Read Online "A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library by Nancy McGovern - Free Book Online

solve this. Don’t go after him.”
    But, of course, she did. She had to.
    Outside, mist flowed down the mountainside, and dark clouds huddled together. In the small space between clouds, a waning moon shone palely. Robert was by the door of his rental car, head pressed down against the roof, hands resting on his temple.
    “Are you all right?” she asked.
    He looked up, blinked. “Not really,” he said. He gave a sniff, and rubbed his eyes. “Did Sam send you to deliver a message, or was it Sean?”
    “It occurred to me that you have no friends or family in this town,” Nora said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”
    “Sympathizing with a murderer?” Robbie smiled. “I’ve heard that there’s a section of women who are attracted to serial killers. They even send them fan mail in jail. Are you secretly one of them?”
    “Not really,” Nora said. She glanced back at the sheriff’s office. Harvey had appeared at the door. He walked to the sidewalk and leaned on one of the street lamps, crossing his arms across his chest.
    Robert saw this, and laughed. “Ah yes, the overly protective boyfriend.”
    “Harvey’s none of your business,” Nora said.
    “I’d say Selena’s none of yours,” Robert said. “Yet here we are.”
    “Look, I only came because I don’t think you killed her,” Nora said. “Unlike most people in town.”
    “Are you sure?” Robert grinned. “After all, I punched the sheriff. That’s all you know about my character.”
    “You’re smart,” Nora said. “You’re acting abrasive right now because you’re upset about Selena’s death, and you think you’re being targeted. So you’re being rebellious and acting like a jerk, to anger the sheriff a little more. Instead, you could try and cooperate.”
    “Why should I? The sheriff’s had it in for me since he saw me at the library the other day,” Robert said. “If that wasn’t bad enough, I snuck back into town after he’d kindly escorted me out.”
    “Why did you?”
    “Why did I come back in the first place? I had to meet her. I had to exorcise myself of her,” Robert said. “You don’t know what it’s like, Nora. To have a ghost follow you around your life. I was a dirtbag in college. My parents were divorcing then, after years of emotional and physical abuse by my father. I wasn’t in a very happy place. I was stoned every day, and bunking classes. She was a great girlfriend. I was the reason we broke up. I lost the best thing in my life because I was too busy focussing on the worst. It killed me every day, that I’d lost her and there was no way to get her back.”
    “Weren’t you angry at her?”
    “After I slapped her in college? No. I was horrified at myself. I’d become the one person I didn’t want to be. My father. That slap woke me up. I needed to change. I tried to tell her that I had changed, that I’d never do it again. But it was too late. I was desperate, I tried everything I could to win her back, until it sunk in that she’d need time, and a lot of evidence that I’d changed. So I decided to travel the world. To become a real man, the kind of man Selena deserved.”
    “You wrote your book about her, didn’t you?”
    “I did, yes.” He laughed. “It was obvious to anybody who knew me. Along the way, I did change. When you travel the world, you meet people who’ve had a life a million times tougher than yours and still manage to be positive, loving people. I’m a much better person now than I was in college. When I was in Guyana last month, I had a near death experience. I was bitten by a snake, and the antivenom almost didn’t reach me on time because the road to town was washed away by a flood. That’s when I knew there was no point in traveling the world with her invisible presence. I had to go back. I had to find her. I used any excuse I could, and when my agent landed me this small town library talk, I was happier than when I’d first got my six-figure royalty