Chapter 2
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Daniel gazed at her in surprise. “Is that you, Doreen?”
“It is,” she cried out, walking toward him with both hands out. Yet Mugs remained uncertain and sniffed Daniel’s pant leg. Mugs wasn’t barking but neither was he welcoming. “Daniel, it’s so good to see you.”
He tilted his head. “Yet not necessarily, at least in these circumstances.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how, but I always seem to end up in trouble.”
“I was talking to—” He turned to Nick and pointed. “Is this your lawyer?”
“So sorry, introductions are in order. This is Mack, my fiancé, and his brother Nick, who also happens to be my lawyer,” she announced.
At the word fiancé Daniel raised his eyebrows at her, and she nodded.
“I know what you’re thinking, and believe me that we can explain.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” he quipped. “I had heard that you and Mathew separated.”
“Let’s just say he replaced me, … with the proverbial younger model,” she shared, with half a groan. “Not exactly an easy time.”
“No, of course not, and therefore …”
“Right, and, therefore, you may think that jealousy or whatever would give me a motive to destroy Mathew’s conservatory, but I wasn’t even in town.”
“I understand that you guys drove down this morning?”
Mack stepped forward, held out his hand, and introduced himself again. “I reported to work this morning in Kelowna, before we drove down. My captain and others will confirm.”
“Okay, that should all be easy enough to check,” Daniel noted, “possibly ruling you guys out right away.”
“Absolutely,” Mack agreed. “We didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“So, what are you here for?” he asked, turning to Doreen.
“I’m sure you’ve heard—or maybe not, I don’t know—but Mathew was murdered in Kelowna some time ago,” she began, then pointed at Mack.
“I was cleared as a suspect, and Mack found Mathew’s killer.
However, since Mathew and I were still legally husband and wife at the time of Mathew’s death, and I was still in his will, it turns out I’m the beneficiary of his estate.
Nick’s been working on the legal aspects of Mathew’s estate all along, but we made this trip to begin to deal with the contents of this and other properties, so I can sell them. ”
“You are not coming back to live in the house?” Daniel asked.
“Oh no, we’ll live in Kelowna. My grandmother is there.”
“How is she?” he asked. “When last I spoke to you, you mentioned that she was the only family you had.”
“Exactly,” she confirmed. “She is doing great and really looking forward to the wedding.”
“Have you set a date?”
“No, we sure haven’t,” she said, with a laugh. “We just recently got engaged. So I was hoping for a little more time to get adjusted to that, but some people don’t want to give me much time before we set the date, like Nan and others.”
Mack chuckled, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. “Regardless, I will give you as much time as you need.”
“Yeah, you did promise me that,” she agreed, smiling back at him, “but you know what Nan’s like.”
“I do know what your grandmother is like,” Mack acknowledged, with a smirk and a shake of his head. “As far as she’s concerned, she’ll be dead if you don’t get married soon, and she’ll miss it all.”
“I know, and your mother is no better.” She groaned and looked over at a somewhat impatient Daniel. “It is really good to see you again. Are you handling the case then?”
“I am,” he stated and then frowned. “You know, I did hear rumors about some crazy woman in Kelowna solving all kinds of murders and cases—cold cases. That wasn’t you, right?”
Mack was already laughing. “It definitely was her.”
Daniel noted, “I’m not sure how you ever got into that, but I can’t have you messing with my case.” When she frowned, he immediately shook his head. “I get that you’re some amateur sleuth and that you’ve had some really good beginner’s luck, but no way can I have you involved in my case.”
“Of course not,” she muttered, her shoulders slumping. “That would be way too easy, wouldn’t it?”
He muttered, “I don’t know about easy. Some of these cases never get solved, and we end up with an incredible backlog of cold cases,” he muttered.
“If we’re lucky, we eventually solve them.
” He pulled out a notebook. “Right, so your husband was murdered. Any chance it would be connected to our dead body here?”
