"A Murder In Milburn", Book 1: Death At A Diner Read Free Page B

the crime, Ashley,” Harvey said, his voice mild.
    “The perp is Javier Lugo. He’s one of Santino’s men,” Sean said, his voice equally mild. “Wouldn’t know anything about that, would you Harvey?”
    “Santino? Never heard of him,” Harvey said.
    “You’ve done business with him.” Sean tapped his pencil on the flip board.  
    “I do business with a lot of people, sheriff,” Harvey said. “I suppose I could be expected to remember each name, each face. Unfortunately, my brain isn’t as sharp as yours.”
    “I do remember names and faces,” Sean said. “Specially the men I’ve arrested. Find it funny you could do a multimillion dollar deal with someone and forget he exists.”
    “Oh, that Santino! Marco Santino.” Harvey nodded as if remembering just now. “Well, did the perp say anything about him?”
    “No,” Sean admitted. “It’s all the same with Santino’s men. Everyone has a bad memory.”
    Harvey shrugged. “Sounds to me like you’re accusing a man on a whim, sheriff. There’s no proof Santino’s involved.”
    “Not yet,” Sean promised. “There will be one day soon, and maybe you won’t be so poker-faced then, Harvey.”
    “Do you treat all your victims this way, sheriff?” Harvey smiled. “I hope not.”
    “Victims, no. Abettors, yes.”
    “Careful,” Harvey said. His voice was still mild, but a note of steel had entered into it.
    Ashley, who had made herself lemonade, broke the tense silence between the two by offering some to the sheriff, who shook his head. “No thanks, Ashley. I just had some excellent rhubarb iced tea.”
    “Nora’s homemade tea is delicious, isn’t it?” she asked slyly, her mind filing away the information for a future gossip session with the library committee. “It was Nora’s tea you drank, wasn’t it?”
    “Nora’s, yes. I was over at Mrs. Mullally’s. Her dog needed rescuing.” Sheriff winced, knowing that the explanation made him sound even more suspect. If he was very honest, there was no reason a deputy couldn’t have gone over to Mrs. Mullally’s – he had enough work to keep him occupied for a year without going about rescuing puppies. Still, he’d felt obliged to pop over himself. After all, Mrs. Mullally had been his high school English teacher, and he still had a great fondness for her. The problem was, the rest of the town suspected the fondness lay for Mrs. Mullally’s new tenant, as was evident by the gleam in Ashley’s eyes. He sighed. Milburn was a small town, with a large demand for gossip, but he didn’t want his own love life – or lack thereof – to be included.
    He turned the focus back on Harvey. “Real estate business going well, Harvey?” he asked. “No competitors out to get you? No jealous ex-partners who’d put a bounty on your head?”
    “Business is business,” Harvey said. “It looks like it is going well one minute, then tumbles off into the abyss the next. It’s smooth for now. I suppose I have my share of competitors, but I can’t think of any who’d want to hire that goon to threaten me. Honestly, I think it’s just a botched robbery. There’s no mystery here.”
    “You’re certainly trying hard to make it look that way,” Sean said.
    “Are we done here, Sheriff?” Harvey asked. “I’ve got a date tonight, and I wouldn’t want to be late.” He smiled, his lips moving to bare teeth, but his eyes remaining cold.
    “He’s taking Nora out tonight.” Ashley giggled, and Sean resisted the temptation to wince again. Yes, he knew who Harvey was dating. It was impossible not to, in Milburn. He didn’t need Ashley to throw the fact in his face. Ashley was watching them both intensely, ready to report any and all interactions between the two to her friends.
    Harvey was pulling at the cuffs of his sleeves, and Sean wondered how the man always managed to look ridiculously comfortable in his three-piece suits. Sean himself had worn a suit maybe three times in his life, and each time