Corpse in the Carnations

by Dale Mayer

  The crowd surged around them, and, sure enough, on the beach were cops and Mack himself. He turned to look at her, reached out a hand. She grasped his, and he tugged her ever-so-slightly toward him. She wondered if that had something to do with Nathan on the other side of her, but Nathan stepped up with her so the three of them were abreast.

  “You did a very good thing today,” she said to Mack, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

  Mack said, “For that, we have to thank Nathan.”

  “My diving friends went down with a few additions Mack enlisted,” Nathan said. “They used my boat. But you, Doreen, are the one who found them. You figured out where they were. And why.”

  She looked up at Mack. “Can the divers bring them up?”

  “Two of the divers out there are cops. They’re search and rescue and retrieval specialists,” he said. “If there’s any way to bring them up, they will.” He turned to look out across the water. “I don’t know about the truck though.”

  And, sure enough, by the time the afternoon wore on, and the boat finally came back in again, there were two body bags on board. She couldn’t imagine what condition the bones were in now. Still, those small and thin bags carried the precious remains lost for decades. The cops hopped out and walked over to Mack. They shook hands.

  One said, “We’re not coroners but looks like a child and an adult male.”

  “Did you get any identification off the vehicle?” Doreen asked anxiously.

  “Better than that,” he said. “The license and insurance were in the glove box in a plastic bag. There’s also a plastic backpack here with Paul’s name on the inside. We brought that up too. You were right. It’s Paul and Henry, missing for over twenty-nine years.”

  She stepped back, overcome with emotion. So maybe her reputation here had been solidified. But this time she was proud enough to not care about the publicity. Somehow she’d cleared the names of two different generations of Huberts. Henry was now clear of kidnapping Paul, and Josh was cleared of Celeste’s murder. More than that, she’d brought two people home. And home was where they belonged.

  She sniffled. Mack turned to look at her. She shrugged and smiled. “I feel like I need to go home, just like I brought them home. I’m feeling a little lost myself.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said with a smile. “I’m really fine. In fact, I’m the best I’ve been in a very long time.” With a wave to the crowd, she called the animals to her and headed home.

  Was there ever a sweeter word in the entire dictionary?

  Epilogue

  Wednesday, one day later…

  Doreen opened the front door, pulling the madly barking Mugs away from it. She stared up at the stranger in surprise. “Yes, may I help you?”

  The man in a three-piece suit, looking extremely elegant and way too perfect for the small town of Kelowna, particularly her place, smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Scott Rosten, an appraiser from Christie’s Auction House.”

  She shook his hand with a little too much enthusiasm. “Oh my. I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon.”

  “My flight got in early,” he said. “There didn’t seem to be any reason to wait, so, if I’m not putting you out, is it possible to come in and talk to you now?”

  “Absolutely. Please come in.” She closed the door behind him.

  He stopped in the living room. “Wow.”

  She gazed up at him anxiously. “Wow? Is that a good wow or a bad wow?”

  “It could be a very good wow.” He went to the first little chair, picked it up, checking the maker’s mark, his fingers moving lovingly over the edge of the carving. “You see these things in pictures, but they aren’t quite the same as finding out in real life what they’re like.”

  “Not to mention the fact there’s just something about the feel of real wood in your hands,” she replied.

  “If you’re an antiques lover,” he said, his fingers gently caressing as he stroked the carved feet, then the edges where the cushions met, “these are absolutely stupendous.”

  “Do you think they’re real?”

  He looked at her in surprise. “Oh, they are definitely real.”

  “Right. Okay. So I know they’re real wood, and I know they’re real furniture, but are they real antiques?” She scrunched up her face. Doreen, get a hold of yourself. You’re acting like a fool. “I’m not explaining myself very well,” she said.

  He held up a hand. “You’re doing just fine. What you’re really asking is if they are the same rare pieces we were hoping they were. And I can tell you from this one that the answer is yes.”

  “And there’s that one,” she said.

  He walked over to the matching chair, picked it up, studied it, placed it beside the first chair, then fell to his knees in front of the coffee table. “Wow. Just look at the work that went into this.”

  It took the two of them to gently flip it so he could see the maker’s mark and the numbers on the underside.

  He nodded. “This is three of the same matched set. I was so hoping the photographs didn’t lie. But until I came and checked it for myself …”

  “And the couch?” she asked, her voice doubtful. “It’s really big.”

  “That’s what makes it part of that very unique set. Montague only did two like this. It was intended for a large bedroom sitting area. He wanted it to match the bed.”

  Together they slowly flipped the couch, which was at least big enough to seat six. He checked it for scratches, smiled when he saw a couple of them, crowed in delight when he looked at the maker’s mark, and said, “This is all the same set.”

  “Does that mean you think you can auction them off for a decent price?”

  “Absolutely.” He looked over at her. “Are you ready to let them go?”

