Chapter 17

P engo shook his head several times. “I had nothing to do with that.”

“You keep saying that, and yet here you are on my doorstep again.” He glared at her. “I know. I know. According to you, I’m just a pain in the butt.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” he snapped. “Why are you trying to cause trouble?”

“I’m not trying to cause any trouble, but it’s been trouble for somebody else.”

“But that person is dead, so it shouldn’t matter.”

She sighed. “Maybe, maybe not, but again, if you know something…”

“I’m not telling the cops nothing,” he snapped. “They haven’t done anything for me. I’m not doing anything for them.”

“Fine, in that case, you can be on your way.” She pointed to her front steps. “Don’t fall. I haven’t got any deicer yet.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “I should fall and then sue you,” he muttered, as he walked down the steps. He turned, looked back at her, and asked, “You’ll lay off, right?”

“Will you lay off?” she asked him. “Because I only see one person continuing to make contact with me on this one matter, and it hasn’t been me contacting you. I’m just getting ready for a Christmas party.”

“Right,” he muttered. “There’s that big do at the retirement hall. My sister’s going.”

“It seems that half the town has been invited,” she noted, with a wry shrug.

“I didn’t get an invite,” he mumbled.

She looked at him and smiled. “Do you want to go?”

“Heck no,” he muttered. “The last thing I want to do is be locked up in a room with a bunch of old people.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you don’t,” she muttered, “but, honest to goodness, they probably have more fun in their day than you do.”

He took one last look at her and stormed away.

She laughed at that, knowing it was probably quite true. But his visit brought up something else completely unrelated, and that worried her. Unrelated and worried meant bad news somewhere along the line for somebody. She thought about it for a long moment and then looked back at Mugs. “What will we do about it, Mugs?”

He woofed several times and then lay down.

“You think we should just let it go, don’t you?”

He woofed again.

“You’re probably right. Plus, Mack would get pretty upset. Then, if we’re late for the party, you know Nan would be very upset,” And Doreen would do a lot to avoid breaking Nan’s heart. And that’s exactly what would happen if Doreen showed up late tonight. She groaned. “Fine, we’ll get dressed and head down. I don’t know if we’re supposed to be early or what.”

Nan would have a conniption fit if she thought Doreen would do something the wrong way. If it meant being early, you were supposed to be early. However, if you’re supposed to be late, then you must be late. She sent Nan a text, asking if she was supposed to arrive early or late.

Nan phoned her back. “That’s a silly question. It’s a party.”

“I know it’s a party. That’s why I’m asking you. I don’t want you to be embarrassed because I don’t know which way to go on this one.”

“You would never embarrass me, child,” she replied gently. “You can come anytime you want. I do know Mack will likely be a little bit late though.”

“Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll be a little bit late too, so I’m not out of sync with Mack.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Nan said, laughter in her tone. “It’s nice to see the two of you so in sync.”

Doreen did end up a little late getting to Rosemoor, just because the animals seemed way too excited. She was worried about taking them since there would be a massive crush of people. However, it also felt wrong not to bring her animals, when her animals deserved to be thanked too, as it wasn’t just about Doreen. So she had to bring them. They were a team after all, and she was determined that they should be allowed to have fun and to steal the spotlight.

With a bow tie on Mugs, she made an attempt to pin a little Christmas ribbon bow on the back of Goliath’s collar, and not to be outdone, Thaddeus was also sporting a little bow. She slowly started to walk down, wondering if she should have driven in this cold, and quickly realized it was way too cold to walk there. Heading back home, she moved everybody over to her car, and now finally loaded up, she drove to Rosemoor, only to discover it was almost impossible to find any parking. She groaned as she drove around, realizing she would still be a few blocks away, but that was the best she could do about it.

She hopped out, leashed up both Mugs and Goliath, then put Thaddeus carefully onto her shoulder, worried that he was already eyeing her shiny gold necklace a little too closely. He might end up embarrassing everybody if he decided it was something he should have. As she walked toward the front entrance, the doors opened immediately, as she was greeted with cries of well-wishes and Merry Christmas. She laughed as she saw both staff and seniors waiting for her. As she arrived, the cheers went up all around.

She shook her head, “Jeez, you guys. Come on. It’s not as if you haven’t seen me this week.”

“Ah, but all this is for you,” one of them declared, beaming.

“That’s why I brought the animals. I truly hope it’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay. You and the animals are always welcome,” the manager replied.

Doreen laughed. “I’m really glad you agree because I was worried about it.”

“No, you and the animals are a package deal,” the manager pointed out, “and we knew it. It’s all good.”

