The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “But what are you doing out here anyway?” Nora asked.

  “My meeting yesterday, remember? This is the proposed site of the resort,” Harvey said. “The property is huge and there’s a lake in it. I was showing people around, selling it as a brilliant investment. It was a fun meeting, actually. We chatted, played some poker, had a few drinks. Did you know Mayor Almand does a killer Tom Hanks imitation? Anyway, about 4am, everyone made their way back home. After that, I’ve been supervising some contractors.”

  With a start, Nora realized that the last time she had seen Harvey was at the library yesterday morning. Funny how a day could feel as long as a week.

  “Wait, then you haven’t heard?” She asked.

  “Heard what?”

  She filled him in on the details and watched his face change, from horror to a sudden quiet introspection.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked Nora.

  “Honestly… I didn’t think to,” she said. “I was with Tina and Sam all night. Sam was fairly inconsolable. Sean was taking their statements and Sam could barely string two words together. Dr. Neil had to give him a sedative in the end.”

  “I understand,” Harvey said, “So why didn’t you call me?”

  “I know you and Sam are friends, Harvey, but I just… I didn’t really think,” Nora said.

  “You forgot I existed, until now,” Harvey said. “Didn’t you?”

  “Harvey, seriously? This isn’t the time.” Nora felt herself get annoyed.

  “No, I get it,” Harvey said. “Sean was around, so it didn’t matter where I was.”

  “Harvey—”

  “So she’s dead,” he said, almost to himself. “And now we need to find who killed her. Let me guess, you’ve already started interrogating people.”

  “Harvey, what are you talking about?”

  “I don’t want you mixed up in this,” Harvey said. “Not this time. Not again. I’ve seen how much stress you take on when you’re trying to solve cases. You hear me, Nora? Leave this one alone.” His voice was sharp with warning.

  “Harvey, I’m not trying to solve anything,” Nora said.

  “Good,” Harvey replied. “Don’t forget you’ve got a diner that you’re planning to start next month, in between your catering jobs.”

  “Tina can’t really think about the diner right now,” Nora said.

  “What? You’re going to postpone the opening?”

  “It just doesn’t seem right, does it?” she asked.

  “There you go again,” Harvey said, raising his arms. “You’re always doing this, Nora.”

  “You’re being selfish,” Nora said angrily. “Tina’s sister-in-law is dead. She was murdered. Do you realize that?”

  “I realize that. Do you realize that solving the case is Sean’s job? Yours is to get Tina to move on by focusing on work and family.”

  “I haven’t been trying to solve anything,” Nora said. “And I can’t believe that the first thing you think of when you hear a woman was murdered, is why didn’t my girlfriend call me?”

  “I asked, and you haven’t really given me a reply,” Harvey said.

  Nora was about to give an indignant reply, when she was interrupted.

  “Nora!” Tina and Horace came running up the path.

  Harvey turned, and Tina slowed. “Harvey, Nora’s been gone a while and Uncle Horace and I were worried.”

  “She told me what happened,” Harvey said, taking Tina’s hands in his own. “I’m very sorry for your loss, Tina. I’m sorrier still for Sam. He’s a great friend, and any help you need, I’d be glad to provide.”

  “How about a ride into town?” Tina asked. “I’ve just found out that they’ve arrested Robert Foxworthy.”

  *****

  Chapter 9

  Nora sat next to Harvey as he drove them into town in his fashionable BMW. As usual, despite the rain and the rapidly approaching darkness, Harvey drove like a maniac, going twice as fast on turns, going far above the speed limit, letting the engine roar as he pushed the pedal down.

  “Get us there in one piece please,” Horace joked. “There’s only so much strain my heart can bear.”

  In reply, Harvey slowed down for about five seconds, before going back to his normal speed.

  Neither he, nor Nora said a word to each other. She pointedly stared out the window, or fiddled with the radio, while Tina gave them puzzled glances from the backseat.

  Sam, who had been fast asleep, was slowly showing signs of reviving. Around the fourth time Harvey’s car jumped over a speed-bump, Sam blinked awake.