  “Interesting that you should ask that. Before I realized it belonged to my great-grandmother, I had zero attachment. Now that I know they’ve been in my family for a century, it’s a little harder, but yes,” she said. “I can’t even sit on them anymore now that I’m so petrified of damaging them.”

  “Of course they have been sat on by your family for generations,” he said. “I know you say they were in your family, and your grandmother is still alive. It’s on her word that it was in her grandmother’s possession. Do you have any paperwork that shows provenance?”

  “That’s a new word I’ve just learned,” she said with a smile. “Fen Gunderson is the one who first introduced me to how important that is. My grandmother says there’s a folder in the house somewhere, but I’m not exactly sure where it is. I was hoping we could move out some of these pieces, and then potentially I could find it.”

  “Right,” he said. “I understand a bed goes with this set. Is that correct?”

  “A bed and two night tables,” she said.

  He looked over the moon at that.

  She led him upstairs, apologizing every step, saying, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon, so I didn’t clean up yet.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter.”

  When she walked into the master bedroom, he cried out in delight.

  “It is the one we sent the pictures of,” she said. “I guess you’ve seen it already.”

  “And again the pictures don’t do it justice,” he said with a smile. He reached out for one of the large posts. “Absolutely beautiful.”

  “If you think so,” she said. “Honestly it’s my bed. I’ve been sleeping in it.”

  “There are always a couple small drawers that he put into the headboard,” he said. “May I look?”

  “Absolutely. Why would he do that?”

  “Because he wanted a place to put his glasses and for the pills he had to take at night. Montague built these little drawers to suit his needs. He built two sets. One for himself and one for sale.”

  Mr. Rosten sat down on one side of the bed and gently checked out the headboard. And, sure e
nough, it didn’t take but a few minutes before she heard a light releasing sound, and a drawer popped out. He turned to look at her. “It’s here,” he said. “And now I know for sure this is his piece.”

  She looked in the drawer, but it was empty. She hated the sense of letdown she felt when she hadn’t even realized a drawer was here to begin with.

  He got up, walked around to the other side, and said, “Do you want to see how they open?”

  She nodded and leaned over his shoulder as he pressed a tiny little button. Sure enough, the second little secret drawer popped open. “Nan said her grandmother used to hide treats for her in a lot of the furniture, and she ran around and searched for stuff all the time.”

  “Well …” He lifted a gold-foiled chocolate. “Maybe that’s what this is then. Maybe you should deliver it to Nan. Although it’s likely decades late.”

  Doreen held out her hand, completely enchanted at the thought of her grandmother as a little girl, running around the house, searching for chocolates. “This is a very special moment,” she whispered. “Would you mind if we placed it back in the drawer? I want to take a picture. Then I’ll take it to her this afternoon.”

  “If you’re still willing to sell,” he said, “I do have to arrange for proper shipping. And that’ll take a couple days. Every piece has to be wrapped properly.”

  “Understood,” she said.

  He looked at her. “But that means you don’t have a bed.”

  She smiled up at him. “I’m also starving,” she said. “I don’t have a job, and I’m trying to keep the roof over my head. I can find another bed to sleep in.”

  He nodded in understanding. “That’s good.” He looked at the night tables. “To find both the seating room set and the bedroom set is absolutely wonderful. The second set is no longer complete.”

  “Are there other pieces that go with the set, other than what we’ve found so far?”

  He nodded. “Three dressers, a tallboy, a short boy, and a vanity.” He looked around the room, his eyes lighting on the vanity.

  She’d never seen a grown man cry. But he stood trembling in front of it, as if it was the best thing he’d ever seen in his life. She got up and asked, “Is this the vanity piece?”

  He just nodded. Completely unable to talk.

  “I guess that’s one of the pieces then.” She opened the drawers. “I haven’t had a chance to go through them yet.”

  “Maybe we should do that now,” he said, “because I really need to check the label underneath, confirming it’s part of the same set. And that mirror looks like it’s very delicate.”

  She was afraid to move it, but they dragged it forward so he could slip behind and check for the marks he was looking for.

  When he stood, there was such a sense of peace on his face. He kept stroking the edge of the mirror. “It’s definitely one of the pieces. There should also be two hidden drawers on this piece.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Where?”

  He chuckled. “How about I give you a few minutes to see if you can figure them out yourself?”

  She didn’t see any drawers like the headboard had. Her fingers slid over the top and then the side. She shrugged and looked at him. “I haven’t a clue.”

  “That’s one of the reasons we need to empty the drawers. Because one of the secret drawers is behind one of them.”

  She grabbed empty boxes and an empty laundry hamper and then opened the drawers, gently sliding the contents into the boxes. There was everything from papers, notebooks, perfume, and some jewelry. It was just part of Nan’s personal collection. “I haven’t had a chance to go through any of this,” she said.

  There were six little drawers, three on each side, and a big drawer across the center. With all the drawers out, sitting on the bed, he pushed a small button on the front and a drawer on the inside popped out at the back. Inside was a little padded velvet envelope. He picked it up and handed it to her.