“To say a flat-out no wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense,” she replied, “so I guess the answer to that is a maybe.”
Daniel groaned.
Mack quickly stepped in and explained about Mathew’s murder. Hearing him, Daniel looked disturbed to say the least. “And your divorce lawyer was murdered too?” he asked Doreen.
“Yes, but I had nothing to do with any of it.”
He stared at her for a long moment and muttered, “Good God.”
“I know. It’s been a rough year or so overall, especially the past several months for me,” she muttered.
“Thankfully I ended up at Nan’s after Mathew kicked me out.
Being with my husband as I was, I never even knew the basics about survival.
” She smiled over at Mack and added, “He’s the one who taught me how to cook. ”
“Seriously?” Daniel asked, turning to Mack in astonishment.
Mack nodded. “She’s a very special lady,” he shared. “I also know that she had absolutely nothing to do with Mathew’s murder.”
“You may know that,” Daniel pointed out, “so, from your perspective, … she’s off the hook.”
“Not just my perspective, as Mathew’s murder has been solved,” he pointed out. “Again feel free to contact my captain in Kelowna, and he can give you the details, share a copy of the case files, if you feel that is pertinent to your case here.”
“If this were your investigation,” he asked, studying Mack, “wouldn’t you check out this other murder?”
“I guess I would, yes.”
“And wouldn’t you also consider your own position in Mathew’s case?” he asked Mack.
It took Doreen a moment, then she gasped.
“Oh my, you can’t possibly think that Mack had anything to do with this recent murder here or with the two prior murders.
I mean, Mack works full-time in Kelowna, and he had nothing to do with Mathew’s death.
He had nothing to do with Robin’s death either.
He’s been the cop trying to solve it on the other end. ”
“And you can defend me until you’re blue in the face,” Mack noted, crossing his arms as he stared at Daniel, “but Daniel must still do his job, and he’ll find out all about that for himself.”
“I prefer to think I would find it all out,” Daniel clarified, “if people were honest and upfront.”
“We have been,” Mack stated. “As I already mentioned, feel free to contact my captain, and you can get any of the details you feel are pertinent.”
Daniel nodded but his gaze didn’t leave Mack.
Doreen was shocked. It never occurred to her that anybody would accuse Mack of having anything to do with it. “You do realize that we haven’t even been down here before now, right? This is our first visit since I was unceremoniously booted out.”
“That may well be true,” Daniel conceded, “but this guy’s also come into your life fairly quickly, and I just don’t want to see anything connected to him.”
“Connected to this case?” Mack clarified, his tone settling into a hard line. “Or to make sure she isn’t jumping into something she shouldn’t too quickly?”
Daniel gave a wolfish grin. “You mentioned it, not me.”
“Oh no, no, no, no, no.” Doreen raised her hands, staring from Mack to Daniel. “This isn’t happening. Mack is completely free and clear on all this. But, if I need to get him a lawyer, believe me that I will.”
“I don’t think a lawyer will be necessary,” Mack declared, as he continued to stare at the detective in front of him.
“Yet the grandstanding here has a very interesting side effect, especially considering that we are looking for a criminal here in the lower mainland right now, instead of somebody from Okanogan this time. Plus, we happen to have somebody right in front of us, who seems to know an awful lot about you and your ex.” He turned to Doreen to make his point.
“Somebody who knows you, maybe your love of gardening,” he suggested.
Doreen frowned at Mack, reminded of his earlier comment about how this vandalism to her beloved greenhouse was somehow about getting back at her.
She then turned to Daniel. She knew what Mack was trying to do, and it didn’t take Daniel very long to connect the dots.
His face turned bright red, his expression muddled, but it was more fury than anything.
Mack nodded. “So, just a little advice from one cop to the other. I suggest you take good care on how you approach this case,” he began. “I didn’t have anything to do with it, and the case in my corner of the world is all closed up, while the one in your corner is still wide open.”
At that, Nick stepped in. “Hang on a minute. Let’s keep everything nice and friendly,” he suggested.
