Page 17 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

“ Nah , you don’t need to be concerned. I mean, the house is warm. Now, if I couldn’t keep the house warm, that might be a different story.”

“But you are not that same broke person anymore,” he pointed out. “You probably have more money sitting in your bank account than you even know what to do with right now.”

“I haven’t checked,” she muttered. “I was thinking about picking up some Chinese food earlier today, and then had to stop and wonder if I had the money.”

That set him off in peals of laughter.

She glared at him, and it took him a few minutes to stop laughing. She stormed ahead but couldn’t get far as he wouldn’t let go of her hand. “It’s really not that funny.”

“Yes, it really is from my viewpoint. It’s hilarious, but I get it. You have to settle into realizing you have money, realizing you can certainly afford to go out and to get yourself something.”

Doreen watched as Mugs headed right for the creek. “Don’t get wet, Mugs. That creek water will be too cold.”

Mugs turned to give her a quick look. Then he promptly put one paw in the water. Immediately he withdrew his paw and shook off the water. Doreen just sighed. “Pets are like kids who never grow up.”

Mack stared at the long winter coat she wore and asked, “Where did you get that coat?”

“It’s one of Nan’s.” His eyebrows shot up, and she nodded. “It’s one of the pieces I kept when I did that massive culling out and cleaning of her closets. It’s really nice.”

“It is nice. It just blew me away when you said it was Nan’s.”

“It’s a style that’s come and gone and come all the way back around again,” she noted, chuckling. “It’s made of quality material.”

“What is it made of?”

“Thankfully not fur, not my style at all. This is made of wool. And I really like it.”

“It’s an interesting rust color.”

“I like that too.”

As they walked, their talk turned around to the case. “I did tell the group down at Nan’s,” she shared, “and everybody was pretty stumped as to what was going on, considering that we have three bodies now.”

“Three?” he repeated, looking at her in confusion.

“We’ve got the body we just found of the very tall man.”

“Right.”

“We’ve got the body buried under the wrong name.”

“Correct,” he replied.

“And then there’s the missing senator’s daughter, who was never found.”

“Right, but we have no body there.”

“True. We have to find that body and to identify the other two.”

“And you did contact Elizabeth.”

“Yes, I did,” she confirmed. “I mentioned the other missing woman’s case from Solomon’s files. Her name is Sandy Wayne. I think that could be a good match for who was misidentified as the senator’s daughter. And hopefully something can be done with the DNA.”

“That would be good,” he replied. “It seems to have really set people off to consider that the wrong woman was buried under somebody else’s name.”

“Of course,” she murmured. “When you think about it, that’s everybody’s worst nightmare. They’re sitting around, hoping their missing child is found. However, it’s been buried as somebody else’s child. I just can’t imagine.”

“Of course not, and, along with everything else, it’s very traumatizing for the senator’s family as well.”

“I know. Still a little odd that they would have thought it was their daughter to begin with.”

“No, not necessarily,” he explained. “I mean, they’re already traumatized.

Not a whole lot to see with a badly decomposed body, and they want it to be their daughter.

Per the autopsy, the basic physical description fits.

Then the teeth were supposedly a match, so it just seemed to be a slam dunk.

They are so relieved that they have finally found her, and, even though it’s bad news, it’s still an opportunity to find closure. ”

She nodded, thinking about it. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about it from that point of view,” she murmured. “It’s pretty rough for everybody.”

“It absolutely is, and we’re doing the best we can in the odd circumstances we now find ourselves.”

“Right,” she murmured. “And that just opens up the wound about it not being their daughter.”

“Exactly, and not being their daughter means that we still have an open cold case.”

She pondered that as they walked down almost to the end of the river.

He looked up and asked, “Do you want to pop in and say hi to Nan?”

Mugs, as if hearing and understanding exactly what Mack said, took off toward Rosemoor.

Doreen called for him, “Mugs, get back here. Come on, Mugs.… Get back here.”

But he was racing toward Nan’s patio. Doreen and Mack came around the corner to find him sitting there, wagging his tail in a crazy way, as he barked outside Nan’s patio door. They were just coming up to her place, when the long curtain was pulled to one side, and Nan looked out.

She quickly opened the door. “Goodness, Mugs. What are you doing here?” Then she looked up to see Doreen and Mack coming quickly around the corner. “Did he get away from you?” she asked, chuckling.

“He decided that he should come for a visit,” Doreen shared, as she stepped onto the patio.

“That’s a smart dog,” Nan declared, “and he knows he’s well-loved here.”

