar over your head is because my Daddy gave it to me, and it once belonged to Zany Motts himself. I’m a rockstar, Harvey. I’m no piddling small town sheriff. Maybe I should just quit. Who’d contest your election then, you little smug rat? I’ll be living the life in LA and you’ll be down here alone, Sean still lording it over you.””
“Wow,” Nora said.
“Yeah, it was quite a scene.” Joe said. “But you know Harvey. He’d calmed down by then. You could see he was still furious on the inside, though, you know? He almost looked amused. He turned to Wallis and said, “That’s fine by me. You go ahead, go ahead. And who’ll look after your family here, Wallis? Or are you okay with abandoning her? That’s why you wanted to be sheriff, isn’t it? For justice to your family?”
“What?” Nora looked confused. “What justice? What was Harvey talking about? Wallis doesn’t have family here. His wife left him, he had no kids, and his parents are deceased, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Joe said. “Maybe he was, but… well, that’s what Harvey said, and it wiped the smile off Wallis’ face, let me tell you. After that, Wallis picked up his guitar and went outside for a smoke, and Harvey was so angry, he just bolted. It was real awkward. Harvey’s girlfriend, that cute out-of-town girl, she tried to go after him, but Harvey had run off ahead and mixed with the crowd before she could catch him.”
“Wait, but did you tell any of this to the detectives?” Nora asked. “About the fight and all?”
“We-e-ll.” Joe looked a little sheepish. “See the thing is, Monty, from the band, he’s been in trouble over drugs before. We didn’t want… well, the police wouldn’t be too kind if they saw what we were doing. So we stayed silent about it then. After that it just felt awkward to bring it up. Besides, we saw Harvey run off into the crowd. No way he did it. Right?”
“Right,” Dr. Neil said, still pale.
Nora was watching Dr. Neil, whose teeth were bared in a smile that seemed almost feral. Sweat had gathered on his brow. What had happened to him? He had been fine all along, and now he looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Dr. Neil, do you need a chair?” Nora asked. As a man in hi
s mid-to-late sixties, she wondered if the stress of the atmosphere had gotten to him.
“I’m all right, my dear.” Dr. Neil said. “But I’d better head back home now. Give Mrs. Mullally my compliments, will you? I’ll be around your house for some of her excellent chamomile tea soon.”
“She’ll be delighted.” Nora smiled. “I’ll make some of that Blackberry pie you like so much, too.”
“Oh, I’m not allowed much more than a small bite at my age,” Dr. Neil said, “so I’ll only have about two of those pies.”
Joe laughed. “You ought to sell those pies, Nora,” he said. “I’ve heard all about them from Sean. He used to make us jealous with his rhapsodies about your food.”
Nora blushed. “Well, it’s all in a day’s work.”
“Where’s Sean, by the way?” Joe asked. “Haven’t seen him around.”
“Here,” Sean said, appearing at the top of the stairs. “Must have eaten something wrong for breakfast.” He smiled. “How are you holding up, Joe? Everything all right? I know losing him has been hard on you.”
“It is what it is.” Joe shrugged. “I knew him a long time, and I still can’t quite believe he’s gone.”
“It’s hard,” Sean said, putting a hand on Joe’s shoulder. After a few more minutes of conversation, he added, “Well, I suppose Nora and I had better get going too, Joe.”
Joe nodded and gave Nora a look, a look that seemed to plead with her not to tell Sean anything that he had told her.
Nora gave Joe a slight nod, as Sean took her arm.
She allowed him to lead her to his car, as she didn’t want to make a scene, what with people around them. As soon as they had closed the doors of the car, she turned on him, her face red with anger.
“How long?” she asked. “How long have you and Karen been seeing each other, Sean?”
*****
A Murder In Milburn Book 2 Death Of A Deputy REVAMPED June 2016 SCRIVENER Page 8