Nabbed in the Nasturtiums Read online

  “Thanks.” She grinned, as she walked along to the condiment area and loaded up on mustard, ketchup, and relish. “That is really lovely. Thank you.”

  “It doesn’t happen often,” he said, “but you’re welcome to join us anytime. I don’t know how much luck you’ve had meeting people in the area. I imagine it could be hard.”

  She nodded. “It can be.” She looked at the full condiment selection that included onions and tomatoes. “Wow,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever had any of these things on a hot dog before.”

  “Then you have to try it,” he said. “Honestly you should.”

  “Okay.” She was agreeable but a little hesitant on the onions. But she put a few on her hot dog and added tomato too. Then wrapping it up in a napkin, she said, “I’ll make such a huge mess with this.”

  He pointed off to the side, toward a big covered area with lots of tables. “We’ll all be gathering over there soon.”

  “What about you?” she asked. “Will you eat?”

  “I will,” he muttered, as he put out a fire on one of the pits. “Just not for a few minutes yet. A huge line up will happen here pretty fast. Grab a chair there, if you want to stay and visit.”

  She did, indeed, want to stay for a visit. Mugs was eyeing the hot dog in her hand with great interest, but, as she went to pick up the hot dog and put it closer to her mouth, Thaddeus popped out from under her hair and stole a piece of tomato.

  “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here,” he crowed.

  Brandon jumped. “Good Lord Almighty,” he said. “I saw the dog, thought I saw the cat, but I completely forgot about the bird.” He stared in amazement, as Thaddeus disappeared under the fall of her hair. “He is so big, you’d think it wasn’t even possible for him to hide, but it’s amazing how well he blends in.”

  She smiled, picked up a piece of tomato, and held it up. “And how much he steals,” she grumbled, as he reached out and took the tomato gently from her fingers.

  “So how do you stop Mugs from getting all upset?”

  “I’ll save him a piece of the hot dog,” she confessed. And, with several napkins to help her, she managed to start at one end of the big hot dog and make her way down to the end, saving the last bite for Mugs. And she was pleasantly full by the time she was done. “That was delicious.”

  “Good,” Brandon said, with a big smile. He pointed off in the other direction. “Here comes the first group, back from their walk.”

  She looked over to see at least thirty people coming toward him. “Wow,” she said, “I got in just before them.”

  “You did, indeed,” he said. “You don’t eat nearly enough. You’re always so skinny. Here. Have a second one.” With that, he plunked a second one right down in front of her, then turned to face the crowd.

  She was full, but, at the same time, it was hard for her not to indulge. She quickly put just mustard and ketchup on this one. She retook her seat and, as the crowd swelled around her, decided it was more prudent to back away, since she had the animals. She pulled back farther and farther, until she was on the edge of the crowd.

  There she polished off her hot dog, again giving the last bite to Mugs, and thought about her life, always on the edge of crowds. Even when she was still with her husband, they were either surrounded by people, or she was mingling, but she was never really part of it. She was always working the crowd, always sitting on the outside of real friends.

  But she had to remind herself, as she tossed her napkins into the garbage can, that she had been invited here out of kindness. And that made her feel good. She saw Brandon lifting his head and looking around the crowd, as if scanning for her, but he didn’t look in her direction. Such a din was around her that she didn’t want to yell to get Brandon’s attention, which would just draw the crowd’s attention to her as well, so she quietly backed away with the animals. She rounded up her animals and said, “Come on, guys. Let’s go home.”

  And happily the four of them headed off.

  Chapter 3

  Sunday Morning …

  The phone woke Doreen the next morning. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she reached for her cell and said, “Good morning, Mack.”

  “Nick told me,” he said, without preamble.

  “That’s nice. I’m glad he told you. Let me in on the secret. What did he tell you?” she said, yawning. “You do realize I haven’t had coffee yet.”

  “It’s not that early,” he said.

  She looked at her phone and said, “It’s not that late either.”

  “It’s almost eight,” he said. “Normally you’re up and about. Otherwise I wouldn’t have called so early.”

  “Not a problem,” she said, as she staggered upright and headed to look out the window.

  “Still, I could have waited,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m up now,” she said crossly. “So what difference does it make that Nick told you something, and just what was it that he told you?”

  “That you’ve retained him as your lawyer.”

  “Something about all of Robin’s client cases being null and void and the investigation of her ex-husband’s parents murder and the fact that she was murdered. Besides, he was handling it all anyway. This just made it official.”

  “Well, that her crimes play into it to a degree, but it was largely the investigation into her fraudulent scams as an attorney that caused it,” he said.

  “The end result is that I don’t have a valid separation agreement anymore, and Nick sent a letter to my ex. Explaining that and introduced himself as my attorney.”

  At that, Mack whistled.

  “And told me that I’m not allowed to talk to him without my lawyer present,” she muttered, as she pushed the hair from her face. “And, in order for me to have a lawyer present, I figured I had to have one. Legitimately, you know?”

  “He told me that he charged you one dollar to retain him for his services.”

