Chapter 30

Sunday Morning …

D oreen woke up the next morning, then rolled over with a great sense of satisfaction and relief at another case in the bag. This one didn’t go quite the way she thought it would, but, when she pondered it some more, they rarely did. She gave Mugs a big hug, and he woofed and snuggled deeper into the covers. “You and me both, buddy,” she replied, as she did the same. Her phone rang moments later. “Hey, Nan,” she said, with a yawn. “I just woke up.”

“Glad to hear it. Jethro really wants to thank you for what you did.”

“What did I do?” she asked.

“You got that woman out of there, for starters.”

“That’s because that woman was connected to a murder I was also investigating,” she muttered.

“That’s even better,” Nan cried out in delight. “I’ve got more great news. We’ll sell Jethro’s house and move him down here to Rosemoor. He really shouldn’t be all alone, rattling around in that house by himself.”

“I certainly agree with you there,” Doreen noted. “Does Jethro get any say in the matter?”

Nan laughed in delight. “Of course he does, child. I’m really not that pushy.”

“Glad to hear it, Nan. As long as he’s happy to move, then that seems to be a good solution and may well prevent future problems.”

“And you won’t press charges?” she asked in a worried tone.

“Hey, I’m not the one involved in pressing charges against him or anybody else. You’ll have to talk to Mack about that.”

“I was hoping that you might handle that conversation. I don’t think Mack was very happy with me about the whole bail thing.”

“You’re right about that, but honestly I don’t even know that I can talk to him about it,” she muttered. “The fact of the matter is that Jethro may have crossed the line with the whole armed kidnapping event and will have to deal with the consequences. It may be out of Mack’s hands and left up solely to the district attorney.”

“Jethro’s also a senior citizen,” Nan pointed out, “and that should count for something.”

“If it goes to court, you’ll have to testify as a character witness then, which will be interesting since you were also the victim.”

“Oh, I can definitely do that. What a wonderful idea. I can see how that might prove a bit challenging for the prosecution.” Nan said, clapping her hands in delight, yet almost dropping the phone in the process. “So, you’ll come? Jethro really wants to thank you in person and may bring extra treats.”

“Wait, what? Come where?” she asked, feeling as if she’d missed a part of the conversation. The already amusing image in her mind of a harried prosecutor frantically trying to discredit Nan’s testimony on Jethro’s behalf—after having just presented her as the frail but sharp elderly victim of a gun-toting madman—was only enhanced as Jethro interrupted the court proceedings, carrying a tray of finger sandwiches and petit fours. Doreen broke into a fit of giggles at the thought, only getting control of herself after Nan sighed heavily.

“You really do need to take a break, dear. It seems all these cases are taking a bit of a toll on you.”

On the brink of hysteria, Doreen choked back her laughter. “That very well may be, Nan, but I do recall getting dragged into some of these cases,” she muttered.

“Yes, that is quite true, and I am sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, Nan. I could never say no to you anyway.”

“At least you got it solved, and relatively quickly at that. That may have been one of your fastest ones. Oh, now that I’m thinking about it… huh ,” Nan started to chuckle. “You know, child. I think I may have won the big pot.”

“What are you talking about now?”

“Of course it’s not the really big pot yet.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of this,” Doreen muttered. “What are you talking about, Nan? Have you been betting again?”

“Never mind that. You come on down, and we’ll have tea,” she suggested. And, with that, Nan was gone.

Groaning, Doreen rolled out of bed, deciding that a hot shower was definitely needed. Once she had gotten herself together and was ready for the day, she decided to forego her regular morning coffee and settled on tea first with Nan. Gathering up the animals, she slowly headed down the pathway. If nothing else, this case was another one of those life lessons about people, although she didn’t think Tammy would see it that way from Doreen’s point of view.

Once she got to Nan’s, she noted that both Darren and Mack were here. Mack took one look at her. “Good morning. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Me either, but I got a call, something about Jethro wanting to thank me.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I got one too, and I’m certain it’s definitely not an attempt to bribe us out of pursuing the charges either,” he quipped, rolling his eyes.

She laughed out loud. “If your victim wants to testify as to the sterling character of your suspect, do you really have something you need to charge Jethro with?”

He sighed and frowned at her. “It’s not that simple.”

“It never is,” she noted, with a wave of her hand, “and yet it is.”

He grinned. “Anyway, don’t think you’ll get off quite so easily either.”

She frowned at him, then stepped over to Nan’s patio, but Nan was inside calling out to her and waving her arms.

“You’ll have to come through to the living room. It’s much bigger.”

“Oh, great ,” she muttered. “I don’t know that I’m up for a big reception or something. I didn’t even get any coffee yet.”

“That’s okay. We’ve got coffee on the menu today too.”

Doreen gave Mack a surprised look, but he just shrugged and said, “Don’t ask me. I don’t know anything about it.” As they got to the main area, she saw quite a few of the residents sitting here.

Jethro stood up and greeted them. “Thank you all for coming. It seems I owe everyone an apology. But I also owe Doreen my thanks for putting another criminal behind bars,” he added, with a big smile, “and making it a whole lot easier to sleep at night.” At that, a round of cheering followed.

Doreen looked around at everybody, shaking her head. “I hardly did anything.”

“Yes, Nan warned me that you would say that,” Jethro replied. Taking a big breath, he added, “I spoke to the Rosemoor management, asking if we could hold a party here for you. I would like to do a thank you in a big way. And they’ve agreed. Now the date that we’ve all come to think could work would be in four weeks on a Friday, so early enough in December to avoid any other Christmas parties here. Does that work for the two of you? Of course we really need Mack on board as he, of course, has a surprise for you too.”

Doreen blinked. It was one thing to spring a party on her, and she was okay with that, but to spring something that Mack might have in surprise? Well, that was something else again. She turned and frowned at him. Plus the whole Christmas season thing was something that she’d shoved to the back of her mind. She’d never had much in the way of a happy Christmas for the previous fourteen years with Mathew and so had no clue what was expected of her in this instance.

Jethro waited for Doreen or Mack to say something. In the silence that followed, he added, “As a celebration, an early Christmas party sounds like a great excuse to honor and thank Doreen. Right, everyone?” Jethro turned and beamed a smile at everyone around them.

Cheers rang up from the crowd gathered here.

“And of course you’re welcome to invite anyone you want as well, dear,” Nan said, with a benevolent smile.

“Wait, is this just a thank-you party or something else?” Doreen asked suspiciously, her gaze going from Nan to Jethro and then, as if on instinct, she turned to face Mack. “Are we celebrating something else?”

Jethro beamed and said, “I guess that’s up to Mack to determine.”

Mack frowned at him and shook his head, turning to Doreen. “I haven’t a clue.”

“Sure you do,” Jethro replied, “but Nan did say it would take a bit to get you there.”

Doreen pointed her finger at Nan. “Nan, please tell me that you didn’t interfere.”

“I would never interfere,” Nan stated immediately, “but you do know how I worry.”

“I understand how you use worry as an excuse for interfering,” she declared, staring at her grandmother with raised eyebrows.

“You worry too much.” Nan smiled at her smugly. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” She glanced around at the gathered group. “So, is it a date?”

“Yes!” The room rang with cheers and laughter.

Doreen had her reservations but had to admit that this could be fun.