Quarry in the Quince Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  About Revenge in the Roses

  Get Your Free Book Now

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  About This Book

  A new cozy mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. Follow gardener and amateur sleuth Doreen Montgomery—and her amusing and mostly lovable cat, dog, and parrot—as they catch murderers and solve crimes in lovely Kelowna, British Columbia.

  Riches to rags … Chaos is down … Everyone loves sparkly rings … Some more than others!

  Who knew a simple trip to the consignment store would find Wendy being strong-armed by two strangers? So not allowed—especially as it could affect Doreen getting her month-end check! Trying to get to the bottom of this is one convoluted story to sort out. It involves Bernard—an eccentric and handsome older man, who had a very young fiancée in his life—the breakup, and the resulting theft.

  Corporal Mack Moreau is not at all happy with Doreen’s new male friend, Bernard, who has the money to keep her in the style she was accustomed to. However, Mack is happy Doreen is staying out of his cases, if only she could stay out of trouble! Then again, Doreen can find trouble like this without any effort on her part. At least this time she also befriends another Kelowna icon, who lives behind Wendy’s store and who is well-known for her quince jams and jellies.

  Yet a big shiny reward from Bernard awaits someone who solves the theft and how it involves Wendy and the jam icon. Maybe—just maybe—that someone could be Doreen.

  Sign up to be notified of all Dale’s releases here!

  Chapter 1

  Saturday, Second Week of August

  Mack Moreau reached out several times to Doreen Montgomery to update her, to check up on her, then to take her—and her animals—over to his mom’s for mid-morning tea. Millicent even had special treats for Doreen’s pets. Afterward, Goliath remained perfectly content to lie at their feet on the porch. Of course Thaddeus sat on Doreen’s shoulder, yet was oddly quiet during this visit. Doreen let Mugs off his leash, knowing he wouldn’t go farther than just sniffing all around Millicent’s yard.

  Doreen hopped up, wandered around the garden with him, and made a mental list of things to fix.

  As she returned to them, Doreen looked over at his mother. “I’ll come by tomorrow and take care of those weeds,” she promised, fully aware that the ones right in front of the older woman’s view bothered her terribly.

  Millicent smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I know you’ve been busy with other things. Still, it does feel like I’m wasting your time, but I’d appreciate it, if you could come by.”

  Doreen laughed. “You’re saving me.” She glanced at Mack. “I keep getting into trouble, when I’m not working.”

  Millicent shook her head. “What you do is very important, and it helps my son.”

  “Well, I try,” Doreen replied quietly, “but I work in a much different way.”

  At that, the older woman nodded in full understanding. “You two make a good pair.”

  Doreen flushed and refused to look at Mack. “Well, we certainly make a pair,” she finally muttered. “One who gets into trouble and one who tries to keep the other out of trouble.”

  At that, Mack laughed. “Isn’t that the truth? Even when you’re supposedly out of trouble, you’re in trouble.”

  “And yet I don’t try to be,” she stated, looking over at him. “But sometimes people tell me things, and I guess my brain works in a weird way.”

  “A weird and wonderful way,” Millicent noted firmly. Then she chuckled. “And I’m really glad. It’s shaken up Mack’s life, and that’s good. He was getting a little too set in his ways.”

  He stared at his mother in surprise.

  She shrugged. “You and your brother both.” She leaned forward and whispered, “Did you hear that Nick’s looking at coming back to town?”

  At that, Mack smiled and nodded. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

  “It’d be really nice.” Millicent looked at the gardens and sighed. “I sure hope he can make it happen soon.”

  Doreen turned to her, frowning. “Did he give you a time frame?”

  “No, he didn’t. He did say that he’d make another trip here. He has to see somebody who’s been avoiding him.”

  Mack raised an eyebrow and turned slowly to glare at Doreen.

  She flushed and slunk lower in her chair. “I wonder who that could be?” she asked in an innocent tone.

  Mack sighed heavily. “Does he need to talk to you?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “There has been a phone message or two, but, over the last couple days, honestly, I just haven’t wanted to talk to anybody.”

  He nodded. “And I get that, but you know if he needs you …”

  She sniffed. “I don’t want to deal with that.”

  He burst out laughing. “Yet you contacted Nick. And you know what he does for a living.”

  She winced.

  “And he is doing this for free.”

  She sighed. “Fine,” she agreed. “If he doesn’t come soon, I’ll give him a call.”

  “I’m hoping he’ll come this weekend,” Millicent said, “but I can’t count on that. He is a busy man.” She looked at Mack, at Doreen, and then again at Mack, back to Doreen. “Is Nick helping you out with something, dear?”

  “Ever since my lovely lawyer died and left my divorce in a mess, your son Nick’s been helping me clear it up.”

  “Oh, that’s lovely.” She beamed. “He’s such a good boy. He’s always willing to help.”

  At that, even Mack rolled his eyes. “Now, if you’re coming back here tomorrow to work in Mom’s garden, and you already have a worklist of what you need to do here, can we head to the beach today?” he asked Doreen.

