“Well, that does sound like Nora.” Angela nodded. “Anyway, so I wasn’t fond of Bret. We hung out a few times after work, but I’m an introvert, and I decided I preferred sticking to my cats and my books.”
“So you dated him?” Harvey asked.
“He asked me out, but I told him I wanted to keep things professional,” Angela said. “I don’t think he realized I meant it. So after a few times, I decided to stop going out with him, even if it was in a group.”
“Who was in this group of his?” Harvey asked.
Angela shrugged. “A bunch of us. Matt Harris, Eliza, Wyatt, Maria, Timmy Junior… this is a small town, you know.”
“Timmy Junior?” Harvey frowned. “Bret hung out with Timmy Junior? Who owns the bar on 2nd and North Street?”
“Right.” Angela nodded.
“So those two were friends?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Angela nodded.
“Funny,” Harvey said. “Because when I saw Timmy Junior today, he told me he had no idea what I was even talking about. He acted like he didn’t know Bret at all!”
“Why would he do that?” Angela looked shocked.
“Well, I think I’ll have to go back and ask him,” Harvey said, his mouth drawn into a thin line. “And this time, he had better give me some straight answers!”
*****
“I don’t know!” Timmy cried. “I promise, I know nothing!”
Harvey had him cornered in an alley, and Tim, who was a whole head shorter than him, was shivering in fear. Harvey hadn’t laid a hand on him… yet.
“Come on, Timmy,” Harvey said with a sneer. “Why are you so afraid? What did Bret tell you?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Timmy said. “I don’t know why he ran out of town.”
“Sure you do,” Harvey said. “And you’re going to tell me.” It wasn’t a request.
“Look, I promised my dad I’d have nothing to do with him,” Tim said. “Dad will fire me, and he might force me to enlist in the army or something. I like my life here. I can’t talk to Sean or anybody!”
“Right,” Harvey said. Each second that ticked by with Nora still behind bars made Harvey feel more frustrated. Part of him longed to take out all that frustration on the scared barely-out-of-his-teens boy in front of him. But another part of him, the part that had helped him create a multi-million dollar business out of the change in his pocket and the brains in his head, knew that he needed to put Timmy at ease, not antagonize him. “So you don’t like your Dad much?” Harvey asked.
Timmy snorted. “I hate him,” he said. “He treats me like a slave. I work twice as much as any other employee, and Dad never lets me see the money.”
Possibly, Harvey thought, because the son would blow it up on booze and drugs. “Ever think of freedom?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Timmy nodded. “I’m just about done refurbishing my car. It’s a 69 Firebird. Once that’s done, I’m taking my savings and getting out of here. I was thinking of doing a road trip, coast to coast.”
“Sounds good,” Harvey said. “What’s stopping you?”
Timmy shrugged.
“Money?” Harvey asked.
“Yeah,” Timmy said. “Something like that. Money and just… guts.”
“Well, I can’t give you the guts, but the money, that I can help you out with,” Harvey said.
Timmy looked Harvey up and down, and Harvey realized he hadn’t shaved or taken a shower all day.
I must look like a hot mess, he thought.
“What are you going to do, lend me a quarter?” Timmy laughed.
“I’ll give you a job,” Harvey said. “A real job. In an actual office.” Timmy looked interested. “Depending on how much money you need, you could be out of here in a few months,” Harvey said. “Even if you don’t want to leave, a job without your old man bossing over you all the time might make life easier for you. What do you say?”
Timmy considered it, then shook his head. “No way, man,” he said. “My dad… he won’t let me take the job.”
“You’re what, 22?” Harvey laughed. “You don’t need to ask permission.”
“Right.” Timmy straightened a little, then slumped again. “But… I don’t want to talk to Sean either.”
“How about this?” Harvey said. “Talk to me instead. I promise, as far as possible, I’ll try and avoid having to take you to Sean’s. I’m not a big fan of the guy myself. As far as I’m concerned, he’s doing a terrible job right now.”
“Sure?” Timmy asked.