  She released the catch and poured into her hand what appeared to be a locket. She opened it, and her breath caught in the back of her throat. “Oh my.” It was an image of a woman who was maybe fifty and on the other side was a baby.

  “Do you know those people?”

  “This is my Nan,” she said, tapping the woman’s face. “And I’ll say that’s me.”

  “Well, there you go. Family is family.”

  “Is it your mother or your father who is Nan’s child?”

  “My father,” she said, “and he died after a wild and reckless lifestyle, a drug overdose many, many years ago. My mom stayed friends with Nan for my sake and because Nan helped us a lot when I was growing up.” She carefully closed the locket and put it back in the velvet pouch. Not wanting to lose it, she slipped it into her pocket. “I’ll ask Nan about it for sure.”

  “You do that. Now let’s find the other drawer.” He popped open the other drawer, and there was yet again another gold-foiled chocolate in it. She laughed in delight and took another photograph, picked up the chocolate and put it down beside the first one she had set on the windowsill.

  He looked at the piece of furniture. “You are truly blessed.”

  “And I didn’t even know what I had,” Doreen said with a smile.

  He motioned to the rest of the room. “You don’t appear to have the three dressers.”

  “There is a dresser in the back of the closet,” she said. “I haven’t been able to get at that one.”

  He looked at her, looked at the closet, and said, “It would be really good if we could find out.”

  She pulled open the closet door so he could see what a nightmare it was.

  He gasped. “Nan obviously liked clothing.”

  “Obviously.” She pushed back some of the clothes so he could see in the back of the closet, which was about four feet deep. “There’s the dresser. It’s short though.”

  He burrowed in with her. “We need to pull this out,” he said in excitement.

  It was very hard to do, and, inch by inch, they cleared a path and moved it forward. When it was finally standing free of the clutter of the closet, she realized it really was part of the same set. “And that tells you how these pieces have been treated,” she said with a shake of her head. “Instead of being prized possessions, this one was shoved in the closet for who knows what purpose.”

  “It’s definitely one of the dressers,” he said. “Have you seen the other two dressers?”

  “Not yet.”

  “The only other missing pieces are a short boy and a highboy.” He looked inside the closet hopefully.

  “What’s a highboy?” she asked when he straightened again.

  He pointed to his chest. “It’s a narrow, tall chest, usually for the man.”

  “So this would be the woman’s dresser?” She pointed at the dresser that had been pulled from the back of the closet.

  He nodded. “Yes. And it would make sense that it would be with the vanity and the bed. But I don’t see any sign of the highboy. Although, if you did have it, it would be a huge asset to have the complete set.”

  “Do we know for sure this dresser is part of the set?” she asked.

  He busily examined it.

  She waited with bated breath to hear the answer.

  He gave her an exclamation and said, “Come look for yourself.”

  She bent down behind him to see him gently stroking his fingers over the marks. “So it is, isn’t it?”

  “It is, indeed.” He smiled. “This has been one of the best days of my life. Now are you sure you’re ready to let all these pieces go?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Can we take another look around and see if you have the other pieces of this set? And, if you are ready to sell these, I will arrange for shipment.”

  “You’ll give me receipts for them all, right?” she asked hesitantly.

  He chuckled. “Absolutely. There’ll be lots of paperwork to document this.”

  Feeling relieved, she grabbed a couple
boxes from the spare room, brought them back in, and emptied the drawers of the dresser from the closet.

  “You don’t even want to check what’s in there?” he asked from behind her.

  “I want to go through it all,” she said, “but obviously we don’t have time right now.” The whole top drawer looked to be scarves and accessories. The second drawer appeared to be stockings. She held up a pair.

  “Those are silk,” the appraiser said, “a beautiful silk.”

  She shook her head. “My grandmother had a lot of very high-quality stuff apparently.” She picked up several more items, placed them all in a box, and by the time she got to the bottom, out came a huge accordion file full of paperwork. At that, she got excited. “Maybe this is it,” she cried out.

  He was at her side. “Maybe it’s what?”

  “The folder with the provenance,” she said. “It’ll take a lot to go through it. It’s bursting at its seams.” She motioned to the dresser. “Can you take a look and make sure there’s absolutely nothing else in there?”

  “Let’s take out every drawer,” he said, “because, yes, there should be two more secret drawers in the dresser as well.”

  With all four drawers out, they could see several items had been caught in the back. With those collected, he pressed the same buttons that matched the vanity, and there were two more drawers. One had a pair of cuff links.

  She looked at them in amazement.

  “They look like they’re valuable,” he said. “It gives me hope that maybe the highboy is still around because those are men’s wear.”

  She admired the red stones. “Garnets or rubies?”

  “Definitely rubies,” he said with a smile.

  She shook her head and put them inside the same little velvet bag the locket was in.

  In the other drawer was a picture. She chuckled. “Now this is Nan as a little girl.” She looked at it and smiled, holding it out to him. On the back it had Nan’s real name, Willa Montgomery. “I am loving these little secret drawers,” she said.