Gun in the Gardenias Read online

  As she walked into the living room, she frowned. Though she had moved the four boxes of Solomon’s files out of here, still all the contents from the hall closet remained. She went to work sorting the multiple broom handles and brooms, then realized she should have gotten Mack’s help with that too. There were wet mops, dry mops, and brooms.

  With the big stuff handled, Doreen separated the cat food and the dog food, then contemplated where to put it all. No need for it to be in that closet, and it certainly didn’t need to be in her living room. She went back to the kitchen, opened a bunch of empty cupboards, and found a spot she thought would work perfectly. Mugs’s large bags of food went in the bottom, along with Goliath’s cat food, while Thaddeus’s birdseed went on the shelf above.

  And, with that nicely secured, she returned and started in on the stack of paperwork in the front closet. The animals sat beside her, watching her more curiously, more likely than not attracted by the lingering smell of food that was no longer sprawled beside her. Thaddeus made a cozy spot for himself on top of the stack of papers, which wasn’t helping, but Doreen scooched a large stack from underneath his feet. Recipes, recipes, recipes. She shook her head. “Nan, I didn’t think you cooked that much.”

  Also, household tips and tricks for being a good wife. Well, that could go in the garbage. She crumpled up some paper into a ball and sent it flying across the living room floor. Goliath went from zero to sixty as he raced to whack it around farther into the dining room. She laughed at his antics. But Thaddeus didn’t want to be left out. He eyed her, so she took another piece of useless paper, ripped it in half, made a smaller ball, and sent it flying for him.

  That started an hour of playing catch and watching the animals scatter across the room. It wasn’t helping her get any work done, but it certainly helped her mood.

  She made it through the first stack, which was all garbage as far as she was concerned, but she did take the time to make sure nothing was important. When the Christie’s people had been here, Doreen had found lots of valuable documents and then recipes too on the shelves in the pantry of her kitchen, so she wasn’t sure why more recipes were in the front closet too. All the recipes should have been together. That made no sense to her. But then nobody said Nan was thinking all that clearly these days.

  Chapter 15

  Saturday Noon …

  By the time Doreen had worked her way through half of the paperwork, she had to get another garbage bag to hold her growing mess. Maybe she could get Mack to take this crap with him, too, the next time he showed up here. It should be recycling though. She thought about it, then nodded. She still had quite a bit more to sort through though. So, determined to finally get to the bottom of it all, she grabbed another cup of coffee and sat down.

  Her gaze kept going back to the boxes from the hope chest as she wondered about the letters. She had to unpack the dishes too and send Scott photos because, while she didn’t know if it was financially or historically important, she did know these dishes meant a lot to somebody or had meant a lot to somebody. She still hadn’t contacted Nan about it. On that note, she picked up her phone.

  “There you are,” Nan said. “I was deliberately waiting until you were done at Millicent’s today before I called you.”

  “How did you know I didn’t go to Millicent’s yesterday?”

  Nan chuckled. “My grapevine is invaluable. Besides, you were bound and determined to get that house sorted, weren’t you?”

  “And I’m almost done,” Doreen said. “I’ve got a couple stacks of paperwork from the hall closet that you had stuffed in the back of the shelves, intermingled with lots of birdseed.”

  “Oh my,” Nan said. “I can’t even imagine what’s all in there. They’re likely nothing important.”

  “The first stack seems to have been recipes.”

  “You might as well ditch those. It’s not like you’re cooking.”

  “I’m getting better,” Doreen said. “Of course, I still need more cooking lessons.”

  “How is that going, by the way?” Nan’s tone was too casual to not be obvious.

  “Mack showed me how to cook parmesan-coated pork chops last night.”

  “Oh my,” Nan said in delight. “That sounds lovely.”

  “Plus, I had emptied your kitchen, and he helped me sort and get rid of about half of it. The last thing is this big pile from that front closet. Other than that, the entire house has been emptied out and scrubbed down top to bottom. It feels great.”

