Page 12 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

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W hen Doreen woke the next morning, she had this odd sense that she had solved something in her sleep.

Yet she couldn’t quite remember what the heck it was.

Not the problem nor the solution. Grumbling to herself, she got up, had a quick shower, then made her way downstairs to the kitchen and put on some coffee.

If she did one thing automatically every morning, it was that.

As she waited for the coffee to drip, she had to wonder if the problem she’d solved in her sleep had anything to do with her current cold case, now cases .

The thought that there were three missing persons, plus two bodies, which may or may not be one of those three, blew her away.

And that was the problem. Not necessarily that three went missing, but maybe none of these were connected.

That was the thing about these cases. There were all these rumblings but not necessarily any real evidence to link them.

At least not yet. As she thought about it, the missing senator’s daughter was the greatest concern because some other woman had been buried in her place.

Did anybody care about that misidentified woman?

So, that body had been cremated and was not the body of the missing senator’s daughter, and now they had this man’s body.

She had to wonder if there was any possible connection.

It seemed a little dubious that there would be, but she’d certainly seen weirder things.

As far as she was concerned, the fact that the one man’s body was found about the same time as the misidentification of the senator’s daughter had popped up at the same time meant something, right?

But what? Doreen needed to get the physical details on the still-missing senator’s daughter, as well as details about the body they had found. How did the misidentification occur?

Was that ID process logged into the case files, or would she have to ask permission to get that too?

She groaned, hating being stymied at getting what she needed.

They could also easily say this senator’s daughter’s case had nothing to do with her cold case and that she needed to butt out.

Particularly if it remained a high-profile case.

Nan phoned her before Doreen even had her first cup of coffee poured.

“I haven’t had coffee yet,” she grumbled, “so you might want to call back.”

Nan burst into laughter. “Even when you’re grumbling, you’re way too much of a marshmallow to be much of a threat.”

“I am not,” she cried out, for whatever reason completely insulted by that. “I’m dangerous.” Nan giggled, which somehow coerced a smile from Doreen. “Okay, I might only be dangerous to the cup I’m holding,” she muttered, “but I’m hardly to be discounted.”

“You’re not to be discounted at all, my dear. So, rumor has it…”

“Rumor has what?” Doreen asked cautiously.

“Richie asked Darren something about it last night, and Darren slipped and gave away something he wasn’t supposed to. Now he’s in trouble—or thinks he’s in trouble anyway—and says it’s all your fault.”

Doreen snorted. “Since I wasn’t part of the conversation with either Darren or Richie, how is it that I’m to blame or in trouble? People just want to blame me.”

“You’re right, but you should know by now that you make a great fall guy.”

“I don’t,” she snapped, but then she groaned. “And what was it that Darren shared that got him into trouble?”

“Something about a senator’s daughter.”

“Oh, that.”

“What? You know about it?” Nan cried out, and, when Doreen kept quiet, Nan was beside herself. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“Having just found out yesterday, and not sure if I had clearance to share this,” she explained, “I wasn’t going to say anything, not until I talked to Mack today.”

“I don’t know why you’re not already married to that man,” Nan grumbled. “What’s wrong with you?” Doreen went very quiet again, and Nan apologized. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Are you though?” she asked, with a groan.

“Yes, I am. You get to make these calls on your own. I don’t care.”

“Yes, you do.”

“It would make you less cranky if you just told us and got that off your chest,” Nan suggested.

Doreen glared into the phone.

Nan chuckled. “You think I can’t tell that you’re glaring into the phone already?” Doreen gasped and Nan cackled. “See? You’re such a marshmallow.”

“I am not.”

“You are too.”

“Am not.”

At that, Nan just laughed again. “Why don’t you come down, and you can tell us all about it?

We already know some of it, and we’ll just make things worse until we find out the truth.

Therefore, you might as well come down and give us a better idea.

That way we’ll know what’s going on and don’t have to make it up. ”

“I’m sure you’ve already heard about it,” Doreen muttered. “This was a case that was solved already.”

“Sounds as if it isn’t solved though.”

“It was, but now it’s not.”

“ Right ,” Nan muttered. “That makes no sense.”

“You’re right. It’s all a bit convoluted, but I will finish this coffee and then make my way down with the animals.”

