Chapter 22

D oreen gasped and raced forward. “Are you all right?”

“I am,” she replied, “but this gentleman is a little distraught.”

Doreen stared at Nan, then slowly turned to look, and there was a guy, staring at her, the gun in his hand.

“There you are,” he said, his tone harsh.

“Yeah, here I am. Now what is it you wanted so badly that you kidnapped my grandmother at gunpoint?” Doreen straightened and glared at him, as he approached, but the glare on his own face was pretty amazing, twisted in fury.

“ You ,” he spat. “You’re the one behind this whole mess. This used to be a nice peaceful town.”

She stared at him. “Really? Because I didn’t do anything but help bring cold-case crimes to light. That was it. This town had a few bad apples who did what they did. Not me.”

He nodded. “But still, you had a big hand in it.”

“I solved a bunch of cases and put a lot of criminals behind bars. So you think you can come into my yard and kidnap my grandmother?”

“I want you to reverse it.”

“Reverse what?” Doreen asked, staring at him in shock.

“All of it,” he bellowed. “I want it to go back to the way it used to be.”

“Sure. So just how do you expect me to do that? Build a time machine?”

He stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Not my problem. It’s your mess, so deal with it.” Then he waved the gun at her again.

“You do realize there are penalties for waving a gun at people, right?” He just glared at her, and she nodded. “You can’t expect to get away with this. Just the fact that you’re sitting here, holding a gun on my grandmother, will get you in more trouble than you’ve figured out.”

“I’m not in any trouble,” he snapped. “I didn’t do anything. You did.”

There was just no sense to his words. “So what is really going on here? Were you affected by somebody who was in one of these cases or something?”

He snorted. “ Ya think ? How about lots of somebodies?”

“You’re just pissed off about all of it in general, aren’t you?” She turned to look at her grandmother. “Nan, did you get anything out of him? Anything that explains this madness?”

She nodded. “Yes, earlier he explained it much better than he is doing right now.” She looked over at him and said, “Jethro, come on. You told me how much you loved this town and how you wanted all that peace and quiet brought back again.”

“I do,” he bellowed, “and she needs to make it happen.”

“Wow,” Doreen muttered, staring at him, but some sense of relief washed over her as she realized that maybe, just maybe, they would get out of this alive. “Where’s Mugs?” She turned and looked around. “Mugs, come here, Mugs!” She stopped and stared at the gunman. “If you hurt my dog, you’re—”

He glared at her. “I didn’t hurt anybody, and I didn’t even know you had a dog.”

At that, she turned and looked at Nan. “Nan, where is Mugs?”

“He followed us, honey, but I don’t know where he went from here. I was a little busy.” As she spoke, she motioned toward the gentleman still brandishing the gun in her direction, which just pissed off Doreen even more.

She walked over to him, her hands on her hips, and glared at him. Almost nose to nose she asked, “Where is my dog?”

He thrust his head toward her in a pugnacious manner and repeated, “I didn’t touch your dog.”

At that, she realized that maybe he was telling the truth.

When the kitchen door opened, and Mugs came racing toward her, she sighed with relief, then bent down and hugged him. “I don’t know where you were, but I am really glad you’re here now.”

At that, the gunman frowned at the dog and asked, “Where did he come from?”

Nan smiled. “Oh, he was with us the whole time.” The gunman looked at her in shock. She nodded. “He’s just really good at hiding.”

“Where was he hiding just now?” Jethro asked, turning and looking around.

“Is this your house?” Doreen asked.

He stopped and glared at her. “Yes, and it was a nice and peaceful neighborhood,… until you moved in.”

At that, she winced. “You might have a point there,” she muttered. “Still, it’s not my fault so many crimes were happening around this place that somebody had to come in and clean it up,” she snapped. “How do you figure you’ll get out of trouble on this one, especially after kidnapping my grandmother with a gun?”

He gave her another glare, then turned to look at Nan.

“Wait. Are you the one who broke into my house?”

He had the grace to look sheepish at that.

“ Great . So I got stuck paying an extra security bill because my neighbor couldn’t keep himself out of my own property.”