“Oh, he’s well-loved at home too,” Doreen stated, glaring down at the dog who appeared to have absolutely no compunction about leading them to Nan’s.

“We were walking along the creek, and Mack just asked me if we should pop down and say hello, and that’s all it took for Mugs to take off.”

“You asked and he answered,” Nan stated in a complacent tone. “And, of course, he knows where his friends are.”

“Sure, he does,” Doreen agreed. “It would also be nice if he would listen when called, especially when he’s not on a leash.”

“ Nah ,” Nan argued. “He needs to have a certain amount of his own brilliance on show at all times. Otherwise, how will anybody ever think he’s the good detective that he is?”

Doreen rolled her eyes. “It would be nice if he would at least listen.”

“We both know that is not happening, is it, buddy?” And she crouched to give him a great big cuddle, just as Goliath jumped over Mugs and landed half in her arms and half on the floor.

Nan gave a bit of a yelp and then burst out laughing. “Oh my, you guys are so good for my soul.”

“According to them, you must be feeling as if you need some love and attention today,” Mack noted, with a smile.

She looked up at him and nodded. “And I won’t say it wasn’t a bit of a lonely day or that I wasn’t feeling a little bit down, but they certainly did pick up on it.”

“Is there any particular issue?” he asked, frowning.

“No, it’s just one of those days where you don’t feel 100 percent.” She stood up, smiled at him, and added, “Thanks for bringing Doreen down.”

“I think you owe Mugs a thank you for that.”

“Ah, but you asked Mugs if he wanted to come.”

“So, that’s a big yes for visiting you.” He smiled as they all stepped inside, and Nan rushed to put on the teakettle.

Doreen added, “We’re fine. Don’t fuss over us. We just needed to get out for a little bit of fresh air.”

“Exactly, winter can get a little bit hard when you’re stuck inside all the time,” Nan noted, “but, if you can get outside, that’s all the better.”

“Do you need to get out? Do you feel a little bit penned in yourself?” Doreen asked quickly. “Do you want to go shopping? Do you want to go to the mall or something?”

Nan smiled at her granddaughter. “A day’s outing would be lovely. I know that technically speaking we were just out, with that trip to the Rutland park, but this would be even better.”

“Sure,” Doreen agreed. “We can go to the mall, if you want.”

“Do you need anything?” Nan asked.

“No, I don’t,” Doreen replied.

Beside her, Mack sighed. “She won’t say if she does or she doesn’t anyway.” Mack gave Doreen the look . “She’s still not sure if she has any money to spend or not.” Then he recounted the discussion about her not buying Chinese food.

Nan stared from Mack to Doreen, then back to Mack, her eyes wide and her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. “Good Lord, child.” Then she frowned and asked, “Is that my coat?”

“Yes, it is. I love it.” Doreen did a little twirl. “Still wearing it. It’s very high-quality.”

Nan tilted her head. “That may be, but have you bought yourself anything? Any clothing, anything at all?”

Doreen shrugged. “Not yet, not until I get the money.”

At that, Nan just frowned and glanced over at Mack, who nodded at her. “You know you have money, right, dear?”

“I have some money,” she pointed out. “But I don’t know how much money I have, and I don’t know how much money is coming. So, until I’m comfortable knowing that I have enough, I’m not spending it,” she declared, with a touch of asperity.

Nan stepped back a bit. “That’s fine. I’m not trying to make you spend money. I just need you to be aware that you’re okay and that you have money enough for whatever you want.”

“Do I though?” she asked, staring at Nan. “Because I’m not so sure about that.” And then she proceeded to tell her what she wanted to do with the money.

“If you spend it by the millions, maybe you won’t have as much as I thought,” Nan conceded. “Yet you also have to live, child, and you’ve spent all your time since you got here trying to live on nothing.”

“That’s because I had nothing,” she pointed out. “I mean, if it wasn’t for you slipping me money here and there, I wouldn’t have been able to pay the bills.”

“I think you would have been just fine,” she muttered, smiling at her granddaughter. “You have been incredibly resourceful. Hasn’t she?” She turned and looked at Mack, and he nodded.

“Just with the little bit of gardening money and your grandmother’s that I even know about,” he replied, “Doreen’s done remarkably well.”

Doreen wasn’t completely convinced. She shrugged. “I will spend some when I feel I can afford it and not before.” Nan frowned at that, but Doreen was adamant. “I won’t start spending money until I have a good idea of the total,” she declared. “Until then I will be frugal.”