Poison in the Pansies Read online

  She frowned, but inside she was like, Poisoned in the Pansies. Perfect. And she grinned at him. “Of course I’ll stay out of your case.”

  He glared at her, while she just beamed. “At least until I can’t.”

  And then she burst out laughing.

  Chapter 1

  Next Day, Monday Afternoon, Early August

  Doreen Montgomery kept looking at her watch, knowing that Corporal Mack Moreau would show up any moment. Her mind buzzed with questions. They’d spent most of Sunday together, until their plans had been completely kiboshed when he got another call in. Curious, and yet determined to find out, she’d asked him about that call several times, when they had talked throughout the day, but he wouldn’t give her any answers.

  Of course he wouldn’t, which meant it was a current case. Of course it was. He didn’t deal with cold cases, unless she dumped them in his lap.

  She almost laughed at that because dumping things in his lap was something she had become pretty good at. And, so far, he’d been absolutely great at picking up the ball and helping her out. But she also knew that his hands were tied more often than not, and he just couldn’t do some things. Which is also when she tended to jump in without him to get done what she needed. But, at this point in time, she wanted to know if his current case was connected to what they had found at Sarsons Beach Park.

  She had driven back early this morning, but the box of poison was gone. Now she was relieved, but, at the same time, she wanted an update. She looked down at Mugs, who sat ever-so-attentively at her side, staring at her lunch. “It’s a salad. I’m getting better in the kitchen, but I’m surely not to that point where I’m cooking your meals, buddy.”

  Mugs woofed at her.

  She laughed, walked over to the cupboard, and found the dog treats. As soon as she pulled out the bag, Goliath sauntered forward, and Thaddeus—who’d been sleeping on the roost nearby in the living room—immediately opened his eyes. “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  She laughed and added affectionately, “You’re all here, idjit.”

  He cocked his head at her, opened one eye, and just gave her that gimlet stare. He’d been doing that more often, especially whenever she gave him a term that he didn’t particularly like.

  “Fine, okay.” She rolled her eyes. “I apologize for calling you an idjit.” Not sure he understood the apology part. He still glared at her. She shook her head and chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ve told you lately, guys, but you have certainly enriched my life.”

  At that, Mugs woofed again.

  Doreen stood here, staring at them, a questioning look on her face. Meanwhile, Mugs nudged her hand, waiting for the treats there. “Oh, right.” She laughed at the situation. She was calling them idiots, when she was one too, it seemed.

  At least she could laugh about it and now knew, with her growing self-confidence, to acknowledge that she was smart enough when needed. She bent down and gave Mugs a treat and then walked over and pulled out treats for Goliath. After she gave him one, Mugs raced over and barked, looking for another treat.

  “No.” She shook her head. “You just got your treat. And you know that Goliath and Thaddeus also get treats of their own, right?”

  Mugs just gave her the most mournful look, with those huge brown eyes of his, and she felt her heart starting to melt. But she shook her head. “No. I know Mack is coming, and he’s likely to give you treats too.” She sighed. “We have to consider our budget and must also keep that waistline of yours somewhat in check.”

  Of course that just reminded her that they hadn’t been for much of a W—walk—today. And she’d gotten to the point of saying W these days, even in her mind, because not only did Mugs understand the word but Goliath did also, and so did Thaddeus now. Sometimes she thought Thaddeus could read her mind because, even now, he hopped up and looked at her. “Walk, walk, walk.”

  And that started Mugs off in a cacophony of barking.

  She glared at Thaddeus. “Why? Why do you have to go ruin the peace and quiet?”

  Instead of giving her a well-thought-out answer, he looked at her, bent over, and bobbed his head up and down. “He-he-he-he.”

  She glared at him. “You know that you’re becoming a real pain, right?”

  He stopped and looked at her and blinked.

  And once again she felt like a heel. “Fine,” she muttered. “While we should wait for Mack, let’s go down to the creek.” She opened the back door, letting Mugs lead the way, as he raced out into the backyard, barking, but at nothing. She shook her head at that, looked down at Goliath. He remained stretched out on the kitchen floor, eyeing the open door.

