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

Chapter 11

?

D oreen walked into Nan’s apartment after a brief knock. Nan and Richie sat there with Maisie. They looked up expectantly at Doreen, and it was all she could do to hold back her chuckle. They all had on their Sherlock caps, with the initials DD on the front. She just smiled, looked at Nan, and stated, “I gather you guys are looking for your next assignments.”

Richie brightened and nodded, leaning forward. “Have you got one for us?”

“Maybe, but I was hoping to talk to this Lynon guy.”

“He’s here, but… are you sure you want to speak with him?” Nan asked.

“Is there a reason I wouldn’t want to?”

“Yes, because you can’t necessarily trust what he says.”

“Is he just old and lonely?” Doreen asked.

“Probably,” Nan said crossly, “but he’s also a little too forward.”

Doreen frowned at her. “Meaning he’s made a move on you that you didn’t want made?”

“Something like that.” She shrugged. “Most people accept a simple no.”

“Ah, and he didn’t.”

“I didn’t really give him a chance to explain,” Nan added.

“Maybe he didn’t know how to take a no. Maybe he had no experience with accepting no. Or maybe he’s just lonely.”

At that, Nan rolled her eyes. “Maybe, maybe, maybe, whatever. Yet, for a cold case, I would talk to him if I must.”

“But can I talk to him? That’s the question,” Doreen asked.

“I think so. I did ask one of the family who was visiting, and he seemed to think it would be fine.”

“Good, let’s go do that now, and then we can talk details afterward.”

Everybody hopped up. Nan looked at them and shook her head. “I don’t think everybody going is a good idea. We don’t want Lynon to feel as if he’s being interrogated.”

“He might want the attention,” Richie noted, looking at Nan pointedly. “If he’s just lonely, this would give him some attention.”

“Maybe,” Nan conceded, but her tone was a little cross. She fluffed her hair up, looked at Doreen, and muttered, “The decision is up to you.”

“How about I go talk to him alone?” Doreen asked.

Nan frowned at first. Then her eyes widened, and she beamed. “That sounds perfect. I’ll take you down and introduce you. Then I’ll leave you there.” She looked at the others. “Agreed?”

They all nodded. “Agreed.” And that’s what they did.

Nan led Doreen to Lynon’s apartment, and, as they got closer, Doreen asked her, “So, what’s really bothering you?”

Nan shrugged. “I’ve never really got a good feeling off this one.”

“We’ve always learned to trust your feelings,” Doreen noted, “so let’s try to keep the contact between the two of you to a minimum.”

“Yes, I would like that.”

“You’re sure it’s not just a case of his being enamored with you?”

“Of course he’s enamored with me,” Nan stated, then laughed. “I still wouldn’t want to go out with him.”

“And has he asked you out?”

“Sure, he always wants to have coffee in the garden. He’s asked me several times, but just nothing is there.”

“If you say so,” Doreen said, holding back her smile.

“Don’t you laugh at me,” Nan snapped, a warning in her tone. “Otherwise I’ll start hassling you about your wedding.”

“Oh no you won’t,” Doreen declared.

At that point they had reached the door in question. Nan knocked smartly, and a frail voice called them to come in. She rolled her eyes and repeated, “Remember that you brought this on yourself.”

Surprised at that, but willing to take it in whatever direction she needed to, Doreen pushed open the door and walked into the room. And there was the man she’d met at the main entrance.

He smiled at her. “I thought it would be you.”

“You have the advantage on me,” she said, as she held out a hand. “I’m Doreen.”

“And I’m Nate,” he replied, reaching back. “Nice to meet you. I understand you have some questions for my father?”

“I met a couple boys down at the river. Are they yours?”

“My nephews,” he said, with a wince.

“One is definitely struggling.”

“I keep getting on his case, but it’s not helping. What did he do to you?”