  “Is that how much he got?” It’s not like she’d counted the change she’d handed over. “Yeah, well, did he tell you the part about tricking me into it? I thought he needed change for parking or something.”

  Laughing, Mack said, “No, he didn’t mention that part.”

  “Yeah, I thought he lived in the Lower Mainland though,” she said. “What good will that do if Mathew is around here?”

  “Lawyers can work with clients all over the world. I wouldn’t mind if my brother moved back home again,” he said. “But he does very well down there.”

  “He could do very well if he went into big business,” she said. “The kind of work he does won’t pay his rent. A one-dollar retainer, really?”

  Mack burst out laughing. “He’s just trying to help you out. I told you before that he does a certain amount of pro bono work every year.”

  “Is that to salve his conscience for triple charging other clients?”

  “No, I just think he knows that some people aren’t getting a fair shake, and he wanted to help out.”

  “It’s appreciated,” she admitted. “I’m hoping that Mathew ignores me. Especially after getting Nick’s letter.”

  “I hope so, but I doubt it. Which is another reason I’m calling.”

  “Why is that?”

  “After I spoke to Nick, I checked the airlines.”

  With her heart sinking, she said, “And?”

  “He’s coming in on the noon flight. So be warned.” And, with that, Mack hung up.

  Swearing gently to herself, she headed into the shower, turned on the hot water and stepped under it. By the time she was dressed and downstairs, she was craving coffee, just a few minutes away, and the animals all needed food too, plus access to the backyard. She propped open the back door for them.

  To think that Mathew was on his way back here—and undoubtedly angry—meant that she would see him today. She should have asked Mack if he’d contacted Nick with the news. She sent him a quick text, as she waited for the grinder to stop. By the time the coffee w
as dripping, he’d answered in the affirmative.

  “That’s good at least,” she said. Determined to have something to think about that wasn’t related to her ex, to her former divorce lawyer, or to Mack’s brother, she grabbed the Bob Small stuff, sorting out the cases by year. She couldn’t even be sure that this was all the cases which could be related to Bob Small. When she had them all laid out, she had over fifty clippings, but some of the articles covered the same missing person’s incident, so were duplicates in a sense.

  Trying to get her head wrapped around what she had organized, she typed a summary by date on her laptop and sorted the scans she’d previously done to go with it. It took all morning, but it was a great way of keeping her occupied, so she didn’t worry about the noon flight.

  She knew as soon as Mathew landed because he was now calling her. Completely forgetting the warnings, she answered the call. “Hello, Mathew,” she said cheerfully, as she opened the fridge to find anything to eat. The hot dogs from the day before were rumbling through her stomach as a distant but happy memory, and she wanted more.

  “I’m fine,” he said, his tone brisk. “But I gather we have a lawyer issue.”

  “Not sure about a lawyer issue,” she said. “My former lawyer screwed me over and took over my bed in your house,” she said, “and now she is dead.”

  “Yes, and of course now the agreement between us is null and void.”

  “That figures,” she said nonchalantly. “It always was, wasn’t it? She was defrauding me back then too.”

  “We’ll do something about it, I guess. I brought a copy for you to sign again,” he said.

  At that, she stiffened. “The same document?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I’m just about out of the airport. I’ve got a rental,” he said. Such disdain was in his voice, as he added, “It’s just a car.”

  “Ah, not one of your luxury models, huh?” she said. “I can’t sign it right now anyway.”

  “Why not? You signed it before. You can sign it again.”

  “Is it that simple?” she asked. “I mean, my former lawyer screwed me over with that document, so obviously I’ll need my new lawyer to take a look this time.”

  “You can’t afford a lawyer, can you?” he said, this time his tone overridden by mockery.

  She stiffened at the insult, as she stared out the window. “I do have a lawyer this time,” she said. “Of course I had one before, for all the good that did me.”

  “Lawyers are thieves,” he said. “Robin should have proven that to you.”

  “Maybe so,” she muttered, “but, at the same time, this one is quite different.”

  “I doubt it,” he said, “they’re after one thing, and that’s money.”

  “I haven’t had too much experience with lawyers, but the last one was after more than just money,” she muttered.

  “Exactly,” he said. “Robin screwed us both over, so let’s not involve any lawyers this time,” he said, his tone turning persuasive.

  “But Robin didn’t screw you out of anything, did she?” Doreen asked in confusion. “Or is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “She stole some information from me,” he said, “and that I find unforgivable.”

  “Ah,” she said, “well, she did appear to be one who took advantage of situations.”

  “You’re not kidding,” he said. “Something was definitely wrong with that woman.”

  “Since she is dead now, let’s not speak unkindly of the dead.”

  “I’ll speak unkindly of anybody I want,” he said. “Just because she got herself killed doesn’t make her an angel. That woman was a capital B.”

  “I’m not arguing there,” she said. “But my new lawyer has made it very clear that I’m not signing anything. In fact, I’m not supposed to even talk to you without him here. So …” And she let her voice trail off. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I really don’t want to deal with any more just now,” she said. “I’ve had a headache all morning.”

  “All the more reason to get this solved another way,” he said briskly. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” And, with that, he hung up the phone.

