Handcuffs in the Heather (Lovely Lethal Gardens Book 8) Read online

  Doreen did and was shocked to find a metal cylinder and some mechanical device inside.

  “Now, hoses should be around here somewhere,” Nan said, turning around. “You hook a hose onto that end and take it all the way down to the creek.”

  “But that’s a long distance. What kind of hose do you hook to that?”

  Nan wandered around the outside of the house. “There was a box here.”

  Then Doreen remembered, under the heavy growth at the side of the house, she had found a low-lying box, maybe a wooden version of an irrigation box. She told Nan, and they headed there. Nan opened it, and inside was a black-and-blue pump hose. She came back out with one end and said, “Take the other end of this and just unroll it down to the creek. They are quite heavy.”

  Even with the warning, Doreen was surprised by the weight of them. “Do we need to do it now?” Doreen asked.

  “If you look where the pump is,” Nan said, “you’ll see there’s a little water already in the cistern.”

  Doreen backed the hose down the lawn. When she returned, Nan gave her a shorter hose.

  “Go connect this one to that one,” Nan said. “These simple clamp-lock things are on the end.”

  Doreen did that, snapping the locks together. Feeling better about that, she rejoined Nan again who was ready to show Doreen how to attach the elongated hose to the pump. Nan popped it in the tube in the ground so it was connected to the device inside, and then she said, “Get a hose, dear.” Doreen looked down at the sump-pump hose, and Nan shook her head with a laugh. “The garden hose.”

  It was just around the back of the house where the porch was, so Doreen brought the end of it to Nan.

  “Turn it on,” Nan said. “And direct the water into this metal cylinder.”

  Doreen watched and heard the pump making a weird sound while being filled with water. And then it sent water shooting all the way down the much bigger hose to the creek.

  “Perfect. That’s how you keep the water out of the basement,” Nan said. “For now, just leave this in place. We can tuck the sump pump hose up against the fence. You have another fifteen to twenty feet of that hose in the box. If you connect a longer one along the fence, it will drain over the path into the creek.” Nan bustled around to the low, flat box and pulled out another set of hoses. “Back over here where the police dug up my garden,” Nan said in a mild outrage, “there was another sump pump.”

  Doreen frowned and hurried over to the far corner. “I don’t remember seeing one.” But, sure enough, where the policemen had turned over the garden and had dumped a pile of dirt was another circular wooden piece in the ground. “And I just thought that was garbage,” Doreen said.

  With Nan’s help, they scraped all the dirt off the top and lifted that circle. And there, beneath, was another metal ring and a pump. They repeated the process of hooking up the sump pump hose to the pump itself.

  Then Nan said, “Now you can leave these out, and anytime the water starts to rise, these two pumps will keep the water out of the house. Although, if you landscape back here, you should consider burying permanent pipes in the ground, so you never have to worry about these hoses again.”

  Doreen looked down in the hole and realized the pumps were at least four feet deep in the soil. That was probably pretty close to where the basement was. But if they were permanent … She nodded and said, “So, as long as we keep these pumps running, no water will go into the house, correct?”

  “Correct,” Nan said with a smile. “It’s always an adventure living by the water, dear.”

  Doreen sighed. “You know what? It never even occurred to me to ask you about these, since I didn’t know they existed. I just noticed the creek was rising, and that’s what had me worried today.”

  “I hear you there,” Nan said. “Hopefully I would have remembered before you flooded.”

  Doreen shuddered. “But I’m good to go now, right?”

  “You are,” Nan said.

  Doreen smiled, grateful she’d thought to ask Nan. “I’ve been watching the creek rise for the last week,” she said. “And I started to wonder, just how high could it go?”

  “You can expect it to rise almost flush with the hill here,” Nan said. “But it doesn’t last. We might even only see it for six to eight hours. Yet something you should take a moment and look at. Every once in a while, we get these heavy floods, and then you could have trouble with the pumps.”

