Chapter 9

S hocked at her grandmother’s impromptu actions, Doreen stepped up, her hands on her hips, and glared at Nan.

“I’m doing just fine, Jimmy,” Nan replied cheerfully. “I heard that a friend of yours died.”

“Oh my gosh, he sure did. I’m just beside myself over it. You know that we just set up a business and all.” He sounded sorrowful. “Man, I don’t even know what to do now.”

“What business?” Nan asked.

“You know,” he quipped, with a chuckle.

“So, same old, same old?”

“Yeah, same old, same old.”

“So why set up as a business now?” Nan asked, with that lively curiosity of hers that seemed to let her get away with asking questions from anybody, and they all just volunteered the answers.

“Ah, well,… he wanted to do a little bit more of it, you know, so he could work less at his day job.”

“Working smarter is always a good idea,” Nan replied coyly.

Doreen watched her grandmother in action, and it appeared that Nan could be quite the charmer herself.

“I mean, especially if it was profitable and all. Of course you don’t want to get caught. I can’t imagine that would go well for you.”

“That was one of the things we were talking about. We don’t want to get caught. We don’t want any of that strife, but working nine-to-five at our age was not exactly what we wanted to do either.”

“No, no, of course not. I was really sad to hear about Brandon.”

“Oh, and the fact that he was shot too,” Jimmy added, with a sad tone. “It… just breaks my heart.”

“Does he have any family? Is there anyone we should do something for?”

“No, no family,” he muttered. “He was all alone. Maybe that’s why it’s hitting me so hard too. You know that’s my situation as well.”

“I know,” Nan said. “You never did find that one lovely woman to settle down with and marry, did you?”

“No, I sure didn’t. Nobody will have me.”

Nan laughed. “Oh, come on. Don’t you mean that you couldn’t settle down to just one?”

“I won’t say you’re wrong there,” he replied in that bright, cheerful tone. “Anyway, what are you up to? I haven’t heard from you in a long time.”

“Oh, I just thought I would call and pay my respects for your buddy,” she shared. “Of course, my dearly beloved granddaughter is wondering if there was anything untoward about his death, but, if he was shot, there apparently was.”

“Oh, my goodness. She’s that private eye person, isn’t she?”

“Not formally,” Nan replied in a cagey tone.

“That just gave me a thought though. Do you think she would give me a hand to sort it all out?”

Nan looked over at Doreen, who was shaking her head at a crazy rate. Nan frowned and glared at her.

Doreen leaned forward and interjected, “Hey, Jimmy. This is Doreen. I can’t do anything or get involved in an active case.”

“Oh, right. I think I heard something about that. The police don’t like it, do they?”

“No, they certainly don’t.”

“You know that Brandon ended up doing time a few years back.”

“Really?” Doreen asked, her ears perking up at that news.

“It was an open-and-shut deal, B&Es, but he didn’t do it.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t do it?”

“He was doing B&Es back then but not with me. And he swears he didn’t do one of those B&Es. So, you know, that’s a cold case.”

“It depends on whether it’s on the books as a cold case though, which it wouldn’t be, not if he did time. If he wasn’t guilty though, did he say something or at least try to mount a defense?”

“He did, but he was afraid to push it too far because whoever had really done it would come back after him.”

“Interesting,” she murmured.

“After he got out of jail, he tried to get the freedom people to look at it, but nobody would.”

“That’s interesting too. I can always talk to Mack and see if that qualifies as letting me in on the current case.”

“It would be great if you could,” Jimmy said eagerly. “Considering Brandon was shot, and there didn’t appear to be any reason for it, I’m a little worried about what might happen the next time I go out.”

“I guess it depends on whether your smuggling operation involves any B&E operations. Maybe somebody doesn’t like the smuggling part.”

“And yet, what’s not to like?” Jimmy asked. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and nobody’s really cared so far.”

“Outside of the police, you mean,” she noted in a wry tone.

