by Dale Mayer
“Better watch it,” she said. “I might get ideas if you sit on that.”
He squawked again, then flapped his wings, and hopped off. She chuckled and came back with another load of baking dishes of all shapes and sizes. She’d love to learn how to bake, but, at the moment, all cooking was just this big mystery. Plus, some of these pans looked like they had big holes in them. She didn’t understand what they were for. They didn’t look like muffins or doughnuts. It said “cake pops” on the side. She shook her head, not knowing what that was or why Nan would care. By the time Doreen was done moving everything, once again her living room was full of stuff. She groaned. “Nan, this is ridiculous! You collected way too much stuff. Especially considering you hardly ever cooked.”
But, with that done, she scrubbed all the cupboards both inside and outside, the countertops, and the windows. The fridge itself was mostly empty, but she gave it a good scrub too. The only item she didn’t scrub was the stove, as it was brand new. So she had the floor and the window by the table to clean next.
When she was done, she stood here, mop still in hand, and smiled at her critters. “Ta-da,” she said. “I’m done!”
She went to put away her cleaning supplies, remembering she still had the rest of that front hall closet to do. She looked back at the living room and all the canned food and dishes she had to sort through and shrugged. Better to get it all out now. Whether she sorted the contents right away or not, at least she would have everything finally emptied out of all the rooms and all the closets and all the cupboards. Thankfully she had already done the pantry when Scott was last here.
It took an incredible number of trips to empty the hall closet and set it all on the living room floor. She separated this pile to one side. That closet was deep. She knew Nan had warned her, but holy crap.
An ancient vacuum cleaner was in the back. When she pulled it out, she found another sad-looking vacuum behind it. This one was a ball-like thing with lots of hoses attached. It looked like something out of a science fiction movie. Finally, the closet was empty. Yet, as she looked at the shelves, she groaned. It looked like they were all stained. She went back to the kitchen and grabbed what she needed, then started scrubbing. When she got up on a step stool to reach the top shelf, she found another attic doorway too. She’d already been up in the attic through the spare bedroom, so she had no clue where this led to. She looked closer and realized it led under the stairs.
Frowning, she opened it by sliding the wood hatch to the side. It was awkward because it was above the top shelf in this closet. As she tried to get up higher on the step stool, she realized the shelves came out.
“Doreen, you’re an idiot,” she announced to anyone who cared to listen. Then she stepped back to the floor and removed the shelves completely, putting them in the kitchen so she could wipe them later, and moved the step stool inside the closet and grabbed her phone with its flashlight app to check what was up above. She found boxes. Boxes and boxes of boxes. She stared in dismay, wondering what the devil could possibly be in them. Then, as if understanding what she was up to, her phone rang. She switched it out of Flashlight mode to answer the call. “Good morning, Nan,” she said.
“Oh, my dear,” Nan said. “It’s almost noon.”
Doreen groaned. “I know, but I decided I would finish this job once and for all.”
“What job?” Nan asked in a perky tone. “Did you get another job? That’s wonderful to hear.”
“No,” Doreen said. “I’m cleaning everything inside the house. I just emptied all the cupboards and cleaned them along with the counters in the kitchen. I’m doing the last part of the house now, which is the hall closet. I’ve got it completely emptied out, and I was cleaning it when I found this little trapdoor hatch above it.”
“Is there?” Nan asked with curiosity. “What’s up there?”
Doreen stared down at the phone. “Nan, I think I’m supposed to ask you that question.”
“I don’t know,” Nan said in a testy voice. “It’s almost as if you expect me to remember everything I did in that house over the last forty-odd years.”
“Sorry. I might be a little tired.”
“Time for another pot of coffee,” Nan announced. “Really, you should take better care of yourself, dear.”
“I’m trying. That’s why I’m doing this. So I can get everything cleaned up and feel good about it.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Nan said. “But I think you should leave everything and come here for lunch.”
“Lunch?” Doreen asked hopefully. “Why lunch?”
“Because we took a trip to the German bakery and delicatessen this morning. You know the one off Capri and Sutherland?”
“Sure, I know that one. But I’ve never been in it. I assumed it was expensive.”
“Of course, it’s expensive.” Nan laughed. Her voice was more of a trill than anything this morning. “But they have lovely stuff anyway. I picked up some really good rustic bread and bought meat and cheeses. I’m about to make a salad and some sandwiches. I want you to come and share the feast with me.”
“I’d love to,” Doreen said, casting a glance at the living room.
“No buts,” Nan stepped in. “You can continue with all that when you get back.”
“You’re right.” And then her stomach growled.
Nan laughed, apparently hearing the sound. “It sounds like you need to come soon. That stomach of yours is empty.”
“I’ll be there in a little bit,” Doreen said. She hung up and studied the boxes in the attic again, but she couldn’t even begin to reach them. She’d need a ladder. Or someone tall. And, of course, on that note, she thought of Mack, who was coming tonight for pork chops. She clambered off the stepstool, surveyed everything she had done up until now and smirked with satisfaction. “I may not have gotten you all sorted yet, but I feel proud.”
