Chapter 8

D oreen walked toward Nan’s to help her out this afternoon. They were setting out some decorations all around the place. She didn’t really understand what it would look like once done, but, since the project was close to Nan’s heart, Doreen would do whatever she could to keep her grandmother happy.

Doreen was told by one of the residents to go to the big auditorium area of Rosemoor, which was surprisingly large. Finding Nan there, Doreen said, “I understand you’re making a big deal out of this. I heard even Wendy was invited.”

“Of course she is. You’ve done a lot for her too.”

“Hardly, all I did was take her some clothing to sell.”

Nan laughed. “If that was all it was, it wouldn’t be much. You’re right,” she agreed. “Yet you forget that she got into some trouble herself, and you were the one who was there to help her out.”

“Oh, yes.” Doreen frowned, staring at Nan. “I completely forgot about that part.”

Nan smiled. “I know, but other people have not forgotten.”

Doreen grimaced. “I really don’t need people thanking me for doing the right thing.”

“The good news is, we’ll set up this party, and hopefully everything will go smoothly, and nobody will even need to say anything more.”

“Actually I like that idea,” Doreen said, with a smile. “I don’t really need thanks,… you know?”

“I know. That’s one of the nice things about you.”

“If you say so,” she muttered. “Now, where do you want me to hang these decorations?”

Nan pointed to one wall. “Start over there. That wall is basically blank.”

Doreen nodded. “Oh, by the way, do you happen to know a guy named Jimmy Cooper?” Nan frowned. “A short guy, friendly, a ladies’ man?”

Richie walked over and glared. “Not somebody you want anything to do with,” he stated, with a headshake. “You make darn sure you don’t let him get into your pants.”

Doreen stared at him in horror. “I was just asking because he’s a friend of the man who died in the trucking incident.”

“Oh, my,” Richie muttered, yet he still stared at her.

“Are you getting yourself in Mack’s current case?” Nan asked worriedly.

Doreen rolled her eyes. “No, of course I’m not getting into Mack’s case. He wouldn’t let me anyway, and you know how I feel about crossing those boundaries.”

“You would cross them in a heartbeat if you thought you could get away with it,” Richie declared, glaring at her but with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Maybe,” Doreen admitted, “but so would you.”

He let out a large guffaw and nodded. “You’re right. I probably would. On the other hand, we don’t want to be pissing off poor Mack, not right now.”

“Why not right now?” Doreen asked.

“He’s got a case, doesn’t he?” Nan asked, nudging Richie. “You know how protective he’s always been about his cases.”

“Yeah, and, if he’s working a case,” Richie added, with a shrug, though to Doreen it looked a bit off, “you should definitely stay out of it.”

“ Right ,” she muttered, wondering just what the devil was going on with these two. “Whatever. I was thinking about contacting him—Jimmy Cooper.”

“He’s bad news,” Richie repeated.

“When you say, bad news , do you mean really bad news or just regular bad news?”

“ Bad news , bad news,” he stated. “The worst kind. How many ways are there to say it?”

“Just checking,” Doreen replied, trying to keep the conversation light. “It has to do with how you say it, the inflection, you know? There’s bad news, and then there’s bad news, and then—”

“Enough,” Richie interrupted, holding up a hand. “He’s bad news because he’s a ladies’ man and has a reputation of hitting on anything that moves. Plus, he gets into all kinds of trouble. Last I heard, he was involved in some questionable cross-border shenanigans.”

“Cross-border, as in getting things across?” Doreen asked, trying to figure out exactly what that meant.

“I don’t know exactly what he’s been up to,” Richie clarified, “but I’ve heard it’s in the realm of picking up cigarettes and bringing them across the border, without declaring them. That kind of thing.”

“Ah, so… smuggling basically.”

“I don’t know that the cops would call it smuggling. A lot of people play the border game and don’t consider it illegal.”

“Unless they’re caught.”

“Most of them don’t get caught because they don’t do it in a big way that would attract attention.”

