Chapter 4
Returning to town in Mack’s truck, Doreen frowned at the mason jar she clutched, full of dirt from several layers deep. “So Milford never dug up that plot since that first night where he found the blood because his wife claimed it was sacrilegious to disturb the site now. So, something should be in the sample, right? But how degraded would it have gotten over the last twenty-five or so years?”
Mack shrugged. “Surely it would have degraded a certain amount, just from being out in the elements for decades. Still, if the sample isn’t too degraded, then forensics might be able to tell us if there is human blood in it. That is the main question here. Remember how we find bodies many, many years later and have managed to find all kinds of forensic information,” he replied, taking his gaze off the road for a second to glance at her.
She nodded. “It’s just so sad to think that maybe something happened that long ago, and yet nobody cared enough to do anything about it.”
“But we don’t know that anybody was notified,” he clarified. “If Milford did call the police, we can’t confirm it. Plus, the passage of time and history may have changed his viewpoint on some part of this event. That happens a lot with witness statements.”
“I guess it really does, doesn’t it?” she muttered. “You would think that people would be more open to the truth over time.”
“I think that’s probably why he’s doing something now,” Mack suggested.
“Maybe.” They came up to the turnoff road for Big White. She watched as several vehicles took their turn and headed up toward the local ski mountain.
“Interested?” he asked, with a smile.
“Maybe,” she replied.
He chuckled. “It might be fun.”
“I highly doubt that. Most of the deaths up there are ski- or snowboard-related, and they happen fairly quickly.”
“Meaning?” he asked.
“Meaning that there aren’t any cold cases.”
“I don’t think Nan thought Kelowna had many cold cases either,” he noted, followed by a moment of silence from Doreen. “Does that bother you?” he asked.
She turned to him. “Does what bother me?”
“That so many cold cases seem to be here in town.”
“No, it doesn’t bother me at all. I just think it’s good that we’re getting to the bottom of them.”
“Do you think you’ll get to the bottom of all of them?” he asked, a wry note in his tone.
She shuffled in her seat, causing Thaddeus to shift with a squawk. She laughed as she petted him. “It’s okay, buddy. Thaddeus sure didn’t seem to like that cat out there at Milford’s farm, did he?”
“Cats on a rural place,” Mack noted, “are hunters. Chances are, they’re mostly self-reliant and feed themselves off squirrels and anything else they can drag in, including birds.”
“I would hate to think of Thaddeus going that way,” she whispered, with a shudder.
“Of course not, but unfortunately, a lot of cats are great hunters.” He cast a glance at Goliath, sprawled out on the back seat. “Goliath must have smelled Ragtag and knew better than to go inside.”
“Thank goodness. I don’t want Goliath getting hurt in a fight.”
“Yet Mugs was pretty quiet back there.”
“He was, and I was quite surprised.” She frowned. “He didn’t try to get friendly with Ragtag either.”
“I’m pretty sure that Ragtag would have had something to say about it. Good thing you locked Goliath in the truck.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Once I realized Goliath refused to come with us, I just locked him inside.”
“Good, the last thing we want is two cats fighting. That would be a tough thing to separate.”
“Maybe so.… When I stumbled across Mathew’s body, Goliath got into it with a town cat and didn’t really win that fight, from what I saw. I sure don’t want him fighting any more cats, especially a feral hunter of a cat.”
“He’s fixed, right?” Mack asked.
“Goliath?” she asked. “Yes, he’s fixed, and so is Mugs.” Then she frowned. “I don’t know how to protect Thaddeus from wild cats.”
Mack laughed. “Just keep him close, or at home and just love him,” he suggested, “but you could always ask your grandmother about that too.”
“That’s true. I hadn’t considered that. I’ll do it when we get back again.”
“I’ll take the soil sample to the lab and speak with the captain. However, I’m quite certain the timeframe is too long to get definitive answers about whether this is blood. Even if they suggest it might be, there won’t be any DNA to identify who might have bled there. Keep that in mind.”
“Thanks for doing that.” She gave him a beaming smile. He dropped her off back at her house, and she unlocked the front door and stepped inside, with the animals in tow. Mugs and Goliath headed for the rear kitchen door, wanting outside again. So she propped open the door for them, as they wandered around the relative safety of her backyard. They were much more content now that they were home again. However, they were all in an oddly quiet mood, as if they hadn’t found anything joyful or easy about the trip to Milford’s farm.