Jethro added, “I’m gonna hold it against Richard too. He’s a nutcase. Not to mention that ghostlike wife of his.”

“Ghostlike?” she repeated, wondering about Jethro’s sanity. Should he even be living alone in his condition?

“Yeah, ghostlike, as in, I’m pretty sure she’s been dead and gone for many years.”

Doreen thought about all the times she had heard voices on the other side of the fence. “So, where are all those voices coming from?”

Jethro snickered. “Pretty sure Richard talks to his dead wife and then answers himself.”

She glared at him. “I don’t know about that,” she replied. “I’ve heard different voices over there.”

“Sure you have,” Jethro scoffed.

“Regardless, if Richard wants to talk to his dead wife, he can talk to his dead wife. At least he didn’t break into my house and then come back and kidnap my grandmother by gunpoint.”

Jethro glared at her again. “I want you to stop.”

“You want me to stop what?” she asked, raising both hands in frustration. She sensed Mack in the kitchen, instinctively realizing that was how Mugs had gotten in. She didn’t know where he’d been outside, but having him at her side even now was a huge relief. But where was Thaddeus? She turned back to her grandmother. “So, we’ve got Mugs and Goliath, but where is Thaddeus?”

Nan shifted slightly, and there was Thaddeus, curled up against her shoulder, snoozing.

Doreen stared at the bird. “Wow. He’s sleeping through all this excitement?”

“I did wonder about that. You really do need to give him more time to rest.”

She snorted at her grandmother. “I can give him some time, but am I responsible for this mess keeping Thaddeus awake? No,” she snapped. “I go to the bus station, simply doing a good thing for somebody, and I come back to this.” She spun around to glare at the gunman.

“Jethro, you really should put down that gun,” Nan stated, as she sipped her tea.

“Yes, Jethro ,” Doreen said in a hard tone. “You really should put it down. Either put it down or shoot me.” He immediately lifted it in the air, causing her to back up a step. “Or don’t shoot me and just put it down.”

He gave her an evil grin. “All this noise and the constant cacophony, see? It used to be a quiet neighborhood.” He was bellowing like a maniac by the end of his sentence.

“Maybe it’s time for you to move,” Doreen snapped.

He glared at her. “It’s time for you to move!”

“I’ve got news for you. I’m not moving,” she snapped. “I have my grandmother’s house, and I love it. I’m not moving.”

“I’m not moving either,” he growled.

“Except you’re bound to be moving to the jail, at least for a while, over this little stunt you pulled today,” Doreen declared, with an evil grin of her own. “So maybe the city will just sell your house on you.”

He stared at her in horror. “Why would you say that?”

“You’re standing here with a gun on my grandmother and I,” Doreen yelled. “Nobody will believe you did that for no reason.”

“Of course I did it for a reason.” He looked over at Nan. “Besides, we haven’t had tea together in a very long time.”

Doreen snorted. “Really, Nan?”

In a serene tone, Nan replied, “We used to have tea every once in a while.”

“And is that all?” Doreen asked cautiously.

Nan snickered, amused at the question. “Yes, dear, that’s all.”

Doreen sighed. “That’s some good news.”

Jethro glared at her. “I want you to stop this.”

“What? Stop what, you psycho?” It was now her turn to raise the roof.

He hesitated, then Nan looked at him and nodded. “Go on. Tell her. She can’t solve this if you don’t explain it better.”

“Solve what?” Doreen asked again, feeling even more frustrated. “I’ve got so many things going on right now. I don’t know who’s doing what anymore.”

“This is why you need to solve it, dear.”

“ Great . Wouldn’t it be nice if I knew what you were talking about?” When Jethro snorted, Doreen asked once more, “What? This is getting very frustrating, and I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like a lot of things,” Jethro said, “but I really don’t want all the traffic coming down the river.”

Doreen frowned at him. “What traffic?”

“People.”

“Actually in the river or on the pathway?”

“On the pathway… at nighttime.”

She stopped, “Are they cutting through your yard?”

He looked at her and nodded. “Sometimes, yeah.”

