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

Chapter 17

?

D oreen walked back to her car, her animals in tow. She walked slowly, her mind contemplating so many random events, with nothing really checking the boxes as to what was going on. Just as she reached the car, her phone rang. She looked down to see it was Mack. Buoyed and always happy to hear from him, she answered the call with a cheerful “Hello.” When all she heard in response was silence from the other side, she asked, “Mack? What’s up?”

“That was an awfully cheery hello from you,” he asked, his tone sharpening. “Where are you?”

She groaned. “Nowhere.”

“Which just means you’re getting into trouble,” he declared. “So, fess up. Where are you, and what have you been up to?”

She snickered. “I’m out in Glenmore.”

He stopped, then asked, “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why not?” she asked. “I told you that visiting Shirley was my plan. You’ve already talked to everybody, so it’s not a big deal. Did you guys talk to a Clive about the shooting?”

“Who?” Mack asked.

She smiled, knowing her diversion had worked. “A man named Clive. Apparently he was walking by here at the same time as the shooting. Shirley fleetingly wondered if it was related, just because he was here.”

“And he shouldn’t have been there?” Mack asked, his tone quiet.

She heard paperwork shuffling and then the sound of a keyboard clacking on the other end of the phone. “He works at the corner store and used to live nearby,” she replied, “but doesn’t anymore. Originally Shirley didn’t give it a thought, thinking it made sense that he would be in the neighborhood, as he used to live here. Then Shirley realized it didn’t make that much sense that he would be here, since he didn’t live in the area anymore.”

“ Hmm , do we have a last name for this Clive?”

“Nope, but he’s at the corner store.”

Mack sighed. “ Doreen .”

“I know. I know, but I could just be asking questions about the cold case. About Lynda’s missing father, you know?” She tried to make it sound encouraging, hoping he would take the hint. However, he took one leap too far.

“Right, the cold case where maybe somebody connected was shot at point-blank range for asking questions?”

She winced. “Yeah, okay, so maybe I’m jumping to conclusions.”

“ Not the brightest idea,” he declared, his temper building. “Have you at least got the animals with you?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied brightly, as she opened up the car door to let Mugs hop in. “They’ve been good as gold.”

“Did you get Thaddeus over to visit with Big Guy?”

“Yes, and it went well. I thought I would pop down to the corner store and see if this Clive knows anything about the shooting. And, of course, you’ve likely already talked to him, so—”

“As long as it’s got nothing to do with my case,” he warned.

“No, and, of course, if he were to volunteer anything, I would share.”

He groaned. “Everybody does seem to prefer to talk to you than anybody else. Makes my job harder, you know?”

“So, you agree that it’s a good thing what I’m doing?” she asked cheerfully.

“I don’t know about that.” He then changed the topic. “Did you take anything out for dinner?”

“Nope, I sure didn’t,” she said. “Why?”

“I just thought maybe we could have dinner together tonight.”

“I would love that,” she replied warmly. “I’ll let you know how I make out with Clive.”

“You be careful,” he muttered. “We don’t know what’s going on here. Someone was murdered, remember? You could be walking into something very dangerous.”

“I get it,” she murmured. “I assure you that I’m not suicidal in any way.”

“No, but you’re also not the most cautious person around.”

Such a wry tone filled his words that she had to laugh. “And I get it, but I did bring the animals.”

“But they won’t save you every time,” he fretted.

“And I won’t be silly all the time either.”

“No,” he muttered, “just enough of the time that it causes trouble.”

She burst out laughing. “It’s nice to know you care.”

“You know I do,” he stated, “but I need to ensure you live long enough to marry me.”

In the background of the call, she heard somebody yelling.

“I’ve got to go,” Mack said, then disconnected quickly.

With the animals in tow, Doreen hopped back into her vehicle and drove to the corner store. She hadn’t been to this one before, and it was an interesting little place. She pulled up in front, looked at the animals, and decided they probably needed to stay where they were this time, even though they wouldn’t like it much.

She hopped out, walked into the store, and looked around to see who was on staff. One man was here, maybe thirty-ish, though she found herself struggling to determine ages, especially when people like Nan acted and appeared so much younger than she was. Walking to the cooler, Doreen picked up a cold iced tea and headed to the checkout stand. She looked up at the cashier and smiled. “Hopefully all that excitement has died down by now.”

He frowned at her, then nodded. “You mean, the shooting?”

“Yeah, it’s scary to think of it happening right here.”

“It wasn’t really right here,” he clarified, with a wave. “Apparently I was nearby at the time, but I never even heard anything about it,” he shared, with a noncommittal shrug.

“Really?” she asked, studying him. “How is that possible?”

“Just busy heading to work,” he replied. He pointed at the iced tea and asked, “Anything else?”

She shook her head. “No, I just find the cold cases around this town fascinating and was trying to figure out how there could be so many in Kelowna.”

