"A Murder In Milburn", Book 1: Death At A Diner (10 page)

“I’m speaking to you as a friend, Nora. There’s only trouble for you if you lie to me. I’ve had a tip that he’s here.”

“Sit, please,” Nora said, taking his arm and slowly pulling him towards the kitchen. “We do need to talk.”

Mrs. Mullally, on seeing Sean’s face, kept her tea down and immediately took the puppy out for a walk. Sean settled on the island counter, and Nora had a stab of grief as she remembered the last time he’d sat here, that happy day when she and Raquel had received their diner uniforms.

“I know he was here last night and hasn’t left,” Sean said. “My deputy followed him.”

“Your deputy!” Nora exclaimed. “There were two men watching the house last night, but they were Santino’s men.”
 

Sean’s lips tightened. “Is that right?”

The distrust on Sean’s face pained her. Resolved to make it vanish, Nora spent the next five minutes telling him everything. Sean listened, his face moving from distrust to interest, to excitement.

“We’ll catch him soon,” Sean said happily. “He’s running scared, and he’s bound to make a mistake.”

“I don’t understand,” Nora said.

“It’s a long story, I suppose,” Sean said. “I’ve been after Harvey and Santino for two years now.”

The timer pinged, and Nora rose automatically to take the bread out. Sean inhaled, and smacked his lips. “You know, I’m a little hungry.”

“Sean--”

“I’d be willing to exchange a story for some of that bread,” he said. “What’s in it?

“Spicy sausage, basil, tomato and cheese.” Nora broke off one of the knots, and a string of cheese stretched out as she plated it. She handed him the plate and stayed by the stove, making coffee.

He took a bite, gave a sigh of satisfaction and began his story.

“Harvey came out of nowhere,” Sean said. “About eight years ago. That was two years after you left town, I suppose. So you have no clue what he’s like.”

“I suppose not, other than what he’s told me about himself,” she said.

“A pack of lies calculated to make you pity him, I’m sure,” Sean scoffed. “The man’s an out and out fraud. I don’t know what he was doing before he came here, but right after, he tried to con an old man into signing his property away.”

The rancher that Harvey had mentioned to her, Nora thought. The man he’d claimed was his father.

“The old man was smarter than Harvey, but Harvey stuck around in town as if he had something to prove,” Sean said. “Two years, he worked odd jobs, and suddenly, he somehow found the money to begin flipping houses. Five years later, he’d made a meteoric rise and become the owner of a real estate agency that’s spread in three cities around Wyoming. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? A hardworking man, getting ahead on his own? The American dream.”

Nora nodded. “It sounds like he was sharp and hardworking.”

“I’ll agree with you there,” Sean said. “I don’t like the man much, but any fool can see he’s sharp and he works hard. What I don’t like, though, is whose money he works hard with. A man named Santino.”

“Santino,” Nora said. “That name keeps popping up.”

“Santino makes his money from an underground gambling ring,” Sean said. “I know for a fact that he gave Harvey money for his first business venture. Problem is, it was a small amount, Santino could prove it was all legal, and I couldn’t touch either of them.” He paused to chew up the last of the bread and drain the coffee.

“Go on,” Nora said. “Another piece?”

“No, this was stuffed, and now I’m stuffed.” He smiled. “Anyway, the one link between Harvey and Santino was a man named Donald. He was Harvey’s partner initially. Five years ago, he vanished. I half suspected something had happened to him. An accident of some sorts.”

“Didn’t you put in a missing person’s report?” Nora asked.

“Harvey slipped out of my fingers again,” Sean said. “He showed me an email from Donald, saying that he was bored of Wyoming, and was going to go find his fortune in another state. Harvey had been renting Donald a place to stay, so there was no landlord I could follow up with. No family either. I couldn’t do anything.”

“So now?”

“So now, suddenly, Raquel’s died, Santino’s getting aggressive and Harvey’s vanished,” Sean said.

“Vanished?”

“He hasn’t left a note behind the way Donald did, but Ashley says he’s been gone since yesterday afternoon. You’re the only one who’s met him. I’ve got my instincts, Nora, and they tell me I’m close to catching him.”