  “Right,” Doreen said, staring down at the pump nearest her in the corner. “Hopefully not this year.”

  “Hopefully not,” Nan said comfortably. Then she looked around. “Did you put on the teakettle?”

  Doreen chuckled. “No, but I will. Come on inside, Nan.”

  Chapter 5

  Saturday Morning …

  Inside she made tea and sat down with Nan.

  “So, bring me up to date,” Nan demanded. “You didn’t give me all the details about Steve.”

  “I gave you a bunch of the details,” Doreen said with a grimace. “And you can’t really blame me for not giving you all of that. He did attack me once again.”

  “And I had to hear it from Darren, who told Richie, who came to tell me.”

  Doreen sighed. “I didn’t want you worrying. Another attack from yet another criminal wasn’t something I wanted you to deal with.”

  “It’s timing, dear,” Nan said. “I need times.”

  “It’s all about the bets for you, isn’t it?” Doreen groaned.

  “At this point, it’s also about cold cases, and I gather the police have a lot to work on now.”

  “Lots of leads to follow, threads to tie up, people to interview, et cetera,” Doreen admitted. “Steve was heavily involved in a lot of different things. And, of course, the cops are thinking maybe they’ll find those women he supposedly paid off are buried on his land.”

  Nan looked thrilled, and Doreen rolled her eyes. “You might want to consider the fact that those women lost their lives because Steve was greedy.”

  “Yes, but just think,” Nan said. “That’s three missing women. Just think of the families who have been waiting to hear about their loved ones.”

  “They were all vulnerable women. Who knows if the families are even aware they went missing,” Doreen said quietly. “We have to remember the humanity in all this inhumanity.”

  “Of course, my dear,” Nan said, but she looked even more thrilled. “I’m so happy you’re doing this. Obviously it’s very helpful for everyone. Not to mention people all across the country. Who knows how widespread this could go?”

  “Mack said something about taking police cadaver dogs to Steve’s property. Hopefully they find something.”

  Nan brightened at that too. She would literally glow if she brightened up more than she already was. “How exciting. It would be fascinating to figure out how those dogs operate.”

  Doreen thought about it and nodded. “You’re right. I’d love to see them work.”

  “Call Mack, my dear,” Nan said. “Maybe he wouldn’t mind if you watched.”

  “I’m pretty sure he would mind,” Doreen said, laughing. “He wasn’t happy with me this morning as it was.”

  Nan’s face twisted into a curious but knowing look. “This morning?” she asked delicately.

  “He stomped over here mad,” Doreen explained. “Made me breakfast and then wanted to know about the handcuffs I found.”

  Nan clapped her hands together and bounced in her seat.

  Doreen smiled. “You get more excited and act like a teenager every day.”

  “It’s my right,” Nan said with an airy hand wave. “You’ve heard about adults going into their second childhood. I’ve just stopped at the teenage years. It’s such fun. When I was a teenager, I couldn’t do anything. I mean, nothing. But now? Wow.” She leaned forward and said in a low voice, “Tell me about the handcuffs.”

  “Only if you don’t share it with the rest of your buddies at Rosemoor,” Doreen said with a warning.


  Nan drew a cross over her heart. Doreen wasn’t sure if that was good enough, so she reiterated, “Promise me, Nan.”

  Nan glared at her, and then her shoulders slumped. “Fine.” But then, when she heard all the details, she laughed, trying to hold it back behind her hand as she giggled. “Oh my,” she said. “Are you sure they don’t belong to our neighbor?”

  “He appeared to be quite offended,” Doreen said. “And he didn’t come out when I showed Mack where I found them.”

  “I think I remember something about that missing woman, presumed murdered,” Nan said. “There was a big outrage about getting the women on the streets some help, so they could find another way to make a living. One of those hot topics that come and go. You know how, this year, we’ll worry about women who are prostitutes because life and circumstances forced them to sell their bodies. Then next year, it’s all about the drug dealers and the addicts who keep the drug dealers in business. Then it will be single moms and abusive relationships.” She shook her head. “I know we need to help them all, but it just seems like they fade in and out of the news and don’t get steady attention.”