As Doreen walked in, she was surprised to see a couple standing in her way, hesitant, as if reluctant to approach any farther, unsure if they would even be welcome. Obviously they were welcome since they were here. With a closer look, Doreen noted it was Pengo and his sister, Miriam. She looked at him in surprise. “Look at that. You decided to come after all.”

He turned and glared at her, but his sister shushed him. “Yes,” she replied, looking over at Doreen, one eyebrow up. “I didn’t think any animals were invited though.”

“Ah, well, in that case, you would be wrong,” Doreen stated cheerfully. “The animals go where I go. We’re a team.”

Miriam looked at her. “So, you’re Doreen? The one that all this fuss is about, huh ?”

“Yes, I’m Doreen,” she confirmed, with a nod.

“I thought there was something familiar about you, but couldn’t quite figure it out. What did you want my brother for?”

“To talk to him, but he seems to have gotten the wrong idea on the whole issue. I just wanted to tell him about Brandon. Now he’s the one who keeps bugging me,” she explained, turning to look at him.

“Hardly.” He groaned, as he glared at her. “She’s crazy,” he added for his sister.

Miriam stopped, her eyes widening.

Doreen knew that look all too well by now. “Yeah, that’s me,” she noted cheerfully. “I’m the crazy lady who gets involved in all these cold cases.”

“So you are trying to solve that case,” Pengo stated, turning to face her.

“Except that you told me how you weren’t involved. So, if you weren’t involved, you weren’t involved,” she declared, with a shrug. “So, nothing else to say about it.”

“Right, and I meant it.”

“Of course. And I believe you.”

“You do?” he asked, turning to look at her.

“Yes.”

“Oh.” He didn’t seem to know what to say to that.

She laughed, then patted him on the shoulder and added, “It’s all right, you know? Some people will believe you. Now go get some punch and relax, so you can enjoy the party.” She motioned over to the side, where the refreshments and some snacks were.

“I haven’t eaten all day,” he muttered, warming up to the idea. He asked his sister, “Can I get you some punch?”

“Sure. I want to talk to Doreen for a minute.”

He nodded and walked over to the refreshments table and quickly lost himself in the table of food.

Doreen watched him pick up food with both hands, and she laughed. “He really is hungry, isn’t he?” She turned back to smile at the sister. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Miriam replied, but her gaze was narrow and hard. “I’m just wondering why you’re bothering my brother. You didn’t tell me that you were looking at him as a suspect for a case. Had I known, I never would have pointed you in his direction.”

Doreen shrugged. “I didn’t know whether he had anything to do with it or not,” she stated. “I was just asking questions. He says he didn’t, so whatever. Besides, I contacted him to let him know about Brandon’s passing.”

“And that’s it? You’ll just believe him?”

“Yes, I’ll just believe him,” she repeated. She didn’t elaborate about the fact that, as far as she was concerned, her inner guidance was pretty solid, and Doreen was a decent judge of character. Although Pengo was giving off all kinds of good vibes on the matter, Miriam wasn’t. Doreen eyed Pengo’s sister and asked, “Don’t you believe him?”

She shook her head. “Of course I do. He’s my brother.”

“That’s not an excuse though,” she pointed out. “An awful lot of brothers out there are still criminals.”

“Sure, but he’s my brother, and I know him very well.”

“Did you also know Brandon?”

She nodded. “I did. I have to admit that, back then, he didn’t appear to be quite such a bad guy. It was really a surprise when he went down for all those crimes.”

“And may only have been guilty of some of them. He admits he got into a bad way and had some bad friends who guided him in the wrong direction, but he left quite a few detailed notes,” Doreen added cheerfully. “I haven’t had a chance to get through them all.”

“Notes?” Miriam asked faintly.

“Yeah, notes,” Doreen confirmed. “He wanted to clear his name of at least one of the things he didn’t do. He fessed up and pled guilty to the ones that he did, but he was adamant that he was innocent of one of them.”

“Really?” Miriam asked, staring at Doreen.

“Yeah, really,” she agreed cheerfully. “And then he died before he had a chance to do anything about it.”

“So why would anybody care now?” Miriam asked, with a shrug. “I mean, he’s dead.”

“Sure, he’s dead, and maybe a lot of people don’t care, but I do.”

“Of course you do.” Miriam groaned. “It’s that whole busybody part of your system, isn’t it?”

“I don’t even know what that means,” Doreen admitted, looking at her. “However, I can tell you that, if there’s an easy answer to this, I will try and find it.”

“Why? Brandon doesn’t care anymore.”

“Maybe he doesn’t care, but an injustice was done.”

“Right, a busybody,” she muttered. “Anyway, it’s got nothing to do with me.”

As she went to step away, Doreen stared at her and asked, “Are you sure?”