  Nan laughed. “Oh, I’m sad it’s over with though.”

  “Me too in a way,” Doreen said. “I’ve done almost all the clothing too. And I still have that bowl to sort through of all kinds of things stashed in the clothing.”

  “Like what?” Nan asked curiously.

  “Like those little balls, like marbles, which were also in the Ming vase, and coins, bells, little bits of notepaper, some business cards—it was a mix.”

  “Ah, memories,” Nan said. “Take your time going through some of that stuff. I can’t remember all that might be in there, but there could be something valuable.”

  “Speaking of which, I found a pair of earrings. I put them in the bowl, but I need to take another look at them.”

  “Earrings …” Nan’s voice turned thoughtful as she asked, “Do you remember what they look like?”

  “Diamonds, I think, in a little heart shape, with a hanging teardrop.”

  Nan gasped. “Oh! I’ve been looking for those forever! Where were they?”

  “In one of the twelve coats in the front closet,” Doreen said. “I think I kept five of them, and I’ve got seven to go to Wendy.” She frowned and realized those were still in the garage, but now her car was full of donations for the thrift store. “I completely forgot. I’ve got all those to drop off yet too.”

  “Lovely, lovely memories. Those are real diamonds, so make sure you take care of those earrings. They were a gift from an admirer.”

  Doreen rolled her eyes. “Nan, it sounds like you did very well off your admirers.”

  “It’s not my fault if they were part of an era where men gave women gifts just because they were happy to be with them.”

  That stopped Doreen cold in her tracks. “That’s a lovely way to put it,” she said. “Too bad my husband didn’t feel that way about me.”

  “Your husband was a drip,” Nan said. “And that’s about as nice as I can put it.”

  “I found something else though,” Doreen said, thinking of the six hope chest boxes. “Remember how I told you about the trapdoor hatch thing I found? Inside the hall closet, in the attic, but underneath the stairs?”

  With silence on the other end, Doreen could almost hear Nan’s mind working as she sorted that out. “I’m not sure I do remember, at least I don’t think I’ve ever seen it,” Nan said thoughtfully. “In fact, I’m having trouble picturing it.”

  “That cubbyhole isn’t actually in the attic because, of course, the second floor is above it. And it’s not a big space, more of an alcove under the stairs. I don’t really know how to explain it. You’d have to see it,” Doreen said, studying the closet from where she sat. “But in that small space above it, I found six boxes.”

  “Oh, how lovely,” Nan said. “I do love a good mystery.”

  “I do too,” Doreen said with a chuckle. “The contents of all these boxes appear to be like the contents of a hope chest.”

  There was silence again. “A hope chest?” Nan asked, puzzled.

  “Yes, several boxes are full of china. There are linens and nighties that look to be hand-stitched. They were very white and very virginal, so I presume they were for this woman’s marriage. The last box is full of letters and paperwork that I haven’t had a chance to get into yet, but the newspapers inside were dated in the 1800s.”

  Nan gasped, and then she cried with joy. “Oh, such fun. I mean, sad in a way because we’ll never find the person who it all belonged to because she’s no longer alive, but maybe some of
her descendants are.”

  “So, you don’t know anything about the boxes?” Doreen asked.

  “No, not at all. I’d love to find out more though.”

  “When I get time,” Doreen said, “I’ll sort through the letters in the box. But first off, I’m finishing sorting through all the stuff in that closet, and then I’m scanning in the rest of all those files I got from Solomon’s great-nephew.”

  “Right,” Nan said. “That’s very wise. We don’t want to take a chance of anything happening to those files.”

  “No, we don’t,” Doreen said. “Do you know much about Steve?”

  “Penny’s friend Steve? That slimy lawyer guy?”

  “I didn’t realize you thought he was slimy but, yeah. I think we’re talking about the same one.”

