Chapter 6 #2
Doreen snorted. “Just like me, these are showpieces, something to show off, trying to tell everybody how big and powerful he was, and how much money he had.”
“And yet you didn’t get to wear the originals,” Nick noted.
“No, but everybody would know that, if we had the copies, we would have the originals.”
“On the other hand, maybe it was also a case of showing off for the sake of showing off, and he didn’t have the originals at all,” Nick pointed out.
“True, but that would be a matter of pride for him. Every time I was strutted out in a new piece, people would know he had just bought that piece,” she stated, with a shrug.
“There was no making him understand that it didn’t matter to me, and, if I tried, he would say something about me not being classy enough to wear such things or smart enough to know how important it was or one of any number of other insults he came up with regularly. ”
Scott opened up each of the boxes atop Mathew’s desk, completely covering it, now revealing the beauty inside. He sighed happily. “This is incredible.”
“It might be incredible,” she conceded, “but I don’t want any of it.”
“Understood,” he confirmed, with a careful look from the fine pieces back to her. “You do realize how much of an anomaly you are, right?”
Nick chuckled. “I don’t think she gets it.”
Then Mack spoke from the doorway. “No, she doesn’t get it at all. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have her any other way.”
She smiled up at her fiancé. “Scott will take pictures so we have that stash documented and, of course, will write it all up as well.”
“And then hopefully you can arrange for a secured transport?” Mack asked.
Scott nodded. “I’ll contact my colleagues over this haul as well,” he explained, “and I think we’ll get an armed security guard in here.” When she looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. “Unless I can get it out really quickly and quietly. I don’t want to risk it.”
Just then his gaze on her was interrupted by uniformed cops out in the backyard area. He eyed her quizzically.
She frowned and explained, “When we arrived, true to form, I found a man buried in the greenhouse with the onions.” His jaw dropped. She nodded. “Yes, my luck continues.”
“Good God,” Scott muttered, as he stared at her in shock. “That’s not normal, Doreen. You know that, right?”
She snorted. “Ya think?” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know that there’s anything called normal anymore.”
With Scott firmly refocused on making his phone calls and arranging everything that he needed to accomplish, she waved at Mack and Nick, leading them outside to the garage—not the front garage but the back garage.
Mack looked around and asked, “What are we doing? What’s back here? Why does he need a second garage anyway?”
Nick got it first. “Oh no, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
She shrugged. “I figured these might be something you guys would want to see first.”
Mack frowned at her, then at the garage. “Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, uh-oh is right,” she muttered. “Mathew did have a thing about Jags, but he also had a thing about a few other cars.” She walked up to the touchscreen keypad on the outside of the door and frowned as she tried to open it.
“Did you ever know the entry code for this one?” Mack asked.
“I think so,” she muttered, as she tried again.
Then she held up one hand. “Oh, hang on a second.” She tried one more number, and, sure enough, the first of the doors opened.
And, with that one open, she quickly opened up the other two beside it.
With the lights now on, they could see Mathew’s car collection. She muttered, “Oh, it got bigger.”
“What do you mean it’s bigger?” Mack asked, his voice rising.
“It used to be ten vehicles,” she noted. “Seems to be what? Twelve now?”
“More like thirteen,” Nick corrected.
As she expected, the two men froze in place, staring. Nick looked over at his brother, tapped Mack on the shoulder, and mentioned, “If she asks you if you want to keep one of these …”
Mack stared and shook his head. “A new truck is one thing, but what does someone do with all these?”
“You could take them out for a Sunday drive, maybe. We need to get Scott back here,” Nick pointed out. “He’ll think he’s died and gone to heaven.”
Doreen snorted. “Maybe. These were another part of Mathew’s many various collections, but I don’t know if they’re valuable.
I just figured because you guys are guys”—then she stopped and laughed—“you might be more interested in this.” They just stared at her in shock, and she shrugged. “I mean, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“You’re getting a new vehicle, a reliable one, a safe one,” Mack declared. “If you don’t want one of these, then we’ll make sure you get something once we get home.”
Just then Nick added, “I’ll grab Scott and bring him out here. He’s probably already lost in the house.” With a chuckle, Nick left.
Doreen turned to Mack. “We also have to go through the dower house.”
“What do you mean, the dower house?” Mack asked, turning to look at her.
“The second house on the property. Although it’s likely minimally furnished. It was never used in all the years I lived here.”
He shook his head. “Jeez, and Mathew owns how many other homes? Even one month won’t be enough time.”
“With Scott’s expert help, I’m pretty sure we can get this property ready to sell in no time,” she explained, “but it’ll still leave a lot of Mathew’s other homes to deal with.”
Mack groaned at the thought.
While she was talking to him, Scott arrived, took one look, and started to laugh in sheer joy. “Oh my. … For many people this may not be their happy place, but, for a lot of others, this most definitely qualifies.” He looked over at her and asked, “Do you want any of these?”
She looked over at Mack, who shook his head in horror. When Nick shook his head with a bit of indignation, she frowned. “Mack says I have to get a new vehicle.”
“Yes, you do,” Mack confirmed. He turned to Scott. “What’s the cheapest vehicle in this garage, right now?”
“Ooh, I don’t know,” he said, as he considered them all. “Maybe that McLaren, but it’s got a number two on it.”
