by Dale Mayer
Doreen found a lot of information, but it read like a government report. It had been around for X number of years. It held X number of prisoners. There was X number of staff who worked there, and all safety precautions were taken, blah, blah, blah. Nothing particularly helpful or any data with tangible information, like a list of prisoners from seven years ago. But the fact that it was Abbotsford again just made her antenna quiver. That didn’t mean it was connected or that it would have anything to do with Bob Small. But it did make her ponder the possibilities, which is what she was still doing when she finally crashed and fell asleep.
Chapter 13
Tuesday Morning …
When Doreen woke the next morning, it was with an odd sense of disquiet. She studied her room around her. It was morning. It was light out. The sun was shining, and she’d obviously slept late. With that, the memories rushed through her. She’d had horrible nightmares about a mass grave full of bodies, and serial killers. She shook her head, looked at Mugs, and said, “Maybe we should change our hobby,” she muttered. He barked and woofed several times. She looked over at him, smiled, and said, “Please don’t tell me that you have to go to the bathroom.” He barked again and jumped up on the bed and licked her face, then jumped off and barked again.
“That’s a guaranteed ‘I need to go outside’ cry,” she said. Slowly she sat up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and pushed her hair off her face, then scrambled out of bed and went to the bathroom. As she looked into the mirror, she winced. “You know what? Only a mother could love this face.” She stared at huge dark circles under her eyes and a fatigue in her gaze that she hadn’t seen in a while.
As she dressed, she gave herself a pep talk. “Maybe find something fun to do. Maybe go find something interesting to do, like a sport or a craft or something.” She realized that, in the last few days, she hadn’t done much in the way of long walks. That always used to cheer her up. The day she’d met Nick over at the eco center was the last walk they’d gone on.
“You know something, guys? After breakfast, I think we’ll go out for a few hours,” she said. The animals ignored her, as she opened up the back door, and they all scurried outside, as if they’d been penned up for days and days and days. “You could say, Thank you,” she called out. She turned back, put on her coffeepot, made some toast, and took all of it outside to sit on her pretty little deck. Every time she saw the deck, it made her smile. And to think so many people out there didn’t get the same kind of assistance and help that had materialized for her, and it made her feel sad.
“Maybe I should volunteer somewhere. If I can’t get a job, at least I could volunteer.” Then she winced. She still needed more money coming in. The auction of the antiques would be a good source. She needed to ask Scott about it again, but she hated to be a pest. She might have a shot, a legal shot, at money from Mathew, but who knew how long that would take or how much she might get in the end?
And what was happening with Robin’s inheritance? Was it even that much? Mack had listed off a whole pile of stuff, but it didn’t feel real because Robin hadn’t given it to Doreen directly. For all Doreen knew, it would end up in Mathew’s hands. He would probably produce yet another will, one that nullified the one that Robin had written. And even though they had the witnesses to this will, did that make a difference? She didn’t know.
As she sat outside, she checked her laptop and realized that, in the wee hours of the morning, Denise had sent through the email with the information they had discussed on the phone. Before Doreen had barely gotten started, a name near the top of the page jumped out at her and just blew her away. Bob Small was a friend of this man who had been kidnapped. She shook her head. That’s just way too big of a coincidence. She sent back a reply email.
What do you know about Bob Small?
And she left it at that. She pondered through the rest of the information she’d been given by Denise. And there was a lot of it. A surprising number of details.
Dicky had basically been single, had never married, but had several relationships, to the point of possibly marrying somebody who had been enthralled with his incarceration. That was something else that made Doreen sit here and wonder about a world where women would go after convicted criminals in the justice system. Maybe they thought they could change them? Doreen didn’t know, but it all seemed way too bizarre. But she had read somewhere that an awful lot of women liked that concept.
As Doreen kept reading, she looked at the company where Dicky had been working as an accountant, before he went to prison. It was an import/export business, which was in textiles, global textiles.
She laughed. “Oh dear, that could mean anything from stolen property to fine antiques.”
And she wondered about that. Maybe somebody in her circle would know about the company. She quickly dashed off an email to Scott, both with the intention of checking up on her antiques and wondering if he knew anything about this company. And nobody was more surprised than her when she got a response back almost immediately, saying that company had gone out of business after it was found to be a front for money laundering.
Stay away from anybody connected. And he continued. Good news coming your way soon, I hope.
She stared at that last line. “Everybody is always talking about someday,” she muttered to herself. “Just what does someday mean, and when the heck is it?”
She had just let out a big sigh when she got another email, this one from Wendy at the consignment store.
It’s a little early, but I know that you need it, so I’ve cut you the first check for over $600. Anytime you want to come down and get it, you’re welcome.
Doreen stared at the message in delight. “Now I know exactly where we’re going for our first walk today,” she said, calling out to the animals. Mugs, sensing her excitement, danced around her in joy, not caring what the reason was, as long as he was a part of it.
Thaddeus hopped up onto the table. “Thaddeus loves Nan. Thaddeus loves Nan.”
