Chapter 5

Late Monday Afternoon …

L ater that afternoon Doreen heard Mack’s truck pull into her driveway. Mugs went crazy, barking and racing to the front door.

“I know, Mugs. You haven’t seen him all day,” Doreen teased, chuckling. She walked out to the front porch and watched Mack hop out and stride toward her. She opened the screen door and let Mugs out to greet him. Mack bent down and spent a few minutes loving on the dog that was so overjoyed to see him.

“You know,” Mack shared, “this is not a hard welcome to get used to.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed, with a smile, as she studied her dog, who wasn’t exactly happy to let go of the greeting just yet, even now as Mack headed toward her. “According to Mugs, you still haven’t given him a sufficient hello yet,” Doreen shared.

Mack dropped down to his knee, immediately scooped up the basset hound, and hugged him. At that, Mugs went into an ecstatic mood, then wiggled and wiggled and wiggled, until Mack had to put him down again. “He’s quite an armful, isn’t he?” he asked, chuckling.

“He is, indeed,” she murmured.

Mack came up the stairs, two a time, then picked her up, swung her around, and gave her a passionate kiss.

When he put her down again, she looked up at him. “What was that for?”

He shrugged. “I just felt like it.” Then he brushed past her and headed into the kitchen. She smiled, realizing that what she had feared would be an awkward first meeting—after telling her that he loved her last night—was totally normal and so Mack that she’d been foolish to worry about it.

Then she had to wonder whether she’d really even been worried about this moment, or was it more a case of anticipation? She was a fool that way. As she headed inside behind him, she found him in the kitchen, putting on coffee. “I gather that means you’re staying for a moment or two,” she teased, a note of laughter in her tone.

He grinned. “Yeah, at least I’m hoping to.”

“So, will you tell me about our Zapped in the Zinnias case?”

“Nope, I’m not doing any such thing,” he declared and started to whistle happily. She wasn’t sure why he was in such a great mood, but, considering that she’d woken up that way herself, she had a pretty good idea.

As soon as he had the coffee on, he opened up the back door and stepped outside, then reached his arms out wide and stretched. “Ah, I do love this view.”

“It’s all about having the river right there, I think,” she added.

He nodded. “You’re right. The river, the backyard, nothing on the opposite side. It’s really freeing somehow.”

“Honestly, if I had moved to Kelowna and hadn’t had this place to land, I wouldn’t have had a clue what part of town to move into. I think it takes a little time to get to know a place and to figure out something like that.”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “Did you talk to my brother at all today?”

She frowned at him. “No. Was I supposed to?”

He shrugged. “He told me that he would call you, but maybe he didn’t get that far. He’s been pretty slammed with work.”

“Yeah, and I added to it.”

He looked at her. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“I did add to his workload, when I asked him for help in trying to figure out where I stood.”

“That’s pretty normal and would have entailed a phone call.”

“Yeah, at three hundred an hour. I’m sure just a phone call still would have cost me,” she joked. “I will pay him, now that I can.”

Mack grinned. “He does make good money.”

“Is he still planning on moving to Kelowna?”

“I think so, although I think you scared him a little bit.” She stopped and stared at him. He shrugged. “Enough cases have turned up here that he has to wonder just how safe it is and how much work you’ll pile on him.” When she gasped in faux outrage, Mack burst out laughing. “I’m just teasing. He does want to move up here, particularly knowing that Mom’s remaining years are running away on us. So, he was hoping to get here sooner rather than later.”

“I would be so happy for him if he does,” she replied. “Your brother is a nice man.” Mack looked over at her expectantly, and she added, “Of course you are a nice man too.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “I’m not jealous.”

“That’s good because you have nothing to be jealous of.”

“He did ask me how things were going between us though.”

“That was nosy of him,” she said, staring at him.

Mack snorted. “Come on. Haven’t you already been asked that half-a-dozen times already?”

She winced. “Yes, I sure have. Once everybody realized that the case and all the rest of the trouble surrounding Mathew’s death was resolved, they all seem to expect me to do something.”

“Yep,” he agreed, with that bright grin of his. “I’m sure they do.”

She sighed. “I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do though.”

“Ah, in that case, I’ll leave you to figure it out.” Then he headed to the river.

“What does that mean?” she asked, rushing to catch up.