“Daniel, if you have some questions to ask Doreen, maybe we can get to those right now, with her attorney present. We’ve been traveling, and we’re tired, and this wasn’t exactly the easiest arrival we could have asked for.
Plus, we haven’t eaten lately and are in need of some food. ”
Doreen shrugged. “If any of the old staff were still around, I could ask them to prepare something. Yet you told me that everybody had been let go. Is that correct?” she asked, turning to Nick.
“Yes, all but the caretaker, and he was keeping an eye on the property.”
She frowned at Nick and asked, “And we haven’t seen any sign of him?”
“No.”
She nodded. “So, then that’s suspicious, isn’t it?”
“That potentially could be his body out in the greenhouse.” Mack pointed out, with a nod, completing her thought.
She winced, but it was definitely possible.
Daniel frowned, silently watching their interactions and intently listening.
“And could you identify him?” Mack asked her.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, “unless it’s Philip. He used to work here when I lived here, but I haven’t seen or heard anything from him—or even about him in a very long time.”
“Okay, so Daniel will ID the dead body in the greenhouse and will get back to us to share that info, can’t you?” Mack asked.
Daniel gave him a very stern look, not saying a word.
Nick interjected, “As I understand it, the current caretaker was originally your husband’s hire.
The property management company hired by Mathew’s probate attorney kept him on to look after the property, just until we got the details sorted out and transferred to you, Doreen,” Nick explained.
“So it should not be anybody you know, but we’ll see.
Daniel, if and when you’re ready to remove the body, we’ll take a look to see if she can ID the body. ”
“I don’t think she should do that,” Daniel argued. “I don’t know how long the body’s been there, but I can’t imagine it’s a pretty sight.”
Doreen snorted, finding it funny to hear somebody concerned about her sensibilities because she was a completely different person now than she had been so many months ago.
She turned to him and explained, “I’ve done a lot of work with the coroner in Okanogan.
” She gave Daniel a wry smile. “She’s become a good friend now.
” She glanced down at her phone and frowned.
“Oh shoot, we forgot to tell her that we were leaving.”
“I can send her a message,” Mack offered. “Weren’t you supposed to meet her for tea or something?”
She nodded. “I was. I forgot.”
“It’s fine. I’m sure she’s more than busy.”
“More than busy?” she repeated, turning to him. “Did a new case come in or something?”
He laughed. “I’m certain the cases will keep coming, even while we’re away,” he told her, “but we took this trip to get things settled in Vancouver. So we need to keep our eye on the ball right here.”
“Right,” she muttered, “that is why we came after all.” She again addressed Daniel. “It’ll be fine, Daniel. I don’t know what the situation is with the body in the greenhouse, but I can’t imagine it would be worse than what I’ve already seen.”
He frowned, but Nick intervened. “She’ll be fine,” he told the detective. “After all, she’s dealt with many dead bodies in Kelowna since moving there. You can also confirm that with Mack’s captain as well.”
Mack nodded. “Now, if you have any questions, it would be great if we can get through that process. We’re planning on staying here in the house, and the greenhouse is accessible from its own back entryway.
So your people can access the crime scene that way.
I understand that you’ll need time to go through things out there, but obviously we want you to get it done before too long.
We were hoping to be back home in just three days or so.
” Mack shifted as if done with the conversation.
Daniel straightened his stance. “As you all seem to have some level of experience with law enforcement, you know perfectly well it will take however long it takes. So, let’s dig in, shall we?
” Daniel turned to face each of them, and he did not look happy at all.
“But first, … what is on your neck?” he asked Doreen.
Thaddeus poked his head out and squawked. “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”
Doreen smiled. “This is Thaddeus, and I still have Mugs, but you’ve seen him before, and Goliath, my Maine coon, is right behind you.”
“You drove down with them?” Daniel asked in astonishment.
“Always,” she answered quietly. “Where I go, they go. Now about your questions …”