by Dale Mayer
She brightened. “I can do that. How about I come back alone, if you’re too busy? Or, if the officers are still working here, I can return tomorrow and get most of the begonias in then.”
He smiled and nodded. “Thanks. Tomorrow might be better.”
She smiled back. “No problem.” She headed into the house and caught Millicent going through a bookshelf. “It was so nice to meet you, Millicent. Thank you for the tea and for sharing your gardening tips with me. I’m leaving now so the police can do their thing. But, if they get done early enough today, I’ll come back this afternoon and get your begonias into their new bed. Although Mack thinks tomorrow is more likely.”
Millicent beamed. “Thank you so much. You are a lovely body lady.”
On that note Doreen laughed and walked out the front door, calling the animals to her.
Chapter 18
Walking into her house that afternoon, Doreen was a little stunned at the different look the electric stove gave to her kitchen. With glowing chrome and glass, the contemporary looking stove was a little daunting for the very old-fashioned room. She was sure Nan would completely disapprove. On the other hand, Nan wasn’t cooking here.
Then neither was Doreen. But this stove gave her hope. It was exciting to see it. She studied the knobs on the front, deciphering the codes on each as to which knob controlled which burner. But, when it got into Bake and Broil as options, along with Convection, she got really confused.
“He said this was an old one?” she muttered to Mugs. She crouched down, opening the oven door to stare at the clean interior. “It doesn’t look old at all. In fact, this looks like a brand-new model. Not only brand-new but the latest cutting-edge thing.”
Mugs snuffled all along the outside rim of the oven door in agreement. Or maybe he dreamed about wonderful dishes that could possibly come out of it as he recognized what an oven was for. Unlike her. She’d never had that opportunity to see food go in and come out, other than on TV cooking shows. It was hard to imagine how much she’d missed in life. And yet, nobody else would think it was anything to miss. Still, she stared at the oven door with pride. It was a lovely thing to behold.
Now, if she could make it sing, she’d really be doing well. Except, she had an absolutely terrible singing voice. But there was the internet, and she was handy at research.
“But first, I need a nap, so I can work later. Come on, boys. Want to take a nap with me?”
She couldn’t fall asleep right away, but, when she did, she slept fitfully over the next few hours. She wanted a solid two hours of uninterrupted quality sleep. But she didn’t get that. Her brain wouldn’t stop working. She had a lot on her mind too as she got up and headed downstairs. She put on a pot of coffee, wondering if she could afford her new coffee habit. Now that she could make it here by herself anytime she wanted it, she was inhaling the stuff.
As she looked through the fridge, she heard a knock on her door, and Mugs went crazy. Frowning, Doreen walked to the living room and peered out through the curtains. Thankfully the inquisitive crowd was no longer around her house. This time the new finds of old bones had Mack dealing with that lovely interfering-neighbor syndrome at his mother’s house.
A pizza delivery guy stood on her porch.
She opened the door. “Hi. I think you’re lost.”
Mugs sniffed around the young man, then, jumping on his back legs, reaching up to smell the pizza in the delivery guy’s hand.
He looked at her in confusion, checked the address on the slip, and held it up for her to see.
She read it off and nodded. “Yes, this is my address. Any idea who ordered this?”
He shrugged. “No, I don’t.” He thrust the pizza toward her.
“Well, I’ll take it, but I don’t have any money to pay for it,” she explained, slightly embarrassed and not sure how to handle the situation.
“Already paid for,” he mumbled. And, as if she’d already pushed his ability to communicate without a cell phone or some electronic device in his hand, he backed away from her.
She smiled brightly. “Okay then, thanks.”
He nodded and disappeared into his beat-up small blue car he had parked in front of her house. She thought it was a Volkswagen bug from the 1970s, but she wouldn’t count on it. She’d never been able to correctly date vehicles or men.
She carried the pizza box into the kitchen, putting it on the table. Thaddeus jumped up on the table beside her and sniffed at it. When he pecked at the cardboard, she brushed him back gently. “This isn’t critter food. This is people food,” she admonished him.
Mugs barked at the edge of the table. She turned and patted him on the head. “You’re a good boy, but you don’t need pizza either.”
He didn’t seem to listen—he just kept barking. While she dealt with Mugs, Thaddeus pecked at the cardboard again. No sooner had she brushed him away than Goliath decided he would have better luck than those two. He hopped on the table and batted at the top of the box.
She looked at the three of them in astonishment. “What the heck? Are you guys that hungry?”
She checked their food bowls, and, sure enough, all were empty. Mortified at her own lack of insight into the animals’ world and castigating herself for having forgotten to feed them, she filled their bowls, and they grudgingly all left the tantalizing aroma of pizza on the table to eat their individual servings.
And they must’ve been hungry because they wolfed it down and then returned quickly to her kitchen table.
In the meantime, she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table. She wondered who had paid for this treat. But she really appreciated it. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had pizza. She lifted the lid, carefully letting the hot steam escape. The pizza had everything on it but the kitchen sink. She stared at it in astonishment. “How can you possibly pick up a piece when it’s so overloaded?”