She pondered that. “I don’t know what any of this is related to, and right now I’m full up on cases, but you’re supposedly asking me for help in this bizarre way is off the deep end.”

“That’s too bad,” he snapped. “You need to figure this one out, and then you need to stop it.”

“And I need to do that, why?” she cried out, eyeing him in frustration.

“Because it’s what you do.” And, with that, he slowly put the gun on the sideboard. “So now you need to go do that for me.” Moving to the other end of the sideboard, he poured himself a cup of tea, then turned and shooed Doreen away. “Now… go off and do it.”

“Wow, what a nice way to ask for my help, not ,” she snapped, as she turned slowly to stare at Mack, who was standing in the doorway, glaring at the tableau in complete frustration.

“Seriously?” Mack asked, his low tone lethal for anybody who didn’t know him. “You kidnapped a woman at gunpoint because you wanted Doreen to solve something?”

“She’s the one who’s made all these things happen, so it’s her mess to begin with,” Jethro growled. “It only makes sense that I want her to stop it.”

“Yet you haven’t told me what it is, except for foot traffic by the river.”

“Yeah, traffic on the river path, people at odd hours of the night, walking up and down and making so much noise all the time.”

“Are they going somewhere or just checking out the neighborhood?”

“I don’t know.… Going somewhere. But I think they’re going through the neighbor’s yard.”

She turned and looked at the neighbor closer to Rosemoor.

He shook his head. “No, the other one.”

At that, she mentally pictured the one place she hadn’t had a chance to check out, and it was one that she hadn’t seen anybody at in a while. “Who’s living there?” she asked cautiously.

“A woman and she brings men in all the time.”

Such a note of disgust filled his tone that she frowned at him. “So is that jealousy talking or something else?” He just glared at her. “Fine. Do you ever see any other women?”

“No, just the one.”

Doreen pondered that, looked over at Nan, and asked, “Did you know about any of this?”

“No, I never heard about it. You haven’t seen anything going on at the river, have you?”

Doreen shook her head. “No, I’ve never seen any such activities up and down the river. Sure, there’s always been a few people walking by the river, but I’m farther up.”

“Exactly,” Jethro declared.

“So, why is she bringing people through the back way?” Doreen muttered.

Then she got it. She pulled out her phone and quickly sent Tammy a text. She had no idea if she would get it, if she had internet or if it would have to wait until she came to a bus stop. But when she got a response back a few minutes later, she quickly asked her several more questions. Then she turned and looked at Mack. “This may be related to Jed Barry and his operation.” She held up her phone, so he could read the messages. “This is Tammy, and she’s on the bus right now. They’ve stopped to pick up more people.”

He nodded. “For these cross-country bus trips, they pick up people here and there along the way. She’s in for a long bus ride if you’re sending her all the way back east.”

“I am,” Doreen confirmed. “She wanted out.”

“Good. As long as she really meant it.”

“I hope so, but I have no way to know for sure, except she did say that another woman was involved with Jed and had a place up by the river.”

“If she’s got a place, why is she turning tricks?” Nan asked, then burst into laughter. “Unless she’s making good money.”

“Or she’s got a deal with another ring around here,” Mack suggested. “Just because Tammy was downtown doesn’t mean that this other woman here was part of Jed’s stable.”

“No, it doesn’t, or she’s—” Doreen stopped and winced. “Or maybe she’s the one behind all this.” Mack frowned at her. Doreen shrugged. “There are madams who run prostitution rings too. So far, we have no idea if Jed is just muscle. I’m not sure he’s got the brains for what’s going on here.”

Mack considered that. “How do you link all these random events to the one death? Did Tammy mention another woman? Did Tammy ever tell you that the other woman was the boss lady?”

Doreen shrugged. “No, but Tammy hadn’t said a whole lot about the business end of things.” With that, she phoned Tammy, but the phone call wouldn’t go through. She sent another text and asked Tammy for the name of the other woman involved with Jed. It came back with a single name.

Julie.

Doreen immediately texted back. Do you have a photo? Where did she live?

Tammy responded. No pictures. She never allowed them.