  “I don’t know too much about him,” Nan said eerily. “I like to deal with nice people.”

  Doreen laughed out loud. “How do you know he’s not nice?”

  “He’s involved with that Penny person. You know she’s a murderer,” Nan scolded.

  At that, Doreen sat back with a heavy sigh. “Yes, Nan, I do understand that. I just wondered if you knew anything about Steve’s business dealings.”

  “Oh,” Nan said. Something crafty entered into her voice. “You’re hot on another case, aren’t you?”

  “No, not at all,” Doreen said hurriedly. “But Solomon has a file on him, and Steve tossed his gun in the gardenia patch six houses down.”

  “And he’s part of that biker gang, you know?” Nan added.

  “I heard that,” Doreen said. “I’m surprised you know that though.”

  “Everybody thinks I don’t know anything, but they’re wrong. I do hear lots. Besides, back then, Kelowna wasn’t very big. It’s certainly grown in the last twenty years though.”

  “But Mack said, just because Steve might have had something to do with the Devil Riders’ biker gang, doesn’t make Steve a criminal,” Doreen said parroting Mack’s words which already mirrored her words.

  “No, it doesn’t. But making payoffs to people to keep them quiet, that’s a different story.”

  Doreen straightened. “Do you happen to know anybody he did that for?”

  “The Helmsmans, when their house burned down,” Nan announced. “He gave Annette a payout. Although it wasn’t much I don’t think.”

  “Why did their house burn down, and why did he give her a payout?”

  “I don’t know. She’s not talking. Because, when you take the gang’s money, it’s in exchange for silence.”

  Doreen winced. “Are you sure he wasn’t just a lawyer for the insurance company?”

  “Well, you see, that was the thing about the fire. There was no insurance on the property,” Nan said. “They couldn’t afford any. So that payout made all the difference in her life. Particularly as it was arson,” Nan said. And then her voice changed, and she called out to somebody, “I’m coming. I’m coming! I’ve got to go, dear. I’m sure you’ll have fun with those files. Keep me posted on that hope chest.”

  Chapter 16

  Saturday Early Afternoon …

  “Helmsman house fire.” Doreen quickly wrote down the little bits of notes she got from that conversation. Sometimes, with Nan, you had to grab the tidbits when they popped out. Otherwise, they’d be gone forever. Doreen might not be any better herself, as she was so scattered with so much going on too, sometimes. She had a hard time keeping track herself.

  With the information on a notepad, she shifted, trying to scan the last box. She was grateful when it was all done because she still had to open all the PDFs and save them as the name of the related files. But as long as she had them scanned, they were preserved, and she could send a digital copy to Mack. She considered sending herself a copy of all the PDFs and thought maybe she should get a second email address just for secrecy.

  It wasn’t lost on her that she talked and thought like danger was around her. Probably for the best with her involvement in cold cases, usually involving murders.

  But why would Steve pay out for a house fire? That was the thought that wouldn’t let her go. Unable to stop herself, she got up, snatched her laptop, then sat down, and typed in “Helmsman arson house fire.” Nothing came up. She sighed and realized the name Helmsman could be spelled a few ways so tried several different variations. But it still resulted in nothing. She knew she would have to send Mack a message, but, as soon as she did, he would know she was working Steve’s case too, and then she would be in trouble again. It seemed like all she ever got into was trouble. Still, it would bug her until she knew more.

  For her own sanity, she sent Mack a message, mentioning the Helmsman fire and arson, and left it at that.

  Back in the living room, she dropped down again and went through more loose sheets of paper. And then she stopped cold because right in front of her were newspaper clippings. They were not related to anything that she knew about, but the top one read Murdered. Whistling softly, she made sure the papers she had just sorted had nothing to do with this and then carefully moved all the newspaper clippings off to one side.