He shrugged. “Whenever you’re ready, we can talk about it,” he replied and kept on walking.

“But what will we talk about?”

“ Us ,” he said, looking back at her, “but only if and when you’re ready.”

She snorted. “Somehow I don’t think you’ll let me wait all that long.”

“I’ve been pretty patient so far,” Mack noted, looking at her with an inviting gaze.

“Yeah, you’ve been waiting for me to deal with Mathew and the divorce, but now that’s off the table, done and dusted.”

He nodded. “It is, isn’t it?” he stated, a note of intense satisfaction in his tone.

She burst out laughing. “Poor Mathew. I don’t think he realized just how much you were waiting for him to get out of my hair.”

“Not just me,” Mack pointed out, looking over at her. “Weren’t you waiting too?”

“Yes, I was. Then I went through these episodes of feeling guilty because I was waiting for him to get out of my life.” When Mack rolled his eyes, she glared. “I get it. I’m a fool that way.”

“No,” he disagreed, touching her gently on the chin. “No more talking down to yourself that way. You’re not a fool. You needed to learn a few things, and you did. As a matter of fact, you’ve come a really long way.”

“But not quite far enough,… I don’t think,” she shared.

At that, he froze. “What does that mean?”

She looked at him. “Nothing about us, just that I’m not quite there yet.”

He continued to frown at her, as if looking for clarification.

“I’ve changed, but I’m still changing. I… haven’t completed the change yet.”

“It’s not as if we ever reach the end of it, right? We are always changing, hopefully improving.” He spoke carefully. “I don’t think we get to a finish point or something.” He paused, as if not sure how to proceed, not without it coming out differently than he intended. “It’s an ongoing process, where you keep learning for the rest of your life.”

She stared at him. “Actually, I like that idea,” she murmured. “There’s always so much pressure to be a certain way or to do the best you can. However, when you need more time, I hear in my head, Too bad, you were supposed to have gotten there already .”

“No, not at all,” he corrected her gently. “That’s not how this works.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, with a smile. “Sometimes it certainly seems that way.”

“It’s not. Not where we’re concerned,” he declared. “You take as much time as you need, but there are a few ground rules.”

“Oh, I don’t know about ground rules, and I really don’t know about the but .” She glared at him.

His lips twitched. “It’s hardly much of a but , as buts go, and it’s really quite simple. We don’t bring Mathew back into our relationship, and you get to go forward with a fresh perspective, without all that dragging you down.”

She pondered that as he wandered down to the water, studying the different water levels, while she stood here studying him. “Nan said you’ve been more than patient.”

He looked at Doreen and nodded. “I think we already established that.”

She laughed. “Wow, no ego with you.”

“Lots of ego,” he admitted, “but the fact is, I have been patient. That doesn’t mean I can’t be patient a little longer, though I wouldn’t want it to be too much longer.”

“Just what do you see as the end result of this patience of yours?” she asked curiously.

He turned to face her. “Now that’s a very good question. What would you want it to be?”

She frowned at him. “That’s deflecting a question with a question.”

He burst out laughing. “It absolutely is,” he noted. “But, if you’re not even ready to talk about a future together, that conversation would be premature.”

At that, she wasn’t sure what to say. “Aren’t we rushing things?” she asked cautiously.

“Not me,” he murmured. “I’ve been ready for a long time.”

“Yet I don’t want to cheat you by not being whole before I go down that pathway.”

He stared at her. “Did anybody ever say you had to be perfect first before going down that pathway? Or that you had to go down that pathway alone?”

Once again, he had surprised her. She stared at him and slowly shook her head. “I guess not.… That perfection angle was drilled into me by Mathew, so I’m still working on just growing each day. However, it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be alone because it seems as if I always have been.”

“That sounds like self-help book stuff, which has a place, it really does,” he explained. “But isn’t it time for you to just forget about all those things you’re supposed to do, or what you think you’re supposed to do, and instead just be happy to be the you who you are now and then figure out what else you want?”

She smiled. “Okay, I think I can work on that.”

“Good, and, when you figure out what that is, you can let me know. Now let’s grab some coffee.”

She still wasn’t even sure what to do with that, but he was letting her off the hook for the moment, and, for that, she was grateful. “Don’t you ever worry that I won’t get there?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “I don’t worry about that at all.”

