Bones in the Begonias

by Dale Mayer

  He shook his head. “Nothing new.”

  “So far a lower leg and a foot less than half a mile from a severed hand.”

  “Severed hand and forearm,” he corrected.

  She nodded. “I hope they are from the same body. I think the foot was too small to be a man’s. I understand Betty was small.”

  “Again, no way to know at this point. The coroner will make that decision, and, if he can’t, they’ll bring an anthropologist from the coast.”

  She frowned. “I guess each specialty is quite different, aren’t they? Bodies with flesh for the coroner. Bodies without flesh for anthropologists?”

  “I’m not sure it’s quite so clear-cut and simple, but yes.”

  “How often do you bring in specialists from Vancouver?”

  “Considering Kelowna has a very low crime rate with less than three murders in a year, I would imagine not very often. I’ve been with the police force seventeen years, and I can only think of a half-dozen cases where we’ve had to.”

  She nodded. “So one every other year on average.”

  “It depends. We had several people hiking who never returned. They were declared missing several years later, but it’s not like the case was closed. Then we had a particularly heavy thaw, a fast melt, and their bodies floated down in one of the creeks. They still had on their backpacks and hiking boots. But not a whole lot was left of the flesh. They had been frozen, so we needed outside help to determine how long those bodies had been there. The DNA confirmed who they were, but that had taken a lot longer than we’d like to see, in terms of notification.”

  “I can understand that. But they probably had IDs on them.”

  He nodded. “They did. But we didn’t have anybody locally who understood the time it took to decompose under those severe mountain temperatures. I believe these hikers had been missing for a good seven years.”

  She winced. “Their poor families.”

  “Exactly. So, even if I cross a line a bit more to bring in a specialist, we’re happy to do it for the families. If it gets us confirmed IDs and some kind of a time line as to what went on, then that’s a bonus.”

  “Did you track where the creek flowed to find out where the hikers went missing from?”

  “No, in that case we had a massive snowmelt coming down. They could have come from halfway up the mountains. There was no way to know, and we don’t have the resources to pinpoint something like that.”

  “This is all really fascinating. I wish I could have a career involved in that.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “You really like this stuff, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “I do. But, at my age, I can’t say I want to go back to school and get a degree that will take five, six, or seven years to complete, and then start a new career fresh when everybody will be looking at me, asking, Why aren’t you retiring?”

  “You’re not that old.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m not, but I feel like I am some days.”

  He chuckled. “We all do.” He stood. “I’m heading home. I’m tired, and I need to get some sleep.”

  She rose, walking to the front door with him. “Thank you again for the pizza.” She meant it sincerely. “I wasn’t looking forward to a cold dinner.”

  He nodded. “I figured you wouldn’t have learned how to use the stove yet. We both had a rough day.” He turned and glanced at her. “Are you okay tomorrow to finish the garden? Even solo?”

  She winced. “I told Millicent I would, didn’t I? I was supposed to check if I could do the work this afternoon.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t let you in anyway. The officers were taking soil samples and photographs and doing all kinds of crap in my mom’s backyard. It went way longer than we expected. It’s still not done. I told her that you weren’t allowed back, so she understood.”

  Doreen leaned against the doorjamb. “Still, I shouldn’t have forgotten.”

  “What did you do when you got home?”

  She frowned and motioned toward her bedroom upstairs. “I fell asleep. Or tried to.”

  He chuckled. “Good. Now you’ve eaten, so have a good evening, get some more sleep, and I’ll meet you at the garden tomorrow morning.”

  “If I wasn’t allowed today when the team wasn’t finished, not even when you left, what if I’m not allowed back tomorrow?” she said with a head shake. “I don’t want to disappoint your mother.”

  “How about I call you before ten and let you know if everybody’s finished?” With that note, he lifted his hand in a wave and headed to his vehicle.