  “Sure.” She bounced to her feet. “You didn’t mention that lately.”

  “Nope, I didn’t,” he noted. “I figured, if I mentioned paddleboards, you’d run screaming in the opposite direction.”

  She turned and glared at him. “Please tell me that we’re not trying that again.” He just raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. “Fine. As long as we’ll head to the beach today, I wanted to stop and talk to Wendy today too.”

  He frowned. “On a Saturday?”

  She nodded. “You’re right. It’s probably a busy day for her, isn’t it?”

  “If it’s money you’re after, why don’t you wait until Monday morning?”

  “Fine. Let’s go to the beach, get soaking wet, and … have some food.” She looked at him hopefully.

  He nodded. “I have a picnic packed.”

  She beamed. “Why didn’t you say so?” she cried out. She leaned over, gave the older woman a hug, and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Good enough.” Millicent smiled. “You young people go have a nice day.”

  And, with that, the two of them, along with the three pets, headed out. Settled in Mack
’s truck, Doreen said, “I still worry about Wendy.” She felt more than saw Mack glance in her direction.

  “Has she contacted you since?”

  “No.”

  “If she’s not ready to talk, … there’s nothing you or I can do. It might be nothing at all to worry about.”

  “Yet, it felt … off. Wrong somehow.” She pondered the little she’d seen and Wendy’s disturbing reaction.

  Mack pointed. “Behind Wendy’s shop are Esther’s famous quince trees.” He took his eyes off the road for a moment. “Esther makes the best quince jam and sold it for years at the Kelowna market. I have to tell you, her jam was ‘the’ product everyone bought back then. Even now, the market still is a lively place, but her jam? … That’s the jam.” And he burst out laughing at his joke.

  “Quince?” Immediately an image of the fragrant pear-looking fruit popped into her head. “I thought they didn’t taste great.”

  “They need to be cooked first, I believe. Honestly, I’ve never tried to handle them myself. The only quince I’ve ever eaten was Esther’s jam. I’ve bought dozens of jars over the years. And those suckers trade like hot commodities.” He shook his head at that. “I wish I could get her recipe, but she was crotchety back in the day. I can’t imagine how she is now.” He turned a corner and drove toward the beach. “Her place backs onto the alley at the rear of Wendy’s shop.”

  Doreen looked at him in surprise, then giggled.

  He shot a glance at her, a big smile on his face. “What’s so funny?”

  “We just finished Poison in the Pansies,” she said, her laughter rolling out louder and louder. “Now we have quince in the picture. And Q follows P in the alphabet. So what kind of case works with the letter Q?” In between giggles, and Mugs woofing, and now Thaddeus cawing at the noise, she finally got out, “Quarry. That works. Quarry in the Quince.”

  And she went off in gales of laughter.

  Indeed, it was a glorious day.

  Chapter 2

  Monday Morning

  Saturday had been a lovely day. The next day had also been nice, as Doreen finished up some gardening at Millicent’s place and then spent the rest of the day at home with her animals. Mack had been called into work, so knowing she had the day to herself, she grabbed a book, sat down at the river, and just enjoyed being alone and having fun. She checked in with Nan a couple times to make sure she was doing okay, and, outside of making several cups of tea and some toast or peanut butter sandwiches, she spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing.

  When Monday morning dawned bright and clear, she got up and got dressed, put on the coffee, opened up the back door to let out the animals, and then sat on the patio with her coffee, checking the time.

  As soon as it was ten to eight, she looked down at Mugs and asked, “What do you think? Is Wendy open yet?”

  He woofed beside her and rolled over to give her a belly to rub. She looked around at Thaddeus, who was wandering up and down the deck railing, marching in some weird step but seemingly quite content. Goliath, completely immune to the antics of the others, was asleep atop the outdoor table, with his paws sky-high. She reached over and petted him too, startling him awake so that he immediately rolled over and jumped to his feet and stared at her with a hard look.

  She winced. “Sorry, buddy. I wasn’t trying to wake you up.”

  He gave a meow and threw himself down onto his side again, letting his head drop with a heavy clunk.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” she said. “Apparently you’re still tired.” She reached out and gently rubbed his belly, but that meant she had to remove her hand from Mugs’s belly. When her hand returned to pet him, Mugs immediately woofed and kicked his legs in the air, as if trying to roll over. She smirked at his antics, bent down again, and petted his belly.

  “We’ll have a piece of toast,” she told them. “And then we’ll see if we can get some grocery money off Wendy.” And, with that, she got up, tossed back the last of her first cup of coffee, returned to the kitchen, put on a piece of toast, and poured a second cup.

  As she stood here, staring out at her backyard and the beautiful morning, she wondered at Wendy’s actions the last couple of times Doreen had seen her. She hoped today Wendy was back to normal, but obviously something was going on. Hearing Mack’s words repeat in her mind, Doreen wondered if Wendy would talk to Doreen about it. She decided to walk, even though it would take a lot longer, but she figured that Wendy probably wouldn’t have her check ready until at least nine o’clock.