“Oh, I think that’s number two because he crashed number one,” she shared. “I’m pretty sure it was part of a deal he did, and then he took it out and crashed it. So you would have to talk to him about that.”
He stared at her for a long second.
She groaned. “But you can’t talk to him about it, so what would you say is the cheapest?”
He shrugged. “Nothing here is under half a million.”
She gasped at that. “Fine.” She turned back to Mack. “Can’t we just get a normal car at home?”
“Yes, we can just get a normal car at home,” he stated, staring at her. “Unless you want something here that has a special memory for you. This is your house, and these are all your things now.”
“No, they’re not,” she corrected, with a wave of her hand. “These were important to Mathew. To me, these are just his things, and nothing here matters to me.”
Scott was almost in a swoon by the time they got through inspecting all the vehicles.
She added, “Don’t forget the side garage.”
At that, the men groaned. Mack asked, “What’s over there?”
She shrugged. “The motorcycles.” They walked over and opened it. By now, she could see that Mack was in the same state she was, blinded by it all.
Mack muttered, “There is just so … much.”
She agreed. “It’s just too much all the time, and that was always one of the arguments I had with him.
He never really did anything except … collect.
He didn’t drive these. He didn’t take them out.
He didn’t do anything with any of his collections.
I didn’t understand the point of having them, and he told me that I was just too dense to understand.
While I won’t say I was dense, I definitely didn’t understand. ”
“Oh, Nick—before I forget,” she began. “Can the estate manager give us an update on the other properties in the lower mainland? Give us a status if they are rented, furnished, empty, and in need of repairs or any other details. They won’t be full of treasures like this one as Mathew would never have trusted others with his special items.”
“Let’s focus on selling this property first. As for the others, we have a property management company already hired by Mathew’s probate lawyer to watch over Mathew’s main residence.
Why don’t we hire them to also lease out or rent Mathew’s other Vancouver homes?
That would bring Doreen some monthly income, as well as advertise these homes.
Even as rentals, you always get some inspired couple who wants to buy it outright, before the public sees too much of it.
” He turned to Dorren and Mack, asking, “What do you two think?”
She glanced at Mack, who nodded, and she confirmed their agreement. “Sell this first. Rent the rest, if they aren’t already, with the plan to sell eventually, with Christie’s auctioning off the furniture and whatnot, then donating the rest.”
“That’s sound in general,” he replied. “I’ll work something up.”
Doreen sighed. “Sounds good to me. I just want this done. … Now can we eat?” she asked as she led the way back to the house. “I’m starving.”
“There’s leftover pizza,” Nick suggested.
“Is there?” she asked, turning to him. “I thought you finished it all.”
“I finished it,” Mack admitted, “so there aren’t any leftovers.” When his brother looked at him, he shrugged. “I snagged it for breakfast, long before you guys were discussing pancakes.” Then Mack laughed. “So, do you want to go out and get something?”
“We’ll need more perishable goods if we’re staying here for a few more days.” Nick glanced between the two of them.
“I picked up milk for tea,” she muttered, “and we have coffee. A few bananas too but, yes, we need more.”
“There’s lots of coffee. Plus, we need to use up groceries in the freezer anyway,” Mack suggested. “So why don’t I rustle up something for food?” And that’s what they did.
By the time they had a meal ready, she suggested, “Let’s go track down Scott and invite him to join us.”
They found him out in the garage, still taking inventory of the cars and the motorcycles, while excitedly talking to people on the phone.
When he noticed them, he shared, “Eight specialists are coming in over the next twenty-four hours. Two will be here this afternoon, and the rest will be here tomorrow.”
“Good enough,” she replied. “We rustled up some groceries, if you want to come inside and eat with us.”
He smiled at her with gratitude. “I really could use some food,” he muttered. “It’s been a pretty exciting day.” Over lunch they talked about the logistics of what would be required to get everything out of this place.
Scott added, “You’ll need to stay for at least a few more days, give or take, so we can start packing, shipping, and sorting. You’ll need to be here so we only pack up and sell what you want to sell.”
She looked around and shook her head. “I can’t think of anything that I want to keep.”
“What about the jewelry?” Mack asked. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep anything?” He paused and noted, “And I know that we’re pushing the line here, but, if we do have kids one day”—he waggled his eyebrows at her—“would you want a piece for your daughter?”
She immediately shook her head. “No way. As I said earlier, I would rather pick out something for her that had meaning to me, rather than a super-expensive showpiece that came from someone who discarded me like garbage.”
Silence came at her remark. Nick looked over at his brother and said, “Too bad she doesn’t have a sister.”
“Why?” she asked, staring at him curiously.
“Because I would like to meet her.”
“Okay,” she muttered, not sure exactly what that meant. Yet Scott was grinning broadly, so she would take it as a good thing. Just when they finished eating and were about to get back to work, the doorbell rang.
And, just in case they didn’t hear that, Mugs commenced barking nonstop.
It was Daniel.
Doreen sighed, then looked over at Nick. “You want to escort him to the greenhouse?” she asked Nick.
Surprised but willing, he pointed in that direction.
The detective narrowed his gaze and asked, “Trying to get rid of me?”
“We have work to do that doesn’t involve you,” she declared. “You may not be against us, but you’re obviously definitely not for us.”
“I’m not for anybody,” he replied coolly. “We have a victim who needs to be taken care of.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, “so please, go take care of him.”
And, with that, Nick led Daniel to the greenhouse.