“It was very different, wasn’t it, guys?” With no answers forthcoming, she noted, “Interesting that you guys didn’t like that trip.” She carefully watched them for a moment. “Then again, it was an odd one for me too. It’s a different world over there.”
Thaddeus didn’t seem interested in getting off her shoulder either.
“It’s okay, Thaddeus,” she said, stroking his beautiful feathers. He nuzzled his head against her neck and just stayed tucked up against her. It was such an odd reaction for all of them that she decided maybe a trip to Nan’s might be a good idea.
“Anybody want to go Nan’s?” Mugs looked at her, as if waiting for her to say it one more time, and she repeated it. “How about a trip to Nan’s?”
Mugs jumped up from the patio and woofed at her. Goliath headed down toward the pathway, ahead of the game.
“Hey, hang on a minute,” she called out to Goliath, but, no, he was on his way.
“Dang,” she muttered, as she quickly grabbed the leashes, closed the kitchen door, and chased down Goliath. She called Nan on the way.
Sounding distracted, Nan asked, “Where are you?”
“We’re on the river,” Doreen replied. “We were hoping to come say hi.”
“Oh.” An odd tone was in her voice. “Sure.”
“Unless it’s a bad time.”
“No, no,” she replied. “When you’re my age, you take the time. No such thing as a bad time, just time or no time.” Then she gave a cackle of laughter. “I’ll go put on the teakettle.”
Goliath seemed to pick up his feet and moved rapidly, almost at a lope down the river. Not to be outdone, Mugs stayed very close to him. In fact, Doreen had to walk at an uncomfortably fast pace, just to keep up with them.
When they finally turned the corner to Rosemoor, they both seemed to calm down slightly.
She frowned at them and asked, “What on earth is going on with you two?” Oddly Thaddeus was still superquiet. The minute they got near Rosemoor, a mellow relaxing wave seemed to wash over all three of her animals. She crossed the lawn hurriedly, still remembering being told off for doing such a thing by one of the cranky gardeners, and stepped onto Nan’s patio.
As soon as she did so, her grandmother asked, “Good Lord, are you still not coming in the front door?”
Doreen shrugged sheepishly. “Old habits die hard.”
“Yeah, but you’ll mess up my carpets if you come in this way. Everything is wet and muddy out there.”
“I don’t know about muddy,” Doreen noted, “but you’re right. It’s definitely not very dry out here.” With Nan tsking all over the place, Doreen quickly removed her wet boots and then stepped into the main room of Nan’s apartment, closing the door behind her.
“There you are,” Nan said, sitting in her big rocker. She had Goliath on her lap, and Mugs was stretched out on the footstool. The only one she was missing was Thaddeus, who was still perched on Doreen’s shoulder, but not for long. Thaddeus gave a squawk, flew off her shoulder, and landed awkwardly on top of Goliath, who turned to swipe at him. Nan nimbly picked up the bird and deftly moved him to her own shoulder. “There we go,” she told Thaddeus. “It’s all okay.” She looked over at Doreen. “Why are they all so out of sorts?”
“I’m not sure. I was hoping a trip down here would set them all to rights.”
Nan attempted to reach them all at once, nodding carefully. “I don’t normally see them acting quite so needy.”
“No, neither do I. It’s definitely a little concerning.”
“You can pour the tea and then tell me all about it.”
“Who says I have anything to tell?”
Nan looked at her and raised her eyebrows. “The animals certainly have something to say.”
“I know,” Doreen agreed, with a sigh. “It was just such a weird trip this morning.”
“Ooh,” Nan replied in delight. “Have you got a new case?”
“No. Maybe. I guess. I don’t know,” she muttered. “I’m not sure what this one is.” She walked into the tiny kitchen area, picked up the tea tray already sitting there, carried it out to the living room, and set it down on the coffee table.
“You might as well go ahead and pour. It should be ready now,” Nan stated.
Doreen obediently poured the tea and then sat back, looking at the animals in wonder, because not a one of them was moving. “Did you have a good morning?” she asked her grandmother.