  “Where are we?” he asked Tina, looking around. He stretched. “Oof. I have a monstrous headache.”

  “There’s water in the back,” Harvey said. “I keep an emergency kit under the driver’s seat. See if you can reach it.”

  Sam extracted it, and glugged down half the bottle. “Thanks,” he said gratefully. For a few minutes, before his brain reminded him of the events that had preceded his pill-induced blackout, Sam actually looked cheerful. Nora turned in her seat, and saw the exact second realization hit him. His face seemed to grow harder, the lines on them more pronounced.

  “Selena,” he murmured.

  “Sam. The sheriff and his men have arrested Robert Foxworthy,” Tina said. “We’re on our way into town to find out more now.”

  Sam’s face turned grim. “He’s the one who did it?”

  “Looks that way so far.”

  Sam clenched his hands into fists. “I hope he hangs.”

  The sentiment seemed to be the popular opinion in town.

  Anna’s pancake house was relatively deserted this time around, though at one table sat the town librarian and the mayor’s wife.

  After he’d left Anna’s earlier that day, Sean had gone straight to Buckle’s B&B. He’d knocked on Robert’s door, and Robert, still sleepy, had been very surprised on opening it. No one knew what words were exchanged, but the maids from Buckle’s reported that within minutes, Robert had thrown his first punch at Sean.

  When Sean had reeled back and hit the wall, Robert had tried to turn around and slam the door. Instead, he found himself on his stomach, his hands handcuffed behind him.

  “Long story short,” Grant Mackomb said, “the boy never had a chance once he’d laid a finger on Sean. He’s sitting in jail now, and given the town’s mood right now, that’s probably better for him.”

  “He’s the one who did it then?” Tina asked. “I mean… there’s proof?”

  “Well…” Grant looked hesitantly at Tina, and then at Sam.

  “Is there?” Sam demanded.

  “I… well. I can’t really comment.”

  “You’re not the sheriff, Grant. There’s no need to look so scared. No one’s going to remove you from your job if you tell us what you heard or saw,” Harvey said.

  “The thing is, it’s testimony,” Grant said.

  “That’s all right, feel free to share it.”

  “All right,” Grant said. “Since you’re forcing it out of me. May and I were at Chili’s last night. We had planned a business dinner to discuss the library’s next event. Selena was sitting in the booth next to us when we arrived. We tried to get her to join us, but she refused. She was in a really bad mood. I assumed it was because of the fights she’d had earlier in the day. She actually moved away from us. I was walking to the bathroom when I overheard Selena talking on the phone. I suppose they’ve checked her phone records by now, so they know...”

  “Know what?”

  “She was planning to meet Robert last night,” Grant said. “All I heard her say was, ‘Fine. I’ll meet you, Robbie. No. Whatever. I’ll text you where.’” Grant paused and took a breath. “All I know is, about half an hour after that, she finished up her dinner and left.”

  “Did you hear this too?” Sam asked May.

  May shook her head.

  “What time?” Sam asked. “What time did she leave?”

  “About 10pm, I think,” Grant s
aid.

  “Eleven, Grant,” May said. “I’m very sure it was eleven.”

  “Her time of death is between midnight and one,” Sam said. “So I suppose that makes it obvious who did it.”

  Tina, Nora noticed, was holding her breath, looking at Sam with trepidation in her eyes. Any moment now, she expected him to burst into tears, clearly.

  Instead, Sam grabbed May’s lemonade, raised it to the sky, and said, “A toast to justice. May it always prevail!” In one swoop, he drunk the entire glass, and banged it on the table. Then, throwing back his head, he began laughing.

  The others looked at him uncomfortably. Slowly, his laughs turned into gurgles, and then into little sobs. Nora, who had seen him at his worst, expected him to cry again. Instead, when he faced them all, his face was vacant.

  “Forgive me,” he said. “I’m still emotionally unstable, I think.”

  “That’s all right.” Harvey put an arm around his shoulders. “We’re here for you, buddy.”