“Well, yeah, them,” Jimmy conceded, “but it’s not as if we’re heavy into crime or anything.”

She shook her head as she realized just how much these people thought of it as a game and not criminal activity. She knew that Mack would have a completely different viewpoint on it.

“Hey, why don’t you come down and talk to me more about it?” he suggested, his tone lightening. “It’s lonely down here, and it is Christmastime.”

“That depends on if you’ve got any information on what happened to Brandon back then with the B&E.”

“Oh, I can dredge up his old files,” Jimmy noted. “I lived with the guy after all, so all that stuff is right here.”

“Have the police been to your place?”

“Sure. They went to his new place too. He had recently moved out. That was in the last month or so, but, up until then, we shared a house.”

“Why did he move out?” Doreen asked.

“Ah, you know how it is. I think he had thoughts that maybe he would get himself a girlfriend. He may have felt I was cramping his style in a way.”

“Oh, I see.”

Nan nodded. “I can see that too,” Nan added, “not to mention the fact that you do have a bit of a roving eye.”

“I might have a bit of a roving eye,” he conceded, with a laugh, “but I do understand boundaries… kind of.”

Nan laughed. “You might understand boundaries, but I’m not sure you quite know how to respect them.”

“I don’t know about that,” he countered, still with laughter in his tone. “I mean, I never tried to take the women.”

“No, they just naturally preferred you?” Doreen asked, with a smile.

“Exactly, so why don’t you come on down, and I’ll show you what I’ve got regarding Brandon’s cold case.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Doreen agreed. As soon as she got the address, she ended the call and looked over at Nan. “I thought you didn’t want me to go see him?”

“It’s probably better if you do go see him,” Nan explained, “and then we won’t have to worry about it.”

“I don’t understand how this is different,” Doreen muttered, staring at her grandmother.

“What? It’s just good to get it out of the way. So, if you are persuaded by this guy, then Mack needs to know that you guys really don’t have what it takes.”

“Good God, Nan. It’s not as if meeting some guy out of the blue will change my mind about Mack,” she stated in exasperation. “I’m not as fickle as that.”

“No, maybe not.” Nan eyed her granddaughter shrewdly. “But the question is, are you serious enough for poor Mack right now?”

“Just stop,” Doreen told Nan. “Please, enough already. Do you really find me that shallow?”

“You should go see Jimmy now,” Nan declared.

“Fine, I will,” she muttered. “Mack won’t be home anytime soon anyway. So I’ll be there and back before he comes by my place.”

“Good.” Still, Nan frowned. “Here’s a thought. Maybe I’ll come with you.”

Doreen stared at her. “Are you up for a field trip?”

“Absolutely, and, besides, we won’t be gone long, right?”

“No, we don’t have to be. You’re the one who seems to think this will be a big deal.”

“I don’t want it to be a big deal,” she clarified, “but sometimes we get surprised by these things.”

Not sure where Nan was going with any of this, Doreen gathered together the animals. “Let me go get my car. I’ll come right back, so wait for me in the parking lot, okay?”

It took no time and, as soon as she returned to Rosemoor, she opened up the passenger door for Nan, who could barely contain her excitement. “Let’s go on a field trip then,” Doreen announced. “It shouldn’t take very long at all.” And, with that, an excited Nan at her side, Doreen headed down the road toward Jimmy’s address. It was about a fifteen-minute drive.

By the time they pulled up in front of the address, Nan looked up and nodded. “This is it.”

Doreen turned to her grandmother and asked, “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing,” she said, blinking those baby blues at her.

“You two were involved, weren’t you?” Doreen asked in disgust. “Don’t tell me that you smuggled things with him too?”

“No, not really.” Nan gave a dismissive wave. “Still, with all the hype, you’ve got to try it, right?”

“No, you don’t.” Doreen gave her an eye roll.

“It was a long time ago, dear.” She patted Doreen’s hand. “Nothing I can get caught for now.”