“Sure,” Harvey said. “Look, kid, I’m making it easy for you. You can cooperate and be my friend, or be my enemy. I promise you, I’m not an enemy you want.”
“Fine,” Timmy said. “I don’t know that much, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Fantastic,” Harvey said. “So, what did Bret tell you? When did you see him last?”
“Around midnight yesterday, after Eliza died,” Timmy said. “He came over. He was sweating like he’d just taken a swim or something.”
“Nervous?”
“Scared,” Timmy said. “I’ve never seen him look so scared. Granted I only knew him about six months, but we were pretty close.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He wasn’t… he wasn’t talking very clearly. I thought he was high or something. He mentioned something about a prank,” Timmy said. “He was talking about it with Eliza too, that day at the poker party.”
“Slow down,” Harvey said. “Tell me exactly what he said.”
Timmy scrunched up his nose, as he tried to remember. “When I saw him last? He said… like I said, he was high. He kept repeating the same stuff. Didn’t realize this was going to happen! I would never have done it if I’d known… that sort of stuff.”
So the same sort of things he’d said to Nora over the phone, Harvey thought.
“He said, “I gotta clear this up. I gotta phone-”” But then he looked at me as if I was a stranger, and said, “Never mind who I gotta phone. Timmy, forget you ever saw me tonight, all right? Just do me a favor, feed my cat for the next couple of days.”
“So he knew he was leaving town,” Harvey mused.
“I guess so.” Timmy shrugged. “I just… I didn’t even know Eliza had been murdered. I found out only today. Then I heard Bret was missing and… well, I guess I’ve been thinking over whether I need to go to Sean or not. So far, I don’t think I do.”
“So far, I guess you don’t,” Harvey said. “What was that about a prank, though?”
“Right. A prank… well, I only remembered because Bret mentioned something about a prank that day when we were playing poker.”
“When did that happen?”
“I’d gone outside for a smoke with Matt Harris, and Bret was inside with Eliza. When I came back inside, Eliza was giggling really hard, and saying, “It’s such a good idea, Bret. You’re a genius. What a prank that would be!””
“What are you, high-schoolers? Why would you play pranks?”
“It’s kind of our thing,” Timmy said. “Or, I should say, it was kind of our thing. We have this group, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, every time we get together to play poker, got together to play poker, I mean, we’d end up getting drunk and daring each other to do stuff. Like one time, Wyatt dared Matt to throw watermelons off the water tower outside town. Then Matt dared Wyatt to stand underneath the tower with a trampoline while he threw down the watermelon.” Despite himself, Timmy chuckled. “It was awesome. That thing bounced as high as superman! Nearly caught Wyatt on the head too. He had a narrow escape.”
“Coming back to the poker night,” Harvey said. “When was this, exactly?”
“The night before the wedding. That’s… day before,” Timmy said. “Maria left early since she was Charlotte’s maid of honor.”
“So it was you four guys and Eliza?” Harvey asked.
“Yep.” Timmy nodded.
“Bret and Eliza were t
alking about the prank? No one else was talking about it?”
“Nope. Wyatt was on the phone, and Matt and I were smoking,” Timmy said. “So it was just the two of them.”
“All right.” Harvey reached into his wallet, and took out a card. “Call me on this number if you remember anything else, okay?”
“What about that job?” Timmy asked.
“Drop by my office in a couple days,” Harvey said. “We’ll figure something out.”
*****
Chapter 13
An Evil Death
“Hey Nora!” Karen gave her a weak smile. “You doing all right?”
Nora had managed to have a few hours of sleep, and was feeling much better. Then Harvey had phoned with the news that his lawyer had said she’d need to spend one more day behind bars. The prospect of being stuck here while Eliza’s killer escaped, or worse, struck again, was very depressing. Still, she managed a somewhat cheerful smile.
“I’m good,” she said. “I’ve had more visitors today than I did on my birthday. So that’s something. Mrs. Mullally came by with Maynard, and Simone dropped by, too.”
