"A Murder In Milburn", Book 1: Death At A Diner (6 page)

“Didn’t you call him home after the robbery?” May asked.

Ashley shifted. “I did, but he was very close to signing a huge deal, and seeing as I wasn’t hurt, he promised to be home tomorrow.”

Bored with this conversation, Mason said, “Deputy Wallis caught a drifter through this part of town last week.” He paused, taking a deep breath, watching the two women before him for reactions.

“Do you think the drifter came back into town and did it?” May asked, curious. Her sharp mind seemed to be taking this bit of news and revising it mentally. Mason could almost picture the inside of her brain. a typewriter that was clacking out and erasing various theories.

“It’s likely,” Mason said. “Deputy Wallis said the man was a proper loser, seemed kind of crazy. He was talking to himself.”

“It’s a real shame,” Ashley said. “The deputy should just have arrested the man a week back and none of this would have happened.”

“Can’t arrest someone before the crime occurs,” Mason said. “Deputy gave him a ride out of town and encouraged him never to come back. That’s about all one can do.”

The other two nodded vigorously, both feeling more at ease now that a proper theory for who could have done it had been set. Of course it had to be a drifter. This was a small, loving town. Surely none of the people they went to church with were capable of murdering a lovely young girl like Raquel.
 

Were they?

*****

Chapter 10

Nora spent an entire day in bed, playing one song in a loop. From her speakers, Joni Mitchell sang
A Case of You
, the melancholy tune and voice melting perfectly into the grief that Nora felt.
 

It was the song Raquel had heard, over and over, right after high school, the months after she had broken up with her first boyfriend. Nora, her best friend, had heard it over and over with her, and the two of them had been bonded together in the melancholy of those months so that Nora could never hear the song again without also remembering Raquel.
 

Nora couldn’t much recall the events of that fateful night. She remembered seeing Raquel’s body and then feeling a dark pit open up inside of herself. All of it felt like a dream that refused to end.
 

Raquel. Raquel was the one who had died, and Nora was the one who had survived, who had walked away unharmed despite the horrible accident she had been in. When she first saw Raquel, splayed on the floor, blood running out of her, Nora had believed that her friend was only hurt. Sean, being the wise Sheriff he was, had let Nora continue to believe so, calling for an ambulance and back up, and locking Nora in the back of his car, refusing to let her back in the diner.
 

Sean had dropped her back to Mrs. Mullally’s and called every few hours after. But Nora had not wanted to see or hear from anyone, and Mrs. Mullally, like a protective mother hen, had refused to let anyone near her.

If Nora had been able to see through the dark fog of losing her best friend, perhaps she would have seen that she needed to be strong, that she needed to talk to the police, and aid them, then talk to Raquel’s family about her funeral. But all Nora seemed to feel was the profound grief, sinking into the fact that Raquel wasn’t there anymore. Never would she bound through the door, bringing her good cheer with her, elevating Nora’s energy levels. No one would ever share the inside jokes the two of them had, or the many memories of pranks they’d played, or the deep 3am conversations they’d had about who they were and who they wanted to be.

She felt like a core ingredient of herself had crumbled into ash with Raquel gone, and that whoever had killed Raquel had killed part of Nora as well.

Joni Mitchell began her song again, and Nora sunk her head even lower into the pillow.

In her mind she saw a field of grass, and glass strewn about over it while the moonlight glinted in the recesses of the shards. Raquel had been there, Nora remembered. Nora had thought it was a hallucination, and realistically, of course it was. Still, now, it was the last memory she would ever have of Raquel, and Nora replayed it over and over.

A hand was placed on Nora’s shoulder, and she nearly screamed out loud. Turning around, she thrashed about as a man towered over her.

“Shhh. Nora. It’s me. It’s just me. It’s all right,” Harvey put a hand over her mouth and held her in an embrace until he felt her calming down. “I’ve been here all day and Mrs. Mullally didn’t let me in, so I decided to sneak in through the back window at night. It’s 1am and I didn’t want to wake Mrs. Mullally.”