“Says you.” They got out with Goliath and Mugs securely leashed, Thaddeus on Doreen’s shoulder, and walked to the front door. It opened almost immediately. Nan was snatched into a big hug, while Jimmy’s gaze, bright and assessing, looked over Nan’s head to check out Doreen.

She shook her head at him. “It’s not good form to assess one woman, while you’re hugging another one.” She also noted that her animals weren’t in a rush to greet this man. Interesting .

He burst out laughing at that, then stepped back to look at Nan. “Oh, I like her already.”

“Of course you do,” Nan declared, with almost a sigh of resignation in her voice. She looked at her granddaughter and added, “Come on in. This is Jameson, but he prefers Jimmy. Jimmy, this is my granddaughter, Doreen.”

She smiled at him and said, “Pleased to meet you.”

He looked at her quizzically. “She’s definitely not what I expected. And an animal lover, I see.”

To Doreen, it didn’t appear that he liked her animals. That was another strike against him.

“If you’d seen pictures of her, you wouldn’t have had a different expectation,” Nan stated, nodding at her granddaughter to come in. “Get in here, child, and shut that door. It’s cold.”

“Of course.” She quickly stepped inside, her animals sticking close to her. Doreen was not sure why Nan was acting the way she was. But absolutely nothing about the man in front of her would make Doreen’s heart—or anybody else’s—jump.

He was balding, definitely weathered, and looked as if he’d been around the booze for way too long, forgetting to leave it behind. He was also very short and at least thirty years her senior, if not forty. She hid a smile as Nan looked at him, then at Doreen, one eyebrow raised. Doreen shook her head, and, with a sigh of relief, Nan nodded.

“Of course not,” Nan whispered. “You’re too smart for that.”

Not even sure what that meant, but knowing that something was going on here that Doreen didn’t understand, she followed Nan into the living room, where Jimmy waited for them. Doreen muttered quietly to Nan, “I still don’t get it.”

“Interesting,” Nan murmured.

As they walked through Jimmy’s house, Doreen noted the antique furniture, then realized that this guy probably got big bucks from whatever he had been doing. It was the illegal part that would never go down well in her department, particularly after dealing with her ex. As she looked around, she smiled and asked, “Live alone by any chance?”

“Yes, and it’s obvious, isn’t it?” he replied gloomily. “All the ladies pass through my arms,” he quipped, winking at Nan. “And yet I wasn’t smart enough to take any of them on full-time.”

Doreen’s gaze went from one to the other, but her mind balked at what the wink may have meant. She shook her head, telling herself it was none of her business. Plus, she was so not going there, not even for a moment. She began, “So, your friend.”

“Ah, yes.” Jimmy pointed to a box set off to the side. “Those were all his records. Not sure it’ll be of any help to you, but it’s possible.”

“Maybe.” She nodded. “Depending on just what it is that we think we’re looking at.”

“I don’t know,” Jimmy admitted. “I didn’t have anything to do with the B&Es.”

“And yet”—she turned to face him—“you both lived together and were both involved in smuggling goods across the border.”

“Sure, but it was just a game. It wasn’t real.”

“It’ll be real if the cops find out.”

He moistened his lips nervously. “That wouldn’t be good.” His gaze went from her, to Nan, and back to her again. “I really can’t have that happen.”

Doreen sighed. “And what about your friend Brandon? What was this about a crime he didn’t commit?”

“He got charged for multiple crimes,” Jimmy explained, shrugging his shoulders, “but one of the burglaries he didn’t do. And it always pissed him off that he paid the price, when somebody else had done the crime. He also believed that he knew who it was, but I can’t remember just what he told me.” He frowned and added, “It was a weird name, like Potter or something.”

“Potter?” Doreen repeated, frowning.

“Yeah, I don’t know for sure, some weird name.”

“Like a nickname?”