  “Absolutely.” May patted the back of his hand. “Can I get you another lemonade?”

  “You can get me Robert’s head on a silver platter.” Sam laughed. “No, I’m fine. Really. In a twisted sort of way, knowing he’s been caught makes it better for me. I spent all of last night wondering… why? Now, it seems obvious. He made a move on her, she rejected him. He killed her.” Sam’s face convulsed, before he controlled himself. “Now, he will face the consequences of his actions. I hope the judge throws the book at him.”

  The others nodded, but Nora did not.

  No, it didn’t make sense to her. If Selena had decided to rendezvous with Robert, why would she choose the library of all places? Why not a motel, or a car? If Robert, who was huge and muscled, had decided to kill her in a fit of passion, would he not be likely to do it by strangling her or perhaps hitting her? How likely was he to grab a letter opener and stab her?

  There was too much here that made no sense.

  The door to Anna’s clinked, and Mayor Almand walked in. He looked very pleased as he greeted the others, and sat down. He didn’t bother with small talk, rather, jumped right into his story.

  “I talked to someone who knows things.” He touched the side of his nose and winked. “Now I’m not saying this someone was from the sheriff’s department, but I’m not saying it wasn’t either.”

  “They’ve arrested Robert, right?” Sam asked. “We know already.”

  “But do you know that Robert was actually Robbie Jones?” Mayor Almand looked pleased. “He was in our very own Milburn High.”

  “He announced that in the library yesterday,” Grant said. “So yes, we do know.”

  “Oh.” The Mayor looked disappointed. “I guess you know the rest of it, too? That he and Selena dated.”

  Sam was sitting up straighter, his face turning white with horror. “Robbie Jones? Robert Foxworthy is Robbie Jones?”

  Tina gave him a funny look. “Didn’t I tell you that yesterday?”

  “No. Nobody did,” Sam said. “If I’d known, I’d have called the police last night.” He buried his face in his hands. “Oh no. Oh no. I could have saved her.”

  “Why? Why would you have called the police?”

  “Selena and Robbie used to date in high school,” Sam said. “I suppose it was an obvious match. They were both outcasts. His father had moved here from London when Robbie was 15, and he was too posh to get along with the other boys here. He and Selena were both bookworms who thought ‘weirdo’ was a compliment, not an insult. They got along really well. I remember, Selena loved to cut her hair short, she once even shaved herself bald. At the time, she was not much to look at. As for Robbie, fat was a kind word to describe him. Morbidly obese was a more accurate term. Still, he was a cheerful lad, and very loving. They had an innocent romance. Both wrote poems and stories and shared them with each other. The rest of us would wrinkle our nose if Selena read out her poetry, but Robbie actually appreciated it.”

  “Sounds like a good match all right,” Harvey said. “When did he show his true colors?”

  “College,” Sam said. “At first, it seemed like they were going to be together forever. The thought of breaking up never even crossed their mind. Robbie and Selena were so in love, they both gave up offers from better schools and accepted the same university. Thing was, there’s a huge difference between high-school-you and college-you. Robbie changed in college. So did Selena. All of a sudden, from being an outcast in school, she was actually popular. She was lauded by her professors for her writing, and she even became editor of the college literary magazine. As for Robbie, well, he continued his high school antics of sitting in the last row and doing as little work as possible. Soon, he was flunking out.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then one day, Robbie stole a poem from Selena and submitted it as his own in Lit Class,” Sam said. “Selena blew up. She said it was worse than cheating. They had a huge shouting match. Robbie told her it was no big deal. He kept trying to calm her down by saying it was just one paper, he’d do ten for her, but Selena was adamant. She told him that she was going to turn him in. At some point, they both got so heated that someone in the dorm called the cops, and before they arrived he slapped her.”

  There was a gasp around the table.

  “If you knew Selena. Well, let’s just say you’d know that she believed very strongly in non-violence,” Sam said. “Words were her preferred method of destruction. She believed there was nothing more evil than violence. As for a man raising his hand on a woman? Well, Robbie was dead to her as soon as he did that. He tried to get back together for a year. He begged forgiveness, he did excessively creepy things like sending her enough flowers to fill her entire room, or delivering singing telegrams every day for a week. He even stood outside her dorm window with a boombox held over his head like he was John Cusack.”

