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

Chapter 20

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T he next morning, Doreen woke to her phone ringing near her ear. Still groggy, she answered to find it was Nan.

“You up yet, lazy bones?”

“I’m not up,” Doreen muttered. “I’m only just now awake.”

“Ah, well, we had another talk with somebody else in this place.”

“And?” she asked, shifting herself up and pulling the covers back from Mugs, who was on his back, all four feet in the air. snoring softly.

Nan stopped and asked, “Is that Mugs?”

“Yes,” Doreen noted, laughing. “He’s snoring gently.”

“I don’t know about gently ,” Nan corrected, “but he’s definitely snoring. I didn’t realize he was so noisy.”

“Yes, he’s definitely noisy,” Doreen noted calmly. “So, what do you mean in terms of who you talked to?”

Nan replied, “You talked to Nate and his father, Lynon, and then we talked to him ourselves. Apparently he had a little more information on the man, Bartlet Jones, who went missing all those years ago. He told us how Bartlet was a real ladies’ man.”

“Right, and he played around a lot and got into trouble with the husbands.”

Obviously disappointed, Nan muttered, “You already knew this, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I just found out, and I haven’t had a chance to phone you yet.” And darn if she wasn’t apologetic. She shook her head. “Besides, that still doesn’t tell us who he was having an affair with lately.”

“It might have something to do with a woman on staff down at the medical clinic.”

“The staff at the medical clinic?” Doreen repeated, pausing as she thought about it.

“Yeah, it’s the old clinic that was down on Bernard Street.”

“Okay. Do we have a name?”

“Yeah, her name was Rose.”

“ Rose ,” Doreen repeated, bolting upright. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Nan stated. “Does that name mean something to you?”

“Oh Lord,” Doreen muttered, “it sure does. Look, Nan. I’ve got to get going. I’ll call you in a little bit.” Doreen quickly disconnected, hopped out of bed, got dressed, and raced down to her notes. It was Milford’s beautiful Rose, who he had looked after all these years, who had an affair with Bartlet? She called Mack, and his voice was brisk and all business.

“I’m going into a meeting, Doreen. Is it important?”

“We just found out through Lynon, Nate’s father, Gavin’s grandfather, that the man who went missing fifty years ago, Bartlet Jones, was likely having an affair with somebody in the medical center downtown.”

“And?” he asked, a note of impatience in his voice. “That was a long time ago.”

“It was a very long time ago,… and her name was Rose.” There was dead silence on the other end for a moment, and then it must have clicked in his mind.

“Oh boy,” he muttered.

“Yeah, I agree,” she replied.

“I’ll call you back when I’m out of the meeting. Don’t do anything.” And, with that, he was gone.

With a chuckle, she made coffee, almost wanting to dance around the room. She was enjoying the moment, that feeling when she finally got a break in a case. It seemed as if it had taken a long time, although she hadn’t had to do very much. She had asked a few questions, had pushed a couple people to remember, and that was it. But then again, she had to remember that, while this could be a break in the case, it also didn’t mean all that much. Doreen would need to come up with something more substantial than this, which wouldn’t be a walk in the park on a case this old.

Frowning, she went back to her notes, looking to see if anything from Solomon’s files helped on this other cold case on Jack Mahoney. Outside of the fact that he’d gone missing some twenty-odd years ago, there didn’t appear to be anything in Solomon’s notes that she hadn’t already found, and that was frustrating. She went back over everything she had discovered at the library, and again there wasn’t a whole lot. It would come down to old-timers remembering details, or someone with a guilty conscience. At that, she had to stop and wonder. Mack had told her not to, but, boy, did she want to race back up to Milford’s farm in the Joe Rich area. In the meantime, she was supposed to stay put. Easy for Mack to say, not so easy for her.

She frowned at the whole concept, then realized she needed groceries, so maybe she would head out and take care of that now. And, if she was lucky, enlightenment would strike, and Mack would get back to her. With the animals nicely tucked up in the house, she drove to the grocery store and parked. She only walked halfway through the parking lot when she was stopped by several people, wanting to take pictures with her. Not at all sure how that was supposed to work, she felt a little odd, as everybody was desperately grabbing photos.

Finally, when they were all done, she went into the grocery store, only to have people laughing at the antics outside. Doreen groaned. “I just came to get groceries, people.”

“Yes, but we want to know what case you’re on.”

Doreen sighed and took advantage of their curiosity. “Anybody know anything about a man named Bartlet Jones, who went missing fifty years ago?” At that, everybody chimed in, and pretty soon Doreen talked to everyone about it. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt anything, though knowing that Mack wouldn’t appreciate it if he had to do anything with this, she kept up the conversations with people, but nobody seemed to have very much.