“You better say, Thaddeus loves Doreen,” she corrected. “Particularly if you’re looking for more birdseed.”
And, with the uncanny sense of when to shift tracks, he said, “Thaddeus loves Doreen. Thaddeus loves Doreen.”
She burst out laughing. “Well, that’s good,” she said, “because Doreen loves Thaddeus too.”
Goliath, never to be outdone, leaped from the ground into her lap, placed his front paws on her shoulders, and gently butted his head into hers.
She reached up and gently stroked his big thick mane. “Aren’t you something,” she muttered. “You want to go for a walk too?”
Mugs started barking and barking, like a crazy dog. She got up, put her coffee into a travel mug, then checked her watch and realized that, by the time they got there, Wendy would probably have the store open. At least enough to hand over a check, and then Doreen could walk up to the bank and put the money in. And maybe get enough cash to buy groceries. She also had a few bills stacking up that she had been afraid to open. She knew she was supposed to pay them monthly, but, without a monthly income, she didn’t know how they could expect her to do that.
“Oh, yeah,” she muttered to herself, “everybody else has, you know, a job.”
She shook her head because there were no job prospects that she saw. She had been steadily applying to ten jobs a day, even though some of them were in crazy places with no hope of getting them, but still, it made her feel like she was doing something.
“Of course there’s a flip side to that,” she muttered, as she hooked up Goliath and Mugs to leashes, watching as Goliath immediately threw himself onto the floor and stared up at her in disdain. The flip side was that, by applying every day, it felt like she was seriously searching for a paying job. Yet she got no responses, which made her more depressed.
“First, I need to find out what’s happening with Robin’s estate. Second, I need to find out what’s happening with Scott.” Besides Nan’s antiques to be sold at a Christie’s auction, Dor
een still had Nan’s antique books and paintings, which, as Doreen remembered, would be sold somewhere else. Just so much was out there to be sold and could be—eventually—converted into cash for her.
If everything ever came to fruition—adding her divorce settlement and Robin’s estate to the previous list—Doreen would end up as a millionaire. She stopped and marveled at the thought, wondering if that were even possible. And it’s not like she would head back to the same kind of a lifestyle she used to live either. Her days of toting a $1,700 Gucci purse were over. And she had to admit those were on sale at the time she got that one. With her furry and feathered entourage up close, she locked the back door, headed out the front door and on to the front step. Richard was out there at the same time, a cup of coffee in his hand, studying the area. She looked around but couldn’t see anything. “Everything okay, Richard?”
He looked at her, then at the animals, and asked, “You’re leaving?”
She shrugged. “Just for a few hours.”
He nodded. “Good,” he said. “Now today is even better.”
She glared at him. “You’re saying it’s better now because I’m leaving?”
He gave her a fat smile and said, “Absolutely.” He lifted a hand, then turned and went back inside.
With a note of disdain, she turned and walked away.
Chapter 14
As Doreen headed downtown, the morning was bright and fresh. Although a little overcast, it was quite pleasant. She hadn’t brought a sweater, figuring that it would warm up. Not that today’s weather would warm her up, but she warmed up with the exercise. It wasn’t long before she was trucking along at a good old pace, wearing a big smile. Several people waved at her, as she walked by. She waved back, not sure who they were and not really that curious.
Doreen found that the animals often loosened tongues and made people a lot friendlier. And, as news spread of who they were and what they’d done to save her, plus all the cold cases she’d been involved in and had closed, the animals were even more welcome most anywhere. She looked at them and smiled. Thaddeus walked on the sidewalk beside them for the moment. He’d get tired soon enough. At the moment, he waddled along quite happily.
“Having a good day, Thaddeus?”
He cocked his head, looked up at her, and said, “Thaddeus is here.”
“He is, indeed,” she said, with an affectionate grin. They kept walking, until she saw Wendy’s store up ahead. She frowned. “I guess you guys aren’t technically allowed in all these stores.”
She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do about that, but, since she had always gone around to the back of the store before, when she had stuff to sell, she figured she should go that way now. As she rounded the corner, she found Wendy outside, unloading stuff from her vehicle. Doreen called out a cheery good morning.
Wendy was startled, then turned and looked at her and smiled. “Hey,” she said. “I have a check ready for you. I cut it last night.”
Doreen wasn’t exactly sure why Wendy would have cut her check but hoped she hadn’t damaged it. Doreen nodded, as if she knew exactly what Wendy was talking about. “That’s great,” she said. “May I have it then?”
“Sure thing. Let me just unlock everything,” she said. “I’m still trying to open up for the day.”
“And I came out for a little early morning exercise,” she said. She didn’t dare tell her that she was here for the check. Mack had paid her for the gardening work at his mom’s again, but it sure didn’t go far. Especially if both Mack and Doreen were taking in so much coffee that she considered putting some limits on it. But how could she, when it was one of the few true joys she had in her life?