“You broke in?” Nora hit him with a pillow, hard. “You’re an idiot, Harvey.”

He yelped and clutched his arm. “That stung,” he protested.

“You deserve it,” Nora said. “You’re mad, creeping into my room at odd hours when I’ve told Mrs. Mullally I don’t want to see anyone.”

“Nora…” His face softened. “I tried so many times to call, to see you, but you’d just vanished.”

“I just want to be alone,” she snapped. “Is that so hard for every person in this town to understand? They’ve shown up in waves, every one of them, all bearing casseroles and all hiding their naked curiosity right beneath their masks of sympathy. She was my best friend and now she’s gone, and I just don’t care if I don’t meet anyone ever again.”

“You have to, though,” Harvey said. “You have to meet the townspeople. They’re curious, yes, but they cared about her too. And there’s many of them that are grieving, in their own fashion. You have to talk to the sheriff too, and soon. That’s the only way he’s going to catch the guy who did it.”

“It doesn’t matter who did it,” Nora said, defeated. “What matters is that she’s gone. She’s never coming back, Harvey, and it kills me.” Tears streamed from her face.

“I know it does.” Harvey held her hand and sat on the edge of the bed, as Nora wiped the tears off with a corner of the blanket. “Nora, god knows I’m not the kindest of men. You called me rude and callous, and I am. But I know what it’s like to feel kicked down and alone. To feel like the world has no meaning in it, or that anger is the only emotion worth feeling. Please. Let me help you.”

“You can’t,” Nora said, sitting up straight.
 

“Ok. I can’t. I’ll sit here, with you, and let you lean on me a little, though,” he said. “Then, when you’re ready tomorrow, maybe you can help yourself. You have to be strong, Nora.”

“Why?” Nora asked. “Nothing matters.”

“Raquel does.” He put a hand on her cheek and rubbed it gently. “Raquel matters to you, and you mattered to her, so for her sake, you have to be strong.”

“I heard it was a drifter,” Nora said. “Can you imagine? Raquel was always so kind to people. She volunteered in the city homeless shelters. She was on a committee raising funds for the affected of the tsunami in Asia. But in the end, my best friend died at the hands of a probably drug-addicted drifter.”

“Did she?” Harvey’s voice was hard.

“Of course she did.” Nora raised her head, looked at Harvey properly for the first time.

He hadn’t shaved at all, and there were dark shadows under his eyes that told he probably hadn’t slept either. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing the same clothes she had last seen him in, olive chinos and a grey linen shirt.

“I went to see the diner,” Harvey said. “From what some officers told me, it doesn’t seem like it was a drifter who committed the crime.”

Something shifted inside Nora. “What do you mean?”

“There was no money in the till, was there? The diner hadn’t been opened yet. Raquel’s wallet was missing, but her gold bracelet was still on her hand and a pendant around her neck. Wouldn’t a drifter have grabbed those too?”
 

Nora closed her eyes and thought back. She took herself through time to that spot, to that moment when she had opened the door to the diner. Her eyes sprung wide open.

“You’re right, Harvey!” she exclaimed, jumping out of bed. “My god, I just realized this. None of the windows seemed to be broken, and when I left,
the diner had been locked
. I had to open the door with my own key because Raquel wasn’t answering. Whoever… whoever killed her clearly locked up after themselves. The villain who killed her took her purse and her keys.”
 

“Another thing,” Harvey said. “The killer took her purse and keys, but her car was still outside. Why would a drifter just leave it?” Harvey asked. “And why would a drifter lock up?”

“Why would anyone do that?” Nora asked.

“Because, they wanted time,” Harvey said. “That’s the only explanation.”

“But, that means…” Nora paled. “That means whoever killed her, did so out of sheer hate. This wasn’t an act of mindless violence or an accident of fate like I thought it was. This was malicious.”

“You need to tell the Sheriff everything we’ve just discussed,” Harvey said. “I think it’s time you talked to him.”