Nan shrugged. “I was a little out of it this morning. You know, just one of those pensive days. Not a good day, not a bad day.”
“Maybe it’s not me that the animals are feeling but you.”
Nan frowned at her, then looked down at the animals and gave them a fond smile. “That could be true.”
“They certainly wanted to dash down here and see you.”
“I won’t ever be upset about that,” Nan shared. “The older you get, the more you realize how important it is to have friends and family you want around you,” she added, with a delighted smile.
Doreen just nodded, didn’t say anything, hoping that whatever was bothering her grandmother would pass quickly.
“So, tell me,” Nan said. “What’s this new case?”
Doreen laughed. “You’re as bad as I am.”
“Ooh, I am, indeed,” she agreed, with a big nod. “You have no idea how much we’re all enjoying your cases.”
“And yet they’re all very sad.”
“Sure.” Nan gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s not as if we can change what happened. The best we can do is provide some closure for these people left behind.”
There was definitely some truth to that, so Doreen proceeded to tell her grandmother about the weird phone call she’d received from Milford, and then about Mack wanting to make the trip with her.
“I see that Mack wants to be involved in your cases.” Nan burst out laughing at that.
“It’s not that he wants to be involved in my cases. I think he’s trying to keep me out of his.”
Nan gave her a sly grin. “You could be right. Still, it’s good for both of you. You have no idea how happy I am that the two of you are engaged.”
“Agreed, but no pressure,” she warned. “That was the agreement. He wouldn’t pressure me into setting a date or locking down the details until I’m ready.”
“Of course not,” Nan stated. “You have to be your own person.”
“If you say so,” Doreen quipped, with a headshake. “Sometimes I think you guys are all just conniving your way into our wedding.”
“Hey, Thaddeus won the pool.”
“And how did Thaddeus win the pool?”
“Don’t know,” Nan replied, with an innocent smile. “So the contents of that pool go to you.”
“Which means, it’ll go toward the wedding.”
“Yes, exactly, and we really love that solution,” Nan crowed in delight. “I think you should get married here at Rosemoor.”
“Oh.” Doreen’s eyebrows rose. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“Do,” Nan urged. “Then we could all attend.”
“Are you telling me that you wouldn’t attend if it was somewhere else?”
“Of course we would, but then we would have to steal the Rosemoor bus again to get everybody down there.”
Doreen laughed. “I’m sure everybody wants to avoid a repeat of that.”
“Richie still has his driver’s license, you know?”
Doreen winced. “Not sure for how long though.”
“I know. Richie is getting on.”
It was all Doreen could do to hold her smile back at that because, if Richie was getting on, so was Nan. Although, true enough, Richie was possibly five years older than Nan, if not more. Doreen couldn’t remember their ages, but they were certainly having a lot of fun in their golden years.
“It may not matter, since we don’t know how many people will be alive by the time you get around to getting married,” Nan declared in a woebegone tone. “It would really be sad if we lost a bunch beforehand.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Doreen snapped in alarm. “No trying to guilt trip me into making this wedding happen sooner.”
“No, I would never do that,” Nan replied, looking at her askance. “How could you possibly say such a thing?”
Doreen rolled her eyes. “Have a sip of tea, Nan. Your wiles are lost on me.”
Nan burst out laughing. “Still, it’s a valid point. We’re not getting any younger.”
“Oh, and I guess that goes for me too then, right?”
“We’ll consider all options,” Nan noted. “Just so you know, some people here would be heartbroken if they weren’t invited.”
Doreen nodded. “I imagine inviting as many people as we can, and that, in itself, will be an issue in terms of venue. But also,” she hesitated and then added, “as much as I’m happy to have a nice wedding, I don’t want to end up with a big spectacle that everybody weighs in on.”
“No, of course not,” Nan said, “but I really would love for you to get married while I’m still here.”
She stared at her Nan for a long moment. “And I very much want you at my wedding,” she pointed out. “So, why don’t we just accept that as the plan, so you can relax and let me work on the details?”
Nan nodded.
“Or, is it that you think I won’t work on the details?” Doreen asked, eyeing her grandmother shrewdly.
“I just don’t think you’ll work on the details fast enough,” Nan clarified, with a bright smile. “And I know you’re busy, so you should let me help.”
