Chapter 17
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Mack and Doreen went carefully through Birdie’s room at Rosemoor.
Goliath jumped up on the bed and stretched out, as if to say he was way too important to be working.
Thaddeus sat on Mack’s shoulder and peered over at absolutely everything.
Instead of crying out, Thaddeus is here, like he usually did, he adopted a soft little mutter.
When Doreen finally realized what he was doing, Mack caught the look on her face.
He frowned and asked, “What’s the matter?”
She snickered. “Nothing.” Mack glared at her, and she laughed. “So, you probably won’t think this is funny, but, to me, it sounds very much like Thaddeus is imitating you.”
He looked at her in surprise, then turned to Thaddeus on his shoulder. He tilted his head a bit to listen, and, sure enough, Thaddeus immediately started muttering under his breath.
Mack straightened up, looked at him, and asked, “Buddy, is that you?”
He looked at Mack and repeated, “Buddy, is that you?”
Mack groaned, and immediately Thaddeus cackled.
She laughed and laughed. “Oh my, look at that. Even just by being with us, we’re teaching him so much more.”
“Not sure we should be teaching him anything,” Mack muttered, with a headshake. “This bird of yours is already pretty interesting.”
“He is, isn’t he?” she agreed, with a smile.
They continued on until Thaddeus hopped off his shoulder and walked over to the dresser. There he sat and watched them. Goliath was still on the bed and appeared to be watching them as well. And now, even Mugs was on the little rug in front of the bed, also watching them.
At one point in time, Mack stopped, stared at them all, and stated, “They’re not very helpful this time.”
She laughed and shrugged. “That could mean a couple things.”
“I know,” he stated, “including that this is a wild goose chase. And I don’t really have time for that.”
“Maybe not,” she said, with a smile. “On the other hand—”
“I know. I know.” Mack groaned. “It could be major.” Just then, Thaddeus started pecking away on the top of the dresser.
“We haven’t looked at the dresser yet, have we?” she asked, studying Thaddeus.
“No, we haven’t. Why?” Then Mack noted what Thaddeus was doing and added, “We’ll get there, Thaddeus. We’re just trying to be methodical.”
When Thaddeus picked up the pace of his pecking, Doreen said, “I don’t think he much likes our pace.”
“Ya think?” Mack muttered. He walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. Immediately Thaddeus bent half upside down to look inside.
Mack tried to move him so he could actually take a look inside but was met with resistance, and finally, in frustration, he turned to Doreen. “Can you get him out of here?”
Thaddeus now occupied the top drawer.
She snickered and suggested, “Just take out the whole drawer. It’s easier that way.”
“I never thought of that,” he muttered. He pulled up the whole drawer and put it on the bed. Thaddeus immediately hopped up and over, looked at the drawer, then returned to the second drawer.
Doreen noted, “He does appear to be fairly fascinated with the drawers.”
Mack frowned. “Very fascinated.”
With everybody watching, Goliath was suddenly trying to get into the drawer now.
Mack looked at Doreen, exasperated. “What on earth are they after?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. She crouched down to the second drawer and pulled it out. Immediately Thaddeus landed on top of that one.
“So, it’s got nothing to do with the drawer,” Mack offered, looking at her. “It just happens that he’s curious.”
“And that could be,” she acknowledged with a smile, but then she picked up a notebook, showing it to Mack.
“What is that?” he asked.
“I am not sure,” she muttered. She stared at it for a long moment and then opened it in the middle. “I suspect it’s the equivalent of a black book.”
“In my day a little black book would have the phone numbers of all the pretty girls,” he quipped, as he glanced over at her, with a wicked smile on his face.
“I was thinking more along the lines of a blackmail book.”
The smile fell off his face, and he immediately held out his hand.
“I’m getting there,” she said, as she took a step away. “Listen to this. Those photos were definitely worth more money.” And then she cackled. “Ten thousand more to be honest.”
“Uh-oh,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I’m thinking our Birdie isn’t a very nice Birdie at all. Sorry, Thaddeus.”
Thaddeus glared at her as if it were a personal affront. She nodded. “I get it, buddy. Oh, Mack, you aren’t going to like this at all.”
“Of course not,” he grumbled. “The fact that she’s even called Birdie is enough to make me curious.”
“More than curious,” Doreen confirmed. “We’ve got a whole lot of other issues involved here. There are multiple entries, but there are also no names.”
“Of course not, and whatever is in there, it’ll all be in code,” he said, with a sigh.
“Except for a couple people who are exposed, and one of those,” she began, showing him the name, “is our mayor.”