“No, I think it was a real name,” he replied. “It was one of those kinds of names that you could never really forget, but, of course, because you couldn’t forget it, it was incredibly hard to remember,” Jimmy explained, with a brilliant smile in her direction.

Apparently Jimmy thought that smile was supposed to make him all the more endearing to Doreen. Instead it had the opposite effect. “Okay, and who do you think would have shot Brandon in his truck?”

His smile fell away, and he shook his head. “Honest to God, I don’t know.”

“And has it made you rethink your business strategies?” she asked him. “Because, if it hasn’t, maybe it should.”

“Do you really think it has something to do with smuggling?” he asked anxiously.

“I don’t know about smuggling, but maybe the B&E thing,” she suggested, “especially if Brandon found the guilty party and could produce proof about the crime he served time for and maybe threatened this person in some way.”

“Brandon might have done that too,” Jimmy replied. “He was just foolish enough to have that much bravado.”

“Bravado is one thing,” Doreen noted, “but threatening somebody else with jail time, that’s a whole different story, as you should well know.”

He looked at her nervously. “I don’t want to do any jail time.”

“I get that,” she replied. “So, when the police come around asking questions, you might want to be a little more honest and open about your answers.”

He frowned. “But, if I do that, I can’t cross the border at all anymore.”

Nan patted his hand. “Then maybe it’s time for that caper to end.”

“Do you think so?” he asked. “I’ll be awfully short on money then.”

Doreen nodded. “I get that, and it’s a consideration, but there are other ways to make an income without putting your life at risk.”

At that, his eyes widened. Then he looked at the box and pushed it toward her. “You better take that away,” he said. “I ain’t got no idea what happened to Brandon, but I don’t want to be the next one killed.”

“Is there any reason to think you might be?” Doreen asked, not touching the box, her gaze still assessing him. “Have you done anything or gotten involved with any shady characters?”

“I don’t think so,” he said, “but we don’t really do a customer background check when we take on these border jobs.”

“Right. And you have worked at this for how long? Thirty years?” she asked, closely watching him. “Times have changed, and the cops have changed, and, most important, the competition has changed.”

Once again Nan nodded and added, “It’s about time for you to change too, my friend.”

He looked at her, his shoulders sagging. “It’ll really be tough,” he pointed out. “I’m not sure I can even keep my house.”

“Right,” Nan agreed. “So we might need to help you find another income stream.”

“Are you at a pensionable age?” Doreen asked. “That would help.”

“ Sure ”—he sent her an eye roll—“but it’s not as if the pension will be much.”

Doreen tilted her head. “But, if you’ve been wise with your money over the years, and if the house is paid for, it should at least cover your living expenses.”

He frowned at her, then turned to Nan. “She really just said that, didn’t she?”

Nan chuckled. “Yeah, she sure did. Yet she’s right. If everything was paid for, the pension would probably be enough.”

“It’s not all paid for,” Jimmy admitted, as he collapsed onto the chair beside him. He looked around at the old house and added, “Honestly, I’ve been thinking I might need to sell it for a while now.”

“I don’t know what the market is today versus tomorrow,” Doreen began, “but it might not be a bad idea. Plus, with all these antiques in the house, that could make you flush again, depending on what’s going on in your world. You could always look at other options, like where Nan lives.”

He shook his head. “Rosemoor? I don’t see myself in that place.… Nan held off until now.” He turned to Doreen pointedly. “And honestly, she moved because of you, Doreen.”

“I was ready,” Nan claimed.

“Sure, but you wouldn’t have considered it but for the fact that she needed a home,” he pointed out.

Doreen stated, “I would never let Nan suffer for what she did for me.”

“You’re fine,” Nan replied gently. “I don’t need the money.”

“I know you don’t,” Doreen said, with a smile. “And, if you did, I would expect you to tell me.”

“Of course, child. I helped you, and you can help me.”

But Nan’s careless attitude meant that Nan would never ask for help, if it ever came down to that. “We’ll deal with whatever we need to, when and if the time comes,” Doreen stated.