“You think…” Nora’s throat seemed to close around her words. “You think he was responsible for Raquel’s…”

“The official line is still that a vagrant did it,” Sean said, his sheriff’s mask coming on again. “But of course, we haven’t ruled out the theory that it was someone she knew.”

“It can’t be Harvey,” Nora said. “He was with me, remember? The night we had the accident.”

“A perfect alibi.” The sheriff said. “He has you, Raquel’s closest friend, as a witness. He has the paramedics as witnesses. He has me as a witness even. No way that he was near the diner when Raquel…” He paused, to observe Nora’s face, which was slowly crumbling.

“…when Raquel was murdered,” Nora said.
 

“Right,” Sean said. “Except.”

“Except what?”

“Except. Sometimes, the man who pulls a trigger isn’t necessarily the murderer. Sometimes, it can be the man who’s ordered the trigger pulled.”

“You’re saying Harvey had a hit on her, then planned his alibi?” Nora said.

“His car had an accident because someone had set a nail strip on the road,” the Sheriff said. “No one knew he was going to use that road, did they? So how did they set the trap?” He pushed his cup aside and looked at Nora.

“Sean… you’re… this is all too fantastic,” Nora said putting a hand to her forehead.

“Is it?” Sean’s voice was hard. “Or has he seduced you into believing his innocence?”

“I can believe he’s broken the law for his business,” Nora said. “I might even believe he isn’t all that he says he is. But I cannot believe he’s a murderer. I would have known. I just… his eyes didn’t lie, Sean.”

“So you’d like to believe,” Sean said. “Nora, he’s no good. I’ve known it since the day he walked into town. The day he tried to convince an old, ailing man that he was his son.”

“You’re trying to hide it, Sean, but you know you’re biased,” Nora said. “You hate Harvey, and it’s coloring your perception of him.”

“Hate him?” Sean scoffed. “Why would I?”

“You know why as well as I do,” Nora said. “That old ailing man was your father, wasn’t he? Old rancher Dracon. Harvey might be your step brother and you aren’t ready to accept it.”
 

Sean swept his hat off the counter and placed it on his head. His eyes darkened and sparked. “Watch it, Nora. If you spread rumors about me or my family--”

“I’m not in the business of spreading rumors,” Nora said. “I’m quite different from you, Sean.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sean asked, marching up to her, his eyes on fire now.

“You know what it’s supposed to mean,” Nora said, feeling irrationally angry at him. “I’ve known you since high school. Everyone else thinks you’re just a perfect all-American boy, but I remember what happened with Alan even if everyone else chose to forget. You and your girlfriend nearly ruined her life with the rumors you spread.”

“I wasn’t…” Sean pulled off his hat then put it on again. “No. I refuse to waste time talking about it. You’re just defensive about Harvey, so you’re attacking me. You’re angry right now, but you’ll see soon enough that he’s just as crooked as I think he is. In the meanwhile, Nora, I’m warning you officially. Don’t get more involved than you are already.”

*****

Chapter 16

“It wasn’t his fault, you know,” Mrs. Mullally said.

Nora, who had been ruminating over a cup of tea when the sheriff left, started as Mrs. Mullally entered from the kitchen door.

“I’ve got a bad habit of listening in when I’m not wanted,” Mrs. Mullally said. “Some’d be more ashamed of it, but personally, I think curiosity is what keeps me fresh and peppy even at my age.”

“Why, you’re no older than this puppy,” Nora said, scooping Maynard up and planting a few kisses on his snout. “What did you overhear?”

“Everything, more or less,” Mrs. Mullally said. “Not that I was too happy to hear about Harvey visiting you, or the men who kept watch on the house last night.”

Nora felt abashed. “Mrs. M-”

“Don’t Mrs. M me,” Mrs. Mullally said. “This is dangerous business, Nora, and I wouldn’t want you hurt.” She spoke with the strictness of an aunt reprimanding a child. Nora felt rather like a six-year-old who’d been caught breaking a vase. Still.

“Harvey’s no murderer,” Nora said. “I feel it in every pore of me. He’s–an enigma, yes, and he’s capable of… well, he’s selfish, let’s say. But not evil. I know it’s foolish but I saw it in his eyes.”

