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D oreen did stop for a nap and did sleep. She rolled over and sighed at that revelation, since she had stretched out on her bed just to think for a few minutes. Something was so nice about being able to lie down on a bed, knowing that you don’t have to do anything and that you’ll still make it one way or another. As she stretched out her arms and legs, she realized that all her pets were holding her down.

She groaned as she cuddled up to Mugs and asked, “Do you think we should be getting up now?”

He gave a gentle woof , and she smiled, hugging him close.

“You really are a special love bug,” she murmured, up against his chest. “Not sure how I ever got so lucky.”

And she really didn’t know, since Mathew hated the dog yet had allowed her to have him. Something was so very special about having Mugs in her life that made everything so much easier. As she softly stroked his nose and his ears, Goliath rolled over and gently placed his claws on her arm and tucked in to remind her that he was here too.

“You guys are right. I do feel guilty,” she muttered. “And yet I don’t know what else I could have done.”

She did feel as if she had messed up with Lilybeth somehow, and it didn’t make her feel good at all. Somehow that poor woman had died, and Doreen was certain it was a consequence of something that happened at Riverdale. Maybe Lilybeth had asked for the paper to write the letter on, or maybe somebody had heard her handing off the letter to the receptionist.

Pondering that, she picked up the phone and called to speak to the same receptionist who had given her the letter.

As soon as she identified herself, the woman replied, “Oh, it’s you again.” An odd note filled her tone.

“It is me,” Doreen confirmed cautiously. “Is there a problem?”

“Not a problem per se, but management is not very happy about the letter.”

“Why?” she asked.

“They just don’t want to be involved in something like that.”

“Something like what?” she asked. “It’s not as if Lilybeth was involved in anything, unless you read the letter.”

“No, no, no, I didn’t read the letter,” she stated.

Yet Doreen thought the receptionist denied reading Lilybeth’s letter way too fast for Doreen to believe her. Still, Doreen listened as the receptionist continued her tirade.

“It’s not as if I’ve had five minutes of time anyway.”

“So, what do you mean by involved in anything like that ?” Doreen asked, trying hard to corral the suspicion in her tone, but recognizing that she was failing.

“Lilybeth told me.”

“What did she tell you?”

“I don’t think I should tell you.”

“Considering that I’ve already taken the letter to the police, and I can just as easily ask them to come down and talk to you,” Doreen stated with a little more force than intended, “it would be appreciated if you would just tell me what she told you.”

“Police?” she repeated in a faint voice.

“Yes, the police.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yes,… oh dear is right.”

“It’s just that she mentioned a wrong had to be righted, and she’d been waiting all her life to figure out how to do it and thought that maybe this time she could get it done.”

“Did she explain what it was?”

“No, she didn’t,” she snapped. “And that’s all I have to say on the matter.”

“That’s fine,” Doreen stated. “That’s enough.”

“It is?” the receptionist asked cautiously.

“Yeah, it makes perfect sense.”

“I’m glad you think so,” she muttered. “She didn’t sound all that clear when I talked to her.”

“Lilybeth was dealing with the pressure of age, not so much guilt but the idea that her time was running out.”

“Oh, we do get that here because the residents have so many regrets. I keep telling them that it’s well past the time to fix it.”

Doreen laughed. “That hardly seems like something to tell an elderly person facing death in the foreseeable future.”

“Well, if they really wanted to fix things, they should have done it when they were in better shape to do so.”

“I think people tend to put off the hard things, hoping they won’t have to deal with it. Then, as they get older and older, they realize it’ll still be there, and it’ll still bother them.”

“That’s precisely my point. They shouldn’t have done whatever it was in the first place.”

It must be nice to be so righteous , Doreen thought. But, for her, it was never quite so black-and-white and never quite so easy to consider.

“I have to get back to work,” the receptionist added. “I hope that’s all. I don’t want to deal with this anymore.”

“It will be all unless the police need something,” Doreen said cheerfully.

“There’s no reason for the police to come here at all,” the receptionist stated in a shrill tone. “I’ve told you everything.”

“Good, and, in that case, I thank you for your assistance. Have a good morning.”

It was obvious that the receptionist wasn’t impressed, but Doreen had gotten used to not making people’s days. Honestly, plenty of times people were just pissed off by the time she left. She shrugged and headed back to the kitchen, looking at the coffeepot, then realized she should probably just head straight down to Nan’s. With any luck, they could put some of these issues to rest as well.

And, with that, she loaded up the animals, still feeling a little on the tired side. It was not so much tired as maybe… Hmm , she pondered what it was, as she walked down the creek. The needed word skipped her mind as to what she was feeling. As she approached Nan’s patio, the door opened, and she walked inside.

Nan asked her if she was okay.

“Melancholy,” she shared, as she looked at Nan. “That’s the word I’m looking for.”

Nan raised her eyebrows. “Who’s melancholy?”

“Me,” she claimed. “It’s not so much that I’m tired. I guess I’m more in a melancholy mood.”

“If you say so,” Nan murmured, as she hurried her inside. “Not sure why you should be though.”

“Yeah, but you see? That’s the thing. There isn’t necessarily a need behind this feeling. It just is. A woman died, and I don’t know whether that was supposed to happen or if it was just an accident.” She shook her head, collecting her thoughts, but she was all over the place. “It does feel very much as if people got involved and hurt Lilybeth, when there was absolutely no need.”

