Chapter 12
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D oreen sat here, visiting with Lynon a bit longer, trying to get any more information she could possibly get. He did give her some, but it wasn’t much more than what she already had, or he just contradicted himself.
“Bartlet was a ladies’ man. I don’t know how he had the money to date women. I really think he was looking for a sugar mama to support him.”
Doreen nodded. “What about a man named Jack Mahoney? He went missing twenty-odd years ago. Do you remember him?”
When Lynon went into a deep stare and didn’t speak, Nate stood up again to pat his father’s shoulder. “Pa?” This time Lynon didn’t respond.
Nate apologized. “Sorry. I should get Pa to bed. Was nice to meet you.”
Doreen thanked them both and got up and gathered her animals to head back to Nan’s apartment, only to open Lynon’s door and find all three of them standing there outside Lynon’s door, expectant looks on their faces. She rolled her eyes and shooed them all ahead of her, calling back, “Thank you, Nate. Thanks, Lynon.” She shut the door and turned to Nan.
“Nate and Lynon,” Nan repeated, frowning at her. “Who’s Nate?”
“Lynon’s son, and I met his grandson down at the river today.” Doreen explained about that encounter from earlier this morning. “I only just found out from Nate,” she added, “that the boy lost his mother recently and is living with his uncle Nate now, and the boy’s not handling the adjustment well.”
“Of course not,” Nan agreed, as she looked back toward Lynon’s door with a frown. “I had no idea.”
“And that’s part of the problem. We need to be open and honest with others.”
Nan reached out a hand and stroked her granddaughter’s cheek. “You are a lovely girl.”
Doreen laughed. “You guys only came down here to see if I got any information out of him.”
“And did you?” Maisie asked at her side.
“Nan, you were right. He was telling stories, but I think somewhere in all that gossip was some truth. Lynon appears to know more about Bartlet’s last day than anybody so far. Apparently he went to work and basically never came home again.”
“That seems to be such a common theme that you would think people would stop going to work,” Maisie declared in a perfectly nonchalant voice.
Doreen winced at her, then looked over at Nan, who just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That may be,” Doreen conceded, “but most people need to work to get a paycheck to keep food on the table.”
Maisie just blinked at her, then shrugged. “It seems as if they should get danger pay if that’s what they’re doing.”
“And I think some companies do have danger pay,” Doreen admitted, “but, in this case, Lynon thought Bartlet was living in the Joe Rich area and had horses and cows on his place.”
“Mighty slim businesses up in the Joe Rich area,” Maisie noted.
“But not all of that part because, as you head farther down, it gets better.”
“It sure does.”
“It’s beautiful country up there.”
“ Hmm .” At that, Maisie didn’t say anything more.
As they got back to Nan’s apartment, Nan nudged Doreen. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I have another case in Joe Rich, the Bartlet Jones one,” she stated. “Yet he went missing fifty years ago, and Milford said his bloody garden bed showed up about twenty-five years ago. So I don’t see how those two tie together. Yet Jack Mahoney went missing twenty-odd years ago, so that might connect in some way with Milford’s bloody garden bed. Those two timelines are much closer, and Milford may have been off a year or two on his recollection. Then they could match up.”
“Oh, that would be way too easy though.”
“I know,” she agreed, “and it wouldn’t make a lick of sense either.”
“Not making a lick of sense is normal, until you put all the pieces together. Then it all matches perfectly,” Nan described, with a strong vote of confidence for her granddaughter.
Doreen smiled. “Thank you for that.”
“It’s the truth.”
Even Richie was nodding. “Yep, it’s the truth. I keep asking Darren why the police department doesn’t hire you. I think the last time he mentioned something about you couldn’t bring the animals to work, but I thought that was really an outrageous reason.”
Doreen smiled at him. “Pretty sure there are other reasons as well,” she replied, “but that would be a big one.”
“Yeah, and you’re not about to leave the animals alone.”
“No, I’m not. And thankfully I no longer have to work for a living.”
“But you’re still doing cases, right?” Richie asked, stopping in his tracks.
“Yes,” Doreen replied. “I will still be helping people as I can.”
“Right,” Richie agreed, “because money shouldn’t change who you are. Not at the core. You should still be you.”
“Oh, I intend to still be me,” Doreen stated, with a bright smile. “Don’t you worry about that. So clearly we need a few more answers for all our questions, before I can go farther.”