“I heard Ellerton didn’t let her give you a sandwich till he’d opened it up and checked there was no secret key inside.” Karen laughed.
Nora shrugged. “Little overkill, don’t you think?”
“They have to be careful,” Karen said. “Anyway, you must be feeling terrible.”
“It’s just a room with a bad view,” Nora said. “It’s not so bad if you think of it that way.”
“Are you saying my pretty face is a bad view?” Sean walked up to them. “Hey Karen,” he said, nodding at her.
“I’m not here to talk to you,” Karen said.
“I know,” Sean said. “But I’m here to talk to you, anyway.”
Nora mimed a remote. “Increase volume to max,” she said.
“Very funny, lady.” Sean smiled. “Don’t worry, Karen. I won’t start any drama.”
“Oh, you should,” Nora said. “I’m stuck in here anyway, I might as well enjoy some.”
“Come on, Nora. Give it a rest.”
“She agrees with me totally,” Sean said. “She thinks it’s a stupid idea for you to leave town just because… well, just because you have some bad memories associated with it.”
“JJ was my husband,” Karen said. “It isn’t easy living in the same town where he was murdered, and it isn’t easy dating his colleague. People talk, Sean. I tried to pretend I didn’t care, and maybe for a while, I didn’t. But in the end, it got to me.”
“Why?” Sean asked. “It never got to me. I don’t care what people say. We have friends here, Karen, and they love us. Even the people who gossip, they can’t gossip forever. If you’d just stay and tide it out with me, we could be...”
“I don’t want to,” Karen said. “I care for you, Sean, but there’s a big world outside this town.”
“As someone who’s seen a lot of it, let me tell you, Milburn is way better,” Nora said. “Even if it does have the odd murder or two.”
“See?” Sean said. “Stay.”
“Enough,” Karen snapped. “This is really unprofessional of you, Sean. You’ve got a case you need to be solving, and you’re badgering me instead.”
“I’ve been up all night, and I’m multi-tasking,” Sean said. “I’m badgering you, and I’m taking a coffee break all at once.”
“Yeah, unlike him, I got to take a nap,” Nora said. “You should get some sleep too, Sean. It clears the mind like nothing else.”
“I’ll sleep when I’ve found the killer,” Sean said.
“If you don’t think Nora is the killer, why did you put her behind bars?” Karen asked angrily.
“There’s such a thing as procedure,” Sean said.
“Plus, I did break the law,” Nora said. “Technically, at least.”
“I cannot believe you’re defending him!” Karen exclaimed. “Are you a saint or something?”
“Far from it,” Nora said. “I just can’t help but see his point. Also, I’m sure I’ll be out of here soon.”
“Once I find the killer, or once judge sets bail, she’s free to go,” Sean said. “Personally, I hope I find the killer first. Simply because I think there’s a chance Nora may be the next target.”
A shiver went down Nora’s spine, but the smile on her face didn’t slip. “Well, if you really think so, then I guess I should be grateful I’m being watched under lock and key.”
“I’m sure of it,” Sean said. “Look, Nora. I don’t for a minute believe that you’re the killer. But let’s face facts. The frosting samples we took from your diner’s freezer were poisoned. The same poison that was in the cake. The same poison that killed Eliza.”
“So you think...” Karen looked thoughtful. “So you think that just means somebody is trying to frame Nora?”
“As far as I see, there are two possibilities,” Sean said. “Either someone working in Nora’s kitchen poisoned that frosting, or someone… somehow took the keys, snuck in and poisoned the frosting late at night.”
Karen nodded. “Go on.”
“Well, I’m reasonably sure it isn’t Tina or Nora who poisoned the frosting. Which leaves Angela and Bret as suspects. Bret’s missing, so naturally he’s our main suspect right now. Only, when he called Nora, he was implying that he was in cahoots with someone.”
“Right.” Karen nodded.
“Now, whoever this person is, they wanted to trap Nora. In fact, I strongly suspect they partnered with Bret to lure her to the diner, and called my office to ensure I would be there around the same time Nora reached. You see? It’s genius. Once I caught her with the freezer door open, I’d have to arrest her.”