“What do you mean, cold cases?” he asked, turning to her, as he swiped the iced tea across the scanner. When it buzzed, she held out her card and paid for it.

“Unsolved police matters. We’ve got one here, concerning the woman’s father who disappeared. That’s why Lynda Mahoney was here and how absolutely awful that she was killed because of it,” Doreen shared, with a heavy sigh. “I think her father disappeared at least twenty years ago. Then we have another person missing, maybe from twenty-five years ago, and he’s still not been found, you know, the one in the Joe Rich area.” She leaned forward and whispered, “I think the police are onto that one.”

Clive’s gaze narrowed as he stared at her. “I don’t think I’ve heard of these,” he noted, his tone deep, almost glaring at her.

She nodded. “I just started looking into them. It’s a hobby of mine.”

He shook his head. “Considering Lynda just got shot, it seems to be a dangerous hobby.”

“The only reason she would have gotten shot was if she were close to finding something,” Doreen suggested. “So, with all the information the police found, I can’t imagine it will be very long until they find the culprit.”

He glanced at her, then, in a flat tone, asked if she needed anything else.

At that point, she realized she was being dismissed. She shook her head. “No, that’s all, thank you.” She gave him a bright smile. “It’s exciting that you were practically there on the spot.”

“Nope, I wasn’t. I wasn’t there on the spot, and I didn’t see nothing.”

“Oh, I thought you said you just walked past.”

“No, I didn’t,” he snapped, turning to glare at her with a bored look, as if to say, Lady, are you done yet?

Of course she wasn’t done, but she didn’t dare tell him that. She smiled and nodded. “What is the Joe Rich area like?” she asked. “Do you know?”

He frowned at her. “How would I know?”

She shrugged. “I just thought, if you were a local, you would have some experience with it. I heard it’s pretty wintery up there.”

He snorted. “It’s not wintery up there,” he argued. “If you go on up the mountain, then it’s wintery, but it’s hardly wintery anywhere around here. This is Kelowna, and we don’t get much winter. We used to, but not for a long time.”

“Oh, interesting,” she replied, studying him. “ Used to as in five years ago or used to as in fifty years ago?”

“Fifty years ago,” he stated. “At least according to the old timers around here.”

“I can understand that too,” she muttered, while she stared around at the area. “It’s hard to see how quickly time is flying by.”

“Yeah. It is what it is.” Clive waved her out the door, almost shushing her.

“Maybe I’ll take a drive up and see what I can find out about this poor missing guy,” she shared.

“Drive up where?” he asked, astonished.

“The Joe Rich area, of course,” she said. “I told you that’s where one person went missing from.”

“How long ago?” Clive asked.

“Oh, quite a while ago, some twenty-plus years,” she replied. “I figure it’s connected somehow to the missing father of that poor woman who just got shot.”

“Whatever,” Clive muttered, aiming for a bored tone, but missing the point completely.

In fact, his entire demeanor changed as soon as she discussed the two cold cases and suggested they might be connected. She just nodded.

Clive frowned. “Yeah, whatever, have a nice day.”

And, with that, she waved and walked outside.

As she turned to look behind her, he stood at the window, watching her. She gave him a bright, beaming smile and continued on. Not sure if he was still watching or not, she walked past her car and went around the corner of the building. She didn’t want him to connect her to the animals. For some reason, at this point in time, it seemed important to keep that to herself.

Just something was off about the way Clive was acting. It would be way too obvious if he had been there at the scene, but, as she thought about it, all he really had to do was hide the weapon and carry on to work. Under that scenario, it could easily have been him. Since she didn’t like anything about him from this first meeting, she was more than willing to cast him in that villain light. Jumping to assumptions would get Mack riled up, and he would have her head over it.

She continued on around the corner and waited. After a minute or two, she poked her head around, and, sure enough, Clive was outside, talking on the phone. Her eyebrows shot up at that. She hadn’t really considered that somebody else would be involved. Or he could be calling the cops to report a suspicious woman at his corner store. Doreen groaned. It was also completely possible that Clive could be having a completely innocent conversation, but she didn’t think so. It didn’t go along with the scenario that was trying to work out in her head.

When he got off the phone and returned inside the store, she quickly walked around to her car and slid into the driver’s seat. Mugs woofed at her and gave her a nuzzle. She had the iced tea in her hand and quickly popped the top on it and took a long drink, putting the car in Reverse and exiting before Clive saw it was her behind the wheel. She needed to figure out what could be happening next. The idea that Clive was involved wasn’t confirmed, but he was definitely suspicious.

She frowned at the thought because, if the cops hadn’t talked to him, they probably needed to. And, if they had talked to Clive, they should have picked up some data on him, which Mack may or may not know—and may or may not have shared with her. That was always possible concerning his current cases.