“It’s not what he did to me, but what he was looking to do.” She pointed down at Mugs at her side. Goliath at this point was stretched out in the hallway and refusing to go any farther into the apartment. As she tugged on the door so they could close it, Goliath looked at her with a sullen look, then slunk inside but stayed close to her legs.

“You even have a cat on a leash,” Nate noted in bemusement.

“I do, and sometimes the cat is cooperative, and sometimes he’s just not.”

At that, Nate laughed. “I can see that.” He turned and introduced her to the old man nearby. “And this is my father, Lynon.”

“Hi, Lynon,” she replied, walking forward to give him a handshake.

He held her hand just a little too long, as he looked up at her in delight. “Well, well, it’s a fine time when you come calling to my door.”

“I was hoping you might have a little information for me.”

“But first, what about my nephew?” Nate asked.

“He wanted to throw rocks at my dog,” she said, pointing down to Mugs, who was staring up at him with a narrowed gaze.

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “The other boy told him not to, and he did stop, but I got the impression he only stopped because the other boy recognized me.”

“Good Lord,” he muttered. “I’m at a loss as to what to do with him.”

“Apparently he’s having a tough time,” she shared.

“Yeah, he’s heading for trouble right now, but I keep hoping he’ll find something to turn himself around.”

“It’s pretty frozen down there at the river, so throwing rocks there probably wasn’t giving him the satisfaction he was looking for. So, when we appeared, my dog seemed to be a more likely prospect.”

He just shook his head. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

“You can do that, but, if you tell him it was me who told you, it’ll just make it that much harder the next time I see them.”

“Do you think you’ll see them again?”

“I walk the river all the time,” she shared. “Depends on if you let them back out again.”

“His mother passed away not very long ago,” he explained. “And he’s not adjusting very well.”

“Of course not,” she murmured. “Children need their mothers, and, when they don’t have them, it’s tough. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. My sister was many things, one of which was a speed demon on the road. She died in a car accident a while back.”

“I’m sorry. Something sudden is hard to handle as well, with no time to adjust, no time to adapt.”

“I’m not sure adapting is something any of us do when it comes to death,” Nate replied. He turned and looked at his father. “Pa, she has some questions for you.”

He nodded. “I was waiting for you guys to stop your yapping about that useless grandson of mine and get around to me.”

Doreen looked at him. “You don’t like your grandchild?”

“He’s trouble, and, when someone is trouble, they make trouble for everybody else,” he stated in a brisk tone. “I don’t have time for trouble.”

“Right.” She looked back at Nate. “Sorry if I brought up tough times for you.”

“It is tough. I’m not married, and Pa’s looking for a firm hand, but apparently what I’m doing isn’t working,” he explained. “So, we’re still at odds.”

“Keep working at it,” she suggested. “The boy is not a lost cause.”

He smiled. “Thank you for that. Already the teachers are telling me how he needs therapy and extra help, and he needs an attitude change and on and on.” He gave a wave of his hand.

“And I imagine they’re quite right,” she noted, “but that doesn’t make it any easier on you.” He just smiled, as she looked over at Lynon. “Lynon, a man went missing around here a good fifty-odd years ago.”

“Bartlet Jones,” he stated triumphantly. “I was just talking to some people about that, thinking it was high time somebody solved the case.” He looked at her in delight. “Did you solve it?”

“No, but I am looking into it. It depends on whether or not I can find and confirm enough information to get anything new going.”

“Right, right, right. That’s always a big problem, I’m sure.”

“It is,” she agreed, with a smile. “Nothing easy about tracking down information that’s fifty years old.”

“I can’t even imagine,” he murmured. “What can I help you with then?”

“You can tell me what you know about the case.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know much. I just remember it.”

“And what do you remember?”

“As far as I can remember—” He stopped to take a few minutes to collect his thoughts.

However, when he didn’t say anything further, Nate stepped forward and tapped his shoulder. “Pa?”

Lynon shook his head. “Sorry, I tend to drift off these days.”