  With the animals in tow, she headed to the consignment store. It did take a bit to get there, particularly with Mugs stopping to sniff every bush and Goliath seemingly plopping down to rest at every tenth sidewalk block. Thaddeus was content to pace up and down on her shoulder, bob his head, and sing a song. She laughed at his antics because it was a well-known part of his personality that she thoroughly enjoyed.

  By the time she and her crew got to the block where Wendy’s store was, Doreen headed around the back and came up the alleyway. No sign of the big white van, which was good. The alley was more for delivery trucks to service the businesses on one side. On the other side were residences, all backed with fences, so the owners didn’t look out on the alleyway and any off-loading going on here.

  Doreen walked up and knocked on the rear door to Wendy’s shop. When she got no answer, she knocked again. When she still got no answer, she tried the doorknob, but it was locked. Frowning, she walked with the animals around to the front and pulled open the front door. It did open, but the lights inside were off. She called out, “Hello? Wendy, are you here?”

  She looked down at the animals and realized that’s why she shouldn’t have brought them. Having animals around always added an element of chaos, which was normal with pets and children too, but, going into a store like this, the animals could be more of a problem.

  All of a sudden the lights turned on, and Wendy bustled forward, a big smile plastered on her face. “Good morning,” she sang out.

  Doreen looked at her in surprise and explained, “I tried the back door, but you didn’t answer.”

  She shrugged. “I was probably in the washroom.” She looked down at the animals. “You know, if the store were busy, I wouldn’t let them in.”

  “I know,” Doreen muttered. “I wanted to walk and to get a bit of exercise, so it didn’t occur to me to think about the end result of bringing them inside with me.”

  Wendy laughed. “Well, it’s early, and I’m not likely to have anybody immediately anyway.” She motioned at Doreen. “So come on in. If we do get customers wanting to shop and to look around, I may ask you to step outside with your animals.”

  “That’s fine. I just wondered …” And then she hesitated. “I wondered if you had any money for me.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “I did mention that, didn’t I?”

  “Yes,” Doreen agreed.

  “More fool me.” She shrugged and pointed to the back. “Let me go take a look.” And, with that, she disappeared into her little office.

  Doreen wandered the store, looking at some of the clothes. Some of it was beautiful stuff. The last thing she wanted to do was spend her money here. Still, she reached out and touched one of the pieces; it had been a long time since Doreen had had something new. A holdover from her previous life apparently, but she still wanted that joy of something new. She shook her head. “You’ll have time for that later,” she muttered. “Stand strong now.”

  Just then Wendy walked back out again. “Did you say something?”

  “I was talking to myself, reminding me that I don’t have money to spend right now, but I will later,” she shared cheerfully.

  Wendy laughed. “Money’s like that,” she agreed.

  Yet an overly happy tone filled her voice that made Doreen stare at her quizzically. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked.

  At that, Wendy grimaced. “And here I figured everybody would think I was having a great day.”

  “Maybe don’t tr
y so hard,” Doreen suggested in a quiet voice.

  Almost immediately the overly positive look dropped from Wendy’s face. Instead she stared at Doreen with a haunted look. “Let’s just say the last few weeks have been challenging,” she muttered.

  Doreen looked around at the very fully stocked store. “Is business that bad?”

  “It’s that kind of a business,” she noted. “Lots of cycles. Lots of ups and downs, lots of good days and bad days,” she muttered. “Yet overall it’s okay.” And then she laughed and held out a check. “And, in your case, hopefully today’s a good day.”

  Doreen looked down at the check, and it was over $600.00. She beamed. “Thank you.” Then Doreen turned and looked down at her animals in joy. “We get to eat for the month.”

  Mugs immediately barked and wrapped himself around her legs. Goliath, who was lying inside the front door, completely ignored Doreen, except for his tail twitching, making heavy thunk, thunk noises on the hardwood floor.

  “Is that really all the money you have?” Wendy asked curiously.

  At that, Doreen shrugged. “I make a little bit doing gardening and stuff. However, … I do have money coming—sometime, eventually. Meanwhile, it’s just tight right now.”

  “Yeah, I hear you on the tight part,” Wendy muttered. “Sometimes when we say things are tight, we don’t realize just how tight it can be, for ourselves and others.”

  As Doreen nodded, a heavy banging came at Wendy’s back door. She caught the look on Wendy’s face and noted all the color had sagged from it. “You want me to answer that?” Doreen offered immediately.

  “No,” Wendy replied immediately. “I don’t want either of us to answer it.”

  At that, Doreen faced her. “Okay, you need to tell me what’s going on.”

  Wendy shook her head. “No, I can’t do that. And, besides, it’s bad enough that I’m in trouble. I don’t want you in trouble too.”

  “Maybe you should explain to me what kind of trouble we’re talking about. Maybe I can help you.”

  Wendy shook her head again.

  Doreen sighed. “Remember? Remember all the stuff I’ve been doing since I arrived in town?”