“Letting you help is like letting a fox into a hen house,” Doreen replied. “You’ll make things happen, but I won’t necessarily enjoy the clean-up.”
Her grandmother stared at her for a long moment, then burst into peals of laughter. “Oh my, that was absolutely perfect.” She was still chortling, as she added, “And you’re right. You might not like the clean-up, but you know I would get the job done—if you don’t have time to handle it.”
“We’re not having the wedding for a long time, so relax and forget about it for now.”
Her grandmother grumbled, as she settled back in her chair. “Not sure what you’re waiting for. It’s not as if you’re getting any younger either.” Doreen glared at her, and Nan gave her a beatific smile. “Now, let’s get back to the case you were on today.”
“Yeah, sure.” Doreen sighed. After all, anything was better than getting grilled by her grandmother about wedding dates.
“Besides, we’ll figure it out, and, if need be, we might have to talk to Mack about it,” Nan suggested, sitting up straighter.
“Oh goodness, Nan.” Doreen shook her head. “Feel free to talk to Mack, but, if he pushes me about a date, I will back off,” she pointed out. She almost never spoke to Nan in that tone of voice, but she didn’t plan on being railroaded into a wedding she wasn’t ready for.
Nan slumped and once again glared at her for squashing her plans.
Doreen added as an afterthought, “I need to go visit Millicent too.”
“Oh, yes, that’s a good idea. I’m sure she’s thrilled.”
“I think so,” Doreen said with a smile, as she thought about Mack’s mother. “We always got along pretty well up until now.”
Nan nodded. “Honestly, I think she would be happy with anybody at this point.” When Doreen gasped, Nan blinked at her and then grinned. “Didn’t quite mean that the way it came out, but—”
“ Right ,” Doreen grumbled, standing up. “Okay, on that note—”
“No, no, no, don’t go,” Nan called out, waving her hand. “Richie hasn’t gotten here yet.”
“Why is Richie coming?”
“What do you mean, why is Richie coming?” she repeated. “He hasn’t heard about the case either.”
Doreen frowned at her, and Mugs just threw himself sideways on the footstool, stretching out with a deep happy snore.
“See? Mugs doesn’t want to leave yet either,” Nan said.
With a sigh, Doreen sat again. “He didn’t appear to be very impressed at Milford’s home today,” Doreen noted, “and neither was Goliath. He wouldn’t get out of the truck.” At that, Nan frowned at her. Doreen nodded. “I really don’t know what was upsetting them, but another cat was in the house and was not friendly, which definitely terrified poor Thaddeus too.”
“Oh my,” Nan muttered. “That’s a good reminder that not everybody out there wants to have the animals up close.”
“I know,” Doreen confirmed, “and some people don’t like the animals at all.”
“That’s just dodgy,” Nan declared.
Doreen laughed. “I won’t argue with that, but we have to keep in mind that not everybody is an animal lover.”
“Which is just weird,” Nan stated, with a headshake.
Just then the door opened, and Richie walked in, pushing a walker in front of him.
“Hey, Richie,” Doreen greeted him, eyeing the old man. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great. How are you, Doreen? All ready to get married?”
She winced. “Nope, I’m really not. Not at all ready to get married.” She watched as Nan desperately tried to signal for Richie to be quiet, but either he wasn’t seeing her signal or wasn’t interested in listening, a trait Doreen had come to recognize in a good part of the residents here. They all seemed content to work on their own agendas, with no particular concern about anybody else’s.
Richie continued on. “You should be ready. Mack’s a fine young man.”
“That he is, no doubt about that,” Doreen agreed and tried to steer the conversation back to dead people. “Nan told me that you wanted to hear about my new case.”
“Ooh.” His face lit up. “You’ve got a new case, do you?”
“I’m not completely sure about that,” she clarified. “It’s all a little bit odd.”
“Your cases are always odd,” Richie said. “That’s what makes them so much fun.” With that, he collapsed onto the couch, gave Nan a big smile, and asked her, “So, is it one we can help on?”
“I don’t know yet,” Nan stated. “Let’s hope so.”
Then Doreen went through the explanation and the visit they’d made this morning.
“Oh my,” Richie noted in astonishment. “That much blood?”
