Page 50 of Always Murder

All Millie said, though, was “Oh.”

“What was Paul doing at that storage unit?”

“I told him he could sleep there.”

It’s hard to feel like a super-sleuth when the best thing you can come up with is “You did?”

Millie nodded.“It’s my storage unit.”

“It is?”

(I know: it wasn’t my best work.)

“She makes her jewelry there,” Keme said.“And that’s where she keeps all her supplies.”

“There isn’t enough room at the house,” Millie said.“Paul said he couldn’t come home until he figured out who was stealing the packages, so I said he could sleep there.You’re not supposed to, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt for a night or two.But I didn’t think he’d—I didn’t think—it was supposed to be safe.”Instead of a wail, this time her voice constricted until the last word was thin and small.With what must have taken an effort, Millie continued, “If he hadn’t been there, nothing would have happened to him.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said.“I wouldn’t be too quick to blame yourself.How long have you and Paul been in contact?”

That was the moment I learned Millie would never be a world-class poker player.

“The whole time?”

The words were louder than I intended.

Kassandra looked over—mid-explanation about her conditioner—and snapped, “Excuse me.”

“This is a hospital,” Angeline added.

Elliott gave a disappointed shake of his head.

David squeezed a gnome until I was surprised his little beard didn’t pop off.

“The whole time?”I asked again—more quietly, but with some extra, uh, vim.

“Not the whole time.I really did think he’d disappeared, but then he called me and said he needed help and told me not to tell anybody.”

It took me several seconds—and a long breath through my nose—before I finally managed to ask, “Seriously, Millie?Why?”

“Because he’s my brother—”

“Not why you were helping him.Why couldn’t he come home?”

“Oh.”Millie gave a helpless shrug.“I don’t know.He just said he couldn’t.”

“What was he doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Millie, I swear to God.”

Keme tried to kick me in the ankle again, but this time, I was ready.

“I promise I don’t know.He said he wasn’t going to go to jail and that he couldn’t come home until he figured out who was doing this.”

I thought about returning to the fact that Millie had known where Paul was and hadn’t bothered to tell anybody, but I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere.(Plus, Keme and I had watched this ’80s kung-fu movie where one of the guys breaks another guy’s finger by bending it all the way back, and I didn’t want to give Keme any reasons to try it out for himself.) So, instead I asked, “What happened tonight?”

“I was taking Paul some food from the house, so I waited until I knew nobody would notice.”Millie blushed, and there was something about how she didn’t look at Keme that would have tipped me off even if I hadn’t accidentally overheard their argument earlier that evening.Keme, for his part, looked even more morose than usual.Millie continued, “When I got there, the door was open, and the light was on.I was going to tell Paul off because I thought he’d forgotten to close it.And then I saw the Santa, and everything felt wrong, and when I got out of the car, I found Paul.”She stopped, tears welling again, and she blotted her eyes with the tissues again.

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