She offered to help, but Wendy brushed away her offer with a shake of her head and a wave of her hand. “I’ll be just a minute,” she said. And she disappeared inside the store with a huge bundle of what appeared to be clothing. Doreen wondered about what all Wendy sold in the store. Doreen had been inside the store many times but had never really paid attention to the merchandise. She’d been more interested in getting money out of the store, by reselling Nan’s clothing, rather than leaving any money behind by purchasing more.
And the truth of the matter was, Doreen didn’t need clothes; she had lots still. Some of them were her designer stuff that she probably should let go of and maybe even sell. And that brought to mind her Gucci purse. She didn’t have it on her and wondered if that were even something that Wendy could sell. It was all about having the right clientele to pay the right price. And Doreen had yet to get to that other secondhand store, the one that Mack said sold higher-end stuff. When Wendy reappeared, Doreen asked, “Do you ever sell high-end stuff here?”
Wendy raised her eyebrows. “A lot of the stuff that you brought to me was high-end.”
“No, I don’t mean like that,” she said, “but you know? Like expensive little purses. Gucci for example.”
“Ah, no.” She shook her head. “They just don’t sell very well here.”
“Okay,” Doreen said, with a shrug.
“Do you have something more to sell?” Wendy asked, looking at her. “I thought you got rid of all your grandmother’s stuff.”
“I got rid of most of it, yes,” she said. “But I forgot that I have a couple things of my own from my previous life,” she said, with an eye roll.
Wendy nodded. “If you think it’s something that I can sell here or if you’re not sure, just feel free to bring me a few of the items, and I can let you know,” she said. “But I can tell you right off the bat high end Gucci purses are not something I can get much money for. I mean, obviously I can sell them, but you won’t like the price. So not sure how high end you have, but consider bringing me something and we’ll see.”
When Wendy came back out the third time, she had a little more of worried look on her face.
Doreen asked, “Is everything okay? Is someone bothering you in the store?”
“No, not at all. I’m just tired. I’ve got a few personal problems to work out, but that’s all.”
Doreen wasn’t sure she believed her but nodded as if she did.
Wendy didn’t say anything else, and she quickly unloaded more stuff in the front of the car, but Doreen felt slightly apprehensive about it. “Wendy, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, but a notable tremor was in her voice.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?”
Wendy just shook her head and handed her an envelope. “This is your check for the first month.”
“Thank you,” she said, with a bright, cheerful smile. She opened up the envelope to see the check was $607.63. “This will buy a lot of groceries. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” Wendy said. “I can’t exist without selling clothing, so, if you have something you think might sell, feel free to bring it here.” Then she peremptorily shut the door in Doreen’s face.
Taking the hint, Doreen walked away and headed toward the bank. She studied the check carefully; she didn’t quite understand why it was cut or how it was cut, but Wendy had made it very clear she had cut it. She wanted to ask Mack about it badly but decided not to interrupt him. When she walked into the bank and up to a teller, she caused quite a kerfuffle.
The security guard came over right away and said, “Ma’am, you can’t come in here with the animals.”
She stopped, looked up at him, then down at the animals. Flustered, she said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m so used to having them with me that it didn’t even occur to me that the bank wasn’t animal-friendly.”
“It’s not so much that the bank is not animal-friendly,” he said, “but a policy is in place, where no animals are allowed.”
She frowned. “Doesn’t that mean it’s not animal-friendly?”
He stared at her with a bit of a worried look on his face, as if she would be one of those customers.
She sighed and said, “I was just hoping to put a check in. I kind of really need the money. And now, since it
’s been cut, I don’t know how long it’ll last.”
At that, his confusion grew even more. The manager came over quietly and asked in a discrete tone of voice, “Is there a problem?”
The security guard motioned at all the animals. “She is not allowed in here with the animals.”
He looked at her and her animals and winced. “He is quite right. We do have a policy.”
She nodded.
“She was hoping to deposit a check,” said the security guard, who stopped at that.
The bank manager looked at her and brightened. “Why don’t we put it in through the ATM?”
Doreen looked at him, surprised. “We can do that?”
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “Come over here, and I’ll show you.”
He led her to a separate area with a bank of machines, and she looked at each of them and frowned. “I don’t even know how these things work,” she said, studying them.
“That’s unusual,” he said. “Automated teller machines have been around for a long time.”
She nodded slowly. “I guess I never had any reason to use them before.”
“Well, now you do,” he said. “Do you have your bank card?” Then he proceeded to walk her through the process and said, “Now see that envelope there? Put the check in it, and you just slide your envelope through those rollers.”
She put the check in the envelope, after she had another last look.
He asked, “Did you want to take a picture of it? You seem to be studying it.”
She beamed at the suggestion. “Sure,” she said, and she pulled out her phone, quickly snapped a photo of both sides, tucked it into the envelope, and then hesitated because she saw the wheels. “What if they hurt the check?” she said, looking at him in worry. “What if it gets lost? What if it gets missed, or what if you guys don’t enter it into my account?”