“That’s what Milford told us, and we did take samples for forensics. So, first we’ll have to figure out if there is blood present and whether it’s human or some animal. After so long it’s likely to be nonexistent.”
“Right. That would be the first thing to check, of course,” he stated, with the air of somebody who knows all about it.
Which, at this point in time, Doreen wasn’t sure if they did anything but watch cop shows, just so they could keep on top of all these cases. Crime shows seemed to be pretty popular right now.
“You would think that the cops would have gone to the scene,” Nan stated.
“Supposedly Milford called them, but Mack has no record of that,” Doreen pointed out. “But if nobody was reported missing around that time, or the cops didn’t have any reports of violence, and nobody was seen in the area, the cops probably couldn’t do much with this case. And way back then, there probably wasn’t any DNA testing.”
“Or, if there were DNA testing back then, it would have been very expensive and not something they would use to investigate random blood in a garden plot out in the middle of the Joe Rich area,” Nan added.
“Ooh, Joe Rich, in the southeast part of Kelowna,” Richie pointed out. “It’s not really the wild, wild west, but it’s definitely out in the boondocks. It’s a really nice place to visit, but you’ve got to prefer to live without most of society around you in order to thrive out there. Of course, more recently, a lot of those properties have been incorporated into town now,” he noted, “but, way back when, it was still pretty wild.”
“I would imagine that, in some ways, it still is,” Doreen stated.
“I would guess you’re probably right.” Richie frowned. “I used to know somebody up that way, but I don’t remember who it was.” He turned to Nan and asked, “Did we know anybody up there?”
Nan shook her head. “We’ve met a couple of the volunteer firefighters and whatnot,” she noted. “There are definitely a lot of people in the Big White area these days, but I don’t know that we’ve ever really met many people who live farther out. According to Doreen, this guy Milford’s farm is way out there.”
“Yeah, way back in the boondocks, so to speak,” Doreen repeated, with a smile.
“But I wonder if back in the boondocks means the same thing to you as it would to me,” Richie noted, studying her. “An awful lot of remote land is back there.”
“This was about forty-five minutes off the main road.”
He thought about that and nodded. “Yeah, that probably qualifies. No power, so wood heat. Nothing along the line of utilities. It’s definitely a living-off-the-grid situation. I think they are pretty much on their own.”
She frowned at that. “I didn’t ask him about that. He did have a phone, but I don’t know whether he had service there or went down to the highway to use it.”
“Oh, that’s good thinking too,” Richie said. “And his wife died of breast cancer, you say? Man, that’s just not fair, is it?”
“No, it sure isn’t.” She glanced down at her animals. Mugs stretched out a paw, and she sighed. “The way the animals reacted was over-the-top too.”
At that, Nan explained a little bit more, and Richie frowned at Doreen. “You know how these animals are really canny, and if they don’t like somebody—”
“It wasn’t that they didn’t like Milford necessarily, but I don’t think they liked the situation. Goliath didn’t like anything about it, but then he likes his creature comforts. Poor Thaddeus went very quiet and just hid in my hair the whole time. Milford has a huge cat named Ragtag that is apparently a big hunter, so Thaddeus probably would have been his main meal.” At that, Thaddeus gave a squawk and lifted his head, turning to look at her.
She rushed to say, “No, I would never let him get you.” She walked over and pet him gently, as he sat on Nan’s shoulder. Still, he didn’t appear to be very appeased at the concept of her successfully defending him. She sighed and returned to her seat. “As I said, it was a very odd visit. Milford was nice enough, and I certainly don’t have a problem with the way he acted. And honestly, I do understand why he wants to sort this out now.”
Nan and Richie both nodded, as if they could understand as well.
Doreen frowned. “I guess what I don’t really understand is why they waited to follow up on where all that blood came from and why they never used that plot again.”
“It would be sacrilegious,” Richie noted. “They felt the need to preserve it.”
“That’s exactly what Milford told us was that his wife had said too. I just don’t understand that process or that point of view, I guess.”
Richie stared at her. “What if somebody did die there? By rights they should have put up a little monument or something to remember them by.”
“And yet who died?” Doreen asked, with a wry look at him. “Think about it. We don’t even know if anybody did die out there.”
“Ah”—Richie pointed a finger in her direction—“but you don’t know that somebody didn’t .”