Page 36 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

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D oreen sat in Meghan’s living room, as the crew came and went. Arnold stopped, looked at her, shook his head, and headed upstairs. She groaned, knowing that, as far as she was concerned, this was her fault.

“It’s not your fault, you know,” Elizabeth said from the doorway.

Doreen looked up and winced. “How did you know I was thinking that?”

“It’s not hard since you’re sitting here as if somebody just murdered your grandmother.

” Elizabeth grimaced. “And even when we have to do guesswork, like this,” she added, “it still takes something to lead us to the right answers. Like this crime scene.… Instinct is a lot of police work,… yes, you seem to be using that in overdrive. I’m still not sure what is going on here,” Elizabeth admitted, “but it could have been a suicide or it could be murder. I’ll have to do a full workup first.”

“Sleeping pills,” Doreen muttered.

“Yes, that would be my guess, but we won’t say that until we know for sure. I want to be certain before I pass any judgment on it.”

“Of course.” Doreen gave her a smile, but it was a sad smile.

Mack walked into the room, looked at her, and said, “I have to stay here.”

She nodded. “I’ll just sit outside in the garden for a little bit.” She returned to the truck for the animals, knowing Mack was worried about her, then went outside to sit and commune with nature for a few minutes, maybe berate this life that had her getting here just a little too late.

She already knew the body was still warm. She already knew that she could have saved Meghan’s life, but Doreen had missed that opportunity. Mack stepped out behind her. “You know that this isn’t your fault.”

She smiled at him. “I know that you guys will all tell me that, but I still feel that it’s my fault.”

“No. It’s not. I don’t know what’s going on, and neither do you.

We’re doing as much guesswork as we possibly can to solve this, but that doesn’t mean that we have answers yet,” he explained, “so give yourself a break. Realize that this is part of the job. We make decisions. They’re not always the easiest, and they’re not always correct,” he shared, “but we still have to get up and come back the next day and do it all over again.”

She smiled at him. “And it just makes me appreciate you all that much more,” she murmured. “Because it takes a special person to do this day in and day out, and, right now, I’m just sorry I ever heard about this case.”

“That’s what happens when all that excitement turns to work, and all the joy turns to sadness, and you realize just what’s going on. We still don’t know what’s going on, and, while you might have an idea, you could be completely wrong.”

She nodded. “I could be.… The sad part is, I’m pretty sure I now know what’s going on, but I didn’t put it together and get here in time to save her.”

“Elizabeth also doesn’t know if this was suicide or murder yet.”

Doreen nodded. “I get that too. It would be nice if you found a letter or something in there. A letter would explain a lot.”

“Would it?” he asked. “Or would it just completely confuse the issue?”

“I’m sure you’ll look, and, if you see something, you can always let me know,” she murmured.

“I’ll see. It’s you I’m worried about right now.”

She looked at him, then shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“No,… you’re not. You’re not fine at all.

You’re worried that you could have prevented this.

Even worse, you’re worried that you caused it, and I’m here to tell you,…

you didn’t . People do what they do, all on their own.

They have free choice and free will, and that has nothing to do with you.

So,” he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss and added, “just rest here for a bit, and then I’ll take you home. ”

She watched him turn and walk back into the house.

She got up, headed farther into the garden to the outdoor table and chairs with the animals, but then couldn’t sit still so just wandered the yard.

Surely she could have done something to make good on this.

It all just seemed to be a colossal failure at the moment.

And, with that, she sat down on the grass, leaned against the fence, and just watched as the chaos from the house proceeded at a much more organized pace, but still one that contained all the fury and craziness of a murder. She heard sounds from the other side of the fence—whispers.

As she strained to hear more, Mugs started barking, and she quieted him down.

It could be just noisy neighbors, or it could be anything.

When a face popped over the top of the fence, she wondered.

She crept closer, as Goliath hopped up on the fence and walked along the top.

When she heard a meow and a hiss, she took a look over the fence and found Goliath.

A man stared at her and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Doreen said. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

He glared at her, then turned and walked away. But something was uncannily recognizable about him, and she called him back. “Hey, do you live around here?”

“Yeah, sure,” he muttered.

“Why don’t you come back and talk to me?”

He lifted a specific finger in the air, basically saying, Absolutely no way .

Then she smiled and nodded. As she sat back down again, she heard something else.