  She stared at her phone and groaned. “Now what am I supposed to do?” she muttered. She quickly sent Mack a text. Mathew will be here in twenty minutes.

  Instead of responding, he called her. “You’re not allowed to see him.”

  “What do you want me to do?” she cried out. “He already called me. He’s bringing the exact same document and expects me to sign it.”

  “Nonsense,” he said. “I’m calling Nick.”

  “What good will that do?” she wailed, but Mack was already gone. And, of course, nobody responded again. She groaned and put on more coffee, as if she needed more. But some things just called for coffee. It was either that or open up a bottle of wine and start guzzling. And that wasn’t a habit she wanted to get into, no matter how tempting it might be.

  She kept walking back and forth between the front and back doors, staring all the while. Mugs was pacing along with her, and so was Goliath. Thaddeus, on the other hand, was perched on his roost in the living room and completely ignoring her, snoozing. She had both front and back doors locked because she had that sneaking sense that Mathew would enter without knocking, and that was the last thing she wanted.

  On the other hand, he was the kind who would sneak in somehow, and she wouldn’t even see it coming. Then he’d act like it was totally normal. She had no idea how she was supposed to get out of this, and she didn’t think telling him that the lawyer said she couldn’t sign anything would be good enough to get rid of him. Would he go so far as to hurt her? That she didn’t know. And it’s not what she wanted to think about, but it was all too possible that he would do it now, if she put up any kind of argument.

  Almost simultaneously she watched three vehicles fly up the cul-de-sac and park. Mack got here first, and he pulled into the driveway. Her ex and his little rental car pulled around and parked out front. Finally Nick parked curbside.

  Hopping out, Mathew took one look at Mack and glared. “What are you doing here?”

  “What are you doing here?” Mack asked, as if he didn’t know.

  “I came to see my wife,” Mathew said stiffly.

  “Look at that,” Mack said, a big grin on his face. “So did I.”

  “Oh dear,” Doreen said to herself. “This won’t be good. On the other hand, with Mack obviously quite capable of handling Mathew, it could be great fun.” She stepped out onto the front porch and glared at the two of them. Mathew looked at her and said, “Really? A cop?”

  She shrugged. “Really? Why not?” she said. “I mean, it’s not like you weren’t sleeping with my former divorce lawyer.”

  “I didn’t know that she was a criminal,” he growled.

  “Oh, please, that’s a lie,” she said. “Tell me another one.” She waved him away with her hand, as she watched Nick get out of the third vehicle.

  “And who is this?” Mathew asked, as he turned to look at Nick.

  “My new attorney,” she said. “I told you that I won’t sign anything without him reviewing the document first.”

  Mathew stiffened. “I flew all the way up here,” he said, “so we could do this without the lawyers.”

  “Well then, you should have spoken to me before you did that,” she said, trying for a commonsense easygoing attitude. But that had never worked before, so it was unlikely to work now.

  He shook his head. “If you’ll be difficult,” he said, “I’m not leaving the document.”

  “That’s fine,” Nick said. “We’ll write up a document for you to sign then.”

  “What kind of document?” he asked stiffly, looking at Nick suspiciously.

  Nick pulled a business card from his wallet, handed it over, and said, “If you don’t want to deal with your lawyer, that’s fine,” he said, “we can deal between the two of us.”

  “For what?”

>   “The divorce settlement of course,” Nick said, his eyes opening wide. “I mean, that is what you’re here about, isn’t it?”

  Her ex slowly nodded, but he was stiffening, and his body language showed that he wanted to be anywhere but here.

  “That’s what he said,” she called out from the front step.

  Mathew turned and looked at her and asked, “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?” she asked in innocence.

  “The document is null and void, so we just sign another, that’s all.” He raised the brown envelope in his hand. “This is the one that you need to sign again,” he said. “It’s simple. You just sign it, and we’re all good to go.”

  “If my lawyer at the time was a criminal, and she is the one who wrote that document,” she said, “why would I sign it again? Obviously we need a new one,” she said. “And, in order to get a new one, I had to get a new lawyer.”

  “No,” he said, “you didn’t have to get a new lawyer. As a matter of fact, we don’t need to get a new lawyer.”

  “We? Is that you and your whole team of lawyers?” she asked. “So you’re protected. It’s just me who isn’t.”

  “Of course you’re protected,” he said, with an eye roll and that genial look. “I’ve looked after you for all these years,” he said. “I won’t screw you around now.”

  “And yet there was that other document,” Nick said. “You know? The one where Robin screwed Doreen over?”

  “Yes, but,” Mathew said, raising a finger, “Doreen signed the paperwork, so I just assumed she had agreed to it.”

  “Doreen agreed to it because her lawyer told her to sign it, saying it was the best agreement Robin could get Doreen, and that you didn’t owe her anything,” Nick said, rocking back on his heels, with a delightful tone of voice.

  Doreen couldn’t even quite place the tenor of his voice, but just something about it fascinated her. She looked over at Mack to see him glaring at her. She opened her eyes wide, threw out her hands, and raised her voice. “What?”

  Mack just shook his head, then took several steps forward toward her.