Nabbed in the Nasturtiums Page 4

  Mathew asked, “What’s the matter? Are they hurting you?”

  “Of course they’re not hurting me,” she said, staring at Mathew in confusion. “Does it look like he’s hurting me?”

  “You yelled at him.”

  “I yell at him all the time,” she said, with a shoulder shrug. “It makes no difference.”

  Chapter 4

  Mack burst out laughing. Even Nick laughed like a crazy man.

  Mathew looked at her in surprise. “You never yell.”

  “I wasn’t allowed to yell,” she said. “You made very sure of that.”

  “It’s not like that’s a bad thing,” he said. “In our world, yelling is hardly a sign of control.”

  “But you know something?” she said. “It’s awfully freeing.”

  He shook his head and said, “I don’t even understand you anymore.”

  Nick said, “May I have the agreement? I’ll go over it, and then we’ll do up a counteragreement.”

  With Nick standing there, his hand held out, and Mathew holding the envelope, looking stupid, he had no choice but to slowly hand it over. “Fine. But she signed this once, so there’s no reason she can’t sign it again.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” Nick said. Then he looked over at Doreen. “Mack is taking you out for lunch, isn’t he?”

  Her eyebrows raised, but she managed to keep a straight face as she nodded. “I think that was the plan, yes.” She glanced at Mack, who was glaring at his brother in outrage, while she just grinned. “Unless you have something better to do.”

  Immediately Mack shook his head. “No, I don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “Are we going with the animals or without?”

  “It depends if we’re doing takeout and hitting the beach,” she said, with a big smile, “or if you’re planning on taking me to a fancy restaurant.”

  “Why would you take those animals anywhere?” Mathew said in disgust. “I mean, the dog maybe, but not in a restaurant. Not anywhere except in the house. He has become an undisciplined mutt.”

  “I think he was always undisciplined,” she said, “but you weren’t around him enough to ever know.”

  “Good,” he said. “At least you knew enough to keep him out of my sight most of the time.” With that, he shook his head and said, “Well, here I was planning on taking you out for lunch.”

  “Sorry,” she said, “if you would have called earlier, then I could have told you.”

  “I see how it is. So much for us getting back together again.”

  “Considering you were only looking to see if I had the information Robin stole from you,” she said, “I didn’t take that talk very seriously. Not that it interested me in the slightest. Did you ever contact the cops about Robin stealing from you?” Then there were the USB sticks Mack had yet to update her on. She needed to quiz him on that. “I’m sure Mack here could help you out with that.”

  “Nope,” Mathew said, walking around his car. “That hick-town cop is the last person I want to talk to.”

  “I have great connections down in Vancouver, if you want them,” Mack said, studying him. “If Robin did you wrong, it’s a good time for it all to come out in the open. They’re doing quite an investigation into all her criminal activities as it is.”

  “Why do they even care?” Mathew asked, staring at him in horror over the roof of the car. “She’s dead.”

  “She defrauded a lot of people,” he said. “And she helped murder her ex-husband’s parents.”

  Mathew shuddered. “I didn’t know anything about that,” he said. “My God, I’m lucky to be alive.”

  “In many ways, yes,” Mack said. “We don’t know how many other people she may have been involved with. But we have her ex-husband in custody now, so the investigation is widening.”

  “You stay out of my business,” Mathew told Mack. “I might have been done wrong by her, but I’m sure as heck not going after a dead person.”

  “Maybe not,” Mack said, “but her estate needs to be cleaned up.”

  Doreen’s husband stilled, looked at Mack, and asked, “Do we know who inherits everything?”

  Mack immediately shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t talked to whoever is handling her estate.”

  Mathew nodded slowly. “I would think that would be her ex-husband.”

  “But he’s in jail, so that’s not likely.”

  “She had a colleague. I think her name was Lisa,” Mathew muttered, half under his breath.

  “I’ll call and see who is handling that. Do you know her last name?” Mack asked, pulling out a notebook.

  “Lisa Phellpis,” he said and even spelled it out.

  Mack looked at that name, with a frown. “She was at the same law firm?”

  “Yep. Stratford and Sons.”

  “Both women, both attorneys,” Doreen said, with a sarcastic tone.

  At that, her soon-to-be-ex-husband looked at her. “Men rule the world. Remember that. I’ve certainly told you often enough.”

  “No argument there,” she said, “but apparently Robin was determined to get a chunk for herself.”

  Not for the first time, Doreen felt a twinge of sadness for Robin and for the life she’d led, wondering why she had such a need to cheat, lie, and steal in order to get what she wanted in life. “There are other ways to get through in life, without targeting others.”

  “Whatever,” Mathew said. “I’ll talk to Lisa when I get to the airport, see what I can find out.”

  “What difference does it make to you?” she asked him curiously. “The two of you broke up months ago. You said so yourself.”

  He glanced at her, with a one-armed shrug. “Yeah, but you never know,” he muttered. “She might have been sweet on me enough to have changed her will in my favor.”

  “She was still in cahoots with her ex-husband,” she said, staring at Mathew. “Why would you think that a short-term affair with you would cause her to do something like that? Besides, I thought she was sleeping with Rex. Maybe she left everything to him.”