  “Do you want to come, buddy?”

  Goliath sniffed the air, as if to say, Hah, you finally invited me. And, with that royal attitude, he sauntered out the door, even as Thaddeus hopped onto the railing out on the deck—a deck that she absolutely adored—and then onto her shoulder, as she walked past. She looked over at him. “You could walk, you know.”

  And he curled his head against her shoulder and whispered in a low voice, “Thaddeus loves Nan.”

  “Yeah, I’m not Nan.”

  He’d started doing that a couple times a day too. Doreen wasn’t sure if it was just about seeing Nan or if this was Thaddeus’s way of telling Doreen that he needed more attention. He lifted his head and looked at her with that stare. “Nan, Nan, Nan.”

  Thaddeus was doing his best to convince Doreen to walk down to Nan’s. She groaned. “It’ll be dinnertime at Rosemoor soon. We’d have to come right back. We don’t want to interrupt Nan’s dinner or not be here for Mack, now do we?”

  Almost immediately she got a text on her phone. It was from Mack.

  I’ll be an hour late for dinner.

  She stared down at it, even as Thaddeus peered at her phone too. On her shoulder, he repeated, “He-he-he-he.”

  Wow, he can read my mind and my phone too? Doreen shook her head, giving in. “Okay, fine. We’ll walk down to Rosemoor, have a quick visit with Nan, and then we’ll come back to meet Mack.” She headed along the river and quickly pulled out her phone and dialed Nan.

  “Hi,” Nan cried out. “You coming for a visit?”

  “Well, I was thinking of coming for a short one. Mack will be a little late for dinner.”

  “Ah,” Nan noted, with that wealth of innuendo in her tone.

  Doreen glared at her phone. “But I’m only coming if you don’t bug me about Mack.”

  At that, Nan laughed out loud. “Oh my, it’s that serious, huh?”

  “It’s not that serious at all,” Doreen argued, her tone turned stiff.

  “Come on down, child,” Nan replied. “It’d be absolutely lovely to see you. I’ve missed you. I was hoping to see you this past weekend.”

  Doreen winced. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll explain when I get there.”

  She put away her phone, and, with the others in tow, she walked along the river, amazed at how much lower it was now. Mugs could walk into the river bed several feet away from the bank now, without getting wet at all. With the three of them tagging along at various speeds, they finally made it to Nan’s.

  As Doreen walked across the grass, not on the stepping stones, she still winced. If Rosemoor’s old gardener had witnessed her doing this, he would have been on her case terribly. She made her way across the grass to find Nan on her little patio, waiting for them.

  Nan smiled up at Doreen, then bent to greet Mugs and Goliath, who absolutely adored her. When she straightened, she smiled at Thaddeus on Doreen’s shoulder and then studied her granddaughter and noted, “You look lovely.”

  Doreen raised an eyebrow. “I look the same as always.”

  “Nope, not quite. You’ve put on a little bit of weight, and you look like you’re …” Nan paused. “Settled.”

  At that, Doreen frowned. “That doesn’t sound too nice.”

  “Oh, doesn’t it?” Nan asked. “I thought it was a lovely word. Let’s just say that you do
n’t look like you’re on the edge all the time anymore. You’ve taken a step back from the cliff.”

  “What cliff?” Doreen asked, confused. She pointed at the little patio table and chairs. Then sat herself.

  “The one called life,” Nan noted gently. “You don’t look like you’re starving or worried about where your next paycheck’s coming from.”

  “Well, I should be,” Doreen muttered. She watched as Nan sat down and poured tea for them both. “Apparently everything’ll still be a while.”

  “Some of these things take time,” Nan agreed. “But you will let me know if you run into serious trouble, right?”

  Doreen laughed. “You know perfectly well I would try very hard to not have to ask you for any more help. You’ve been so generous already.”

  “Generous, my foot.” Nan shrugged. “You’re my granddaughter. I’m entitled to spoil you.”