“That’s all right,” she said. “I’m sure you deserve the rest.”

He laughed. “I don’t know about deserving it, but it seems as if I’ll get it before long no matter what.”

“We all do,” she replied, with a smile. “It’s just a matter of the time frame.” Then remembering that Nate had just lost his sister, she realized that probably wasn’t something she should have mentioned. Looking over at him, she whispered, “Sorry.”

He just shrugged helplessly, as if he didn’t quite know how to handle it either.

“So, this person, Bartlet Jones. Was he someone you knew?” Doreen asked Lynon.

“I used to know him, yep,” he replied. “Don’t know that I knew him all that well, but, as soon as somebody dies or goes missing, it seems as if everybody knows him.”

She smiled in agreement. “That is something that I have found to be true.”

“Is it really?” Nate asked.

She nodded. “Not everybody, but a lot of people tend to want to be associated somehow, or to have something to do with it,” she shared. “So, all of a sudden, little bits and pieces come out of the woodwork. The problem is, not everybody understands whether what they know and are saying is even valuable or not. So I listen to all of it, then try to figure out what is useful.”

“That has got to be frustrating,” Nate said, staring at her.

“It can be. It definitely can be,” she agreed. “Yet it can also be very rewarding when I do solve something, and either we bring somebody home or we figure out what happened to them.”

“Nobody should go through life without answers,” Lynon declared, staring at her intently. “If you do find out something, you’ll let me know, won’t you?”

“Of course I will,” she agreed. “I’m sure the gang here at Rosemoor will be more than happy to keep you updated on any news as it happens.”

“That gang of yours?” he muttered, lifting a hand. “They sure don’t let anybody join in.”

“I don’t know that it’s a case of not wanting anybody to join in,” she clarified, with a smile at him, “as much as they want to be involved in the case. So they prefer to keep matters close so they get more for themselves.”

“Ha.” He nodded. “Can’t say I blame them. It would be nice to have something to keep me active.”

“I’ll keep that it in mind, but no promises,” she said. “I do most of my work alone.”

“Of course you do. It’s the only way to do these things. Now, that man,” he began as his fingers tapped the edge of his wheelchair. “I’m pretty sure—I’m not sure of her name, but Bartlet had a wife, and I think he had a set of twins. I might be wrong about the twins. One of them may have passed on, but I can’t quite remember.”

She pulled out a little notebook, thinking Nan had been spot on. This man wasn’t a reliable witness. Still, Doreen was here, so she would keep asking questions. She should ask him about Jack too. Noticing that both Mugs and Goliath had refused to move any farther inside, she was a little worried about what had happened to them on that visit out to Joe Rich. They certainly hadn’t been their best ever since meeting Milford and now hadn’t taken a liking to this old man either. She tried to take down a few notes. “Okay, do you know what Bartlet did for a living?”

He frowned. “I think he did what the rest of us did back then, worked the farms. I don’t think he had a business of his own, like some of them. Seems as if he may have had a place in Southeast Kelowna, but it might have been in Joe Rich.”

She looked at him and nodded. “It’s a lot more wintery up there. Seems the farms would be more vulnerable up there.”

“Oh, sure, but, now that I think about it, he may have been one with cows and horses. I don’t know how much of it was commercial.” He pondered that, and she just waited. Finally he shrugged. “I’m not sure about what he did or what he didn’t do. It seemed as if he had some hard times back then, and he might have ended up doing a lot of things for a while in order to stay alive.”

“Right. It’s not as if there were as many options back then.”

“No, there sure wasn’t. There was just lots of hard work,” he said. “And those of us who made it, well, we’re glad we made it, but it wasn’t easy. So many of the young kids these days, they just don’t seem to appreciate what we went through.”

She gave him a smile. “And I’m pretty sure those kids would also say that we old farts have no idea what they’re going through.”

He looked at her and burst out laughing. “Oh my, isn’t that the truth.”