“Come for breakfast. Richie has already been down to the kitchen. As soon as he heard about what was going on, he figured you were coming.”

“He doesn’t need to collect breakfast for me,” Doreen pointed out. “I can eat just fine here.”

“Yes,… you can, but we will all enjoy it if you come down. So, you might as well plan to eat with us,” she explained. “We’ll expect you in twenty-five minutes.” And, with that, she ended the call.

Doreen stared sourly at her phone, and then she called Mack.

“Everything okay?” he asked, already distracted and caught up in work.

“Maybe and maybe not. Apparently the Rosemoor gang has already heard about the senator’s daughter.”

“You told them?” he asked cautiously.

“No,” she replied, “but somebody else apparently couldn’t avoid his grandfather’s direct questions.

I guess you need to toughen up that boy a bit.

” Mack groaned. “Preferably before the Rosemoor gang starts causing trouble and getting really difficult,” she added.

“They’ve asked me to come down to fill them in. ”

“So, now you’re asking me if you can do that?” he asked, amusement in his tone.

“Yeah. Something about these engagement rules I don’t quite get. Everything seems to have changed.”

“Nothing’s changed,” he said. “And, yes, go ahead, fill them in on the case, and see if anybody has anything to offer.”

“What?” she asked. “Is this you suggesting that we might have something to offer?”

“Don’t push it,” he growled and ended the call.

She glared down at her phone, called him right back, and, as soon as he answered, she stated, “Everybody is hanging up on me lately. The least you guys could do is make me feel better by letting me hang up on you once in a while.” With that, she proceeded to hang up on him.

Then she burst out laughing, got up, got dressed, and headed down to Nan’s place.

Rosemoor was hopping. By the time she got there, people were gathered in Nan’s apartment.

Already six—no, make that seven people, as the seventh one tottered in with a walker—and darned if they weren’t all wearing their Sherlock hats.

As usual Richie brought goodies, and everyone seemed to be enjoying them.

Meanwhile, her animals were moving from person to person, hoping someone would drop something. Doreen sighed. At least they were behaving. She looked at the newcomer, and Richie made introductions.

“This is Danny. He’s been around since forever.”

“Hi, Danny,” she said.

He beamed at her and nodded a greeting, even as he floundered his way into the closest chair. “Good God,” he muttered. “Those hallways are getting longer and longer.”

She had to admit that his progress getting here had him puffing, pretty much out of energy.

Nan pointed a finger at him. “If you hadn’t worn yourself out bowling with us this morning, you wouldn’t be so tuckered out.”

“I couldn’t let you win everything, now could I?” he declared, glaring at her. “You get away with way too much around here.”

She snorted. “I don’t get away with half as much as I should,” she muttered. “And that’s only out of concern for my granddaughter.”

Doreen frowned at her and asked, “What have I got to do with this?”

“Well,” she began, “you’re always in the back of my mind. I don’t want to mess things up between you and Mack. So, if I get into too much trouble, then Mack’ll get into trouble and might get angry with you.”

Doreen stared at her, her jaw dropping. “Wow, I guess you really do want me to marry him, don’t you?”

Immediately Nan nodded and so did the rest of them. “We do, indeed, and we want you to do it sooner than later. Most of us”—she had the audacity to look somber, but Doreen saw right through the facade—“won’t even be here at the end of the year.”

Doreen sighed, unfortunately realizing that was a possibility. Yet the look on Nan’s face was infuriating.

Nan, seeing the cloudy expression on her granddaughter’s face, turned back to the others and announced, “Let’s get to this now, before nap time.

” Doreen checked her watch. “Yes, it is approaching nap time for some of us,” Nan declared, eyeing Doreen severely.

“So we need to sort out some of these issues.”

“What do we have now?” Richie asked excitedly.

Nan looked at him hard and turned to her granddaughter. “Doreen, you have the floor. Please explain about the senator’s daughter.”

“It’s a little confusing,” she began, “so I can’t really answer too many of your questions. All I can tell you is what I have heard so far.” And with that, she proceeded to explain the little bit that Mack had told her.

“Oh my,” Maisie muttered, staring at her in shock.

“I know. It’s one of those things where you can’t quite believe it happened.”

“You really can’t, can you?” she added, as they all frowned at each other. “That’s terrible that they buried somebody else’s daughter.”