"A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library by Nancy McGovern

bathroom!”
    “What?”
    “It’s true!” Johann said. “Petyr was irritable, and he decided to go to his room instead of taking a shower. Don’t you remember that father commented on it, Mother?”
    “He and I were wearing identical shorts today,” Johann said. “ I’m the one who left the shorts on the bathroom floor.”
    Outside, the world was rocked by blast after blast as more firecrackers were set off.

    *****

Chapter 9
    “What’s happening?” Maria sounded scared and low. “Johann, what are you saying?”
    “Mother, Petyr can’t have killed father. He simply can’t. You know him. He had no motive.”
    “He did have a motive,” Maria said. “Reynold was refusing to give him money.”
    “Father? I had already given Petyr the money,” Johann said. “Father gave me grief about it, but I didn’t care. I kind of liked it, my first act of rebellion against him. My second was going to be when I quit my job at Von Kyburg and Co. Petyr’s my brother. When he knew you weren’t going to give in, he asked me to loan him the money. I fully believe that he’ll return it to me, and that he doesn’t need to. I love the guy.”
    “You gave him the money?” Maria gasped. “But I don’t understand. Why would he come here with Katya then? That was Reynold’s condition.”
    “Oh, I know it was. Petyr told me all about it. We laughed together. We decided that the best way to show Dad his place was for both of us to rebel at once. I and Petyr had a heart-to-heart not too long ago. It was he who told me that I should quit, rather than suffer by staying on.”  
    “I’ve always admired him for the way he stood up to Dad. I’ve always been afraid to do it myself because somewhere deep inside I believed Dad when he said I’d be a failure without him. But when I met Petyr, he changed my mind. He said that he was a failure too - his business had failed, after all - but he wasn’t ashamed. He was still happy because it was his own choice to take the risk.  
    “Petyr told me that the freedom to make your own choices was the biggest thing in life, something that money couldn’t buy. He sparked a fire in me with his words. He told me that nothing would compare to the happiness I felt when I finally stepped out of Dad’s shadow. He helped me make up my mind.”
    “I didn’t know this,” Maria said with a frown. “Any of this.”
    “Well of course you didn’t. We took great pains to keep it a secret,” Johann said.
    “I still don’t understand why he came here, then,” Maria said.
    “He came here to announce his desire to wed Katya,” Johann said. “It’s a significant life decision, and he wanted to do it right. He wanted to be brave enough to face father down. The other reason he came was so that I could face father and tell him I wanted to quit too. We would do it together on the Fourth of July. Independence Day, the ultimate way to celebrate our independence. We thought it was cute and symbolic.”
    “This is terrible!” Maria said. “There’s been some horrible mistake.”
    “Yes! There’s no way Petyr could have done it. Those were my shorts, I tell you,” Johann said. “The police should have realized their mistake by now.”
    “They won’t have.” Maria said. “Because Petyr confessed.”
    “He did what? ”  
    “Petyr admitted to killing Reynold,” Maria said. “Why would he do that? If he wanted to confess he should have done it immediately. Why the delayed action? That’s what I don’t understand.”
    “Why would he do confess if he’s not done it?” Johann said, baffled. “I don’t understand.”
    “It’s clear enough,” Nora said. “There are several reasons he would do it.”
    “I can’t even think of one,” Johann said.
    There was a long pause, as Nora scrolled through her smartphone.
    “Answer me!” Johann said angrily.
    “Sorry. I was Googling something. But don’t you see why he’d do it?” Nora asked. “But maybe Maria can tell