She couldn’t image holding a slice, even with both hands. It would fall to pieces, which would just entice Goliath and Thaddeus to be on her table. She walked to the cupboard, pulled out a plate, then opened a drawer for a knife and fork. A lot of people would be horrified at what she was about to do. But she really wanted to eat, not to retrieve the random pizza toppings from the table or to fight for them with Goliath and Thaddeus.
She scooped up the largest of the pieces, feeling smug that she didn’t have to be polite and take the smallest one. “Smallest be damned today. I want to eat every last piece.”
Just as she got it onto her plate, her phone rang. She glanced at her cell atop the table. Mack. She dropped her knife and fork, picking up the phone. “Mack, what did you find out?”
“Most people say, Hi, Mack. How are you? Having a nice day?” he said in a sardonic voice. “In your case, all you ever want to hear about is any development on the cases.”
“You can hardly blame me,” she said. The pizza in front of her went a long way to keeping her mood upbeat, regardless of what Mack said. “I do have this bad habit of tripping over bodies.”
“Yes, you do,” he said.
She could hear the fatigue in his voice. “You still at your mom’s house?”
“No, I just got back to the office.”
She frowned. “Make sure you eat,” she admonished.
He chuckled. “It’s one of the reasons why I’m calling.”
She stared at the pizza cooling on her plate and frowned. “Why?”
“Did you get my gift?”
She stared again at the pizza, and it clicked. “You sent the pizza?”
“I did indeed. And, if you haven’t eaten it all, I thought I’d stop by when I left the office.”
“It depends on when you’re leaving the office.” She laughed. “I’m pretty hungry.”
“I’m leaving in five. I’ll be there in ten.” And he hung up.
She sat back with a fat smile and turned to Mugs. “This is a really nice thing he did.”
Mugs barked, and she plucked what looked like a pi
ece of sausage off the top of the pizza and held it out for him. It disappeared instantly. When she returned to the piece on her plate, she found Goliath trying to snag a piece of cheese hanging off. She smacked him gently. He bounced back and gave her a disgusted look. She smiled.
“I’ll get you a piece of cheese of your own. Hold on.” She ripped off some of the stringy cheese and placed it in front of him. Just as she did that, Thaddeus attacked a green pepper.
“What’s wrong with you guys today?” she cried out. Finally she divvied up a little bit more between the three of them, then turned to her own piece and took her first bite. Her mouth was filled with wonderful hot spicy sausage and a mess of different vegetables and cheeses.
Her palate wasn’t used to pizza. She’d only ever had it a couple times in her life, and most of that was since she’d left her ex-husband. Technically her soon-to-be ex, but that entailed too many words and too much time spent on him.
She was now addicted to pizza, but it was another expensive habit to maintain. She was only halfway through her first piece, taking her time, chewing and savoring the delicious treat, when she heard heavy noises at the front door. She got up to open the door for Mack, but he’d already entered before she ever reached it.
He smiled and said, “Did you leave me any?”
“I’m still working on my first piece.” She smiled. “Thank you. It was a lovely surprise.”
“Good.” He raised his eyebrows. “But you didn’t have to wait for me.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t. I was savoring it,” she admitted.
He nodded in understanding. “How many times have you had pizza?”
“Hard to remember exactly,” she said. “But less than the number of fingers on one hand.”
He stopped and stared at her. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “My ex-husband considered it peasant food. Along with hot dogs and burgers and beer.” She laughed at the look on Mack’s face. “One of the first things I did after I left him was to have every one of those things. Probably just to spite him.”
She returned to the kitchen, Mack following. He waited for her to sit down and then he joined her at the table and looked at her plate with the knife and fork and swallowed hard.
She glared at him. “No laughing. You might have bought me the pizza, but I don’t have to share if you’re gonna be mean.”
He shook his head. “I’m too darn hungry to be mean.” He snagged the second-largest piece, lifted it to his mouth, and took a great big bite.
She returned to her piece with a happy smile. When he coughed and cleared his throat, she glanced at him to see him nodding toward the pizza box.
And, sure enough, Thaddeus and Goliath were helping themselves again. She sighed, put down her knife and fork, found little pieces for each of them and put them on the table near each animal.
Mack stared at them. “You know most people don’t let their animals on the table while they’re eating, right?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” she admitted. “I think I have free-range animals.”
He studied her for a long moment, as if not understanding.
She explained. “As in, they’re free to range wherever. I have very little control over them.”
“I think you have pretty darn good control over them,” he said, chuckling. “But they also have very good control over you.”
“This”—she waved at her animals—“is because I feel guilty. I forgot to feed them earlier. When I did feed them a little while ago, they inhaled their own food in its entirety and then went after the pizza. I’m sure they’ve been starving all day.”
His lips twitched. “I doubt they are starving,” he said. “They look in very healthy shape.”