  As she stood there, she watched several neighbors and other people, suspiciously new faces, walking their dogs in a very slow motion around the cul-de-sac. She didn’t recognize half of them. What were they all doing here? But, … of course, the news would have already spread.

  She might have stayed inside, but no one else had.

  Chapter 20

  Saturday Evening …

  As soon as Mack left, she went back inside the house, cleaned up the few dishes they’d used, made sure all the animals were inside, and grabbed her car keys. It was a Saturday. It was late, but the library should still be open.

  She had to admit she really enjoyed the fact that, in a small town like this, it took no time to go from point A to point B. Had it not been getting dark, she would have liked to walk to the library, helping to digest her nearly three pieces of pizza. But instead she got in the car and drove there tonight.

  Some things were more than a few blocks away, but nothing that she needed was more than a ten-minute drive from her home. She pulled onto the main road, took a right, and turned into a very large parking lot that serviced not only the library but a skating rink, a fitness center with a swimming pool, and a restaurant. Parking on the library side of the lot, she got out and walked up to the front door. She checked the times they were open and realized they closed at nine o’clock. She didn’t have much time, but curiosity drove her forward. Who knew what she could learn in the next half hour or so? She walked inside and smiled at the librarian.

  The woman rose to her feet. “Are you all right?”

  Doreen looked at her, glanced around to see if the librarian was questioning somebody else, but she seemed to have spoken to Doreen. “Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  The librarian had gray hair tucked into a tight bun, wore a white blouse and a light-gray A-line skirt that seemed part of some dress code very typical of her age group. Her name tag read Martha Cummins. She placed her hand on her throat and said, “Well, my dear, you found more than one dead body last week. Are you sure you have recovered?”

  Doreen looked at Martha with surprise. It was all Doreen could do to hold back her smirk. If Martha only knew about the body parts Doreen had found recently. But she managed to nod gravely. “Yes. Thanks, Martha. I’m here for some reading material.”

  The librarian nodded in understanding. “I don’t think I’d sleep again. You run along now and find some books. The library is closing in forty minutes.”

  With a smile, Doreen walked over to the microfiche machine instead, but she took a roundabout way so the librarian wouldn’t see where Doreen went. It wasn’t that she was trying to hide, but, well, she really didn’t want people to know she was looking up the history of Kelowna. But, for things that had happened thirty years ago, it was the right place to get some information.

  She brought up the old newspaper articles on the Betty Miles case. Doreen could save it as a PDF, and it would be a quick process to attach the file to her email message to herself, so she could read all of this while at home. Even though it was an easier process than she had expected, it still took time.

  She scanned through several years’ worth and then did a search for the teenager’s name. Doreen quickly saved as many articles to a PDF as she could, in the time allowed.

  When done, she hopped up, walked to the fiction section and grabbed two of her favorite thrillers. Then she walked to the l
ibrarian and smiled. “I found a couple things,” she said hesitantly.

  The librarian put her glasses on her nose and stared at the titles. She shook her head and clucked her tongue. “I don’t think these will help you sleep.”

  Doreen looked at them doubtfully and said, “Well, I’m a little desperate at the moment.” She handed over her library card. “I’ll give them a try. Maybe I won’t be able to read them at night. But maybe, when I’m sitting out in the sunshine, they’ll grab my attention.”

  The librarian checked out her books.

  It was five to nine. With a wave Doreen said, “Thanks so much.” She stepped outside. The sun had set, leaving the parking lot dark, but the surrounding businesses were still lit up nicely, spilling light into the parking area. She found her car easily enough.

  A large group of noisy people were off to the side, just outside the restaurant. The skating rink and fitness center were popular with the locals. In her case, neither were in her budget.

  She got into her car and slowly drove home. Once there, she grabbed her books and headed inside. As she walked in, her cell phone rang. She glanced down at the screen and saw it was Nan. “Hi, Nan. I’m fine.”

  “I know you’re fine, but I want to hear all about it.”