Then she asked, “Does anybody remember Rose who used to work at the medical clinic?”

At that, an old man at the back laughed. “Oh my, that’s a name from the past.” Then he frowned. “Didn’t she die?”

“Yes,” Doreen replied. “I believe it was from breast cancer last year.”

Several people clucked in sympathy right beside her. Something about telling people about a death like that initiated a universal reaction that had everybody going into that same zone. Doreen didn’t even know what happened, but it was almost instinctive to have everybody react that way. “Anybody know anything about her?”

One woman said, “She was a good nurse.”

The old man nodded. “She retired quite a number of years ago, long before her diagnosis I would imagine,” the old geezer added. “She and that husband of hers, they stayed up in the middle of nowhere all their lives.”

“How come she was a nurse down here for so long then?” Doreen asked.

“She was independent, liked making her own money—until he convinced her to move into the boondocks with him and to get away from people,” he said, with a laugh. “And of course he kept her out of trouble.”

“Was she trouble?” Doreen asked.

“She was a beautiful woman.”

“Right, but she married him, correct?” Doreen asked.

One woman nodded. “Yeah, many years ago.”

“Not all that many years ago,” the old guy countered, frowning. “Maybe fifteen years ago or so.”

Doreen’s head tilted to the side. “I thought they were together close to fifty years.”

The old guy shrugged. “Oh, they probably were together that long, but I’m certain that they married much later. It all happened very quickly as I recall, and she wasn’t a big fan at the time.”

“Interesting,” Doreen muttered.

“Yeah, they were both interesting. After the big blow-up, we didn’t hear or see much of her,” he shared. “She quit her job and stayed in the Joe Rich area.”

Doreen stared at him. “And exactly what was that big blow-up over?”

He snorted. “She had an affair with Bartlet Jones, one of our local lotharios. Yet he wasn’t married. However, Rose had affairs with two more men at the time, both married,” he stated, chuckling. “Plus, it didn’t go down so well with Milford either.”

“You mean, her soon-to-be husband didn’t like it?” Doreen asked.

“Yeah, and I don’t think it went down so well with the wives who Rose was skirting around either. You know, a pretty lady like that, she didn’t have any strings and lived a good life on her own terms.”

“Interesting,” Doreen repeated, staring at him. “You got any names I can follow up on?”

He looked at her and nodded. “I’ve got two, Lily Dale and Sandra Brown.”

“And who are they?”

“The wives of two of the men who had relationships with Rose.”

Doreen wrote down the names and asked, “Any idea if they’re still in town?”

“They’re both still in town,” he replied, “but neither one of them will take kindly to having any of that mess brought up again.”

“Of course not,” Doreen agreed, with a gentle smile, “but, if it crosses some T s and dots some I s and brings closure to another family, it might be worth upsetting them by bringing back some memories they would just as soon forget.”

“I’m right with you there,” the old guy said, “but, in order to get them to talk, you’ll probably have to tell them that John sent you.”

“Good enough,” Doreen replied. “I presume that you’re John.”

He cackled. “I am, indeed.”

“And did you have affairs with these ladies too?” Doreen teased.

He looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes, and shared, “One, maybe, but I ain’t telling you which. One more thing. Bartlet Jones left town to pursue another woman. He probably cut ties and started a new life.” And, with that, the old geezer walked out of the grocery store, chuckling to himself.

Doreen called out, “Hang on, John. I’ll need your number too.”

When he looked back at her, the twinkle was still there. “That’s something I haven’t heard a lady ask for in a very long time.”

That set off the entire store full of people into gales of laughter. All in good fun, Doreen waited until it died down, then got John’s number and watched as he walked away.

The clerk grinned at Doreen. “You really do have a fun life, don’t you?”

“Sometimes things end up on the uglier side.” With that, she frowned, as she began her own grocery shopping.

She was starting to get a good idea of what was going on here, and it would be an unfortunate event at the end of the day, but maybe it would pan out to be a whole lot more helpful than what it seemed to be right now. The concern was that it still didn’t answer any questions about Lynda’s father. And that was something she would have to sort out. Or not… not everything was solvable.…

The lack of definitive dates for when these two men went missing caused problems. For the captain or anybody else in the department to take on these cases, they would need details. Particularly to open up their budgets and to get things moving further along. She finally grabbed some groceries and then left, stepping outside, noting somebody standing there, with a grim look on his face.

She walked closer, and one of the women nearby whispered, “Look out. That’s Rose’s husband.”

With a surprised look, Doreen turned, and, sure enough, there was Milford, the man she’d seen up on his farm property. He was better dressed today, and just being in town made him appear different.