Nonplussed, she stared at him. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because maybe you’re already there.” He tapped her gently on the nose. “And maybe you just need a little more time.”

“Maybe, but I’m not sure for what.”

“Then you do need a bit more time,” he replied, with a chuckle. “And I can give you a little more time.”

“What if I need more than a little?” she asked, immediately worried.

“Then I’ll give you a little more after that.”

She sighed, then looked up at him. “Are you supposed to be this nice?”

He smiled at her. “Sometimes people need a little bit longer to get where they need to go,” he stated. “I won’t push you into something. I already know exactly where I want to go with this, and, if you tell me that you don’t know yet, I won’t get angry.”

She stared at him. “Please don’t get angry. Part of me is insecure and needs some reassurance about where we’re going and how it’s the right thing.”

“We are both consenting adults, and we know there are no guarantees in life,” he pointed out.

“No, there sure aren’t any guarantees,” she repeated, as she stared at him. “This… this has turned into a fairly unsettling conversation.”

“That’s because we’re talking about things you’re unsure of.”

“But are you sure?”

“I’m very sure of me,” he replied. “I’m just waiting for you to be sure of you.”

“Oh, great ,” she muttered, “more pressure.”

“Nope, no pressure at all—at least not too much.” She frowned at that, and he laughed again. “Just relax. Nothing is changing in our world.”

And that was all she needed for now and could once again feel a measure of peace. “Okay,” she said, with a happy smile. “If you mean that?”

“I do mean it. Obviously I want to move the relationship forward, and I’ve made that very clear,” he stated, with a pointed look in her direction.

She nodded. “I’m just not quite so good at that whole communication thing. What if I make a wrong decision? I’ve made a pretty major misstep already, a mistake that cost me lots of good years and more.”

He stared at her and nodded. “That’s a very valid point. You did make a decision back then, one that you came to regret. So ease up. This isn’t about me. It’s not even about our relationship. It’s more about you trusting yourself.”

She groaned. “Okay, I get it, but I think I’ve reached my limit on this topic for now.”

“Agreed,” he noted, then rubbed his hands together. “What have you got to eat?” He checked her fridge and then started opening up her cupboards. Turning to look at her as if he were lost, he asked, “When did you shop last?”

She shrugged. “It’s been a while.”

“Have you been eating these last few days?” he asked.

She winced and nodded. “Yeah, I reverted back to peanut butter sandwiches.”

He stared at her in stunned silence for a moment. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I think it had something to do with Mathew’s death.”

Mack didn’t say anything, but instead he proceeded to pour coffee and handed her a cup. “Are you missing him?”

She looked at him in shock, then immediately shook her head. “Not in the way you would think. There is no need to be jealous of Mathew.”

“Not jealous, just wondering if you’re over him.”

“I’m so over him,” she declared, “completely over him, in fact. But something about his death and all the surrounding hoopla brought up a lot of memories, insecurities, and feelings of inadequacy. I’ve spent the last couple days trying to work at getting rid of them.”

“Good,” he agreed, studying her.

“Now I will admit that what you told me last night helped immensely.”

At that, his eyebrows shot up. Then he gave her a slow smile. “See? You’re doing just fine.”

“Am I though?” she asked, frowning at him. “It all feels like a minefield. I worry that I’ll make the wrong decision or say the wrong thing at any time.”

“So what? You have all the time in the world to get it right, and no punishment is involved if you get it wrong,” he pointed out, with understanding. “This isn’t the school of life, where you’ll get punished. This isn’t that life you had with Mathew because I am certainly not Mathew,” he declared, his tone hardening. “You won’t get slapped around if you say the wrong thing.”

She took a deep breath and smiled up at him tremulously. “I know you would never hit me.… I do have to ask for a little bit of patience, if and when these things come up again.”

He nodded slowly. “I know that it’s possible for certain things to trigger these feelings periodically, but I also know that you’re a strong woman. So, each time you address it, you’ll probably have less and less of it to deal with.”

“What if I have more of it to deal with?” she asked.

“Then we’ll deal with it together.”

“You could find somebody easier to get along with. You know that, right?”

His lips twitched, and the corner of his eyes crinkled. “I knew that a long time ago.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “I lost that fight almost immediately.” Then he opened his arms.