  “And, of course, that’s basically what happened here too,” Doreen said, “because the case went cold.”

  “Another cold case,” Nan breezed through the statement as if she expected it.

  “No, not really. I’m not looking into it. The handcuffs were in a box the police were getting rid of because the items didn’t contribute to the case.”

  “Maybe,” Nan said, nodding her head. “And yet maybe not because now you’ve found the handcuffs, so who knows?”

  Doreen nodded. “I’m not going there. Let’s just put it that way.”

  The two women then relaxed and had their tea. Nan perked up, lifted her pointer finger, then reached into her pocket and said, “I forgot about these.”

  And, sure enough, she had two ham and cheese croissants. “Nan, you must have very big pockets,” Doreen said in admiration. “Nice going.” In truth, she wore a big afghan-style brightly colored sweater with those big square pockets on either side.

  “It’s perfect for this,” Nan said. “And you were going to show me those diamond earrings. You forgot last time.”

  “Oh my.” Doreen hopped to her feet, went up to her bedroom, then brought down the big bowl holding everything she’d found in Nan’s clothing. “Take a look at this,” she said. “I put everything in here.”

  While Nan was a bundle of excited energy and looked through the bowl, Doreen couldn’t stop thinking about the police canines. She decided to call Mack. And, ignoring his growl, she asked, “Is there any chance I can watch how the police dogs work?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, sounding surprised. “I’m planning on being there. If I can get away. By the way, forensics didn’t find anything usable on the handcuffs.”

  “Oh,” she said momentarily distracted. “Okay, that’s too bad.”

  “It’s what I expected.”

  “Right, back to Steve’s property. I guess I’m asking if I can be there too,” she said hurriedly. “Obviously I won’t get in the way.” He snorted at that, so she said, “Okay, let me amend that. I’ll try not to be in the way.”

  “For all I know, it’s almost over,” he said. “I’m late as it is.”

  She sighed. “Oh, well, let me know then if you find anything.” Then she hung up.

  Meanwhile, Nan looked at the big bowl full of coins, rolled bills, and business cards. She dug around in it and smiled. “Who’d have thought I lost all this stuff all those years ago?”

  “I hardly think it was lost as much as misplaced or just left as is,” Doreen said. She rummaged in the bowl herself and found the earrings. She picked them up and handed them to Nan.

  Nan got a soft look on her face as she sat back and said, “These are real diamonds, you know?”

  Doreen hated the fact that immediately her thoughts swept to the money value of them, when, in truth, they were pretty earrings that she would wear herself.

  “You probably wouldn’t get a whole lot for them,” Nan said. “They’re in an old-fashioned setting.”

  She handed one to Doreen, who stared at the multiple hearts inside. “The style looks timeless to me.”

  “Keep them,” Nan urged.

  “They mean something to you,” Doreen said. “Who did they come from?”

  Nan just gave a little finger flutter and said, “A friend.”

  “Another lover?” Doreen asked drily. “You did quite well with them in terms of gifts, didn’t you?”

  “I did, indeed,” Nan said, her hand holding the bowlful of money. “Have you counted how much money is here?”

  “Not yet. I started off trying to keep track, and then I just gave up.”

  “You’ll have to buy some of those wrappers for the coins. A lot of money in coins is here.”

  “I know. I don’t think I can just take it loose to the bank.”

  Nan shook her head. “You can’t do that, but you can get a few coin wrappers from the dollar store or from the bank and roll them up yourself.” She pulled out the larger bills and straightened them, so they could be laid flat. And then she looked around, grabbed an empty chair, put the bowl lower, and said, “Let’s sort through the money, and we’ll see if anything else is in all this.”

  With Nan’s help, they sorted out the hundreds, the fifties, the twenties, the tens, and the fives into separate stacks. They even found a couple older bills no longer used in Canada.

