Sean shifted from one leg to another. “Look ,I appreciate your help and I always have, but this is a police matter now. Let me handle it the way I see fit. You should probably go back inside and finish your breakfast.” He slid into his car, gave her a lazy salute, and backed out of the parking lot, leaving Nora standing alone, wondering about all the things he had and hadn’t said.
*****
Chapter 10
If Sean’s exit had left her in a bad mood, things only got worse. Nora went inside to find Tina sniffing into a tissue while half a dozen people tried to cheer her up. Their consolations all revolved around how unfair Sean had been, and how maybe he was only short tempered because he had gotten hit on the head.
“It’s just too bad he wasn’t a bit smarter about going into that shed,” one townie said. “We’d have the murderer under arrest if he did.”
“I heard there’s already been an arrest,” May Almand said. “Sheriff caught the roadie that Wallis had a fight with last night.”
There was a lot of speculation on this, with half the townspeople agreeing that it had to be the roadie.
Then, one man, Alan Bridges, an ex-plumber more often found in the town bar than the breakfast place, said, “Well, I’m not so sure Sheriff’s going to be completely impartial about this, y’hear me? After all, best case scenario, he’ll be emotional. This is his deputy, who he’s worked with for years that got murdered. Worst case scenario… well… truth be told I was at that festival yesterday, and I didn’t see Sean in the crowd. So where was he when the murder happened?”
A crowd of outraged yells drowned out Alan’s suggestion, which Alan responded to by raising his hands, one of them clutching a can of coke. “All right, calm down you lot. I’m only making theories. It’s my right, isn’t it?”
“It’s very uncharitable of you,” Nora said, feeling angry. “And where were you Alan? Do you have people who can alibi you when the murder happened, I wonder?”
“Well, I suppose I can,” Alan drawled. “Given that I was in the crowd.”
“That’s when the murder was discovered,” Nora said. “I was asking where you were when the murder happened. Can you account for where you were every second between when the concert ended and the burning of the boat began?”
“Can anyone?” Alan asked. “It was a fair. There were people all around. By your logic, even you could have slipped away for five minutes, and five minutes is all it must have taken. Less, probably.”
“What I wonder,” another lady said, “is how the murderer got their clothes clean? Surely there would have been some blood on them?”
There were murmurs of agreement, and the townfolk began to put up new theories.
“Maybe the murderer put on a jacket to cover the blood? It was cold enough that people wouldn’t comment on a zipped jacket.”
“Maybe they changed their clothes. Put on more medieval fare? I know there was a stall selling medieval tops. It wouldn’t look out of place.”
“Maybe the killer was just careful that nothing got on him or her.”
“…or maybe,” Alan said, loudly, “maybe the killer pretended to be hurt. Maybe he pretended someone hit him on the head, which would explain the blood stains on his shirt, and also give him a somewhat credible alibi.”
“This is ridiculous,” Nora said.
“Is it?” Alan asked. “Is it really? What I find weird is that everyone knows Sean hated Wallis, and no one is protesting that he’s in charge of this investigation. I say it should be handed over to higher authorities. Then again, it might already be too late. Sean had more than enough time to do over the evidence as he pleases.”
“You’re apt to be arrested for libel, carrying on that way,” May Almand said. “This is nonsense. Sean is no murderer.”
But the crowd was silent, drinking in Alan’s words. Nora looked from one person to another, and one by one, each avoided her eyes.
“This is pathetic,” she said. “I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of this townie paranoia. So I’m asking you all, please don’t do this. Have faith in Sean.”
“I would,” Alan said, a little more smug now. “But this is a question of justice, at the very least, Sean should step down as sheriff for now, or call in the state police.”
“He isn’t wrong,” someone else chimed in. “They say a surgeon should never operate on his own family, and a policeman should never investigate a case he’s emotionally involved in. Besides, if Sean is telling the truth, he’s a witness too. The closest one to the murderer was him. How can he properly investigate this case? I back what Alan is saying. Let Sean step down, and let’s call the state police in on this.”
“You can’t do this,” Nora said. But her voice was weak. She completely believed in Sean’s innocence, but she saw now that the seed of doubt had been planted in the crowd.
“You saw the way he stormed out,” someone was whispering.
“… he was yelling at Wallis day before,” another whisper came.
“Heard he was really worried about losing the election.”
Nora faced each of the whisperers in turn and saw their expressions turn to doubt and fear.
“At the very least,” Alan said, “I’m going to go down to the station and protest. Right now. Anyone who wants to join me can come along.” Throwing back his shoulders, he marched out.
One by one, others gathered their jackets and marched out with him. Nora could only watch as a veritable mob formed, and began to head to the police station.
“I’ve got to get there before they do. Poor Sean is going to be devastated when they tell him he has to resign,” she said, turning to Tina and the Doctor, the only two who had remained behind with her.
“Better run then,” the doctor said. “Knowing Alan, he’s riling up the crowd right now, and that’s never a good thing.”
*****
Chapter 11
It was as bad as the doctor had suspected. Maybe worse.
Nora cut through the side streets, running as fast as she could, and was panting by the time she reached the station.