He looked at her in surprise, then stepped over and read the entry with a groan. “Now we know why he was happy to have you brought in on the case.”
“And yet I’m wondering if maybe he was happy because it could put an end to his nightmare.”
“Maybe,” he muttered, as he glared down at the black book.
“We also have to find out if she was short on money because that entry was dated quite a while ago. And, if she was short on money, what’s happening to it, because honestly, this is a fair bit that she’s going through.”
“You’re right. That is a fair bit,” he stated, frowning. “So, what is she doing with it?”
Doreen looked at the apartment, then at the front door, back at Mack, and said, “A really ugly thought just occurred to me.”
“Oh no, I don’t want an ugly thought.”
She smiled. “I know you don’t, and I get that, but what if it’s gambling?”
He stared at her. “Why would you even begin with that line?”
“I was just looking at the door and realizing that Nan is out there, waiting for us to be done with whatever we’re doing, and it occurred to me,” she explained. “My grandmother … has a gambling problem.”
“She’s definitely got a problem with gambling,” he replied.
Her lips twitched. “I wonder if it might be similar to what Birdie is going through.”
“Or Birdie has a much bigger issue,” he pointed out.
“Yes, and I don’t know how or where she would gamble.”
“Online,” he said immediately. “And I know gamblers can go to casinos and stuff, but I don’t know that it’s something she’s allowed to do from Rosemoor.”
“There is a casino in town, and surely they have a bingo night or something.”
He gave her a droll look. “With the amount of money it appears that Birdie is going through, there would be a lot more involved than bingo.”
“I think they can go through an awful lot of money on bingo,” she pointed out. “However, we do need to talk to the experts.”
“And that would be your grandmother, of course,” he muttered. “They just can’t not get involved in one of these messes, can they?”
She smiled at him. “You know very well how much they adore being involved in these cases.”
“I know,” he cried out. “But, just for once, please, … could we possibly not have them involved?”
“Nope,” she stated, with a headshake, “definitely not. And certainly not anytime soon.”
He groaned and nodded. “We need to check to see where that money is.”
“I know that it’s far-fetched and that it doesn’t make any sense, but we also have to consider that just because it’s a man’s thing to do …”
At that comment, Mack’s eyebrows shot up.
“But maybe Birdie was supporting another family.”
He just stared at her.
“I know. I’m just sharing ideas,” she explained, raising both hands.
From the other side of the front door, Nan interjected, “Mack, you know she has good ideas. You treat her right.”
He stared at the door, looked back at Doreen, and her lips twitched.
He sighed. “You know that you guys are making me nuts, right?”
She nodded. “That’s all right though,” she said, as she tapped him on the cheek.
“It is? Why?” he muttered warily. “Because I was already halfway there before meeting you and your grandmother?”
“Not all my doing.”
He snorted, then looked around again, and nodded. “Do you think we’ve covered everything here?”
“More or less.”
Just then the door opened, and Roger walked back in. When he saw Mack, his eyebrows shot up.
Mack stepped over, closed the door firmly in Nan’s face again. He turned to look at Roger and in a low voice shared, “I have a report from the hospital. Birdie was drugged.”
Roger’s shoulders sagged in fear as he stared at Mack. “Oh no,” he whispered. “We simply can’t afford to have an incident like that here.”
“I know,” Doreen added, “and none of us want something like that, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be part of the rest of this mess.”
Roger just nodded.
She looked at him and shared, “We have a little black book where she kept some of her … blackmailing material.”
And instead of looking surprised, his shoulders sagged farther.
Doreen asked, “I presume that’s how she got in here then?”
He stared at her and then nodded again.
“And did you break many rules to bring her in here?”
He shrugged. “Not really, but maybe. I mean, … I couldn’t get her finances because she was, well, … pretty much broke,” he shared, with a sigh. “Still, she’s always paid, but it’s never on time.”
“Do you know where she’s been getting her money from?”
“No, I have no idea, and, anytime I asked her, I got pretty-well told to just shut up.”
“Right.” Doreen continued. “I guess we’re wondering, outside of the blackmail she’s been using to fund her lifestyle, … did you see evidence of Birdie having a gambling problem?”
He looked at her in surprise, his gaze automatically going to the door.
Doreen nodded. “I know my grandmother has a gambling … issue,” she confirmed, for want of a better word.
“Yeah, a gambling issue is a good way to put it,” Roger pointed out.
“But Birdie’s never not paid her Rosemoor rent, has she?”
“No, she always pays,” Roger confirmed immediately.
“So, I’m not sure that’s what this would be then.”
“No, probably not.”