Chapter 23
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Doreen watched. In just a few minutes, the paramedics had Annabel loaded up and hauled away, and the police were all over the place.
Even the temporary foster parent for Scout had arrived.
Doreen turned to Mack and asked, “Can we go look at Fin’s house now?
” She was starting to fade quickly. He frowned at her. “Or am I not allowed at that one?”
“You’re allowed,” he confirmed. “And now that we’ve found somebody here, we need to confirm nobody is there as well.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Her gaze widened as she stared at him in shock. “I thought you had people there already.”
“Yes, I just don’t know that those people checked everything.”
“She wasn’t exactly hidden here, so it’s more or less the fact that we were first on the scene.”
“Maybe so,” he acknowledged, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we still need to see if anybody is there.”
“Good enough.” Tired, she walked toward the truck.
“Unless you need to go home and have a nap.” When she turned and glared at him, he held up a hand. “It’s obvious that you’re tired.”
“Yes,” she agreed, pushing back her hair. “I am. I think I’m more tired because of people.”
“Ah, I can understand that.”
“It’s so sad what people do to each other,” she said. “There’s no need for it.”
His smile was warm as he looked at her and nodded. “I know that, hon. There’s never an easy answer for it either. What we do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and hopefully we’ll find everybody who’s involved.”
“It sucks,” she muttered. He tried to hide his grin and didn’t quite succeed. She glared at him and then shrugged. “Let’s go.”
And, with that, they headed off in the direction of the next address.
As they got closer, she looked around and said, “I don’t know this area.”
“There are lots of pockets of town like this,” Mack noted, “not necessarily the wrong side of the tracks but not exactly the best parts of town either.”
“It looks like the town grew up around them.”
“And that’s exactly what happened in this area,” he declared. “We’re close to Reid’s Corner Liquor Store. This was more country than anything. Yet it all built up over time.”
“Right.”
As they got inside Fin’s house, the police were all over that place now too. She looked over at Mack. As they walked in, Mack stopped to talk to somebody, but, for the most part, they were ignored. She took the animals and headed straight upstairs.
She was checking for her own sake to confirm no one was tied up in a bedroom on this property. It didn’t make any sense, but nothing about this made any sense. And that seemed to be a regular refrain for her. Because not making sense in a situation like this was fairly common at this point.
When Mack joined her, he looked around. “So this is Fin’s home, the first guy we picked up.”
“Do you think he actually owns it?”
“We’re checking on that right now, but I’m thinking it’s a rental.”
“If he owns this property, that would suggest he had more money than he was willing to tell us about.”
He smiled at her, then tilted his head. “That’s possible, but we also have to keep in mind that criminals do make money.”
“Yes, but he was the new guy to this B&E crew, only working for them one month, and I assume the low man on the totem pole,” she pointed out.
“That’s true,” he acknowledged, with a smile in her direction. “Doesn’t mean it was his first criminal gig though.”
As they circled around the one bedroom, she headed for the master. He followed behind her, his own gaze searching every corner, and she watched him for a moment.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, when he joined her.
“Nothing, I just like watching you work.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Really? That’s the first you’ve ever mentioned that to me.”
“That may be true,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t mean that’s not how I feel.”
“I’m glad to hear that, and I’m usually awed to see your magic at work too.” She rolled her eyes at that, and he laughed. “I mean it.”
“We do make a good team.”
“We do at that,” he agreed.
“You seem to think that’s an odd thing for me to say.”
“No, not at all, but you’re right. We do work well together. But don’t start thinking that the captain will hire you.”
She chuckled. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
“Sure you were,” he countered, his grin widening.
“I will say that it did occur to me, just because we’re such a great pair,” she clarified, smirking. “Yet no way I could pass your physical or your tests or whatever.”
“I’m glad you appreciate that,” he noted, with a smile.
“Not happening,” she said cheerfully. “Besides, I would actually have to work every day and deal with all that paperwork you’re always complaining about. No, I’m much better at creating the paperwork.”
He looked at her in astonishment, then burst out laughing. “Now that was a big old truth bomb right there.”
She smiled at him. “It’s not that I’m not happy to be involved,” she explained, “but so much else is going on in my life now too.”
“I get it,” he replied, “and you wouldn’t be able to cherry-pick the cases you wanted to work either. You would have cases assigned to you.” The look of horror she gave him made him laugh again.
She grinned. “I’m just happy doing what I’m doing.”
