A Murder In Milburn Book 2 Death Of A Deputy REVAMPED June 2016 SCRIVENER Read Online Free PDF Page B

his hand on the coffee table, and the entire café fell silent. “Enough,” he said, his voice bubbling with rage. “Not one word more.”
    Tina’s eyes widened, and pricked with tears. “I’m sorry. I just--”
    Sean shoved himself off the seat, and said coldly, “I’ve got no interest in sitting around listening to this nonsense. Good day to you all.”  
    “Sean, wait!” Nora gave a pitying glance to Tina, and ran after Sean, who had slammed the door behind him. Almost as soon as he did, a buzz ran up as every person in the café began murmuring silently.
    Nora caught up to him as he was opening his car, and touched his shoulder gently. “Sean.”
    He didn’t say anything, but he froze in place, his key still on the door lock.
    “She didn’t mean anything by it. Please don’t be mad. I’ve never seen you like this.”
    “She didn’t mean anything by it? That…” Sean took a deep breath. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I knew Wallis, Nora. I worked with him for five years now. All right, so we weren’t the best of friends,but I can’t stand to see his life dissected on one hand and his body on the other. It’s terrible. And it’s all the more terrible because maybe, just maybe if I had been just a little bit more alert, I could have saved him.”
    “Sean, if this was his destiny, nothing you did could have saved him.”
    Sean gave a bitter laugh. “I guess I’m supposed to feel better thinking that way. That nothing I did could have helped.”
    “No, you couldn’t have saved him, Sean, but you can bring his killer to justice.”
    Sean’s jaw hardened. “Yes. By god, I will. I’ve got him in custody already.”
    “You what?” Nora blinked. “Sean, that’s excellent work.”
    Sean shrugged. “I do nothing more than mop up. There’s no satisfaction in it.”
    “You should be proud of yourself.” Nora patted him on the shoulder gently. “That’s fast work.”
    “Murders usually are,” Sean said. “Especially cases like this, where there was no premeditation.”
    “What makes you think there wasn’t?”
    “It was clearly a crime of passion, Nora. Someone who had bitter words with Wallis, and decided that violence was better than words.”
    “But… Wallis and his group had just performed. They were probably all celebrating. How could they even have… why would Wallis even have gone to the shed?”
    “That’s what I need a confession for,” Sean said. “The kid’s probably under eighteen, so he’s going to go to juvie instead of proper prison, though god knows how much hope he has of being rehabilitated there.”
    Nora’s stomach dropped. “Wait, who is this suspect you arrested?”
    “The kid. The roadie Wallis fought with last night. The stage manager told me he’d fired the kid because he dropped the speaker on Wallis’s guitar. That gives us some motive, and with his kind of personality, the impulsive, hot-blooded kind, I’m sure the kid saw it all as Wallis’s fault and decided to …” Sean raised his hand, made a swinging motion, and a little cluck of his tongue.
    “That doesn’t really sound right to me,” Nora said. “Sean, I saw what happened yesterday, and that kid was terrified when Wallis was threatening him. He was trembling all over like a puppy caught in the rain. I’d be surprised if he could hurt anybody.”
    “You’d be surprised at what people are capable of,” Sean said. “What you’re saying still fits my psychological profile of him. He probably hated Wallis and felt afraid, and humiliated by him. In his mind, Ricky must have thought of himself as a victim, and Wallis was just the latest in a line of men who were bigger and badder than him. So he stood up, proved himself a man, in this twisted way. That’s how I picture it right now.”
    “You sound like you’ve made your mind up already.” There was a tiny note of disdain in Nora’s voice.
    “I promise you, I haven’t,” Sean said. “As a detective, as a sheriff,