Page 15 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

“Exactly,” he confirmed, “so we give away an amount that you’re comfortable with, and we will confirm that you have lots left over afterward. I don’t think you have any idea how far the money you have will go.”

“Of course not,” she declared. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of the money. Besides, one million dollars doesn’t sound like a lot of money these days.”

“Doesn’t it?” he asked.

“Not really, but then I don’t know what you do with one million. I just need a little bit for gas and the utilities and some groceries.”

“Is that it?” he asked, with a note of amusement. “Are you planning a big wedding or a small wedding?”

“Small,” she replied.

“Yeah? Are you sure? What about all the people who probably want to attend?”

She winced. “Mack mentioned something about that. I don’t know what that means.”

He added, “Anybody who you’ve had anything to do with will quite likely want to be there.”

“Oh, ouch, that’s a lot of people.”

“It is a lot of people.”

“Well then,” she replied, “why don’t we open it up and see if the city will let us have it down at the park, maybe down at the city center, and… can we do a picnic?” she asked. Then she stopped and frowned. “Except I told Mack fourth quarter .”

“You told Mack fourth quarter for what?” he asked.

“I told him we’ll talk wedding for the fourth quarter of the year. But then everybody seems to think—at least those at Rosemoor—that they won’t even be around for this year’s fourth quarter. So I’m starting to feel as if I need to have it earlier.”

He burst out laughing. “Don’t let anybody get to you,” he suggested. “You do you in the time frame that works for you.”

“You do know that if you were to get married,” she shared in a persuasive tone, “it would let me off the hook. At least with your mother.”

“No, no, no, that’s not how it works,” he said, through his laughter. “Because you getting married to my brother is getting me off the hook, remember? And that is something I really appreciate.”

“In which case, you’ll help Mack arrange everything without me, right?”

“Without you?” he asked, startled.

“I’m starting to think I’ll get cold feet on the whole thing.”

“Don’t do that,” he muttered, his tone serious. “You’ll break Mack’s heart.”

“No, I wouldn’t say no to him,” she replied quickly. “But this whole wedding thing… just has Mathew vibes all over the place.”

“That is a memory you need to get rid of,” he pointed out, “because this has got nothing to do with your ex. If anything, you should be grateful for everything that’s happened because now you’ll help get some of these DNA kits tested, you’ll help your favorite charities, you will help other people in general.

If it had gone any other way, you could be the one needing charity. And thankfully it’s not that way.”

She smiled hearing that.

Nick added, “And, by the way, the reason I’m calling is that I do need some more paperwork signed.”

She groaned. “Does that ever end?”

“No, it’s just a fact of life. And it’ll be a fact of your life for a very long time. So, just sign the paperwork and send it back.”

“And what am I signing this time?” she muttered.

“To get the appraisals on all the jewelry and the paintings.”

“Oh, did you contact Scott at Christie’s?”

“I did, indeed, and he’s thrilled. Believe me that he’s very thrilled and that he’s hoping to come down to go through Mathew’s houses. So I’ll go with him and take a look.”

“Oh, good. Have him contact me afterward, will you?”

“Will do,” he said cheerfully. And, with that, he ended the call.

Doreen got an email from Scott not very long afterward, thanking her for considering him. When her phone rang, and she realized it was him, she smiled and answered it. “Who else would I ask to help me out of this bind?” she asked.

“And only you would consider it a bind ,” he stated, with a smile in his tone. “Apparently quite a bit of items are involved.”

“My ex-husband was a bit of a hoarder, although he would say collector ,” she admitted. “And I’ll probably have to make a trip down to the main house before we’re done there because he had some… he had some secret hiding places. I’ll have to think about those.”

“Let me get a first go-through,” he suggested, “because it seems there’s a lot.”

“There is a lot,” she confirmed, “and I don’t even know how many houses total, three or four I guess. I don’t know if Nick’s ready to appraise all of them or not.”

“Wow,” Scott replied, almost in a daze. “I guess that’s what happens when things change hands, and everything has to be sorted.”

“There is a list for insurance purposes somewhere. I do remember that.”

“And we are contacting the insurance companies about it, but we can’t always take the insurance company’s values.”

“No, of course not,” she muttered.

“Now are you quite sure you don’t want to see it all?” he asked. “Maybe you want to keep something for sentimental value.”

She stared down at her phone, her stomach twisting at the thought.

“No, I don’t have happy thoughts regarding my marriage.

Plus, I’m not the sentimental type. I would much rather sell it all off and use the money to pay for a whole province to clear the backlog of DNA rape kits sitting on the shelf untested, rather than keeping a piece for sentimental value . ”

After a moment of silence on the other end, Scott shared, “That sounds wonderful and makes me very happy to hear your plans. Now I’ll make arrangements with your soon-to-be brother-in-law,” he added. “If you do need to come down, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“But it won’t be any time in this next week or two,” she pointed out. “I really don’t want to travel when the weather is ugly.”

“That’s fine,” Scott replied. “There’s not any real rush, but, of course, there is always a rush.”

“There’s always a rush,” she repeated, a smile in her tone, “but I understand what you’re saying.”

“Good,” he murmured. “In that case, I’ll leave you to it.”

And, with that, she phoned Nick back.

“Miss me already, huh ?” he teased.

She laughed. “I forgot to tell you this, but, in one house for sure—though I don’t know about the others—but in the one house, he had some secret hiding places.” Dead silence came from the other end for a long moment.

“And when you say secret hiding places, any idea what he hid in there?”

“No,” she replied, not having a clue at all. “I don’t. But I am pretty sure that, whatever it is, it’s very valuable.”

“ Great . Do you remember where they are?”

“ Um , kind of,… but they’re a little hard to explain.”

He added, “That just means you’ll have to do a road trip.”

“Yeah, it does,” she conceded, “but I want Mack to come with me.”

“Good,” Nick stated, “I’m not against that. We’ll just have to figure out a time that works for all of us.”

“Not just yet though, and we’ll have to get Mack to book a day or two off work, which will be a challenge.”

He laughed. “It will be, but, if you tell him what you want him for, I’m sure he’ll make every effort he can.”

And, with that, he ended the call.