“Maybe,” Mrs. Mullally said. “But a man may be honest in his girlfriend’s arms, and yet a cheat and a murderer all the same. He may honestly have feelings for you Nora, and so his eyes felt true. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of committing a crime.”

“Mrs. M--”

“No, you listen to me. I’ve known Harvey since the day he came to town. He rented your very room before he got rich.”

“He did?” Nora said, wondering. “He never mentioned that!”

“Funny that he didn’t,” Mrs. M said. “He lived there a good two years while he was setting up his business. Now, I don’t think he’s a murderer either. But Sean was right that he was mixed up in some funny business. Sometimes these businesses take on a life of their own. Then they end up taking someone else’s life.”

Nora nodded. “You don’t think he’s capable of murder, but you think the situation might have gotten out of control for him.”

“Exactly,” Mrs. Mullally said. “Sean, on the other hand, does have a bit of a grudge, like you said, so he’s more apt to believe that Harvey’s out and out evil.”

“Sean’s going to muddle up the investigation if he lets his personal feelings get in the way,” Nora said heatedly. “He should be out looking for whoever murdered Raquel, not going on a witch hunt.”

“A witch hunt,” Mrs. M mulled over the word. “Now that’s a funny way to put it. You could almost say that’s what happened to Alan, didn’t it?”

“Sean and his gang,” Nora said. “Raquel never seemed to care about it, but god, I hated how they treated poor Alan.”

“Remind me again, who Alan was,” Mrs. Mullally said. “I taught that high school for thirty years. Events have a way of muddling up for me.”

“Alan was a sweet boy,” Nora said. “He was a bit slow, and a bit snoopy, but basically he was a sweet boy. I was never part of the popular crowd, but I wasn’t quite as low on the totem pole as him either. I suppose being friends with Raquel insulated me from ever being bullied. Alan on the other hand, with his buck teeth and his thick glasses, was a prime target. He’d always been a scapegoat, but in senior year, it was particularly terrible. He made Sean angry somehow, and he and his friends teased Alan relentlessly, like a pack of wolves hunting down a deer. They were arrogant jocks, all of them, Sean, Jeremy, David. Even Raquel, sweet as she was, joined in on calling Alan “
Alien
”. Though she never spread the gossip like Sean did.”

“What gossip?” Mrs. Mullally asked.

“That Alan was crazy and had tried to kill one of their girlfriends. It was just a vicious, ugly rumor, all because Alan had a falling out with some girl. Do you remember how it all turned out?”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Mrs. Mullally frowned. “It doesn’t sound like Sean at all, to tease the boy so. Sean was one of the good guys in my class. I remember him always being the type to help people, not harm them. He even spent a few hours a week as a tutor to some of my less fortunate students. Surely, it was his friends and not him who teased Alan.”

“He was the ringleader,” Nora said firmly. “It’s why I’ve never been able to trust him.”

“Are you sure?” Mrs. Mullally asked.

“Very,” Nora said. “He’s got a streak of cruelty in him, hidden beneath the niceness. He won’t ever be cruel to someone just for the sake of it, but his cruelty comes out when he’s convinced that someone’s in the wrong. When he wants revenge, Sean is capable of being a monster.”

Mrs. Mullally thought this over. “I wouldn’t know. It’s a puzzle why I don’t remember this boy at all. What happened to her in the end?”

“He ran away,” Nora said. “Ran away and no one ever found him. Maybe it was his life at home that was bad, but I’m convinced it was also the teasing.”

“Alan!” Nodding her head, Mrs Mullally suddenly nodded. “I remember now. A shy sort of boy with a lot of interest in chemistry. I just assumed he ran away to a big city, and maybe got himself a job somewhere.”

“Well, the point is, when Sean was convinced Alan was a bad guy, he was a downright bully. I think he’s being the same way with Harvey right now.”

“I’m not so sure,” Mrs Mullally said. “It sounds to me like the only one who’s letting their emotions cloud their judgement is you.” Seeing Nora’s angry face, she hastily added, “But you might be right. Maybe Sean is focusing in the wrong spots. Maybe the sheriff’s so busy convinced that Raquel was murdered by Santino or Harvey, that he’s forgotten to look closer to home.”