For half of the kitchen stuff though, she might need Mack’s help to tell her if she should keep any of this. Who knew how old some of the kitchen items were and what she’d do with them? Then there were the canned goods. … She’d never heard of canned potatoes before. She walked back into the kitchen, washed up, and then ran upstairs to the bedroom to switch out of her dirty clothes. She came back down to find the animals staring at her from the bottom of the stairs. She grinned. “You guys want to go to Nan’s?”
Mugs woofed and headed for the front door. She called them back. “Let’s go by the creek,” she said. “Come on.” But first, she checked to make sure the front door alarm was still set and locked the back door. Then she headed to the creek to visit with Nan. It was one of the best parts of living here.
Rekindling that relationship hadn’t seemed important before, but that was when she had lived differently. It went along with that empty and hollow person she had been who didn’t know right from wrong apparently. If she understood one thing now, it was how wrong it was to have ignored Nan. And how absolutely right it is to have her as close and as loving as she is now.
Chapter 9
Friday Noon …
The animals knew the way to Nan’s home as well as Doreen did. And apparently, they were eager to head in that direction too, especially Goliath and Mugs. Doreen was hard-pressed to catch up, but so was Thaddeus. Finally, he flew ahead of the others, only to almost get overrun. She chuckled and bent down, offering him the back of her hand. He hopped on without hesitation.
“I know you want to walk with us, big guy,” she said, “but sometimes it’s just easier if you go with the flow.”
He crooned against her head gently, almost dumping himself sideways so he was lying down.
She smiled and cuddled him. “We’ll go see Nan, Thaddeus.”
“Thaddeus loves Nan,” he said on a croon. “Thaddeus loves Nan.”
Doreen laughed in delight. “I’ve never heard you say that before! I sure wish I could tape you when you talk like that.” Then she urged him, “You want to say it again?”
Bu
t, of course, Thaddeus gave no answer. As they came around the corner, Mugs and Goliath ran across the stepping stones to greet Nan, who was waiting for them. Doreen smiled as Nan crouched to cuddle both animals. By the time she arrived at Nan’s side, Nan was laughing and sitting on the flower box as she tried to give each equal attention.
“It doesn’t work, you know?” Doreen said with a chuckle. “No matter how much you give them, they’ll want more. And, as soon as you try to be fair, they’ll immediately feel like it isn’t fair. You just can’t win.”
“Maybe not,” Nan said with a lovely smile. “But it’s a wonderful way to lose.” She gave each of them a kiss on top of the head and straightened up. She then gave Doreen a big hug and reached up to spend a moment with Thaddeus. That wasn’t enough for Thaddeus either. He walked across onto Nan’s hand and then up her arm to sit at her shoulder, where he tucked up against the crook of her neck. Nan spent a moment with her eyes closed, holding him against her.
“I can’t forget all you,” she said. “I don’t think I can ever get enough of these guys.”
“I’m sorry you can’t have any of them here,” Doreen said.
“It’s one of those nasty little regulatory rules,” Nan said. “And sometimes I’m fine with that, but then I just miss them so much.” She opened her eyes. “But that’s enough about this. Lunch is ready.”
Doreen gasped when she looked where Nan pointed behind her. “Wow, this looks lovely.” There were thick slabs of some chewy bread with a plate full of meat, pickles, cheeses, tomatoes, and vegetables, like cucumbers, off to the side. “This is a great spread, Nan.”
“And I didn’t want to sit here and eat it alone. Let’s eat and have a cup of tea afterward.”
So that was what they did. After her first slice of bread, Doreen marveled at how simple yet fulfilling a meal like this could taste. When she mentioned it to Nan, her grandmother said, “I was afraid you wouldn’t really want to come for such simple fare.”
“Different bread, different meat, different cheeses,” Doreen said with a chuckle. “I’ve never had all of it at once. And I’m very short on pickles too.” She picked one up, took a bite, and shook her head at the unusual explosion of flavor. “What are these?”
“Gherkins,” Nan said. “Didn’t your husband like pickles?”
Doreen shook her head. “No pickles. He wasn’t into vinegar. We did have olives though. We always had multiple kinds of olives.”
“That’s fine and dandy,” Nan said with a sniff, “but pickles are cheaper.”
“I haven’t bought any olives since I left,” Doreen said. “But, if these are cheaper, I’ll consider getting some.”
“Did you find anything interesting when you went through the kitchen?”
“All kinds of things called interesting,” Doreen said with a smile. “I didn’t know what half of those pans and cooking dishes were. And, right at the moment, everything is stacked up in the living room.”
“That must be a huge pile.”
“Well,” Doreen said, “let me rephrase that. Everything from the kitchen and the hall closet is in the living room, while everything else from the house is out in the garage. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to sort through those piles. I’ll do the kitchen and hall closet first though, and then maybe this weekend I’ll tackle that pile in the garage.”
Nan brightened up. “Oh, before I forget,” she said, “have you found your next case from Solomon’s files?”
“Not necessarily,” Doreen said slowly, not wanting to even speculate if Steve’s gun was a case she could work on. “But you never know.”
“Exactly,” Nan said. “I figured there would be all kinds of things that could get you into a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah, and you think there’s just one file,” Doreen said. “You’re not allowed to share all this, but I have four boxes full of files.”
