Chapter 18

Bernard suggested they go for a cup of coffee or something afterward, but Doreen declined, saying she was too tired and knew she had an inquisition coming up. Taking no offense, he'd driven her and the animals back to his home, where she picked up her car.

She wished she hadn't gone with Bernard to the car park, anything to stop the never-ending circle of thoughts running through her head. The fact that she'd found the Jag and the driver was helpful but only to a point, since the man had yet to be identified. She suspected he was Mathew's private eye from Vancouver, and, after the death of Mathew, somebody had decided to terminate his PI, since he probably knew too much.

Anyone around Mathew appeared to be in trouble right now. Of course that meant her own life was potentially hanging in the balance. But, as long as she was useful as the current number one suspect to whomever had set this game in motion, she figured the killer would probably leave her alive to take the fall. If that didn't work, eventually they would take her out.

It worried her that she understood that mind-set, but frankly, it's exactly what she would do, if she were that kind of a person. The fact that she wasn't didn't exactly help, and, in what seemed to be her typical fashion, her progress was one step forward and ten steps back.

She settled down in the backyard with a cup of tea, knowing that Mack would be a while, and, with Doreen's luck, it wouldn't even be Mack who came to visit her to take her statement. She could sympathize to a degree. Obviously the more that Doreen discovered for Insley—who didn't like her to begin with and was already suspicious of Doreen—just made Doreen look like she was involved even more. She was sure that Insley would determine this latest finding to be even more incriminating evidence of Doreen's involvement.

The fact that Doreen had absolutely nothing to do with Mathew's death—or his PI's death—was out of the question, as far as Insley was concerned. If Insley, as the detective assigned to the case, decided to close the murder investigation with Doreen under arrest as the accused, Insley would. Doreen, however, wanted to ensure that the case was closed properly, as Nan had pointed out.

Otherwise, having this rumor around town that Doreen had killed her soon-to-be ex-husband would haunt her forever, and she didn't want that at all.

Solving the case would not only absolve her of all suspicion but it would also bring her some closure regarding Mathew. However, right now, the case was nothing but trouble. Yet it was so important for her not only to clear her name but also to solve the case, for personal, emotional, and legal reasons, which she couldn't argue with. She just wanted to make it happen. She didn't quite know how to make that happen, but she needed to.

As she sat in her backyard, she went back to her notebook, adding more notes and reviewing the previous ones. It wasn't long before Mack called her. "Hey," she said. "Not pretty, huh?"

"No, not pretty at all," he confirmed, his tone gaining in strength.

"Not my fault," she blurted out, before he could really blast her.

He snorted. "I know that,… but you're making us look like idiots," he muttered, struggling for control.

"Not you," she pointed out. "You're not even supposed to be on the case."

He stopped, then asked, "Is that what you're trying to do? Make her look like an idiot?"

"No, not at all, although she's doing a bang-up job of that herself," Doreen declared. "Yet it's obvious that she doesn't trust me, like me, or believe anything I say. So, if I have to solve this on my own to clear my name, I'll go ahead, regardless of what she says."

"That'll just make you look worse, you know?"

"How does it make me look worse? I'm out there trying to solve Mathew's death, so I don't get railroaded into a murder charge that I don't deserve, so what else can I do, if Insley's not up for the job? Plus it's not as if this is my first time to solve a case. This is my twenty-fifth case… and counting. And Insley seems to be getting on-the-job experience. Is this her first-ever homicide case? Her first week on the job as a detective?"

Mack sighed. "You know you won't get charged."

"Nope, I don't know that at all," she declared. "Insley made it very clear that I was a suspect—and keeps pointing it out."

"I understand that, but—and I'm not defending her, and I have pointed out to the captain how her interrogation of you could be improved—but I think she's just dealing with the fact that she's new. Think about it.… Everybody knows you. She doesn't, and honestly I'm not sure she's all that good with women."

"Ya think?" Doreen snorted. "I'm not sure I'm all that good with women either, especially that woman."

Mack sighed again. "You still have any Chinese food?" he asked.

Dorren shook her head. He was changing the subject on purpose, but she let him do it this time. "Yeah. Do you have time to stop by?"

"I need to make time, so I'll take an hour. I'll be there in a little bit." And, with that, he ended the call.

She smiled down at the animals. "Look at that," she crowed. "We'll see Mack—and not on the wrong side of the table either." She got up and put on fresh coffee for him, after hearing the fatigue and frustration in his tone. Probably frustrated with her, the case, and the circumstances, which she understood.

She got it; she really did. She wasn't trying to be difficult, although that seemed to be something she was inherently good at. She groaned at that because it shouldn't be that way, and there shouldn't have been this level of frustration with it all, but there definitely was. She tried to relax, as she waited outside for Mack to arrive.

When Richard poked his head over the fence, she looked up at him. "Hello. Mr. Woo is awake. I don't know about talking, but he has survived."