The text conversation went back and forth, as Doreen asked questions and Tammy replied. Apparently this Julie didn’t live with them now, yet had before. Sometimes she was there for meetings with Jed.

Seemed this Julie didn’t have the same arrangement that Tammy did. As she pondered that, Tammy sent back another message.

I think she was more involved than Jed was.

Doreen pondered that and replied, In what way?

In all ways.

She winced and muttered, “That doesn’t really confirm it.” Yet in a way it did.

“Why wouldn’t Tammy have told us this before?” Mack asked.

“Because I think her motto up until now had been, say nothing, do nothing . Talk to Jed. We need to figure out if this woman has anything to do with Jed and the dead guy.”

“What dead guy?” Nan asked, with interest.

Doreen turned to her. “The guy shot with the Taser, the guy I still don’t know anything about.” Mack just glared at her, and she shrugged. “At this rate, we’ll have it solved before I ever get his name. I still need to go down to the garden to see the crime scene,” she muttered in frustration.

“Yeah, and you can now. Forensics and everybody are done down there now.”

“I presume they were done days ago, and you didn’t tell me, trying to keep me safe,” she muttered shooting him a look.

He grinned at her. “They probably were done earlier.”

“Not funny,” she said.

“You were busy anyway,” he reminded her. “It’s not as if you needed to go there.”

“It’s a garden, and it’s downtown, which would have put it in the proximity of Tammy. However, I don’t know that it really has anything to do with whatever is going on here at the river.”

“The river may have nothing to do with this,” Mack reminded her. “Just because this guy has a beef about the noise level doesn’t mean that the neighbor lady is involved.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Doreen conceded thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen or heard anything. But then I’m on the other side of this and further down.” She pondered that. “I’ll have to ask Richard when I get back home.”

“But he’s on the other side too,” Mack pointed out. “I’ll go have a talk with the neighbors on the other side here.” He walked over to the sideboard and picked up the old man’s gun and then waved over Chester, who had come in with Mack.

At Mack’s exit, Chester walked over to the old man and said, “Come on, buddy. We need to take you downtown.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he protested.

“Told you this would get you in trouble, Jethro,” Nan declared. “You really shouldn’t point those things at people.” He just glared at her, then gave her a bright smile. “So tea next week?”

“Love to,” Nan replied warmly.

And, with that, Jethro quite willingly walked out to the police cruiser with Chester.

Doreen stared at her grandmother, feeling as if she’d just dropped into some Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole. “Seriously, Nan, what was that all about?”

“Oh dear, child. He was just so frustrated and angry because he hasn’t been able to sleep, always thinking that these people are coming into his backyard.”

“But was it one person, two people?”

“I think it’s a steady stream, and they bring things. Sometimes he hears things clicking all night long.”

“Oh good Lord,” Doreen muttered, as she stared at her grandmother. “I think he needs to be in a home where someone is looking after him.”

Nan nodded. “Probably so.”

Doreen shook her head, still thinking over the new development. “So maybe the creekside activity has nothing to do with prostitution. Maybe she’s some fence or money launderer or something.”

At that, Nan eyed her with interest. “A fence over the fence,” she quipped, with a bright smile.

Doreen closed her eyes. “That sounds like something I would have said,” she muttered.

Nan burst out in laughter. “Yes, you definitely would have.” She got up carefully, with Thaddeus still on her shoulder. “Jethro does make a mean cup of tea.”

“That’s always important,” Doreen quipped and gave her grandmother a gentle hug. “I’m really glad you weren’t hurt, but it would have been nice if I had known Jethro was more harmless than he first appeared.”

“You never really know who’s harmless or not,” Nan declared. “I wasn’t at all sure myself, even once you got here. I wasn’t sure which way he would go. Particularly when you don’t get any sleep, which can make people crazy.”

“I hear you,” Doreen muttered. “Come on. Let me walk you back down to Rosemoor and get everybody calmed down. They’re all looking for you as well.”

“Oh lovely,” she exclaimed, with a bright laugh. “I’ll have something to tell them, that’s for sure.”

And, with that, Doreen escorted her grandmother back to Rosemoor. If Mack wanted to talk to Nan, he would know right where to find her.