“So someone is framing her.” Karen nodded. “And we don’t know who.”
“Well,” Nora said, “there is one obvious candidate.”
“Who’s that?” Karen asked.
Sean shook his head, and Nora tilted hers, curious.
“So you thought of her, too?” Sean smiled.
“Immediately,” Nora said. “As soon as Eliza died… as soon as I realized what a fool I’d been about the topper.”
“The topper?” Karen looked confused. “What topper?”
“The cake topper,” Nora said. “When I found the cake out in the hallway, the little statuette of the bride and groom had their head snapped clean off. I managed to put it back together with no one the wiser, and then, of course… Eliza ate the cake.”
“Right…” Karen nodded slowly. “So somebody who hated Jeremy and Charlotte snapped off the statuette’s heads?”
Nora nodded. “Now think about it, Karen. Who could hate Jeremy and me? What common enemy do we have?”
“Ashley Norton!” Karen nodded. “Of course! Jeremy’s ex-wife, who you put behind bars.”
“Exactly.” Sean nodded. “I thought of her, too.”
“And yet.” Nora frowned. “And yet, now that I think about it, we’re wrong. We have to be wrong, don’t we?”
“Why?” Sean asked.
“Ashley can’t be behind this,” Nora said. “Because, why would she telegraph her intentions? Why would she break the statuette’s heads? Besides, assuming she’s still in prison, she had to have hired someone to do it and—”
“Ashley’s dead,” Sean said shortly.
Nora took a step back, growing pale. “What?”
“She had… an accident of some sort.” Sean said. “It’s a prison- you understand? Sometimes there are accidents, and sometimes other prisoners cause accidents.”
“Y-you mean she was murdered?”
“Some sort of gang war.” Sean nodded. “This was a year after she was sentenced.”
“This is horrible.” Nora shuddered. “I didn’t like Ashley. I hated her, in fact. But… I didn’t expect she’d be killed so brutally, either.”
Sean shrugged. “I can’t bring myself to feel bad,” he said. “She killed Raquel, and she would have killed you too, if she had the
chance. She was nothing short of evil. Anyways, the point is she’s dead. I looked her up as soon as I figured out that it could have been someone that hated both you and Jeremy. She died just last month.”
“So that theory is all wrong,” Karen mused. “How about her family? Did Ashley have one?”
“Ashley was raised by a single mother,” Sean said. “The mother died a few years ago. No siblings.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing,” Karen said. “No mother could bear to see their child in jail, I’m sure.”
“Yet plenty do,” Nora said. “The prisoners in jail are someone’s daughter or son. They’re all just as human as we are.”
“Let’s not get philosophical,” Sean said. “The point is, it isn’t Ashley for sure. So who could it be?”
Nora took a deep breath, then let it out. “I wish I knew.”
“I guess you have time to mull it over,” Sean said. “If you have any theories, let me know.”
“The big bad sheriff asking a prisoner for help?” Karen asked. “You’re clearly desperate.”
“I’m asking a friend for help,” Sean said. He looked genuinely sorrowful as he looked at Nora. “Nora, you know this is just… terrible luck, right? You know I’d never… well, never do anything to harm you.”
“In my head, I know it,” Nora said. “But you have to understand if my heart is a little sore. My precious diner is closed, and my wedding is a week and a half away, and here I am behind bars.”
“Anyway,” Sean said. “I wanted to talk it over with you. Do you remember the last time you saw the cake?”
Nora frowned. “I was in the kitchen with Bret and Angela. I started focussing on all the work we had to do, and then Matt Harris came in along with Janina Engle. He snuck a peek at the cake. Around that time, Father Mackenzie came in to have a glass of lemonade. Maria, the maid of honor, came in soon after. She had the bride’s cake topper with her. I placed it on the cake, and then my attention wandered. Bret told me he’d seen Eliza wheel the cake away. I remember getting really panicky, and quite annoyed at Bret for being so unprofessional.”
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