A howl from the shrubbery. “Goliath, Goliath,” she shrieked.

She lifted Mugs and dropped him softly on the other side of the fence to help.

Then she clambered over it herself. And the two of them raced to the bushes, where some cat fight was going on.

Then all of a sudden Goliath strode out, looking for the world as if he had just beaten something up.

She stared at him in shock. “Are you okay?” she cried out.

He just stared at her as if to say, Don’t be ridiculous . But he had something in his mouth.

As Doreen got closer to him, Goliath dropped his find at her feet, a pill bottle, while some other cat took off through the bushes. She stared at the bottle, stared at the proximity to Meghan’s house, then called Mack on her phone.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Goliath found a pill bottle just over the fence.”

“What are you talking about?” Mack looked out from the bedroom window.

Doreen waved at him, showing where she was, holding up a pill bottle. “Goliath found it.”

“What do you mean, Goliath found it?” he asked in exasperation.

She shrugged and looked up at him. “I think Elizabeth should test this.”

“I’m sure you do,” he said. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He raced out, and it didn’t take much for him to hop over the fence. He looked at the pill bottle and shook his head.

“Some guy was trying to ask me questions, but I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Good. Where is he now?”

“He took off.”

“Of course he did. Any idea if he’s the one who dropped the pill bottle?”

She looked at him and frowned. “I don’t know.”

“You need to show me where the pill bottle was.” Mack quickly took some photos of the location of the pill bottle.

As he glanced around, he added, “The cap is here too.” Immediately he took photos of that, held it up, and then put the two together and nodded.

“This could help, at least if we can prove that it had something to do with murder anyway. It does say it had sleeping pills in it.”

“Yeah,” Doreen agreed, “but look at the name on the prescription bottle.” He stared at it and swore. She nodded. “It’s the same couple.”

“But why on earth?… No, hang on a minute. There are all kinds of reasons.”

“Yeah, there sure could be. Maybe Meghan asked him if they had any pills, or maybe she told them, Hey, I want to off myself. Do you have any sleeping pills I can add to my portfolio? ” she suggested in a caustic tone.

“Or maybe they came over to have a confab about me accusing them of something and then dropped the pills into her tea or whatnot. I don’t know,” she muttered, glaring at him, “but obviously it’s important. ”

“It is definitely important,” he confirmed, with a nod. “Okay, I’ll get this into evidence.” He looked at her and added, “Then I’ll take you home right after this.”

“I’ll just take Mugs for a bit of a walk around,” she shared. “I think he’s a little out of sorts that Goliath found something, and he didn’t.”

Mack just shook his head and added, “Stay close, please.”

“Will do.”

Not really wanting to climb back over the fence, she turned and headed in the direction that the young man had gone.

Of course, he wasn’t that young. He had to be fortysomething.

Mugs was tugging her faster and faster, and she raced behind him, knowing that he was on the scent of something.

As she followed Mugs out to the street again, she realized they were on a cul-de-sac, with no way out.

She stopped, looked around, and nodded. “Okay. So you brought me here,” she murmured. “Did you realize that’s what you were doing?”

Just then the same man appeared in front of her, frowning. “What are you doing here still?”

“I found your pill bottle in the bushes back there.”

He paled and glared at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah? That was one of the parts that confused me, and I didn’t understand how anybody in their condition could do all this, or why they even would.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the stranger snapped, “and you need to just shut up and leave me alone.”

“I’m not really very good at that,” she noted, staring at him. “I mean, if you knew me better, you would understand that I am a challenge for everybody in my circle of friends.”

“You’re not in my circle of friends,” he declared, “and I can’t say I would ever want you in my circle of friends. So I really don’t care what you have to say.”

She smiled at him and added, “I think you will care. So, are you a Woodstock or are you a Blackwell?”

He frowned at her and then glanced around. “That’s not funny.”

“I don’t see anything funny about any of this,” she said. “I don’t know what your role is in any of this, other than the muscle man, but none of it is good news.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he muttered. “You need to get out of my face.”

“Maybe,” she conceded, “maybe I do. You can bet Mack would tell me that I need to.”

“Mack who?” he asked. “Lady, are you okay? Do you need to be hospitalized or something?”

She smiled. “Lots of people would say so.”

Then she heard something she was already half expecting.