  And that was when she found all the rest—a good six inches of paperwork and newspaper clippings. It didn’t mean they were all from the same case, but all these articles and documents would have to be looked through. Not having a clue what to do with it all, she sorted through them and made sure everything she had put aside to throw away so far was really garbage.

  Then she got up and put the papers to discard into the recycling bin, so she couldn’t mix up the stuff to keep with the stuff to toss. The recycling went out every second week, and it was due to go out this week, so that was perfect.

  She came back inside and sat beside her stack of newspaper clippings, wondering what she could do to keep it all together because scanning these would likely be done manually, one by one. She went back to the garage, looking for a box or a bin or something for storage, and found one of the plastic bins she had planned to take to the thrift store. She pulled it out of the car, headed to the living room, and loaded all the newspaper clippings into it to keep them intact.

  Then she walked back to the scanner and stood there until the contents from Solomon’s fourth box was done. When she finally finished the last one, she closed the boxes and deliberately grabbed an old blanket and put it over the top of them, effectively hiding the fact they were file boxes. It probably wouldn’t make any difference, but, as soon as she stacked other stuff on top of it, it would help it all to blend in. On that note, she grabbed a couple recipe books and tossed them on the top. She wanted it to look casual. Then she thought she’d ask Mack to store them in the secret area above the front hall closet the next time he was here.

  In the meantime, she’d keep the physical files here, in case she had any questions about labeling one of the PDFs. Then she might move all four of these inside the hall closet, awaiting Mack to move them up into the attic.

  Now in the living room, that left her with the six boxes from the hope chest and a plastic bin full of newspaper clippings. “Oh, Nan,” she said. “What a crazy web we weave.”

  But then she stared at her wonderfully cleaned-up house and smiled. “Thank you very much, my dear,” she whispered to the empty room. “You have given me a gift I have yet to fully reap, but I know it’s immense. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Then she snatched the box of letters, along with her bin of newspaper clippings, carried them to the kitchen, and put them on top of the case files.

  She sat down with a cup of tea to relax a bit before starting this last scanning session. It would take much longer, since she was dealing with cut-out newspaper articles and would have to place each by hand on the machine. But she knew she would feel so much better getting this all scanned in. After she was done, instead of renaming each doc, she just copied all these individual PDFs into one folder and named it Newspaper Clippings found at Nan’s House.

  She couldn’t wait to get into those too, but she was definitely tired. Time
to go to bed.

  Chapter 17

  Sunday Morning …

  Doreen woke up Sunday morning with a sense of satisfaction and well-being that she hadn’t really had since she’d arrived. She looked around at her bedroom, clean, spartan, and somewhat organized. She could use a dresser and maybe a few other little things on the walls to help brighten up and personalize her bedroom, but, for now, she was good with this, even with her mattress and box spring still on the floor. She was also thinking of getting rid of the old bed in the spare room. Cheerfully she got up and had a quick shower and then headed downstairs for her coffee.

  Thaddeus hopped onto her shoulder from his perch as she walked past him in her bedroom, startling her. She reached up and murmured, “Good morning, big guy.”

  He rubbed against her head and said, “Good morning. Good morning.”

  She smiled in delight. “You’re getting to be quite the talker, aren’t you?”

  “Thaddeus talker,” he said, nodding his head. “Thaddeus talker.”

  She wasn’t sure if she was teaching him stuff or if he was remembering his earlier education, but, either way, it was wonderful. Mugs raced down the stairs beside her. She found Goliath lying on the very bottom step, refusing to move. So hanging on to the railing, Doreen lightly hopped over him and said, “Nice try, Goliath. Tripping me up won’t get your food any faster.”

  She put on the coffee before feeding the animals. Then, as that was done, she unlocked the back door and propped it open so she could see outside to the beautiful summerlike morning.

  “It’ll be a gorgeous day,” she called out cheerfully.

  The animals raced eagerly at her side as she headed to the creek with her first cup of java of the day. Even Thaddeus hopped from foot to foot beside her in excitement.