Zonked in the Zucchinis (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #1)

Chapter 9

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M illicent brushed away happy tears, smiled at Doreen, and whispered, “I’m really glad to hear that. Now, are you sure you don’t have something I can help you with on your cases, those two you mentioned earlier, while we await further wedding plans?”

Doreen instinctively wanted to say no, since she already had enough people dealing with these missing persons’ cases. Then she sat back and frowned. “You and Nan might be some of the few people left in town who could remember this one missing person’s case.”

Millicent’s eyes opened wide with an immediate gleam of delight. “Tell me more.” Then she realized what she sounded like and added. “Oh dear, we shouldn’t be quite so delighted that people are missing, should we?”

Doreen nodded. “I’ve had that thought cross my mind a couple times already today,” she murmured. “On the other hand, if we could bring them home, that is obviously what we want to do.”

“Of course, of course,” Millicent agreed, with a more somber nod. “Does Mack know you’re doing this, dear?”

“Mack knows about some of it,” Doreen offered, with a chuckle. “He’s told me to butt out already.”

Millicent nodded. “He does want to keep his job.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Doreen smiled. “I don’t want anything to happen to Mack or to his job. I know how much this is his dream job.”

“It really is, you know? He wanted to be a cop from a very young age, and his work is so important to him. I certainly won’t be the one to tell him otherwise.”

“Admittedly I haven’t been at it all that long,” Doreen said, with a chuckle, “but, in my experience, so far, telling Mack anything otherwise doesn’t work very well.”

Millicent grew misty-eyed. “I have to admit you’re right there. He was always so determined to do whatever he wanted to do. We couldn’t talk him out of it, no way, no how.”

“Did it bother you that police work was what he wanted to do?”

“Oh no, yet I can’t say we thought the police force was in his future. You look at your babies and dream that they’ll grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or something safer,” she shared, with a smile.

“Ah, you mean like his brother.”

Millicent rolled her eyes, chuckling. “Mack has used that against us a time or two, saying that we already had a lawyer, so he could go off and do what he wanted.”

“He has a point there,” Doreen noted, her smile brightening. “Anyway, back to these cases.” She stopped to think about the best way to present it. “As I mentioned before, I have two missing person’s cases.”

“Oh, tell me more.”

She then told her about a guy in his thirties, who went missing fifty years ago with no leads. But Jack Mahoney, who went missing some twenty-odd years ago, was the father to the victim of this current shooting case, Lynda Mahoney. That poor young woman had come up looking for her father and had subsequently been shot outside of a friend’s house, where she had been visiting. Now she was fighting for her life in the hospital.

“Oh my.” Millicent stared at her in horror. “That’s so terrible.”

“That is absolutely terrible,” Doreen agreed. “On the other hand, that’s why we do what we do, so we can help solve some of these cases, and people don’t have to get hurt doing it.”

“No, of course not.” She stared at Doreen worriedly. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt doing it either.”

“No, I don’t intend to. And you know Mack’ll keep an eye on me.”

Immediately she relaxed. “That he will. I’ve never seen him this happy before. I’m so glad you moved to town.”

Doreen chuckled. “For that, you’ll have to thank my grandmother.”

“If I ever see her again, I’ll be sure to do so.”

That comment made Doreen pause. “I guess you don’t get down there very much, do you?”

“I don’t get out much at all these days,” she stated, with a shrug. “I do catch a bus and go get groceries, but that’s happening less and less. When my boys are nearby, they come take me shopping, when I need to go, and the odd outing for lunch. I won’t be here much longer,” she murmured, “and I would really like… Uh-oh , I promised I wouldn’t say that.”

Doreen sighed. “You do know that saying it halfway is the same thing as saying it.”

She laughed. “But I’m really not trying to pressure you.”

“I appreciate that, though, from my position, it looks exactly like that.”

Millicent shook her head. “Nope, definitely not.”

“Glad to hear it,” Doreen murmured, shaking her head. She then spoke out loud, almost to herself. “Solomon’s files were never updated to reflect whether the missing man from fifty years ago was ever found. And Mack always tells me that we have to be careful with that assumption, since it’s quite possible that he has been found, and maybe the files I have are old news, so to speak.”

