"A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library Read Online Free PDF

them seemed to notice or care as she walked from one room to another, searching for her friend.
    Along the way, her ears picked up the conversations that were being carried on in hushed whispers around her.
    In one corner, two old ladies in hushed voices:
    “... all go to Sam?”
    “I think not. Selena wasn’t very close to him, was she?”
    “Oh, she must have been. Sam seemed very upset. His wife, though, now there’s a shark if I’ve ever seen one. Not one tear out of her.”
    A raucous man with a glass of whiskey in hand:
    “I tell you this, the poor girl didn’t deserve it, no sir. There’s people asking questions like what was she doing alone in the library that late at night, but I say, that shouldn’t matter. Murder’s evil whether in a dark alley at midnight or the comfort of home on a Sunday afternoon.”
    A nervous looking man speaking to a man in a navy suit:
    “So what I heard is that she had no will. But Sam’s only her step-brother, isn’t he? Who does it all go to?”
    “The people it always eventually goes to when the will isn’t clear and the family members are fighting. Their lawyers.”
    In another room, a radio was on, and Zany Motts sang a slow ballad. “ The moon turns dark/ My heart knows better/ But my shrunken hands still clutch around/ Your very last letter. ”
    Nora climbed the stairs, and finally, in a window seat on the second floor, found Tina, staring at the rain outside, her knees pressed to her chest, her arms cupped around her face.
    “Nora!” Her face looked like gravity had doubled itself in the last 24 hours. “I was hoping you’d be back.”
    “How are you doing?” Nora asked. “How’s Sam?”
    “Just fine,” Tina said, “We’re planning on organizing a little swing dance, and then going to Paris.”  
    Nora said nothing, keeping a sympathetic hand on Tina’s shoulder, and Tina buried her face in her knees. Her shoulders shook slightly. Looking up, she said, “I’m an evil woman, Nora.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I mean it,” Tina said. “I thought I’d be unhappy. I thought I’d have some shreds of grief, and rationally, I hate that Selena was murdered, I hate that a life was so abruptly taken away. But grief? There is no grief. I feel nothing.”
    Nora sat next to her, keeping a hand on her knee. “You weren’t very close.”
    “No, I suppose we weren’t,” Tina said. “I think it’d be hypocritical of me to shed tears if I didn’t mean it. Nor am I capable of singing her praises when I didn’t like her much. I respected her work as a writer, and I think she cared about Sam. But as a person, she just wasn’t the kind I could get close to. Still, it’s tragic, what happened to her.”
    “You have to be careful,” Nora said.  
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean…” Nora hesitated. “Tina, honesty’s well and good, but we live in a small town. I understand why you’re stone faced right now. Others won’t.”
    “Won’t they?” Tina laughed. “I can’t bring myself to care. The one person I care about is lying in bed, sedated. It’s like revisiting the shock of his mother’s death all over again. Sam’s… Sam’s fractured, Nora.”
    “I’m sorry,” Nora said, knowing the words would not be enough.
    “I wish I could find out who did this,” Tina said, her lips curving to bare her teeth. “I feel like… I’d beat him within an inch of his life. Not for what he did to Selena, but for what he did to my husband. I don’t know how to console him. I was never very good at that sort of thing.” She took a breath. “What do I do, Nora?”
    “Just be there for him,” Nora said. “He has to fight his grief alone, but he’ll rest on your shoulder every time he’s tired. That’s all anyone can do. Offer a shoulder.”
    “Is that why you’re here?” Tina smiled. “Thank you, then.”
    “Actually, I was here to drop off a casserole,” Nora said. “I didn’t want you to worry about food for a few