She stepped into them, feeling grateful when they closed around her. She burrowed her head tightly against his big, strong chest and wondered at the craziness of what was going on. She was so lucky to have found him. And she was absolutely terrified of messing it up.

For all her confidence when she had been talking to Nan, Doreen wasn’t terribly confident about doing the right thing and still honoring the person who she had become. When Mack’s phone rang, she stepped back and added, “We still have to talk about the case.”

“There is no case,” he stated cheerfully.

“You don’t have a body?”

“Yeah, a body was found,” he replied, “but not a body of any interest to you.”

“Anybody who was a body,” she stated, rolling her eyes, “is of interest to me.” She watched as he answered his phone, hearing little bits and pieces of the conversation.

As his expression thinned out, he nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming.” He looked down at her, yet not completely present in the moment. “So, the victim was tased, and that was the cause of death. It doesn’t happen often, but it can. And unfortunately the Taser was the property of someone who we know.”

“Really? Who’s that?”

He hesitated. “Arnold.”

She stared at him. “Arnold? Arnold, your coworker? Are you saying that the murder weapon was his or that he murdered someone?”

“The Taser had been stolen from him, when his house had been broken into some ten years back. He reported the loss at the time and followed procedure and everything, so no issue there. He was assigned a second Taser on the job, and the first one was never recovered.”

“Until now,” she noted.

“One of the reasons it was identifiable was the fact that he’d originally had an older model that he refused to upgrade when the rest of us did because he really preferred it. All the others of that vintage and model were taken out of commission.”

“So, then it might be his, yet it might not be, right? How can you be sure without a serial number or something?”

“It had an injector that left an auburn pattern when held on too long. As far as forensics can determine, without the actual weapon at hand, it had to be that one.”

She nodded. “Which means?”

Just then they heard the sound of another vehicle pulling up. She walked to the front door, and, sure enough, Arnold took the porch steps toward her. “Hey, Arnold. Mack’s in here,” she said, opening the door.

He stopped at the front step, hitched his belt up over his ample belly, and looked at her, a bit unsure. “I’m not really after him,” he muttered.

“What? He just told me about it being your Taser.”

He nodded. “But it’s not my Taser that I have now,” he clarified. “It was the stolen one.”

“I’m sorry about that, Arnold. Anything that links you to a death is pretty awful.”

He nodded at that. “I know, and it’s so frustrating. I can’t work a murder case if I’m connected somehow, so I can’t work on this one because of my obvious connection to the murder weapon.” He stopped, taking a deep breath as he glanced at Mack, who’d walked up behind Doreen. Then Arnold continued. “I’m hoping you can help me find out who broke into my place and stole the Taser.”

At that, Mack protested, coming between the two of them, but Arnold shook his head. “I’m off the case because the captain just told me so, and nobody has time to chase that down. Mack, I need this. Back then when it was stolen, we weren’t so bothered about it, but obviously we should have been,” he shared, “so I’m asking for Doreen’s help.”

Arnold’s gaze went from Mack to Doreen and then back to Mack. “I can help her do that, but I can’t help with the rest of the investigation on your current case.”

Mack sighed heavily. “Arnold, you have the worst timing ever. I was finally hoping to keep her out of one of our cases.”

Arnold shook his head. “Pick another case,” he said, his tone harsh. “I’m a cop, and I want to stay that way. And, if for some reason I can’t be a cop, I at least want to keep my pension. If any hint of wrongdoing is found on my part, I could lose that too.”

Doreen gasped. “That’s not fair.”

Arnold eyed her hopefully. “So, does that mean you’ll help me?”

“Absolutely. Of course I’ll help you,” she declared, “and so will Mack.”

Mack once again sighed behind her. “Of course I’ll help him. I’m assigned to the case, remember?”

“Since you don’t have enough manpower, will you handle the murder case alone?”

“Can you help out and fill me in?” Arnold asked, looking at Mack, as she faced him too.

“Absolutely he will,” she said, almost ecstatic. “I’ll be your sidekick again,” she exclaimed, looking at Mack in delight. “Besides, if the captain’s okay with it, what’s the rub?” She turned to ask Arnold to be sure. “Has he okayed it?”

Arnold nodded. “Yes, but we’re to keep it on the down low.”

“Of course,” she replied thoughtfully. “As it turns out, that is what I do best.”

Arnold and Mack looked at her, and both of them burst out laughing.