  “And believe me. I greatly appreciate it. Mugs and I would be homeless without you. And I have so much pending money in progress, but nothing’s come to fruition yet.”

  “What about Robin’s will?” Nan asked, referring to Doreen’s former divorce lawyer, who’d been murdered, but even stranger, somehow in a bit of clarity—maybe even anticipating her untimely death—had left everything to Doreen.

  “It’s in probate, and they’ve still got to sell the house and her other physical holdings,” Doreen explained. “Plus, somewhere along the line, whenever that’s all taken care of, I’ll get an idea of what kind of money is involved and when I’ll get it.”

  “Well, she owned property in Vancouver.” Nan beamed at the thought. “We know what the property prices there are like.”

  “We do.” Doreen shook her head and threw up her hands in frustration. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll get much for it. Besides, I don’t even know what all she owned, much less what she might owe to everybody.”

  “No, I suppose not,” Nan agreed. “The lawyers will definitely take a pile off the top, won’t they?”

  “I expect so,” she murmured. “So far my experience with lawyers has not been that great.”

  “What about Nick? Mack’s brother should be a good one.”

  “I keep bugging him. I’m wondering if he’s ignoring me.”

  “Maybe.” Nan had a sip of tea and then laughed. “But don’t stop. You know how I feel about the squeaky wheel.”

  “I do, indeed.” She smiled. “And I don’t think he’s deliberately trying to ignore me. I think my ex is trying to ignore him on the whole divorce settlement issue, so I guess Nick has nothing to tell me yet.”

  “Of course your husband—”

  “Soon-to-be ex-husband,” Doreen corrected.

  “Yes, dear. But technically and legally still your horrid husband. Anyway, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he tries to argue against your bequeathment from the will.”

  Doreen stared at Nan in shock. “Robin’s will?”

  At that, Nan nodded. She lowered her voice, leaned forward. “I mean, after all, they were having an affair. I’m sure he had expectations of getting something from her.”

  “Great,” Doreen muttered, “that’ll send everything backward in terms of getting things settled.”

  “Doesn’t mean he has a leg to stand on in that department of course,” Nan added.

  “No. But just the thought of it is enough to make the hairs go up on the back of my neck. He’ll just delay what is already a very slow process. I just want to totally be rid of him. Is that too much to ask?” She shuddered. “I am getting a check from Wendy here pretty soon, so I have that coming in.” She nodded. “That will help tide me over.”

  “Good,” Nan replied. “And you still haven’t heard anything regarding the antiques yet?”

  “No. Scott did say that a catalog with all your items has been mailed to me though.” She added, “That’ll be pretty exciting to see how well the restoration went on everything.”

  “It will. You know that to do these things right, it’ll take time.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “But taking time is a whole different story than taking this much time.”

  “It’s antiques, and they are very high-end antiques,” Nan stated. “You could have an awful lot of money there to deal with eventually.”

  “Well, I’d be happy to have that problem.” Doreen smiled. “I don’t mind helping out with all these cold cases. Yet if I could make a living at it? Well, that would make my life easier.”

  “Would it? What about when you have all that money?”

  “You keep talking about all that money. I don’t know how much that money totals, and I don’t know how much or what one would do with that money because I don’t have any figures yet. Are we talking millions? Are we talking hundreds of thousands? Are we talking enough to pay the house taxes and the utilities before winter? Or are we talking like I have enough to smile about, but, hey, I need a nine-to-five day job?”

  “Well, I would hope we’re talking millions,” Nan replied quietly. “I spent a lot of money on those antiques back in the day, and, with inflation, everything has just gotten that much more expensive.”

  She stared at her. “Well, millions would be lovely,” she noted cautiously. “But because we don’t have any actual figures, I don’t want to count on anything.”

  “And then there’s Robin’s will of course.”

  “And again, that’s not necessarily anything I can count on.” Doreen thought about it for a moment and then added reluctantly, “Mack did suggest that maybe I contact Robin’s estate lawyer to see if there was any way to get any of the money now, so that I could pay some bills.”