“Well, that may be,” she snapped, “but I’m the one who messed up. So I’m sharing.”
He nodded solemnly and snagged another piece.
She watched as he took another bite. “How can you eat so fast?”
“I don’t waste time talking,” he muttered.
She looked at her barely touched piece, nodding. “Good point.” She proceeded to polish off her slice. She reached into the pizza box and grabbed the next largest slice and put it on her plate. Then seeing Mack was almost finished with his second piece, she snagged up her third and put it on her plate too.
He laughed. “Now you’re learning.”
With a mocking glare she grabbed the pizza box and moved it to her side of the table. “I am.”
He chuckled again.
Inside she smiled. He didn’t look anywhere near so tired now. The trouble was, the minute she picked up her knife and fork, he reached across the table, his arms way longer than hers, and moved the box to the far side of the table, where she couldn’t possibly reach it.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” she protested.
“Nope, it isn’t. But apparently you’re one piece ahead of me.”
“I am not.”
“Are too,” he said, motioning to the two pieces on her plate. He snagged his third and proceeded to eat while she picked up her knife and fork again.
But her eyes were bigger than her stomach. She managed eating two and a half pieces and then wasn’t sure she could finish the other half. But it tasted so damn good. Mack had gone after a fourth and had left her the last piece. She shook her head. “I think I need a break.”
“Does that mean you’re full?” he asked.
She stared at him. “You can’t still eat more, can you?”
He just waited.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Fine, go ahead.” He had paid for it, after all.
He snatched the last piece in seconds. And then he looked at her plate.
She glared at him. “I can probably finish this in a little bit. I just need a sip of coffee and a chance to rest.”
“Rest?”
“Eating, it tires me out.”
He looked at her to see if she was serious. Then shook his head. “If you’d eat a little more often, your body would become accustomed to it, and food wouldn’t be such a shock to your system.”
She shrugged. “Believe it or not, I bought food this week, so I have something in the house to cook.”
“Right, cook,” he exclaimed. He pushed his chair back, got up, and examined the new stove. In a quick and easy move, he shifted the stove forward and checked behind it. “Oh, good. He’s capped off the gas nicely, and Barry put in the correct wiring. Nice jobs.” He nodded approvingly, shoved the stove back, as if it was a little Lego block.
She’d already tried to move it once, but no way could she budge it. His inherent strength was something so natural and so easy for him that he didn’t even recognize it was so special, and yet, for her, almost any effort seemed to be more than she could handle.
He studied the front of the stove and turned to look at her. “How much did you pay for this?”
She shrugged. “One hundred dollars. Which I haven’t paid him yet. Nor do I have Barry’s bill.” That worried her. She hopped to her feet and walked to where Mack stood. “Do you think he’ll charge me more?”
“Are you sure he decided it was one hundred?”
She nodded. “That’s what he said.” But even now she doubted herself. Unnerved, she said, “He’ll have to take it back if he wants more. I don’t have any more.”
He closed his fingers over her hands.
She had bunched them together so hard that her knuckles had turned white.
“Let’s see what he says first.”
She nodded, returned to the table, picked up her cup, and refilled it with coffee at the counter.
He reached for an empty cup from the cupboard and filled it with the thick rich brew. “Hey, this is fresh coffee.” He lifted it to his nose and inhaled. “Smells good.”
She smiled. “I’ve been making it the way you told me to.”
“Good. Too often people make it too weak, and they end up with coffee tasting like dishwater,” he said with a smile. He took a sip and then a
second. He nodded. “Nice.”
She beamed. She’d done it. Sure, it had been his recipe, and she’d tweaked it again to make it work—but she’d done it, and in a kitchen no less.
Chapter 19
As soon as they were done with their coffee, Doreen asked, “So what can you tell me about the case?”
“Not much. Obviously it’s a human foot and lower leg. No, we haven’t confirmed if it’s male or female. It’s with the coroner right now. They’ll run DNA.”
“Do you have any other cases with missing lower legs and feet?”
“We’re searching through the cold case files. But nothing yet.”
“And what about solved cases?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, a case that was closed but where potentially not all of a body was recovered or even where no body was recovered.”
He frowned. “I haven’t gone looking into the closed cases. Generally they aren’t closed if we’re still missing pieces.”
“But you have closed cases where there was no body?”
“I know of some cases across Canada,” he said cautiously. “But I can’t recollect any here in town.”
She studied him for a long moment. “Might be worth another search.”
“It’s in progress. In the meantime, you can tell me what you found in my mother’s journals.”
He had said it so calmly, so smoothly, that she didn’t understand for a moment. And then she laughed. “I didn’t find anything. That’s the problem. She has three journals, and they’ll take a little bit to go through.” She sipped her coffee.
“I need to know you will share any information you might have found. That way, I won’t have to charge you with interfering in an ongoing investigation or taking photographs of the evidence.”
She shook her head. “That won’t wash. I haven’t interfered in any way. In fact, I’ve helped.” She quickly moved to the next topic. “What about the creek bed?”
