Chapter 12 #3
He seemed startled and asked, “Aren’t all these experts and specialists removing a lot of the property from the house?”
“Sure,” she agreed, with a nod. “There’s no money until something is sold, and there is no confirmed sales price until the buyers are involved,” she explained, with a shrug. “Still, it all had to go. So what would you have me do, take it to the local thrift store? Have a garage sale?”
When he just stared at her, she went on.
“I get that, for you, all you see is some fortune here. And maybe there is a fortune here, though hopefully you realize it will likely take years to sell all this. I also get that you don’t care one bit about what my life was like as soon as Mathew ditched me for Robin, or what it’s like emotionally for me to come back here and deal with it all.
Could I have assigned it to someone else?
Maybe so, but I thought it would be best to oversee things myself.
However, considering the current situation, it’s definitely a decision I’m regretting. ”
“Maybe,” Daniel noted, “but maybe you’re only regretting it because you got caught.”
“Caught at what? I haven’t been caught doing anything wrong,” she pointed out, still giving him that knowing smile, “because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Just then Scott cleared his throat at the door. She looked over at him. “If you’re done here,” Scott said, “I could use your help.”
She looked back at Daniel. “Are you done?”
He stood up, headed to the front door, and replied, “For the moment.” Then he turned and, with a snarky smile, said, “Don’t leave town.”
She raised her eyebrows at that. “You’ve just been dying to use that line from the movies, haven’t you?” She laughed. “As you well know, our home isn’t here, and I can assure you that, when I’m done with my business here, I’m going home.”
“I must warn you that, if you choose to leave without permission, we’ll just haul you right back. And, at this point in time, I’m looking forward to it.”
“Stop comparing yourself to Mathew and do your job properly, Daniel,” Doreen replied. “Where is your captain today? I think I’ll give him a call. I’m sure his permission to leave town overrides yours.”
With that, Daniel turned toward the front door and said, “I’ll let myself out.”
As soon as he was gone, she turned to Mack, who stared at the door in consternation. Doreen raised her hands to Mack. “I’m sure you didn’t appreciate my comments to Daniel. But can he really stop us from going?”
“It’s an interesting tactic and also telling that he doesn’t consider you off the hook.”
“I’m not off the hook?” she asked. “Even if I don’t own a gun?”
“No, but you also know Mathew had a weapon here, other than the one we’ve already found.”
“The one that hasn’t been shot in forever?” she asked. “If he did have more, I don’t know where they would be. Yet surely he has some, as paranoid as he was.” She sighed and turned to Scott. “Sorry, Scott. It’s been a day already.”
“He can’t really think you had anything to do with it, can he?” he asked her, frowning at Mack and Nick.
Mack shrugged. “I’m not sure what he thinks.
At this point, all I can say is he’s being very suspicious, as cops tend to be.
However, it is interesting that only Daniel is here for these suspicious discussions with Doreen.
He never arrives with a partner. So I may give his captain another call to see if I can update him on this and the other things Daniel has done. ”
Nick snorted at that. “Agreed.”
Scott shook his head. “I hear you there.”
“Wait,” Doreen suggested. “Before you make that call, and after Daniel leaves, can we search the garage apartment and see if we can find Butch’s gun or other evidence?
It would be great to show that Daniel’s not doing the basics.
Then you can call Oren.” She turned to Scott.
“So, we have a little bit of time. Did you need us?”
Scott nodded. “Let’s go check out the basement, and, if time allows, the kitchen. The artwork is gone, but the storage area is awaiting your approval. We have one stack for donations. Then a few things we will take to auction.”
With a nod, the four of them went to the basement. It didn’t take long for Doreen to approve Scott’s plan for the storage area. He even offered to call the two women’s shelters to arrange for them to pick up what they wanted. Then all four returned to the main floor.
“I need to show you something else in progress.” Nick motioned to the kitchen.
“I took it upon myself to bring in someone to pull out all the expired food and a Dumpster will be delivered to the back of the house and will cart off the first load immediately, per Amos’s instructions, so none of the neighbors are inconvenienced.
” He took them to the second pantry, where a couple men still worked.
“They will cull out all of the expired foods here as well as sort the freezers for you. If you have anything you know needs to go to the dump, it will return tomorrow for a second load. They are boxing anything sealed that can go to the food bank after we pack anything we want.”
Doreen smiled in delight. “Oh thank you! That’s a great answer.”