“Sean,” she called out as she burst in.
Sean was bent over a book at the desk, pointing something out to his young and scared deputy, Dean. “Nora,” he looked up, surprised.
“Sean, there’s a whole crowd coming for you. I guess they’re going to ask you to step down. I don’t think they’re in a very good mood either.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s Alan, Alan Bridges. He’s riled them up against you.”
“You know there’s an old saying, don’t burn your bridges before you cross them,” Sean joked. “I do wish I could burn this particular Bridges. God knows I’ve already crossed him more than once.”
“Sean, this is not a joking matter.”
“I know it’s not,” Sean said. “But the town can’t seriously take Bridges’ word over mine. I and Wallis took his driving license away after his third drunk driving offense. Or did they choose to forget that? He’s never been fond of me.”
“I don’t know if the town’s forgotten, but a lot of them are coming here to talk,” Nora said. She peeked out of the window. “I can see them now. Man. If this were a few centuries ago, the pitchfork shops would have been doing brisk business with this crowd.”
There was a lot of noise outside. A mob was walking down the street towards them, headed by Alan Bridges, whose eyes were glinting with joy. They were marching down, giving occasional shouts, with hands pumping the air.
Sean just sucked on his tooth and shook his head. “This is ridiculous.” He grabbed a shotgun from a drawer and racked it. Dean gulped and pulled out his own revolver.
“Sean, you can’t greet them with a gun!”
“These are hooligans, Nora. They don’t listen to words. There’s only one thing they respond to - action.”
Nora put her hands on the shotgun, pushed it down. “You put that gun down and meet them outside. Calm them down if yo
u have to.”
“Oh look, your friend’s here too,” Sean said, his voice barbed with glass. “I’m guessing he’s going to be doing all the talking.”
Nora peeked out again, and her heart sank. Marching with Alan, looking absolutely, improbably, handsome in an olive shirt and grey jeans, was Harvey Nathaniel himself. How had she missed him earlier? He must have caught up with the crowd just right now.
As the crowd reached the office, Harvey and Alan ran up the steps, with Harvey raising his hands to quiet the crowd. Knocking the door, he slipped inside when Sean opened it up.
“Listen, Sean, it’s not good,” Harvey said, his face drawn. “I’ve been talking to the men outside, and they’re mostly … well, they’re mostly full of people who you’ve been unkind to in the past. I know, I know, that’s what your job’s all about. You need to be the tough guy. But some of these men and women carry grudges. They’ve carried them ever since you fined them for speeding or told them off for being too loud or whatever it is you did. They’ve got a chance to get back at you now, and Alan’s riling them up so that they do.”
“They can all go to--” Sean was cut off by a look from Nora.
“Sean, we aren’t pals,” Harvey said. “But Alan’s plan is to dissolve your office and call on the citizen’s rule. According to town charter, that’s something he can do.”
“What?” Nora looked confused. “I’ve never heard of this.”
“If a majority of the townspeople feel that their elected official is unworthy of his post, they can dissolve his office and through a show of hands immediately select a replacement,” Harvey said. “Now, it’s an old and arcane law, but it holds up just the same. Sean, these people are here to fire you.”
Sean’s face paled for a second, then his jaw tightened and his nostrils flared. “Fine,” he said. “If that’s all the loyalty I get for serving this town so many years, then let that be it. They don’t need to fire me, I’ll resign.” He threw the shotgun on the desk, scattering papers about. “They can just hire that criminal Alan to lord it over them. See how that works out.”
“Sean, be serious here,” Harvey said.
“What do you care? You must be thrilled,” Sean said. “You didn’t care about Wallis, you just wanted me out of office. And very soon, I will be.”
“You’re a capable man, and so was Wallis,” Harvey said. “I’m too smart a businessman to have some corrupt fool like Alan, or any idiot that Alan chooses, rule this town. So no, I’m not doing this out of fondness for you, but out of the best interests of this town.”
“Where’s Mayor Almand when you need him?” Dean Elbert squeaked from behind them.
“Mayor Theodore Almand and his wife May Almand were two people who supported you, by the way,” Harvey said to Sean. “But Ted’s not going to engage with this crowd.”
Outside, looking pleased, Alan was standing at the crowd’s head and shouting, “Now, people, we’ve got to make some demands. We’ve got to demand that we get justice. We got to demand that the death of a man like Wallis isn’t just dismissed because it suits those in power. I say we exercise our birth-given right to vote, and--”
“There’s no need,” Sean stepped out, his jacket flapping in the wind. He took his hat off, and the crowd booed him. He stayed silent, his eyes scanning the crowd. “So,” he said. “I’ve been told you gentlefolk would like me to resign. Perhaps because you think I’m not fit for the job, perhaps because you suspect I murdered Wallis myself. All right. But I’ve got a few questions for you. You, Jake Tamerin, did you think I wasn’t fit for the job when I raced down in the snow, lifted your father out of his house and saved him when he’d fallen in the bathroom? Or are you, instead, remembering the time I confiscated your gun at the football game?”
Jake, who had been cheering, suddenly fell silent and looked uneasy.