The relief on Richard's face was heartwarming. "Good to know. I was quite worried about it."

"Me too," she muttered. "I didn't want anybody else getting hurt because of me."

"I get that," he agreed, "but it would be more because of that husband of yours."

"Sure, but everybody wants to blame me for his death too. You know that, right?"

He frowned, considering it, then shrugged. "I guess. Although, to a certain extent at least, it's probably well deserved for you to be a suspect." She glared at him, but he smiled back at her. "You have to admit that you've caused quite a bit of chaos and ruffled a lot of feathers."

"Yes, but only for people who were connected to those murders or cold cases that I've been involved in."

"Yeah, I get that, but the average person doesn't care enough to seek out the actual truth of the matter. That's okay, since you can't control that. Honestly this too will pass."

"It needs to pass," Doreen muttered, "and then I need a nice long break."

"If you stopped looking into cold cases, you might get it," he suggested in a cheerful tone. "So, are you still a suspect?"

She nodded. "I guess, although somebody tapped my phone, and that's how they figured out I was going for Chinese food at some point. So that's why Mathew was there, waiting for me to show."

He stared at her. "Where on earth would you have left your phone so that somebody could have done that?"

"I don't know. The only thing I can think of is when I was outside working," she suggested. "I always have my phone with me, but not always when I'm gardening. Sometimes I leave it on the deck or in the kitchen, when I'm here at home, you know?"

"Or you could have just misplaced it for a time," he offered thoughtfully.

"Right. I did that just a few days ago. I couldn't find it and wasn't at all sure where I'd put it, but I knew it had to be here somewhere. I eventually found it upstairs. I guess I'd gotten up and come downstairs without it one morning."

He nodded. "I've done that a time or two myself," he admitted. "So, if somebody was around, and they snagged it, particularly if you were down at the river or something, it would be an easy-enough thing to add in a bug."

"Maybe," she said, "I suppose it wouldn't take them long."

He nodded. "Probably not. I'm thinking maybe ten minutes or something."

"In that case, it could have happened when I misplaced it then. I didn't think anything of it."

"Maybe now you should mention it to Mack, so they can figure out that part at least."

She nodded. "He's on his way over just to grab a few minutes rest and to get a bite to eat, since I keep filling up the morgue."

He stared at her. "What do you mean?" His tone was cautious.

She winced. "I just found Mathew's driver in the trunk of the vehicle Mathew had rented." She quickly explained the little bit she knew.

Richard stared at her, shaking his head.

"I just went down to talk to the kid at the car park, and he said the green Jag hadn't been returned. Mugs got to smelling around and led me to a spot between the dumpsters, and there was a beat-up green Jag. The license plate number was wrong for the one expected back at the car park. It would have been reported missing by somebody eventually, maybe even today. I just happened to be there."

"Just happened to be there? You were out looking for it, so it makes perfect sense that you would be the one to find it."

"That's the thing though. I have a local PI looking into a lot of related items regarding Mathew's death, and the cops were looking for the rental car as well. This car park attendant—who was renting out the vehicles—wasn't looking for it. Yet, since it hadn't been returned, he'd reported it as stolen."

Richard nodded. "It still figures that you would be the one to find it."

"Yeah," she agreed morosely, "that's what I was thinking too."

Just then his mobile rang, and he said, "Got to go." And his head disappeared behind the fence.

She smiled, wondering at how much friendlier Richard was these days, ever since the Roscoe scenario. That was good, and maybe it was time for some of these hardships around town to ease off and to let people be happier. At least she hoped so. It seemed fruitless and sad to have people at odds all the time.

Of course Richard hadn't really been fighting with her. Maybe his crankiness was natural or it had been more about his privacy and space. She didn't know. Thankfully things were better between them.

Other than the oddness of his personality, she had no problem with Richard. Plus it wasn't up to her to determine whether that oddness was good or bad. Richard was Richard. He was who he was, and she was okay with that.

Now all she needed was to be okay with the fact that whatever happened with Mathew, whatever had actually happened, she couldn't do anything about it. However, what she could do something about, that was up to her to change, if she could. And, if she couldn't change it, that was where the acceptance part came in. With that, she heard a noise out front. She smiled at the animals. "Is that Mack?"

Mugs raced up to the front door, just as Mack opened it and stepped through. She watched as he bent down to give the dog a royal greeting.

"He just saw you couple of hours ago."

"Yeah, a different scenario though," Mack noted, with a smile. "Hey, big fella, that was a great job you did today." Mack looked over at her. "Did you ever consider putting Mugs into some search and rescue or drug-sniffing training? He already seems to have cadaver-sniffing talents."

She frowned at him. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Why not? It could get you involved with the local authorities on that angle too. Plus Mugs obviously has something going for him in that area."

"Yeah, I'm not sure what it is though," she muttered.

He chuckled. "Go easy on him. He's pretty special. After everything else he's already shown himself to be, give him some credit."

She nodded. "Now that I can agree with."