"A Murder In Milburn", Book 1: Death At A Diner by Nancy McGovern

mimicking the proud mountains.
    Nora had been 18 when her parents died in the kind of freak accident no one ever dreams about.  
    She’d felt nearly numb when it happened. This wasn’t in her carefully laid plans. She was set for college, for a comfortable four year transition from teenager to adult. She’d made plans to go to a culinary institute, to maybe even go to Europe for a few years, and in the background of all those dreams, there were always her parents, like an anchor, celebrating each new achievement with her. They had been her life force, the very fabric of which she’d been made.
    But a truck driver with a blind spot had extinguished them in seconds.
    Afterwards, there was the funeral, and her smiling, predatory uncles, who’d plotted how to take over the property left behind. She’d signed what they gave her in a numb haze, unaware that she was signing over her parents’ estate.
    The loss of the money didn’t pain her. It was far deeper than that. She’d looked upon her uncles as family too, loved them all genuinely, and their greed had made her feel like that love had just been a dream, all too easily wiped out.  
    In the months that followed, she’d been unmoored, broken. She’d done nothing but run into every self-destructive behavior that a teenager possibly could. Her childhood home had been sold by her uncles, and she’d found herself facing homelessness.
    Until Raquel had saved her. Raquel, who’d lost a mother early. Raquel, who’d loved Nora’s parents as much as Nora had.  
    Raquel had held onto Nora, and Nora still remembered the words that had turned her life around.
    “Run if you want to, Nora,” Raquel had said. “Sometimes running is the only thing that makes sense. But remember, you can either run towards a dream or run towards your own destruction, and you always have a choice where to head.”
    Somehow, Raquel had sobered Nora, and she’d gathered herself together. Unable to bear the memories Milburn had held, Nora had moved to New York, and started working in the kitchens. She’d let her life be consumed by her one remaining dream, to eventually move back to Milburn, and to build a new sanctuary, with the best friend she considered her only remaining family.
    Only now, Raquel was gone too.
    Because Raquel had always supported her, Nora had never wondered before how her leaving town had affected Raquel’s own happiness. It struck her now, as she gazed over the fields that even though Raquel had made many friends over the years, Nora had been the only one she ever really confided in, and even Nora had been in the dark about so much of what went on in Raquel’s head.
    Raquel’s own family had been destroyed too. First, when her mother died, then when her father married a woman Raquel despised. What had it been like for Raquel, to live so close to a family she hardly interacted with? When she and Nora spoke on the phone, their conversations were never about the past. The two of them had only ever spoken of their dreams for the future. That had given them strength. The past was over, and it was too painful to speak about.
    But perhaps, somehow, Raquel’s past had caught up with her.
    Nora drove to the ranch where the cult members lived, and waited by the heavy iron gates to be let in.
    The Church of Supreme Truth . It had started a long time ago, as a simple, tight-knit church, with a charismatic preacher, Stanley Staten. There were rumors that he had gotten excommunicated when he was caught messing about with the finances of the church, but that was after Nora had already left Milburn. The excommunication hadn’t stopped Stanley – he’d simply begun his own cult, and even found a few dozen followers somehow. Followers including Raquel’s father and stepmother.
    How had Raquel reacted? She’d brushed it off as just another kooky belief her stepmother was indulging in. Nora had only heard her mention it in passing.
    Bringing herself back to the present, Nora rang the