  Doreen groaned. “How about we meet at a restaurant for breakfast instead?”

  “No,” Nan said firmly. “We’re not meeting anywhere because you don’t have money to go out. But I can drum up some breakfast here for you instead. How about at ten?”

  “Good. I’ll see you in the morning.” Then she gasped. “Oh, no. I can’t. I’m working at Mack’s mother’s garden tomorrow. I’ll call you in the morning to set up a later time.”

  “You get some sleep, you hear? And keep me in the loop if anything happens. I need exact details, remember?”

  Nan never changed. Still Doreen felt a little guilty. Nan had always been generous and kind, and here it seemed like Doreen didn’t have time for her grandmother. Doreen was tired; she hadn’t lied in that respect, but she certainly wasn’t going to bed yet. Not when she had all these PDFs to read. Then again she considered Nan’s words and worried about the bets she and her cronies were placing. Thankfully it was all in fun. She couldn’t help wondering what the current bet was. Murder for sure, but was it when the case would be solved? Or who would solve it first?

  “It’s too late for a cup of coffee,” she said, glancing around the kitchen. “What was it Nan said the other day? Something about chamomile tea?” Doreen rummaged through the drawers and cupboards and finally found several boxes of tea, some oddly shaped. She pulled them out and studied each and every one. “Nan, these are all herbal teas. Why do you have so many?”

  Doreen lined them up on the counter, so she could take a better look. Six boxes of different herbal teas, things like chamomile and even mint. Then some were mixes, like Sleepytime. She liked the sound of that one.

  She turned on the electric teakettle. When it whistled, she poured herself a cup of Sleepytime tea and put all the boxes back where she’d found them. She’d glanced at them earlier but hadn’t really inspected them or knew how they could benefit her.

  Nan’s cupboards were full of stuff like this, but Doreen didn’t know exactly what to do with any of it. Taking her cup of tea, she walked to the kitchen table and sat down in front of her laptop. She turned it on and waited for her email to load, all the PDFs slowly showing up soon afterward.

  Goliath hopped into her lap, his engine already kicked in, and he kneaded her thighs. She gently stroked the huge cat. “I didn’t expect to like you so well,” she muttered against his fur. “But it appears I’m a cat person too.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. He was big enough that she could gently squeeze him without any fear of hurting him. And he didn’t seem to mind a bit. His claws never came out. Instead he leaned into her chest as if he needed the comfort as much as she did. She smiled and just held him, enjoying this softer side to him.

  Until Mugs got jealous. He barked right behind Goliath. Instinctively Doreen tensed, waiting for the cat’s claws to come out. Instead Goliath’s tail just twitched back and forth, the tip smacking Mugs in the face every time. But, being Mugs, he never backed away. Instead his face took each swat. Swat. Swat.

  She looked at him and giggled. “Mugs, you could move.”

  He looked at her, his jaw working, and all the while the cat’s tail swished in his face. She grinned and reached a hand toward Mugs. He came closer, sniffling her hand, and she sat there, holding the cat close and scratching Mugs’s ears. “It’s a good thing Thaddeus isn’t feeling left out.”

  But she shouldn’t have spoken so soon. Thaddeus flew up and landed on her shoulder. He rubbed his beak up and down her cheek. She smiled, feeling an overwhelming sense of love for her unique family.

  “Okay, so this life might not have a pure white dining service and spa dates, but neither does it have cold empty beds and indifferent silences at the dining room table.” She smiled. They sat and cuddled for a long moment. Then she lifted her hand to sip her tea.

  Thaddeus tilted his head into the teacup with her. And darned if he didn’t take a big drink.

  She gasped. “It’s hot.”

  But she’d obviously been cuddling the animals long enough for it to cool. Thaddeus dunked his head back in her teacup and took another drink.