Nora and Harvey stayed together almost all night, after that, talking about Raquel. Nora found it easy to confide to him somehow, maybe because he was one of the few people in town who had hardly known her.

“I met her a few times for some tax purposes, I think,” Harvey said. “All I remember is that she was professional, courteous and efficient.”

Remembering the last time she’d seen Raquel, and the near exact way Raquel had described Harvey, Nora teared up again. “She liked you, you know. I mean, she thought you were a bit of a player, but that overall you were a decent man.”

“She was a good judge of people then,” Harvey smiled. “Though I know not too many people in town think I’m exactly decent.”

“She was one of those people who adds value to whatever life they touch,” Nora said with a deep sigh. “I wish…” She leaned her head against Harvey, suddenly exhausted from the grief. Her insides felt empty still, but the black despair that had colored her earlier was now gone. In its place was a steadily growing anger. Whoever killed Raquel, whoever destroyed her best friend, was in this very town, perhaps sleeping, perhaps gloating, perhaps relieved. Either way, for now, the murderer thought he had won. Nora’s anger roared inside her. Harvey was right. At all costs, she would find and destroy the … the monster who had done this.

Harvey leaned his head so that it lay stacked on top of hers. “You’ll be okay, won’t you?” He asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Nora said. “You’re right. I have to be. For her.”

“Good.” He took her phone, keyed in his number, and saved it. “Call me anytime, and I mean any time.” He stood, stretched, and looked at the time. “5am. I’d better get going now. Long day ahead of me.”

“Harvey.” Nora caught his hand suddenly as he prepared to head towards the window from where he had broken in.
 

He turned and looked at her. “Yes?”

“Nothing,” Nora said, letting his hand go. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

*****

Chapter 11

Sean sat across from her in the interrogation room and noted the dark circles under Nora’s eyes. His heart twisted. He’d expected her to look fragile. He’d been worried she was broken. But here she was, looking more determined than anything else. This was the last place he wanted to meet her, this tiny cage with its grey walls, mirrored observation deck, and sparse table-and-chair set up. Yet, here they were, both playing their parts. As Sheriff, no matter how he felt, he couldn’t just reach up and give her the powerful hug he wanted to.

How long had he known Nora? All his life, he supposed, just like he’d known Raquel, Ashley, Wallis and most of the town all his life. He’d been a year ahead of them in school, but dated a cheerleader their age. Mandy, one of Raquel’s friends. now 4 years married to a stockbroker from Dallas, living the good life in London. He blinked, realizing he hadn’t thought about his first girlfriend in nearly ten years now. Funny, considering how heartbroken he’d been when they first split.
 

Focusing back to the present, Sean thought over everything Nora had just told him. “So what you’re saying is, given that she still had her jewelry on her, and there was no cash in the til,l it wasn’t a drifter but a local who did it. Whoever killed her took her keys and purse, locked up, and went back to their lives.”

“Yes,” Nora said. “Now if we only knew the time of death we could…”

Sean’s face shuttered close. For a moment, Nora had seen a man, a friend. Now, he was only a strict official on duty.

“I’m afraid I can’t disclose details of the case just yet,” he said. “I hope you understand.”

She said she did, though Sean saw a flash of irritation move across her face.

“Nora, do you know anyone who wished to harm Raquel?”

Nora shook her head. “To be honest, Sean, I’ve been back here only three months ago and missing for ten years. I talked to her each week, but I still didn’t know as much about Raquel as a best friend should. But… I can’t believe anyone could ever want to hurt her.”

That was what troubled Sean. In town, word would soon spread that Raquel’s death wasn’t at the hands of a murderer, but more likely done by one of the fine upstanding locals. Sean didn’t like to think of what would happen when people found out. This was a friendly town, but it could close ranks around outsiders, and right now, even though she’d grown up here, Nora was an outsider, just returned three months ago after ten years in big cities. Plus, as Raquel’s business partner, she had a possible motive, and she had the means.