“I won’t need help. I have enough money invested to not have to worry.”

“And then there’s the question of whether you would actually tell me that you needed help,” Doreen muttered, with a sigh.

Nan gave her a bright grin. “You know that I still have my jewelry. I have all kinds of things.”

“Uh, don’t even mention jewelry.” Doreen sighed. “Apparently I have to deal with my ex’s jewelry collection as well.”

Nan’s gaze lit up. “Ooh, that’ll be so much fun.”

Doreen shook her head. “No, it won’t. The only thing I want, if it’s still there—which is questionable, since he tried to force me to get rid of it—would be your grandmother’s necklace.”

“Oh my.” Nan’s hand went to her heart. “I’d forgotten about that. I gave that to you a very long time ago.”

“You did, and Mathew didn’t like it,” she shared, with that same fatalistic tone that she used whenever it came to conversations around him. She turned herself back to the issue at hand. “So, back to business. What’s this guy’s name again?”

“ Hmm , Pengo or Potter or something,” Jimmy said, “but I don’t know his last name.”

She took out her little notepad and quickly wrote it down. Thaddeus decided to show himself and announced, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

“Oh my God, a bird.” Jimmy almost jumped out of his seat.

Doreen explained, “Thaddeus was Nan’s pet, along with the cat. Now I’m looking after them.”

Jimmy nodded, as he regrouped, then pointed at her notepad. “Look at that,” he declared in admiration. “You came prepared.”

“That’s something you don’t take very long to sort out when you’re doing this kind of work,” Doreen explained. “These details disappear way too quickly.” He looked at her and smiled. She sighed. “It’s what I do and how I figured out how to do it.”

“I’m happy to hear it,” Jimmy replied. “Your grandmother has had a huge impact in my life, so I’m happy to see her granddaughter carrying on in her ways.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Doreen said.

“Oh my, no,” Nan replied.

Both Doreen and Nan spoke at the same time, and then, sharing a look, burst out laughing.

“Anyway,” Doreen noted, looking back at Nan, “come on. I’ve got to get you back before you miss your dinner.”

Nan raised her hand in a wave to Jimmy. “I used to be totally okay to miss dinner,” she shared, “but now that we have a really good cook, the food is great.”

“Is it?” he asked wistfully. “I’ll probably open a can of spam and make a sandwich.” When Nan looked at him in horror, he shrugged. “You know how it is. You make your choices, and you learn to live with them.”

Doreen didn’t want to get involved, but she could see Nan warming up to him. “Let’s go, Nan. Remember that Jethro and Richie are waiting.”

She looked over at her in confusion for a moment, then nodded. “Jethro and Richie have both taken to retirement home living just fine. You should consider it too, Jimmy.” Nan waved goodbye again and followed Doreen, who had the box in her arms.

As she got the animals into the car, Nan stated, “You are very good at compartmentalizing who you help and who you don’t help.”

“I’m not trying to,” Doreen replied, “but the last thing you need is to take on any more boyfriends. Isn’t two at a time enough?”

“Jimmy and I do have a bit of a history,” Nan shared, with a funny note in her tone.

“I got that,” Doreen muttered. “The trouble is, you seem to have an awful lot of history with an awful lot of people.” When Nan felt no shame whatsoever and just fluttered her lashes in a comical way, Doreen burst out laughing. “I get it,” she said, still rolling her eyes. “You’ve enjoyed your life.”

“I did enjoy my life, and I still do,” Nan confirmed, with a smile. “You need to enjoy yours a little more.”

“I’m getting there, Nan. Honest, I am.”

“I know you are, child, and I don’t mean to tease you”—yet she gave her granddaughter a hard look—“but I do worry.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Doreen murmured, glancing over at her.

“You may say that, but, for me, it’s a whole different story,” Nan noted. “You’re the only family I have, and I want to ensure that you will be okay in the future.”