"A Murder In Milburn", Book 4: Death By Ice Cream by Nancy McGovern Page A

Sean down. I told her that I’d had enough of her. I asked her to get out and told her that if she ever came near me or you again, she’d regret it.”
    “Did she back off?”
    “On the contrary, she got very angry,” Harvey said. “She was furious at me. She began to spit and curse. She called me names. She even called you names.” He sighed. “That’s when I saw red. I grabbed her by the elbow and tried to force her out. She scratched me.” He pointed to the now healing scar on his cheek. “It stung, but I managed to throw her out of the house. She kept screaming at me for a while, until I told her I was calling the police.”
    “Wow,” Nora said.
    “Yep.” Harvey nodded. “In between screaming at me about how much she hated me, she was screaming about how she needed money, needed it real bad. In all probability, she wanted to do drugs. This time, she asked me for a few thousand. I laughed at her and told her to go away.”
    “Then what?” Nora asked.
    “Well, believe it or not, she went away,” Harvey said. “She got into this rusty blue Honda, and left.”
    Nora considered this. “She got into her car and left. You know, I heard Sergio say something similar that day.”
    “So you believe me, then?”
    “Well, I do have a question,” Nora said. “Dr. Kurt Neil mentioned that you washed the glass she drank out of, though you did it badly enough that there were some fingerprints remaining.”
    Harvey shrugged. “I was just washing the glass, not looking to scrub it clean.”
    “But why? I remember there was a bottle of beer on the table when I entered your house. Clearly you didn’t care so much about cleaning up your house that late at night. So why wash the glass?”
    Harvey blushed. “Well, the thing is… she drank out of the glass, and left some of her lipstick on the rim.”
    “Ah.” Nora nodded. “You didn’t want me to see that, and so you washed it immediately. Is that it?”
    Harvey nodded.
    “Harvey, I know you think that you were doing nothing wrong, but I’m really disappointed in the way you lied to me,” Nora said. “Before you say it wasn’t a lie, yes, it was. You know it was. That’s why you’re so ashamed of it.”
    “I just… I didn’t want to get into a fight with you,” Harvey said. “I had no intention of cheating on you. I would never do that.”
    “Lying is never acceptable, though,” Nora said. “The foundation of our relationship is trust, and even the smallest of white lies can keep building over the years and destroy it all.”
    Harvey hung his head. “I’m sorry.”
    She glared at him. “Are you really?”
    “I am,” he said. “Really. I know I was lying to you. I was lying because every time the topic of Sean came up, you and I would have a massive fight. I just wanted what I always want. Peace and good times. But I was very wrong to lie, and even though everything else is horrible right now, I’m sort of glad that my lie got caught- it gave me the chance to tell you I’m sorry, and if you accept it, maybe we can start over on a clean slate.”
    She could tell he was sincere. He was looking at her with true sorrow in his eyes.  
    “Okay, I’m letting it go right now, but only because there’s so much more happening,” she said, then grinned. “And because you got me this lovely taser I can use on you if you ever tell lies again.” She waved it about playfully, and Harvey leaned back.  
    “Watch it,” he said. “Those things are dangerous.”
    Nora smiled. “Just one more thing,” she said.
    “Anything, as long as you put that taser away,” Harvey said.
    Nora put it away. “Harvey, do you have any idea who Joe is? Sergio was looking for a “Joe”. He seemed to believe you knew where Joe was.”
    “Joe?” Harvey frowned. “I know a few Joes, but I don’t think they’re people Tiffany would know. One is a senator, and the other is a pastor. Then there’s a college roommate of mine who’s a computer engineer