“Of course not,” Doreen noted. “That would be breaking the law, right?”

“Exactly, and these guys don’t necessarily want to break the law. They’re just having fun with it.”

“Is that what you think Jimmy was doing?”

“I don’t know. He’s not the type I shoot the breeze with to find out, you know?” When Doreen stared at him, he added, “I don’t know what else to say about it. Just to advise you to stay away from him.”

“I wasn’t planning on going out for coffee with him,” she replied.

“Good,” he declared, clearly alarmed at the thought. “That would not be wise. He could be downright dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Doreen asked. “Hang on a minute. How did we get from a bad news ladies’ man to dangerous so quickly?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Richie added. “Doreen, you don’t want to muck up anything right now.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

Suddenly looking as if he had to go somewhere, Richie said, “I’ll be right back.” Then he quickly disappeared.

Doreen turned to Nan and asked, “What the devil is going on?”

Nan just smiled and pointed to her ear, spinning circles with her finger, and noted, “That’s just Richie.”

“Oh, come on, Nan,” Doreen said. “It’s not as if he’s all of a sudden gone loco.”

“Nothing sudden about it,” Nan stated cheerfully and then chuckled. “He would probably laugh at me for saying it too. Despite the occasional evidence to the contrary, he does have all his marbles right now, which is good, since we need them.”

“I don’t know what the devil is going on around here.” Doreen stared at her grandmother. “However, you guys are making me very suspicious.”

“Which, of course, is always the problem with you,” Nan noted, with a big smile. “You’re naturally suspicious, but I can assure you, child, that you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“Why does that statement make me even more suspicious?” she asked, glaring at her grandmother.

“Oh my, you do have a problem then, don’t you?” Nan pointed out in perfect innocence.

Doreen sighed. “It makes me wonder what all is going on here at Rosemoor.… So, do you know anything about this Jimmy Cooper guy?”

“Not really,” she replied, with a wave of her hand, “but I heard talk of a group of people who play the border traffic thing. I don’t know that it’s limited to cigarettes, maybe not.” She shook her head. “I’ve heard that a couple guys can get you anything you want and bring it back across the line.”

“And then what, you don’t have to pay duty?”

“Yeah, it’s really cheap.”

“Sure, I get that,” Doreen replied, “but is it worth getting into trouble over?”

“If you’re not the one who’s on the order form, does it matter?” Nan asked, with a shrug.

“In a way, yeah, it would matter,” she stated, staring at her.

“Then it matters, and, if it matters to you, then you shouldn’t do it,” Nan declared. “You know that you can’t sit here and judge everybody because they work with a different set of ethics than you do. And you have to decide which of these battles are ones that you want to get involved in.”

“Have you ever done it?”

“Oh goodness no,” Nan responded. “I much prefer to support local business people. But, for some, they think it is a game, with an element of sticking it to the man , if you will. You know, fighting back against Big Brother or whatever.”

“I don’t understand all that,” Doreen muttered. “Doesn’t sound like such a great game to me.”

“For you, it wouldn’t be because you’re way too serious,” Nan noted. “You would get into the game and would wind up all frantic and worried that you wouldn’t get out of it.”

“Exactly,” she agreed, “and why not? What if you got caught?”

“What if you got caught?” Nan asked. “These guys would just say they didn’t know but would never do it again. For a first offense, they would probably get off. Easy-peasy, right?” Then she laughed.

“But that’s hardly worth killing anybody over.”

She turned and frowned at Doreen. “Was somebody killed over this?”

The gleam in Nan’s gaze made Doreen realize just how invested they’d all become with her cases. “No, I don’t think so,” she muttered, with a nonchalance that fooled no one.

Nan hopped closer. “Was the semi-truck driver murdered?” she asked in low tones.

“I’m not saying a thing. Remember that this is Mack’s case,” Doreen replied, throwing her grandmother’s words right back at her.

Nan glared at her. “Oh, now that’s hardly fair.”

