Page 32 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

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O nce in the car, Doreen made a quick adjustment to her schedule and headed to Nan instead. As she pulled up to the front of Rosemoor, she was hoping that the whole gang hadn’t arrived yet at Nan’s apartment.

And, sure enough, as she got there, Nan confirmed, “You made it before everybody else.”

“Is Sally here?”

“Yes, Sally is here,” she said, and, with that, she led the way into the living room.

Doreen walked over and sat down in front of the older lady, who was looking a little nervous. “Hi, I’m Doreen.”

The woman looked thrilled at that, clapping her hands together. “Oh my. I do hope I have some good information for you.”

“I hope you do too,” Doreen replied, “but I’ll take the truth. Whatever it is that you’ve got, let’s not embellish it, just speak the truth.”

“Oh, no problem there,” she stated, with a nod. “I don’t deal in half-truths, and I certainly don’t believe in lies, not like everybody in today’s world,” she declared, with a hard look over at Nan.

Doreen wasn’t sure exactly what that was about, but she sidelined it very quickly and replied, “Good, so could you tell me about Glenda? So far, you’re the only person who I’ve found to have known Glenda.”

“I knew a Glenda,” she clarified, “though I don’t know if it’s the same one or not. But she worked in the kitchen at one of the mental health homes.”

“Interesting,” Doreen noted, “so that certainly could be the Glenda I’m interested in.” Sally looked thrilled. “Do you know anything about her family?” Doreen asked.

“Oh yes,” Sally said. “She worked partly to help with her grandson’s upkeep, but then she had to retire, and her daughter was working as a cleaner.

I believe her daughter’s son was there, so she kept working as long as she could, but then the rules changed or something.

I don’t quite understand how that worked, you know, how the government can come and take all those innocent souls and just kick them out into the street. ”

“I’m not exactly sure how that worked either,” Doreen agreed. “Do you know what Glenda’s last name was?”

“Woodstock.”

Doreen wrote that down with relief. “So, her daughter would have been?”

“Mary Woodstock, but she married.”

“Who did she marry?”

“I don’t know what his name was.” She pondered that. “I think it was… I’m not sure. I wouldn’t want to give you a name and have it be wrong.”

“If you give me a name, at least I can check it out. If it’s wrong, then I don’t go forward. However, if I don’t have a name, I can’t even check it out.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Sally conceded, but she sounded very unsure.

“How about a first name?” Doreen asked. “Do you know what the husband’s first name is?”

“Yes, it was something weird, like Cody, I think.”

Doreen didn’t think Cody was a very strange name but to each their own. “Okay, so Cody, and then we just need the last name.”

Sally frowned, thought about it, and shook her head. “It was something funny, but I’m not sure it’s the name he always went by.”

At that, Doreen stopped and looked at her. “Most people have a surname they go by all the time.”

“Yes, yes, I know. However, I’m thinking that, in the divorce, there was something about names.”

“Oh, so they were divorced?” Doreen asked.

“Oh yes,” Sally muttered. “I think it was the young man’s health issues that brought about the divorce.”

“And did the father ever have anything to do with him?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “But, if they’re divorced, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have something to do with his son.”

“No, of course not. And the grandmother, Glenda, is she still alive?”

“No, no, she’s not. She’s been gone quite a few years now,” Sally replied.

“What about the daughter, Mary? I believe she was supposed to have died of cancer.”

Sally frowned at Doreen. “I’m not sure about the daughter. I haven’t seen her in quite a while so that’s possible.”

“Okay,” she muttered. “Did the daughter have any identifying marks or did she have any other family?”

“It’s Eli you’re trying to find?” Sally asked.

“Yes,” she answered, as something else started to sink into her brain. “Was any other family in town?”

Sally grimaced. “I don’t think so. Last I heard,… I think the father lived down at the coast. I thought there was something about Eli going off to the coast too.”

“Good enough.” Doreen nodded, then turned to Nan. “I can look up Woodstock and see if we come up with any matches on that.”

Sally clapped again. “That would be lovely if you could, and, please, let me know if any of the information I gave you has helped.”

“I will indeed,” Doreen stated, as she looked back at the two other people now here. “What I really could use is a family member to speak with, or a last name.”

Sally shrugged, but one of the others raised a hand. “Oh, I think there was another child. Eli had a sibling.”

“Right, and that’s the child I need to find,” Doreen said, trying not to push, but feeling desperate for the information. “Boy or girl?”

“Girl,” she replied instinctively, and then laughed. “But I don’t know why or how I would even know that.”

“Of course, but Woodstock as a last name would be a help. Of course it’s the Grandma’s last name, not the kids’.” Doreen told Nan, “Gotta run.”

Nan nodded, then smiled. “Good luck.”

“Yeah, right ,” Doreen muttered. As she got to the police station, she parked outside, and, before she went in, she called Elizabeth Harley, the coroner.

