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

Chapter 19

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D oreen knew Mack was dying to ask a ton of questions, but only so many she had answers for. So, as he cooked, she explained the little bit she knew about Gavin’s family.

“You did tell me about them before,” he noted, “and I’m telling you again. It won’t be that easy to convince his uncle that Gavin should have a puppy.”

“Maybe not, but you know it wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Just then Mugs started to bark hysterically at the front door. Mack took one look at her, shut off the burner, and headed there. She was right behind him, but nobody was on the porch. A vehicle drove past, going out of the cul-de-sac, but that was it. As she watched the vehicle disappear, something was nagging at her, as if she’d seen it before.

“Do you know it?” he asked her.

She frowned. “I don’t think so.… I was just trying to place it.”

“Of course you were,” he muttered.

She shook her head. “I don’t really have any reason to know that vehicle,” she said.

“I’m not sure anybody needs a reason when it comes to you.”

She sighed. “Do you really think I’m in trouble again?”

“I have no reason to think so,” he replied. “It would sure be nice if you weren’t.”

“Agreed,” she murmured. “Though it is weird.” She turned to him and asked, “How is the investigation going into poor Lynda’s shooting?”

He shrugged. “Slow.”

“You never told me. Did you talk to Clive?”

He stared at her silently obviously busy thinking about something else.

“The corner store guy, who walked past the shooting scene shortly thereafter, per Shirley,” Doreen explained, wondering if Mack was being deliberately obtuse.

“No, I’m heading down there tonight. That’s when he’s supposed to be back on shift.”

“Really?” she asked. “That’s interesting because he was there on shift earlier today, when I spoke with him.”

“And what was your take on him?”

“Shifty,” she stated.

He burst out laughing. “Now is that because he was really shifty or because you want him to be shifty?”

“Because I want him to be shifty,” she declared, wearing a grin of her own. “Still, he is definitely an odd character.”

“Odd in what way?” he asked curiously.

She frowned as she thought about it. “He seemed interested but didn’t want me to know he was interested,” she said finally. “What a weird visit. I went outside, after I bought an iced tea. And then I guess I knew instinctively to avoid my car. You would probably say it was just me trying to fit the evidence into my hypothesis,” she acknowledged, “but, instead of going to my car, I went around the corner and waited.”

His eyebrows shot up at that. “And then what?”

She laughed. “Clive came out and talked to somebody on the phone, as he paced around the parking area.”

“Did he see your car?”

“I don’t think so. It was right there, but he didn’t appear to see anything. He seemed focused on the call.” She shrugged. “Obviously I was around the corner, and I did see him and wondered what he was so upset about.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” he said.

“I thought you said tonight.”

“Yeah, but that was before you had a strange vehicle driving past your house.”

She looked at him in astonishment. “That was nothing,” she stated. “For all you know, that was just a new group trying to figure out if it’s worth putting us on the Japanese tour bus system in the spring again.”

He looked at her and then burst out laughing. “Oh boy, I can’t argue with that.”