“I know full well,” Doreen stated, with a smug smile. “That’s exactly what you do to me though.”

“Maybe, but I could always just tell Mack that you’re interfering in his case. That would put you in a pickle.”

“You could,” Doreen conceded, “but you should have proof.”

“You’re asking questions about Brandon and now this Jimmy Cooper guy,” Nan stated in a crafty tone.

Doreen gasped. “That’s blackmail.”

“No, that’s just family. We do have a reputation to uphold, now don’t we?”

Doreen had no comeback for that. What could she say? Realizing her grandmother probably knew more about this Jimmy than she’d alluded to, Doreen decided to see how far she could get. “I wonder where I would find Jimmy.”

“He hangs around over in Glenmore, last I heard,” Nan shared a little too quickly. “There used to be a number you could call if you wanted something, but it’s been a while since I touched base.” Then she laughed. “However, I happened across his number in my pocket not long ago.”

“For somebody who didn’t ever do this, you sure know an awful lot about the process.”

“I’m ancient, child. I know a lot about many things. And, while I may not have used his services,… you never know when you just might need something.”

“Something?”

“Sure, anything,” she said, with a shrug. “I mean, it’s just for a lark, after all.”

“Please, no more larks.” Doreen stared at her grandmother. “It’s not just us who would have problems here, but right now it could really reflect badly on Mack.”

At that, Nan stopped and frowned. “Oh, yeah.”

“So, you do remember Jimmy?”

“Yeah, of course I remember him,” she stated crossly, “but honestly, I hadn’t really considered it from Mack’s point of view.”

“It’s a whole new world now,” Doreen pointed out. “We’ve gotten involved in an awful lot of cases, and, from Mack’s perspective, he’s held to a higher standard, and, as such, we are too.”

“That seems terribly boring,” Nan muttered, staring at Doreen.

“It might be boring,” she conceded, “but it doesn’t have to be.”

“Oh, of course it does, when we are talking about the cops. Still, we can probably find another way to liven up our investigations.” Then Nan sighed. “I really don’t want to think that any of us prefers to be boring .”

“Of course not,” Doreen replied, “but it is the truth when it comes to how Mack would see these things.”

“It is kind of the truth,” Nan conceded, with a sigh. “I’ll have to put some thought into that. Anyway you really shouldn’t go down there on your own.”

“It’s Glenmore, so not very far away, and it’s hardly down there . It’s not in any of the bad areas. After all Glenmore is known to be for families, for crying out loud, so it’s hardly a problem.”

“Maybe not a problem,” Nan noted, “but it’s still not a place I would have you go alone.”

Doreen sighed. “Nan, what are you not telling me?”

“It’s just that this Jimmy, he’s a bit of a lothario…” she shared, “and women do tend to fall all over him.”

“Do you really think I’ll be falling all over him?” she asked her grandmother.

“Oh, no, dear, not you, not when you’ve got Mack.”

Doreen stared at Nan. “Good Lord, so what’s the issue?”

“I’m not really sure,” Nan muttered, as she stared off in the distance. “I guess I just would feel… better somehow if you didn’t go.”

“You might feel better, but that’s not an answer.”

“Of course it’s an answer. I just would feel better if you didn’t go. How is that not an answer?”

Doreen shook her head. “Look. If I go, I’ll only talk to this guy.”

“Of course, of course,” Nan muttered, but she kept frowning.

“You can’t really think that I would be swayed by this guy?”

Nan shrugged. “He’s got quite a track record.… Women I wouldn’t have expected to fell heavily for him.”

“Oh, man,” Doreen muttered. “Now you’re really making me want to go see this guy.”

“No, no, no, don’t. Don’t even think that,” she cried out in alarm. “You shouldn’t do this. Definitely not now.”

“But this is part of my investigation of the case. So I do need to get a hold of him.”

Nan reached into her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper. As she looked down at the number in her hand and, with her own phone in her other hand, she called him. Sure enough, the voice on the other end boomed in delight. “Nan, how are you?”