“Oh, I hadn’t considered that.” Millicent frowned at her. “I guess that is a problem, isn’t it?”

“It can be, yes, since they simply reflect what was compiled, and nothing since then has happened, until I came along.” Doreen sent a wry look in Millicent’s direction. “And we do want to keep notes nicely updated with information as it comes in. I certainly don’t want to create more problems.”

“You’ll have to, or Mack will get on you if you don’t.”

At that, she burst out laughing. “You are so right on that.”

While Doreen fussed around, pouring more tea, Millicent sat back and closed her eyes, as if thinking back fifty years, trying to recall what things would have been like back then. “I do remember something about Jones disappearing,” she murmured.

“What is it?” Doreen raised her eyebrows. She intentionally hadn’t mentioned the name on Solomon’s file. “Bartlet Jones,” she murmured, “that was his name.”

That convinced Doreen that Millicent was on the right case. “Do you remember anything about it?”

“The problem is, my memories are already so dicey.”

“They can be, indeed,” Doreen agreed, with a smile. “It’s one of the reasons for always questioning what people see versus what they think they see, plus interviewing more than one witness.”

“Is my memory important?” she asked, looking at Doreen.

“It could be, yes, because we don’t know if Bartlet was ever found. And if he wasn’t, I should keep looking for him.”

“Oh my.” Millicent eyed her oddly. “I guess you can pick and choose what you want to look at, can’t you?”

“Only to a certain extent, and only if I have some information to follow. I can’t just create information without something concrete that we can verify,” she pointed out. “So, if nobody can remember any of the details, we’re stuck until a body shows up.” Doreen pondered that angle for a few minutes and asked, “Do you know anybody up in Joe Rich area?”

“Joe Rich,” Millicent repeated. “ Hmm . I’ve certainly known lots of people up there over the years, though I’m not sure that I know anyone up there now.”

“Right.” Doreen nodded. “That makes sense.”

“There was Biddy and… I can’t remember his name. It was Biddy and maybe Duff or something weird like that.”

Doreen frowned at her. “Okay, and what do you remember about them?”

“I don’t know that I remember them specifically, but I do remember how they lived farther out, more by choice of course. That was always a big thing with them, not wanting to be around people. Town was too crowded for them, even back then. But I think she’s passed on now.”

“How would you ever have heard about her passing?” Doreen asked curiously.

“Oh, sometimes I read the obituaries,” she noted, with a wave of her hand. “At my age, it’s about the only way I can keep tabs on friends anymore.”

Doreen stared at her, fascinated and repelled at the same time. “Seriously?”

“Absolutely,” she muttered. “It’s not as if you can go around asking if certain people are still alive or not. So reading the obituaries is just a way to help me stay in touch.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Doreen admitted, studying her.

“No, a lot of people your age probably wouldn’t even think of it, but it’s something that a lot of us do. Ask your grandmother. I’m sure she does the same thing.” Silence fell then as Millicent added in a sad tone, “It’s a shock when you see somebody listed on those pages, but it is a way to find out who’s dead and who’s alive,” she muttered. “I suppose that does sound gruesome, though.”

“Not at all,” Doreen replied. “If you don’t get around town anymore, and you’re not big on technology or even the internet, and don’t know the phone numbers of the people to call, it seems to be a sensible solution.”

Millicent smiled at her. “And, even if it’s not,” she teased, “you’ll make it all sound good because that’s who you are.”

Doreen flushed. “I’m really not a crazy do-gooder, you know?”

“Ah, surely not.” She shook her head and laughed. “I wonder how Mack would see it.”

“Let’s hope I don’t have to ask him and find out,” Doreen quipped, “because I may not like the answer.”

Millicent burst out laughing. “Oh, my dear, you need to understand that you can do nothing wrong. Mack would forgive it all.”

“I wonder,” she muttered, “because I do keep getting involved in his cases.”

“Yes, but he hasn’t done anything about it yet, has he?”

“Not sure what he can do.”

“Oh, you would be surprised.” Millicent beamed at her. “Believe me, if he really wanted you out, he would ensure you were out.”

“I guess that’s possible.” Doreen wasn’t sure what to say at that point.

Millicent promised to think more about the missing man case from fifty or so years ago and to get back to Doreen with any further insights. At that, Doreen gathered her animals and headed home again.