  Nan tapped them and said, “You can still take those to the bank.”

  “Any point in keeping them?”

  Nan shook her head. “Only as a curiosity.”

  With the dollar bills sorted, they pulled out all the business cards and the little pieces of paper. Doreen handed all of those to Nan to read through. The business cards, once reviewed, Nan just tossed into the garbage and said, “Whoever they were, it was a long time ago. So nobody there of interest.” The notes were read next. She smiled and said, “Well, this is a grocery list, and this is a list of errands, like to go to the bank and to the post office.” She crumpled and threw them away. “Thank you for the trip down memory lane.”

  Then they sorted through the coins, stacking up the bigger ones and then all the way down until only pennies were left in the bowl. “And these, you can’t really use anymore either,” Nan said. “I think, if you roll them, you can cash them in at the bank though.”

  “Okay, so I have to go to bank first to get the rollers, then go back to the bank—after I roll the coins.”

  “You might as well take a lot of these dollar bills and deposit it in the bank too,” Nan said. “You’ve had so many break-ins, you’re just lucky nobody stole this bowl.”

  Doreen stared at her. “I didn’t even think of that. How much money is here?”

  “Let’s find out,” Nan said and counted each stack, with Doreen noting each pile’s total on a notepad. With all the bills laid out in front of them, they added up to a grand total of $924.

  “Nan, that’s huge!”

  “Good,” Nan said. “Add in the coins, and you’ll find you’re up to one grand. I don’t think you’ll hit a thousand dollars for sure, but you won’t be too far off either.”

  “Wow,” Doreen said, getting up and pouring more tea. “Oh, and a couple weird little things are in the bottom of the bowl here too.” She pulled out what looked like a marble and handed it to Nan. “I don’t have a clue what that is. We did find three in the Ming vase though, or maybe two.” At that she found herself looking around, wondering what happened to them. And then she said, “And a bunch of these little colored rocks.”

  “I vaguely remember these,” Nan said, rolling the wooden ball in her hand. Only then her gaze caught on the colored rocks and was immediately distracted. “These are opals, dear. Unset opals.” She picked up one to turn it in the light watching the pretty colors shine from inside the stone.

  “I thought they were really pretty,”
Doreen said. Then she frowned. “You know what? You’d think I would recognize the opals. I used to have good jewelry.”

  “But opals are only for some people’s taste. Your ex-husband was all about diamonds.”

  “True,” Doreen said, as she studied the opals, letting the sun hit them and watching the fire shine through. “What do I do with these?”

  “When you have a little bit of money, get them set into something,” Nan said. “They were from my grandmother.”

  Doreen gazed at Nan. “Just like the pearls and the emeralds?”

  “Exactly,” Nan said. “And the cufflinks. It’s amazing just how much of that was kept, and I didn’t even know it. But the emerald necklace? That was unique.” Then Nan frowned. “Can I see them?”

  Doreen went upstairs, took the velvet pouches she’d found in the hidden drawers in the antique bedroom set, and came back down. On the kitchen table, she pulled out the pearls, the beautiful emerald necklace, and the cuff links.

  “Absolutely beautiful,” Nan said. “If you need the money, sell them. But, if you don’t, you might want to keep them. They’re heirlooms. And you need to keep them safe, in case you get broken into again.”

  “Hopefully the security system will hinder that. Plus word has surely gotten out that all the antiques are at Christie’s now.” Doreen gently stroked the green gems. “They’re beautiful,” Doreen said. “I’ll never have a place to wear them though.”

  “You don’t know that,” Nan said. “And I’m not telling you to keep them. I’m letting you know that you can sell them, if you want, but, if you get enough money from all the other stuff, maybe you won’t need to.”

  “I guess selling jewelry isn’t quite the same thing as selling antique furniture, is it?”

  “No,” Nan said, “but, if you found a good jeweler, he might sell them for you. He would probably buy them off you, clean them up, and maybe fix some of the broken settings, if there are any, and then sell them himself.”