  Hearing that, her husband hopped back out of the vehicle and glared at her over the roof. “What did you just say?”

  And she realized she shouldn’t have opened her mouth. “How do you know she didn’t have a relationship with somebody else in your world?” she asked curiously. “I mean, that was the name of the game for Robin.”

  “And I told you before that there’s nobody else! She wouldn’t dare.”

  “Okay,” she said, “you knew her far better than I did.”

  He nodded. “You’re damn right I did.” And he hopped back into his rented vehicle and took off.

  She looked over at Mack, wincing. “I’m so sorry. I should never have mentioned Rex to him.”

  “Well,” he said, staring, as Mathew’s vehicle took off, “you are a gal who likes to shake the tiger’s tail.”

  Nick walked closer and said, “But that tiger might just bite.”

  “Oh, he definitely bites,” she said softly. “I felt the sting of his teeth more than once.”

  “Did he ever hurt you physically?” Mack asked.

  “A few times,” she said, her hand going up to her cheek in remembrance. “I admit to feeling fairly vulnerable after that.”

  “It’s all a pattern of power and abuse,” he said. “They do whatever they have to do that keeps you in line and that ensures you don’t argue with them. At some point in time, telling you off, keeping you locked up, or taking away your favorite things aren’t enough, and it becomes physical.”

  “I was a fast learner,” she said. “Too fast apparently because I fell in line without any argument.”

  “But you were also trained to do that,” he said, “from the very beginning of your marriage, I presume, so don’t worry about it. Besides, like he said, you never used to yell. And now you yell all the time.”

  “Only at you,” she said, glaring at Mack. “And usually only because you won’t let me help or l
et me get involved in your cases.”

  Nick started to laugh. “I really enjoy seeing the two of you together,” he said. “It makes my heart smile.” And, with that, he lifted a hand and said, “I’ll get back to you about these documents.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Please don’t think badly of me, when you see what I signed.”

  He looked at her, his voice gentle, and said, “Don’t worry. I’ve seen a lot in my life. Including victims.” He smiled and opened his car door and jumped in.

  She shoved her hands into her pockets and rocked on her heels, as she watched Nick drive away. Then she looked back at Mack. “You don’t have to take me out for lunch. I know he put you on the spot.”

  Mack shook his head and said, “It brings up a good point.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I have yet to take you out for a meal.”

  “So what?” she said. “You’ve fed me countless times here at home. Besides, I kind of like eating here.”

  “I liked your idea of picking up something and going to the beach with the animals,” he said. “How about it?”

  She looked at him in delight. “Really?”

  “Absolutely,” he said, “but only if we call it something different.”

  “What do we call it then?” she asked in confusion.

  He looked at her and said, “A date.”

  Chapter 5

  Mack’s words kept going over and over in her head, as they drove in Mack’s truck to a special little restaurant that Doreen had never heard of before.

  “They do all kinds of stuff here, but they cater more to the commercial district,” he said. “It’s called Street Food, and I’ve already ordered ahead. We’ll pick it up, and then we’ll find a nice little spot on the river, where we can sit there and enjoy it.”

  “Suits me,” she said.

  They drove into this tiny parking lot out in front of a very small building, and he disappeared inside and came back out with two large bags of food. He plunked them on her lap, and Mugs immediately hopped up, his paws on her knees, sniffing the bags.

  “Better keep the animals out of those bags,” Mack warned, “or I’ll turn around and take them back home.”

  She stared at the bags and said, “Honestly, Mack. How many meals did you buy?”

  He laughed. “Just enough for lunch.”

  “It looks like at least enough for lunch and dinner,” she said, and her stomach growled.

  He looked over at her. “Did you eat breakfast?”

  She shook her head. “No, you kind of upset me with the news that Mathew was on his way,” she said. “I’ve only had coffee this morning.”

  He sighed. “Sorry. I wanted to warn you and to give you some time before he showed up. But I didn’t mean to upset you that much.” He took a turn and pulled out onto one of the main roads, crossed the highway, and headed toward the river.

  “Where are we going?”

  “If you go up this way,” he said, “we follow the river for a bit. Quite a few pullouts are here, where we can find a spot along the river to eat. Mugs won’t have to be on a leash, and Goliath can sit there and enjoy it with us.”

  Sure enough, Mack came to a small pullout, and he pulled in, turned off the engine, and said, “Get ready to hop out on that side.”

  He came around, opened the door, took the bags from her, and she awkwardly got out with all the animals. And then he said, “Now we’ll head down here to the corner. It’s really a popular area in the summertime, with people swimming here, but some spots off to the side are really very nice and are quite private.”

  He led her through some of the underbrush—disturbing the birds, groundhogs, and squirrels alike—and then came out to a spot where the sun dappled onto the river, making her cry out in joy.

  “This is beautiful,” she said, looking up at the cliff on the other side of the river. “I’ve never been here before.”

  “Good,” he said. “Like I said, it’s a popular swimming hole and can get kind of crazy here. But right now, it’s nice and quiet.” He motioned to a couple logs off on the side. “We don’t have picnic blankets, but we could sit on some logs here.” She immediately walked over, plunked her butt down, Mugs at her heels, then unhooked him from his leash and said, “Go for it.”