Leaving the workers to get on with their jobs, she led the men back to the front room. A quick glance out the front window confirmed that Daniel’s unmarked cruiser was gone. Doreen grinned and turned to the men, specifically Scott. “We won’t be long. Where should I meet you?”
Scott smiled, apparently enjoying Daniel getting in further trouble. “Take your time. I’ll be in the private art gallery.”
With that, the trio traipsed up to the garage apartment, all donning plastic gloves, even those blue booties that are supposed to be sterile for police purposes. As Mack handed those out, she raised her eyebrows. “Even on vacation you bring your forensic gear?” she asked.
Mack simply shrugged and smiled.
“So, do we each start at a separate wall and work toward the last one?” Doreen suggested.
“Sound good,” Nick replied, looking to Mack to confirm.
Mack nodded. “Let’s do this.”
In less than ten minutes, Mack found Butch’s gun, hidden away in the toilet tank in a waterproof bag. He yelled out, “Found it.”
Doreen reached him first and had to laugh. Mack joined her, having a good belly laugh. Nick came in frowning. “What’s so funny?” Then he saw the treasure dripping wet still being held over the toilet tank.
Nick muttered, “Must be a criminal thing.”
Doreen agreed. “So now you really do have something more to tell Captain Hawkins,” she told Mack, who had already pulled out his phone. The three of them walked from the latest crime scene, ending up at the kitchen in the main house.
“Before I forget,” he told Doreen, “Captain Hawkins called me earlier and confirmed that the street cams had been disabled that would have spotted our trespassers on the property before our arrival.”
Doreen smirked. “Like somebody with knowledge of them, say a bad cop, who may have done that on purpose?” Doreen turned to Nick. “What do you wanna bet that Butch’s gun has been recently fired?”
Nick shook his head. “But he never fired at us.”
“True,” Doreen stated, “but maybe Butch was the one to kill Pete and to bury him in the onion patch. Wanna bet that Pete is a criminal too, maybe recently released from prison?”
“Oh wow,” Nick muttered. “It’s scary how your mind works.”
“I’m sure Mack will ask for the results of any tests on the gun, the ownership, et cetera.
And we should have those answers soon, now that Oren is working directly with us, even if Daniel has no clue about all that’s going on in the background.
Sorry to miss hearing the fireworks from Mack’s phone call, but Scott needs me. ”
The front doorbell rang again. Nick offered to see who was there, and Doreen hung around to find out as well.
Nick returned quickly. “A parcel is here. I signed for it.”
She frowned at it and shook her head. “I’m not expecting a delivery.” She pointed at the label. “That’s got Mathew’s name on it.”
Mack finished his phone call with Oren and rejoined them. “You can open it,” Mack told her. “It is yours after all.”
“How can it be mine?” she muttered.
“It’s yours in the sense that he’s no longer here. So, it’s something to be dealt with. His estate entails other things, such as his income tax filings, outstanding debts, and related things.”
“Which thankfully,” Nick noted, “his probate attorney is handling all that, even by setting up the property management company to oversee this property.”
“Good enough,” Doreen muttered, with a sigh of relief.
Mack looked over at his brother. “Do we trust those people?”
Nick raised his eyebrows, contemplating his question. “I had to think about it because, considering the business Mathew was in, I think he attracted all the wrong people.”
“He did, indeed,” she murmured. “In a way, I feel sorry for him. Although he seemed to be so very successful, he was not well loved, and he wasn’t respected as much as he was feared.”
“But he fostered that fear himself,” Mack clarified. “Plus, he did it because that’s the type of person he was.”
“Maybe, but he could have lived a better life.”
“Absolutely, but it would have meant being a better person.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t his thing.” She looked down at the parcel and muttered, “Fine. I’ll open it.” She got a kitchen knife and popped the strings on it. She opened the package and found a smaller box.
When she frowned at it, Mack asked, “What’s the matter?”
“You open it,” she stated suddenly. “I don’t like anything about it.”
He eyed it suspiciously, and even Scott, who’d just arrived, stepped back. Nick looked over at Mack and asked him, “We aren’t expecting this to be a bomb or anything, right?”
“I would hope not,” Mack said, studying it oddly.
Just then Mugs came over, sniffed it, and started to bark, a really ugly bark.
Thaddeus squawked and hid in her hair. There was no sign of Goliath.
“That’s an interesting reaction,” Nick noted.