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Chapter 27

Doreen huddled in the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, as she waited for the coffee to drip.

Mack sat beside her, one arm holding her close. "Are you sure you don't need to get checked out?"

"I'm fine. I just fell down the stairs."

He gave her a wry look. "Just fell down the stairs? People die that way all the time."

She nodded. "I know, but I didn't." Thaddeus was curled up on her shoulder and, every so often, kept nudging her, whispering, "Thaddeus loves Doreen."

"I love you too, big guy," she whispered back.

"Big Guy, Big Guy," he cried out.

She winced. "Yes, I know. You're due for another visit with Big Guy, aren't you?"

He cried out, "Thaddeus loves Doreen. Thaddeus loves Doreen." With almost a hiccup and then a sob, he tucked up against her neck and hummed gently.

She sighed. "They are very special."

"They are, indeed," Mack agreed, watching Thaddeus, "and obviously just as affected by emotions as you are right now."

"I can't believe you were on the way over anyway."

"I was, but then I got Richard's phone call right away, telling me that something was very wrong, how all the animals were outside, raising a ruckus. I raced through the house, then realized the only other place you could be was in the garage or in the basement."

"Yeah, perfect timing," she muttered. "And now Reggie knows what it's like to hit an immovable object." Laughter rumbled from his chest, and she curled up closer. "Is it over now?"

"Yeah, I think it is," he said.

"Good, we need to tell Mr. Woo." At that, she yawned, closed her eyelids, and tucked up closer.

Mack just sat here and held her close, his chin resting on top of her head.

The police were here, including the new detective Doreen really didn't want to deal with. Finally, hearing a bit of throat clearing, Doreen opened her eyes to find the detective in front of her. She frowned. "Now? Really?"

"Yes, now," Insley stated firmly.

She sighed, looked at Mack, and said, "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Everything," she muttered.

"Everything? Well, good luck with that," she muttered, and then yawned again. In a monotone voice, she proceeded to explain everything that had happened.

"You signed the papers?" Mack asked.

"Sure. I was stalling for time, hoping help was on the way, but they're not legal anyway. They're all filled out for Mathew. Reggie had copied them off Mathew's laptop, getting himself a copy that he thought I could sign. But he didn't read them carefully. They were already set up to transfer to Mathew. He thought he would fill that in afterward."

"Of course he did," Mack replied, with a sigh.

"Mathew always said Reggie wasn't the sharpest."

"No, but that doesn't mean he's actually stupid."

"No, but it was all to the good. Just so there's no confusion, do you think we should put a big line through those papers, to ensure there's no chance for confusion or for somebody else to pull a fast one?"

"Good idea," he replied.

"We do have them, don't we?" She looked over at the detective who passed them toward her. Taking them, Doreen asked Mack, "Do you mind if I just rip these in two?"

"Go for it," Mack said.

"Wait. Let me take photos of them first," Insley stated.

"I can do better than that. I'll scan them in for you." Doreen slowly got up, then keeping the blanket wrapped around her, walked over to her printer, quickly struck through her signatures, then scanned each page in and emailed them to herself. From her phone, she forwarded a copy to Mack.

"Now you have copies," she declared. "These weren't even Mathew's though, at least not completely."

"How so?" Mack asked.

"He ran some shadow company with property developers. Apparently he was the boss of the outfit, and they had bought properties at a steal and planned to turn around and sell them for big money, then build up developments. All the typical hype that goes along with these guys. Anyway Robin filed the documents, putting all those properties into my name to get back at Mathew. She was feeling remorseful just before she died, using the very same documents they'd made me sign earlier—in case he needed to do it temporarily for tax purposes. Tax evasion purposes. Reggie told me that Mathew would slip extra forms into something legitimate, tricking me into signing forms, just to have on hand when he needed them. You might think that was stupid of me, but honestly refusing to sign was asking for a beating, and, by the end, I mostly just did as he asked."

Doreen collected herself in order to continue. "Apparently Mathew didn't know Robin had filed her changes, until he did a title search recently because of the divorce in the works, trying to ensure he knew exactly what properties were where and whether he could shuffle anything around, so it wouldn't be included in the division of assets. That's when he realized all these properties were in my name."

At that, Mack stared at her.

She shrugged. "What can I say? It's a typical Mathew-type deal."

"Yet you came out smelling like a rose," Insley declared, with a sigh of disgust.

"Sometimes people come out smelling like roses," Doreen stated, "and other times people just get what they deserve."

"So, you're saying you deserve all these properties?" Insley asked in a mocking tone.

"No, but, if you'd been married to him, you might understand why I feel the way I do right now."

At that, Insley frowned.

Doreen walked over, sat down beside Mack, and whispered, "I really don't want to talk anymore right now."

Mack wrapped his arm gently around her shoulders and scooted his chair closer to hers. "I'll tell her."

She nodded at that and yawned again. "Will you update Mr. Woo?"

"I will. Now you need to get to bed and rest."

"Yeah, that sounds good,… though I'm not sure I'll sleep."

"With the protectors you have here, you should be just fine."

She looked down at her animals. Mugs was curled up on her feet now, and Goliath was under her chair, watching everybody with that haunting look of a cat who doesn't like what's going on. "You're right," she agreed, managing half a smile. "We'll be fine."

"Tomorrow's the reading of the will, correct?" Insley asked.

"Yes, I'll be calling in to the meeting," Doreen replied.

The detective hesitated and frowned.

Doreen looked at her. "What? Do you need to be there for that too?"

"No, not necessarily, but we do need a copy of the will."

"You can get one afterward. Apparently it's public record, once the reading is over."

"Okay, that's fine." Insley then looked over at Mack. "We need to go."

"Yeah." Mack got up, leaned over, and gently kissed Doreen. "Will you be okay for the night?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go do your police work."

He chuckled. "Probably more like paperwork now. All that boring stuff that comes after the excitement is over."

"Right, the stuff you never liked to do. Okay then, I'm going to bed." She got up and, as soon as they stepped outside, she set the security, stumbled upstairs, and crashed into bed.

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