“If there was no need, then why would they do it?” Nan asked, frowning at her.

“Because the one thing that I do know is,” she replied, warming up to the subject, “people are lazy and only would have done that to shut down Lilybeth, especially if she absolutely knew something. But then again, maybe they didn’t know about the letter,” she pointed out.

Nan had crouched to the floor, busily greeting the animals. She looked over at Doreen and added, “Times like this are when I worry and think you shouldn’t be doing this kind of work.”

Doreen waved her hand, dismissing the concern. “And I get that,” she said. “It’s also one of the reasons why sometimes it’s a little harder to sort everything out. It’s not so much that I’ve done anything wrong. It’s just, when you think about what people do to each other,” she explained, “it hurts.”

“People will do things that can hurt each other, some on purpose and some not,” Nan shared. “The trick is to not let them hurt you.”

That was the logic according to Nan, and then the rest of the crew arrived.

Their whole meeting seemed off. Nan, Maisie, and Richie all seemed older today. By the time Doreen stepped outside and headed back up the creek again, the same melancholy sense prevailed. The clouds had gone gray, and an eeriness filled the sky around her. She looked up and around, then muttered to the animals, “Seems a storm is coming. Let’s see about getting home a little faster.”

And, with that, she picked up the pace, the animals almost running at her side. She had Thaddeus tucked up into her neck, and by the time she made it to her property and crossed into her backyard, she really felt a chill, as the wind picked up. She shuddered and raced to the kitchen door, then opened it and bolted inside, slamming it behind her. The animals milled around, as they shook off the dampness from outside.

“I don’t know what that was,” she noted, as she took off her jacket and stared outside. “It’s definitely a weird weather pattern right now.”

Weird was one thing, but a weird weather pattern was completely different. She frowned as she moved from the kitchen area through to the living room and checked out the front window. Everything was normal out there.

With a sigh, she put on the teakettle, even though that was the last thing she wanted, after all the tea during her visit with Nan. This had been the first time Doreen had wondered at just how fast everybody appeared to be aging, and that was another depressing thought.

As soon as she settled in one of her two living room chairs, she remembered her discussion with Mack about furniture. He was such a big man, and she really did need to do something about getting furniture so that he could sit comfortably here too. Or maybe he has some he wanted to move over. She’d have to remember to ask him about that.

It was such a strange feeling to think of having him here all the time. He’d barely been here all week because of the court case, and she understood that. Yet it was strange to think that she needed to do something like that for him, as he would probably not feel comfortable enough to do it on his own. And why would he?

Just because she expected him to go make a furniture purchase for her house because that’s what her ex would have done didn’t mean that’s what Mack should do. He just wouldn’t. It was her house, after all, and he would never cross that line.

She sighed and almost immediately her phone rang.

“Good,” Nan declared, “now we’re alone.”

“What are you talking about?” Doreen asked.

“Richie shared something with me that he didn’t want anybody else to know about. So, I had to wait until everybody left, but I couldn’t get rid of Maisie.”

“I was wondering what was going on down there,” Doreen noted. “It was definitely an odd visit.”

“It was an odd visit, and I apologize for that,” Nan said briskly. “Yet at least you know that we’re taking all our work seriously.”

“Okay.” Doreen frowned at that.

“So Richie was involved with somebody way back when.”

Doreen rolled her eyes. “Of course he was.”

“Don’t be disrespectful,” Nan said in a chiding tone. “We’ve all lived very long lives, you know?”

“Of course you have.” Doreen sighed. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful to either of you. I just appear to have trouble doing anything in this town without coming up against one of your former relationships.”

“It’s to be expected,” Nan declared. “Wait until you’re our age, and you’re dealing with the same thing.”

“I hope not. At least not now that I’m engaged to Mack.”

“There is that,” Nan agreed in delight.

Doreen frowned, as if Nan suddenly remembered how a real relationship was supposed to work. Doreen just shook her head and sighed. “Okay, so who did Richie have an affair with that he didn’t want anybody to know?”

“Richie specifically doesn’t want his family to know about it.”

“You mean, he doesn’t want Darren to know about it?”

“I would think so, yes,” she declared, with a snort.

“And here I thought everything was more of a conquest for him.”

“He’s had a bit of a change of heart about that. He wants his family to think well of him when he’s gone.”

“You don’t think they will?” she asked.

“I think they will, but you know.… When we get older, we change how we view life.”

“If you say so,” Doreen replied calmly.

“I know so. We all do things in our youth. Then later in life, when we look back, we see that maybe it wasn’t the best thing we ever did.”

Doreen waited, but Nan didn’t have anything else to offer. “Okay. So who did Richie have an affair with?”

“I got the impression that he might have had an affair with the mother of the Winters clan, and her name was Iris.”

“Iris?”

“Yes, the old man was Buck, and Iris was his wife.”

“And you think that Richie may have had an affair with Iris?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Doreen considered that for a long moment, and then she asked, “Do you have any idea if there happened to be a child out of that relationship?”

“I don’t know,” Nan replied.

This confirmed Doreen’s thought in her own mind. “Yet it’s possible?”

“But we don’t know for sure.”

“Good God, Nan, let’s get to the real question. Is there any chance this unidentified child in the morgue could have been Richie’s daughter?”

Nan took a deep breath and muttered, “I don’t know, but it’s possible.”