  Once Mugs was free, he wandered over to the creek, and, where it was shallow, he waded around in just enough water to cover his big clunky paws, to have a drink, and to wander back and forth in curiosity, while Goliath hopped up on one of the big rocks beside them and stretched out in the sun. Thaddeus, never to be outdone, walked from her shoulder to the closest branch right there beside her, then followed it until it dropped to the ground, where he casually hopped off. The branch swung right back up, barely missing her.

  Mack shook his head. “Having the animals around is always such an adventure.”

  She grinned. “But it’s a great one.” She looked at the bags. “So, while we sort out the food,” she said, “you can tell me more about Nabbed in the Nasturtiums.”

  “No, ma’am. No talk about cases. Lunch and enjoying the scenery, that’s it.”

  “That’s hardly fair. All I wanted to know was—”

  Mack gave her a look, which told her that he was completely serious. “This is a date. Remember? No cases, no discussion.”

  She glared at him. “Then when?”

  “Coffee at your place, when we head back,” he said, with a fat grin. “Now, no more shop.” He gently stroked her uninjured shoulder. “We’re here to enjoy ourselves. Let’s focus on that instead.” He gazed at her steadily, looking for some agreement.

  It’s not what she wanted, but this time with him was special. The rest could wait.

  At least for a little while.

  Chapter 6

  A little while turned out to be hours later, as Doreen was outside, enjoying a cup of coffee on the deck, and Mack joined her.

  “That was wonderful today,” she said. “Thank you.” She waited a bit. “So tell me about Nabbed in the Nasturtiums.”

  He looked at her with a shake of his head, then a weary resignation crossed his face. “Kidnapped is not the same as nabbed.”

  “I guess it depends,” she said.

  “Depends on what?” he asked in exasperation.

  She looked up, grinned, and said, “Depends on who nabbed him.” She watched his reaction, but he just sighed loudly.

  “That doesn’t work.”

  “Sure, it does,” she said. “If he was trying to evade somebody, and he got Nabbed in the Nasturtiums, it means he got caught there.”

  “Sure, but why kidnap him?”

  “There could be lots of reasons,” she said, waving a hand eerily about. “What if he was being blackmailed? What if he had kidnapped somebody else? What if he owed someone money? What if—” She shrugged. “You get my drift.”

  “Sure,” he said, “but how likely is that?”

  “In our world,” she said, “after the things that I’ve seen in the last few months? Very likely.”

  His frown deepened, and then he shrugged. “Okay, I’ll give you that. We have seen some pretty crazy things in these last few months.”

  “Beyond pretty crazy,” she said, with a nod. “There have been some really seriously problematic areas of society.”

  “But everybody had a reason,” he reminded her, with a grin.

  “And that’s what I’m saying,” she said. “Everybody has a reason. We just don’t know what the reason is, and, until we do, I like Nabbed in the Nasturtiums.”

  “The name of the case is hardly worth arguing about,” he said in exasperation. “That’s the least of our problems.”

  “Least of your problems,” she said, with a bright cheerful smile. “Me, I’m not even allowed on the case.”

  “Right,” he agreed, “exactly. So why are we arguing about this?” He glared at her, and she just gave him an impudent smile right back. He shook his head again. “You make me crazy. You know that, right?�
��

  “No, you make me crazy,” she said.

  “So we can agree that we’re going crazy together,” he said, with a sneaky grin. “It’s just that yours is more visible than mine.”

  She gasped at that. “That’s not fair.”

  He gave her a smug look. “Crazy is as crazy does.”

  She stared at him. “What does that even mean?”

  He frowned. “I’m not exactly sure,” he said, “but it sounds good.”

  “Only because it’s a jab at me,” she said. “Now tell me about the case.”

  “I can’t tell you about the case,” he said. “You’re not a cop. Remember?”

  “I’m helping you. Remember?”

  “It’s my case. Remember that? And you’re not allowed to help me.” This time his tone deepened in a way that said he was done arguing.

  She groaned and said, “Fine. I’ll just dig into all these Bob Small cases. I did get a start, but, man, that’s a lot of cases.”

  “We don’t have any proof of what he’s been involved in.”

  “No, I get that. But one of Nan’s friends had a niece who went missing, and she was pretty sure Bob Small did it.”

  “And?” he said.

  “She ended up dying, without getting justice for her niece.”

  “So you can’t help her,” he said. “As sad as it is, sometimes that happens. We can’t help everyone.”

  “I know,” she said, “but now I’m stuck on it.”

  “That was Annalise, Annalise Bergmont, if I remember correctly. She was supposed to come home from a dance class or something, wasn’t she?”

  “Yeah,” Doreen said. “She was supposed to be on her way home from ballet class but didn’t make it.”

  “See? Something so open-ended like that?” Mack added, “It could have been anybody.”

  “True, so maybe I need to solve it from that point of view, not even try to pigeonhole it into one of the possible Bob Small cases, just to see exactly what did happen.”

  “And how will you do that?” he asked. “It was down in the Lower Mainland.”