  “Did she report him?”

  “I think so. All I know is he eventually dropped out of her life, and then out of college,” Sam said. “If I’d known Robert Foxworthy was that same creepy “nice guy” Robbie, the man who raised his hand on my sister, I would have taken a baseball bat to him. I swear I would have.”

  “Calm down, Sam. We can’t have you talking like this,” the mayor said anxiously. “Not in the current atmosphere. People are bound to misinterpret you.”

  “There’s nothing to misinterpret. I would have beaten him up back then if I weren’t 13 at the time,” Sam said. “I would certainly have given him a few blows if I’d known. Maybe I could have prevented all this if I’d just, if I’d just known.” He gave a frustrated sigh.

  “Women, some women, can be attracted to the forbidden,” May said. “If Selena was planning to reconcile with him—”

  “She wasn’t, though,” Grant pointed out. “She was fighting with him yesterday.”

  “But agreed to meet him later that night,” May said.

  “True,” Grant agreed.

  “Is that it?” Sam said. “An abusive boyfriend who got out of control? That’s what took my lovely, talented sister’s life?” His eyes were swimming with tears. He gulped. “What a pity. What an absolute shame. She was a wonderful person, you know. I know she was cranky and selfish, but she was a truly brilliant writer. I hope he gets capital punishment, I really do. He deserves to hang from the neck and be left to dry.”

  *****

  Chapter 10

  “All right,” Sean said, “Your bail’s been paid. You’re free to go.”

  Robert smirked, and rubbed his wrists. “You’re going to be a character in one of my books soon, Sean. A loser sheriff who thinks his small town is the center of the world.”

  “To me, it is,” Sean said. “I take pride in making sure the world is revolving just fine without jerks trying to upset its balance.”

  “My lawyer is flying down here as soon as he gets the chance,” Robert said.

  “You’re not allowed to leave the county yet,” Sean said, “but the faster you leave my office, the b
etter it will be for us both. I’m anticipating you’ll be in here again soon enough.”

  “You’ve made up your mind about me, haven’t you? You’re trying to protect your precious townsfolk and blame it all on the outsider. This place never changes.”

  “The most important things in the world seldom do,” Sean said. “Good and evil were well defined ten thousand years ago, and they’re the same now.”

  “I’ve had enough of you and your cryptic statements.” Robert made a show of looking through the plastic bag that had been handed to him. “I had twenty three dollars in my wallet when you arrested me, and they better still be in there.”

  “I’m sure it’s all in order,” Sean said. “Again, Mr. Foxworthy, or Mr. Jones, I’d like you out of my office.”

  “I’m going to call the press,” Robert said, standing up. “This should make for good Sunday morning reading. Corrupt small town cop targets fearless author.”

  “How about has-been creative attracts attention by attacking honest cop?” Sean asked. “Get out, Robert.”

  They walked outside to the lobby, and Sean frowned. All the chairs in the waiting area were occupied by Nora, Harvey, Tina and Sam. Sam jumped to his feet as the two men emerged from the office.

  “What is he doing here!” Sam cried. “You arrested him! I thought it was over!”

  “Now, Sam, take it easy.” Instinctively, Sean moved to block Sam’s view of Robert. He noted with some relief that both Nora and Harvey instantly moved to restrain Sam.

  “Oh you’re acting up,” Robert laughed. “Playing the grieving brother a little too much, aren’t you? She was only your step sister.”

  “I heard all about you,” Sam said. “I know what you did in college. She hated you.”

  “Did she?” Robert considered this. “You know what she told me about you, Sam?”

  Sam paused, his face turning white.

  “She told me nothing,” Robert let out a peal of laughter. “Kind of funny, right? I was her boyfriend for four years, and the only time she mentioned you was when she was rolling her eyes about how you were a loser with failing grades.”