“And Andy, Andy Ratwitz. I guess you think I’m unfit because I had the nerve to fine you for those silly zoning commission irregularities in your house. Is that right? Did you forget the time my department helped your niece out when she’d crashed her sled off Pinakin slope?”
Andy looked a little ashamed too, and shouted, “Hey, I got nothing against you, Sean. I just think you’re a little in need of outside help, that’s all.”
“Outside help I got no problem with,” Sean said. “But this guy…” he pointed his thumb at Alan. “This is the guy who riles you up against me? Alan Bridges? I’ve had five separate complaints against him for bullying and threatening to assault some of you. ‘Course, he was always smart enough to do it without witnesses, so there was never a case against him. But is this the man you’re going to elect? I think I’d just about leave town, and suggest you all to do so too, if that’s going to happen.”
“Well, what do you suggest?” someone shouted from the crowd.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” Sean said. “I’m going to resign. Just temporarily, until the case is solved. Dean Elbert will replace me for a few days until someone from State Police can come take over. Will that be all right with you lot?”
The crowd murmured its agreement.
“Great,” Sean said. “I gotta tell you, though, that when I’m proved innocent, I’m going to think long and hard about whether I want to come back as sheriff, or even come back to this town at all.”
“Oh, that’s no issue,” Alan said snidely. “What you gotta think about is what if you’re proved guilty, Sean?”
*****
Chapter 12
Sean had turned in his badge and left for home, and despite Nora’s protests, had insisted that he wanted to be left alone. Harvey drove her back home. He had a new car now. After he’d permanently totaled his classic Ferrari in an accident, Harvey had bought himself a new flaming red Porsche instead.
“You really do care for Sean,” Harvey said as he pulled out of the driveway. “Don’t you?”
“I care for all my friends,” Nora said.
“Not like this,” Harvey replied.
“What would you know?” Nora asked. “The only friendships you’ve ever been involved with had a long fat check dangling at the end of it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harvey asked, his voice dangerous.
“Just that,” Nora said. “Look, this isn’t the right time to fight.”
“Apparently it is since you’re comfortable implying I don’t make friends,” Harvey said.
“Well, you don’t,” Nora bit back.
Why am I acting this way? she asked herself. Sure, she was frustrated about Sean’s troubles, and it had been hard seeing Milly with Harvey, but Harvey was the one who’d knocked some sense into Sean. Who knows what Sean would have done otherwise? She should be thankful, she decided.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You should be,” Harvey replied, and knocked her good intentions out the window.
“I’m tired of fighting you, Harvey,” she said. “Can’t we please just once, act like we’re friends?”
Harvey burst out laughing. “Boy, you do use the word a lot. Friend. All right, Nora, we’ll be friends.” He turned up the music, and the car filled with guitar and the deep voice of the radio host.
“This is KYOK121 giving you all time classic rock. Up next, we’ve got Zany Motts’ with his soul-crushing Amber Eyes, Dark Surprise.”
It wasn’t fair, the way he was treating her, Nora decided. After all, he’d been the one who broke up with her.
After Raquel’s murderer had been revealed, she and Harvey had bonded together. They’d started dating, and, despite being messed up over Raquel’s death, Harvey had given her some of the happiest moments of her life in those six months. Remembering how it felt, how perfectly content she had been with him, Nora wondered now how it could so easily have turned sour between them.
It was the money, she knew. It was always the money that had come between them. Harvey had walked out on her because she refused to take his help. But how could she?
She re
membered a picnic in the mountains, when they had sat together under a tree, watching the clouds go by. Harvey had told her about the series of women who had dated him, before and after he grew rich.
“Funny thing is, there was always a pattern,” Harvey said. “Before I grew rich, they’d leave me for a richer man. After I grew rich, I’d leave them because I couldn’t bear the thought of feeding them my money any more. It was inevitable. The more beautiful they were, the more they’d act like being with me meant a free ride to the better life.”
“Maybe you just have a terrible choice in women,” Nora said. “Some of us don’t need money to find love.”
“Thank god for that.” Harvey had smiled at her.
They’d kissed under that tree as the clouds gathered and rained down on them, and Nora had felt light, and free, as if she were floating.
Then, three months later, he’d offered her his money. It had felt worse than a slap in the face.
“What are you thinking about?” Harvey asked, trying to make his voice sound light.
It was on the tip of her tongue, but she resisted. “Turn left here,” she said.
“The town’s not wrong, you know,” Harvey said.
She snapped at him. “The town behaved disgracefully. Sean’s been nothing but good to them.”
“Do you think there’s not even the tiniest chance Sean did it?” Harvey asked.
“Sean’s innocent,” Nora said. “I’m sure of it.”
“Sure, you’re sure of it,” Harvey said. “But does the evidence point to his innocence?”
“The evidence… there’s no real evidence. We’ve just got a whole lot of conjecture,” Nora said. “At some level, humans can’t lie. The tiniest of their facial expressions give them away. When you look Sean in the eyes, there’s not a hint of calculation in them. There’s no way he could have done it.”
Death Of A Deputy: A Culinary Cozy Mystery (A Murder In Milburn Book 2) Page 4