“Haven’t got the results back yet,” Elizabeth said.

“Okay, I have another person you need to test DNA against. If it’s in the database, I mean.”

“Who’re you thinking?”

“I’m thinking the young man who was in there with the female’s body.”

A moment of silence followed, and then Elizabeth asked, “You think the two bodies buried in the same place are related?”

“I’m afraid now that they may be mother and son, or possibly siblings,” she shared. “I just don’t know for sure yet.”

“That’s what DNA is for,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll run it, but no guarantee how long it’ll take.”

“I understand.”

“But now you’ve got me going, so I’ll do this as fast as I can. Hopefully I can get preliminary findings through fairly quickly.”

“I’m heading into the police department now,” Doreen added.

“Oh, why is that?” Elizabeth asked.

“It seems the captain wants to talk to me,” she replied. “I have two theories now, and I just don’t have a way to prove which one it is.”

“So work on one, and, if it doesn’t work, look to the other theory.”

“I know,” Doreen said, with a laugh. “Yet that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll find the answers very quickly.”

“No, of course not.”

As Doreen opened her car door, she tried to figure out why the name Woodstock was sticking in her throat.

Then she remembered. She stopped, gasping, as she turned on her phone and pulled out the woman’s name that she had found in the purse at the park.

Then she called her. As soon as the woman answered, she said, “Hi, this is Doreen. I need to talk to you about the Woodstock family.”

“Oh my gosh,” the woman cried out. “You do know.”

“I don’t know if I know or not,” Doreen acknowledged, “but what I need is for you to tell me the truth.”

“And I’ll tell you the truth,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “but not over the phone. Not like this.”

“Okay, how about I come pick you up?” Doreen offered. “I’m supposed to speak to the captain about all this, but I need to know the truth first.”

“I understand,” Meghan muttered.

“Do you want to come to the police station with me?” Doreen asked her.

“No, no, no,” she replied, sounding frantic. “I don’t want anything to do with the police,” she cried out. “If you’ll make me do that, I won’t talk to you.”

“I won’t make you do that,” Doreen declared, “but, Meghan, we do need answers.”

“Yes, yes, it’s time.”

“Particularly when I know you’re not in great health.”

Meghan sighed. “No, I’m not, and somehow it doesn’t surprise me that you know that too.”

“I do know that there is one chance to clear up some wrongs,” Doreen shared, “so let’s sort that out first.”

“Yes, of course.”

Doreen added, “I’ll meet you at the park in, say,… ten minutes. I’m already driving. Be there soon.”

She called the captain, couldn’t get him, so she called Mack and shared, “Mack, I’m heading to the park first. I may have more answers than I thought, but I need to confirm something.” And then she ended the call, not giving him a chance to answer.

Turning her vehicle around, she headed straight for the park.

If nothing else, maybe today something would go her way, and Doreen would finally get answers for poor Eli.

She suspected it would leave a lot more blanks about something else, but she could only deal with one case at a time.

And Elizabeth was right. If Doreen could solve one of these cases, then she knew exactly what her next cold case would be.

As she headed down the road, Mack called her back.

“Hey,” she answered. “Can’t talk right now. I’m just pulling into the parking lot. But can you see if any Woodstocks are left in town?”

“Woodstocks?” he repeated. “Are you serious? There’s probably a half dozen.”

“Yeah, but are any at…” And she gave him the address.

“Just a minute,” he said in frustration. “One of these days, you’ll learn to be a team player.”

“Not today,” she quipped, then laughed. “Actually it is today, because you’re the one who’s helping me out.”

“Yeah, but remember that it’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“ Cold case ,” she noted, “definitely my territory.”

“We’re supposed to be working together. So, maybe you need to work together. So… Woodstock.… Yes, there is one at that address.… Wait. I know where that is.”

She laughed. “Yeah, you sure do.” And, with that, she ended the call, pulled into the parking lot, and stepped out to see Meghan standing in the park, staring down at the grave.

Doreen walked over to her and smiled. “So, are you ready to tell us what happened to poor Eli and his mother? Or was it Eli and his sister?”

Meghan frowned at her, then looked down at the grave and whispered, “It’s not my story to tell.”

“Maybe not,” Doreen admitted, “but, if it isn’t your story to tell, whose is it?”

At that came a gnarly voice behind them. She turned to face the older man that they had seen here on the very first day, and she nodded. “Hello, Mr. Woodstock. Presumably this is your story.”

He glared at her and grumbled, “You’re nothing but a troublemaker.”

“And I might be,” she agreed. “However, an awful lot of people deserve better than this.” She motioned at the grave in front of her.

“Maybe, but back then there weren’t many options,” he stated.

His wife was at his side, trembling in the cold.

Looking over at her, Doreen asked, “Are you all right?”

She shrugged and shook her head. “No, not really.”

Doreen nodded. “But still, the truth needs to come out.”

“Does it?” she whispered. “I’m not so sure about that.”