“Good. … Let’s work on getting whatever we can here.”
“I’m not sure I understand everything. However, I do wonder if Birdie’s grandson needed money, and she didn’t necessarily have it available at that moment.
So she told him to go get some the same way they always do—gambling.
Then potentially he cheated or was accused of cheating.
Anyway, something went wrong, and, once that going wrong part happened, …
I think everything went sideways. And whether Birdie decided a little bit of blackmail was needed or something else was going on”—Doreen shook her head—“I don’t really know. ”
“No, but you’re getting pretty close with those theories,” Mack offered.
She stared at him and asked, “Do you have answers?”
“No, I don’t have answers for sure,” he hedged, “but, like you, I’m also working my way through it.”
“So, you agree with me?” she asked, beaming.
“I certainly think something is there, but, if Birdie was into blackmail, that more than anything is likely what put her in the hospital.”
“Yes,” Doreen agreed. “Yet the part I don’t understand is why would she do something like that if it wasn’t needed?”
“Obviously it was needed though,” Mack said.
She frowned and added, “Maybe when her grandson got into trouble, one way or another, blackmail was her first answer, maybe because it worked quicker than gambling sometimes did. And maybe nobody really understood who was pulling the strings until they found out for sure it was Birdie. Maybe that’s why they trashed her Rosemoor apartment, looking for the blackmail material.
In which case, we need to go back to Rosemoor,” she added, turning to him, “and see if she has anything in the safe.”
His frown was quick but heartfelt as he nodded. “That makes a certain kind of sense.”
“We need to cross it off at least,” she muttered.
He smiled and agreed. “But that isn’t necessarily something that’ll fall into place just because you say so.”
“It should,” she muttered. “All of it should.”
He chuckled. “Should … is not really part of police work.”
“No, neither are suppositions. I totally get it,” she replied, frowning. “You guys are all about facts.”
“That we are,” he confirmed, with a smile in her direction.
She quickly went through the drawers and closets up here in the bedrooms upstairs. She then looked around and sighed. “I don’t see that this Fin guy is connected to anything. I don’t smell drugs, and you said the garage wasn’t like at Mike’s place. So what do you think?”
“I’m not sure Fin is in as deep as Mike is either,” he murmured. “It looks like we’re talking about something a little different here.”
“I don’t know about different,” she pointed out, “but I do think that we should talk to Fin and Mike.”
“Yes, I will need to interview the two people we have in custody,” he pointed out.
She winced. “Right.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not allowed to do that.”
“Nope, you’re not,” he stated, with a smile. “You got your chance already in that public forum earlier.”
“I have to admit it was kind of fun, and I personally think I made good use of that.”
“You did,” he conceded, “but now it’s up to the rest of us.”
“Great,” she muttered. “In other words, I probably should have gotten more out of them back there.”
“There’s only so much you can get out of somebody before they clam up,” he pointed out. “And sometimes they clam up before we have a chance to do very much.”
“I suppose,” she muttered. “It’s just frustrating.”
“That”—he gave her a knowing stare—“is police work in a nutshell. A lot of it is frustrating.”
She knew there was no point in arguing about it.
After they were done checking out Fin’s place, Mack announced, “Now I’m heading back to the police station.” She nodded, but Mack asked her, “What?”
“Nothing, I didn’t say anything,” she replied, trying for a look of complete innocence.
But he just shook his head and said, “Don’t even think about it.”
“Don’t think about what?” she asked, looking at him wide-eyed.
“Going to see what’s in the safe at Rosemoor.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Why not?” she cried out. “You know for a fact that would answer one question.”
“Yes, and we also have Birdie’s rights to consider.”
“What rights?” she asked in exasperation. “If she’s blackmailing people, don’t they have rights too?” His gaze widened, and he just resolutely stared at her. She raised both hands. “Fine,” she snapped. “I don’t get to have any more fun. Got it.”
He rolled his eyes and said, “Enough of that.”
With her nose in the air, she grabbed her animals and declared, “Come on, guys. Time for us to leave the real police work to the real policemen.”
Mack groaned. “Wow.”
She just waved him off and added, “I’m heading home. I’m tired anyway.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “Definitely time for you to go home and to rest a bit. I’ll get one of the deputies to drop you off.”
She wasn’t sure about the getting some rest part because she knew all this would just keep going round and round in her head. And then she thought maybe she should stop at the hospital and see if Birdie would be okay.