  She laughed. “So this is my life. I’m a piece of furniture for the cat. I’m a scratching machine for the dog and somebody who makes tea for the bird. No wonder I couldn’t figure things out. I was having this identity crisis. I was looking for a job that actually paid,” she complained good-naturedly to the animals who couldn’t give a darn if she was paid or not. As long as they were looked after … It was hard to be upset at the animals because they brought her so much joy that she hadn’t expected. “How could Nan possibly have left you all behind?”

  She knew Nan hadn’t wanted to. And maybe it had been part of Nan’s ultimate setup to suck Doreen into finding the joys of having animals in her world. She’d had Mugs these last five years, but he was held at a distance due to her ex-husband. Of course she’d let Mugs on the bed when her ex hadn’t known about it.

  One time he found dog hair on the bed, and poor Mugs had been sent outside. He’d been bathed and brushed and sent to the spa, just to make sure he was clean before her ex-husband would let Mugs back in the house. And all the bedding had been changed and her room vacuumed.

  Back then her room was vacuumed daily. She wanted a little clutter, but the minute she put something down, a maid always came along, picked it up, and put it away properly. Even when outside in the garden, she wasn’t allowed to touch anything. The gardeners would walk over to see what they could do to make her life easier.

  What she really wanted to do was scream for them all to disappear and to let her put her fingers in the dirt. She’d been aching to do some gardening on her own. But every time she picked up a plant pot and tried to do something, everything was taken away from her.

  She sighed as she recalled those long and lonely years. “I really was a fool. I should have left way earlier.”

  At that, Thaddeus tilted his head and looked at her as if to say, You just realizing that now?

  She shook her head at him. He shook his head back at her. “Oh, no you don’t,” she said. “No imitating me.”

  “Imitating me. Imitating me.”

  She rolled her eyes. And then froze because it looked like Thaddeus was trying to roll his eyes too. The giggle started deep and it rolled up, hitting every vertebra of her spine. As it burst free of her chest, she could feel something inside her breaking free—something releasing—something old and ugly dropping away from her shoulders.

  And she laughed heartily. Goliath, offended that his bed vibrated, hopped down and gave her a dirty look, his tail twitching in the air as he jumped onto an empty chair beside her. But she couldn’t stop laughing.

  Thaddeus, as if figuring out
what she was doing, made some weird sounds that came darn close to laughter. And that just made her howl all the more.

  When she finally calmed down, she realized she didn’t need to be looking at all this research tonight. She could review it in the morning. It would be much better if she went to bed. She was tired but happy, and she thought she could get a good night’s sleep for once, having had a lovely hot meal of pizza, followed more recently by hot tea. What about a hot shower too?

  With that uppermost in her mind, she picked up Thaddeus, scooped up Goliath, much against his will, and, calling Mugs, she and her family headed upstairs.

  In her bathroom she stepped into the hot shower, scrubbed down, then shampooed her hair twice. When done, she dried off and got dressed for bed. She grabbed one of the thrillers she’d picked up from the library. With the lights on and the rest of the house locked down for the night, she snuggled under the covers.

  Mugs lay with her on the bed, Thaddeus beside her on the headboard, and Goliath on her lap as she started to read.

  She was only a few chapters in when she realized the story was about body dismemberment. Fascinated, she dove in until she couldn’t keep her eyes open, and she fell asleep with the lights on.

  Chapter 21

  Sunday …

  The ringing phone woke Doreen the next morning. Groggily she sat up, glanced at the clock beside her and gasped in horror. “Oh, my goodness. It’s already a quarter to ten.” She bolted out of bed, grabbed her phone in time to answer it. “Mack?”

  “What’s the matter? Did you sleep in?”

  She winced. “Yeah, maybe.” She brushed her hair off her forehead and stared outside. It was a gray, cloudy day. Unlike the day before with the sun shining all afternoon. “It’s not very nice out, but, if we’re doing physical work, it’s probably better this way.”

  “That’s the spirit,” he said heartily. “I forgot to plan for Willie collecting all that stuff from your front driveway. You have to pay him as well.”