Nan clapped her hands in delight. “Solomon and I had talked about it earlier, but I didn’t know it was so much.”
“There’s a lot of information, so it’ll take me a long time to go through them.”
“But you’ll take the time,” Nan said. “I know you’ll do them justice.”
“Doesn’t mean there’s anything to find though,” Doreen said. She picked up a piece of cheese and took a bite, then closed her eyes. “This is a lovely Gruyère.”
“I remembered you loved it,” Nan said complacently. “And sure, it’s expensive, but it’s worth getting.”
At that, Doreen reached for a second piece, waggling her eyebrows at Nan. They enjoyed lunch, and, by the time they were done, not much food was left except for a piece of ham for Mugs and a piece of cheese for Goliath, who tossed it around on the floor like it was a mouse. Meanwhile, Thaddeus helped himself to a slice of tomato. Then, with the table cleaned off, they put on the teakettle.
As Doreen sat, Nan came back out with a plateful of something luscious looking, topped with chocolate and filled with cream. Doreen smiled. “You know what?” she said. “I thought I was full, but I guess I’m not quite that full.”
“These were freshly made this morning. Let’s enjoy them.”
“Exactly.”
By the time they were done, Doreen was thoroughly full and completely satisfied and content. “Now,” she said, “if I could just go home, sit by the creek, and read a book.”
“Do it,” Nan urged. “There’s nothing else in your life right now. You don’t have to work like a slave all day again.”
“No,” Doreen said with a sigh. “I want to get the house done before I dive into Solomon’s files. So much information is there, but, if I stop what I’m doing, I’ll never get the spring-cleaning done. And I’m determined to finish the sorting and that cleaning.”
Nan shook her head. “You are very focused, my dear. I hear you found somebody’s gun too.”
“Yes, a few houses up from my place.”
Nan nodded. Then, a crafty gleam in her eyes, she asked, “Whose was it?”
“No clue but I might know who threw it there.”
At that, Nan pulled out her pen and a pad of paper, picked up her eyeglasses sitting off to the side, then wrote down a few notes. “Details, details,” she told Doreen. “I need details, my dear.”
Doreen told her what she knew, which wasn’t much.
Nan’s lips went into an O shape, and she sat back. “Now I know why you want to go home and get into Steve’s file,” she said. “I thought this all had to do with Penny.”
“I scanned in all of Penny’s file and sent it to Mack already. He’ll see that whoever needs it gets it.”
“Did you read it?”
“I did,” Doreen said. “But it’s not a nice read. It was very sad.” She sighed. “Penny had a terrible childhood, and I think a sympathetic jury will let her off with just a light sentence.”
“But she attacked you,” Nan said in outrage. “And she shot Hornby.”
“True,” Doreen said. “And she’ll probably end up serving time for both of those actions, but I don’t think it’ll be that much. On top of that, most of the jury will be very compassionate about what she did for her brother.”
Nan nodded slowly. “That’s a tough one.”
“I can’t help but think she should have gone to the police about her brother instead though. She should have helped him out of that house and called somebody because she was the older sister. She should have done something more.”
Nan’s finger came out and wagged at her.
Doreen agreed. “I know I shouldn’t be so judgmental. I understand she was just as terrified as everybody else, but a part of me wonders if she didn’t do it just to make sure her father got caught.”
At that, Nan frowned. “I never even thought of that. The way your mind works, dear …”
Doreen shrugged as she sipped from her teacup. “I’m not even sure it works well. It just vomits out ideas.”
“Oh,” Nan said with a laugh. “I do love talking with you. Such fu
n!”
Chapter 10
Friday Midafternoon …
It was midafternoon when Doreen headed for home, and she felt pleasantly content. The work on her home was the last thing on her mind because Nan had now spiked Doreen’s interest in Steve’s folder again. But then she was a little worried somebody would come along and steal the file before she had a chance to scan it. That was a pressing reason for finishing her housecleaning job. That would make it so she could get those boxes into that hall closet and out of sight. Frowning, she let herself into the kitchen but decided she was too full for another cup of tea. She’d wait until Mack got here and would fix coffee.
She walked into the living room and groaned. There was so much to deal with. She started with the dishes and selected herself a matching service of six from the multitude of busted, old, and mismatched plates. She put those in the cupboard, then set the others off to the side. She needed more boxes. Then she went to the cutlery and singled out one set for eight people. How was it Nan had ten different kinds of spoons here? Doreen stared at them in confusion and shook her head, then placed them with the odd dishes.
With the cutlery done, she started at the cooking utensils. But then she stopped and wondered if she was the right person to do this. All she’d ever used were the spatulas. There were two—one metal and one plastic. Deciding they were both decent, she put them back in the kitchen drawer and left the rest for Mack to help her sort. She really didn’t know what else to use. So she instead went to the roasting pans and other dishes but didn’t have a clue about which was what. Once again, all the pots and pans would be left for Mack to choose from. There were also bowls—multiple bowls, like mixing bowls, glass bowls, glass bowls with handles, and bowls with measuring marks on the side. She shook her head and muttered, “Good thing Mack’s coming.”