  Nan leaned forward. “Oh dear, are you that broke?”

  “No, no. Not broke exactly but probate’s supposed to take about nine months.”

  At that, Nan nodded. “And you don’t have enough money for nine months, do you?”

  “I don’t know what I have enough money for,” she replied. “It seems like, every time I turn around, I find expenses that I wasn’t considering.”

  “And of course you now have Mack to consider.”

  Doreen stared at her grandmother, confused. “And what do I have to consider about Mack?” she asked in astonishment. “If anything, he pays for so much more than I do. At least when it comes to food, he won’t let me pay.”

  “Well, there is that, but you know his birthday is coming up. It’s not for another month or so though. Still, time to think about what you want to do.”

  At that, Doreen sat back and stared at her, nonplussed. Mugs leaned his head against her leg in solidarity, as she mindlessly dropped a hand to scratch behind his ears.

  Nan chuckled. “You didn’t know, did you?”

  She slowly shook her head. “No, I didn’t know. Now I’ll just worry all that much more.”

  “Worry, why?”

  “Well, what will I get him?” she asked in astonishment. “Even if money were not an issue—but it is—what could I possibly give him that he probably already has or doesn’t want or need? I mean, the man does everything for me. There’s hardly anything I can do that is nice enough for him.”

  “Well, you do a lot of nice things for him now,” Nan noted quietly.

  “I don’t,” she argued. “For instance, he’s coming for dinner tonight, but he’s cooking the main meal, bringing the groceries too. I made a salad.” She raised both palms. “Like, whoopie-do.”

  Nan chuckled. “But you’re also spending a lot of time with him,” she added, with emphasis.

  She stared at Nan suspiciously. “And?”

  “You know that he wants a lot more.”

  “Well, I’m not giving it to him,” Doreen replied. Then blushed.

  Nan burst out laughing. “And that’s absolutely right. You should hold out and make sure what you have is for real.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, dear. I can see that husband of yours really did a number on you. Mack is a good man. Just remember that. He’s noth
ing like your husband, soon-to-be ex-husband.”

  “Thank heavens,” Doreen whispered. “One was enough.”

  “And you are away from that evil man. I’m so thankful for that.”

  “Me too,” Doreen added. “And that I had you to go to.”

  Nan nodded. “Exactly. You need healthy relationships in your life. And I’m talking about two issues here. One is your growing romantic relationship with Mack, which you should address when you are ready and not a moment sooner. Two is that you already give Mack some pretty priceless gifts, even now, just with your friendship.”

  “But what do I give Mack?” Doreen asked, obviously confused and growing a little bit perturbed. “I know I’m not stupid, at least not as stupid as my ex made me out to be, but this conversation is making me feel stupid, Nan.”

  Nan patted her granddaughter’s hand. “I’m just saying that you give Mack an awful lot of things that money can’t buy, like spending time with him, giving him a pleasant home away from home—or even a home away from the office. I’ve seen the two of you banter back and forth. In his position, I doubt too many people speak up to him like you do, who dare to tell him the truth. He’s got to admire you and to respect you for that, … even if you do get pushy about your cold cases.”

  “Hey, I’m not pushy,” Doreen argued.

  “Okay. You’re curious. Is that better?” Her grandmother smirked.

  “Fine.” Doreen huffed and leaned back into her chair.

  “Anyway, back to my original point here. You don’t know what an oasis you probably are to that man.”

  Doreen frowned. “Oasis?”

  Nan nodded. “A safe place where he’s accepted for who he is. Everybody needs that in life. To belong. To feel appreciated for just being themselves.”

  “That’s true,” Doreen murmured. “That’s what I want as well.”

  “Exactly,” Nan crowed. “So don’t sell yourself short. You are measuring everything by money, which is easy to do when you are as broke as you are, but remember. There are other measurements, like kindness, generosity, being true to self, allowing others to be true to themselves. So you have plenty you could, and you already do give Mack, and it’s not always about money. Now, that said, how long will you make the poor man wait?”