Page 19

?

W hen Doreen woke the next morning, she remained in bed, watching what appeared to be snow falling outside the big bedroom window. She was pinned in by two animals, and—for her, right now—that seemed perfect. She tucked up closer to Mugs, who was stretched out along one side of her. Goliath had found his position atop her legs. Thaddeus was asleep on his perch hanging from her bedroom ceiling. She smiled at them all, as she reached down awkwardly to pet the ones in bed with her. “You guys could find positions that were a little easier to reach, you know?” she muttered.

Neither of them moved. Thaddeus woke from his roost in the bedroom, then squawked and made an awkward attempt to land on the bed, ending up half on Mugs and half on Goliath. Neither appreciated the new arrival. Mugs grunted and rolled over, while Goliath hissed and swatted at the bird. Thaddeus didn’t particularly care. He ignored both of them and walked up Doreen’s chest to flounce down on top of her, looking for his own cuddles.

She smiled as she reached for him as well. “I have no idea what today will bring,” she muttered to all of them, “but it looks to be a good day to stay in bed, if you ask me.”

Mugs yawned and stretched out one paw. She took that to mean yes. Goliath had just closed his eyes and didn’t show any sign of wanting to open them again. “I’ll take that as a yes too,” she muttered.

Thaddeus squawked, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

“I know, big guy. How are you doing?”

“Big Guy, Big Guy, Big Guy, Big Guy.” Thaddeus went off on a tangent about his fellow bird buddy.

“No,” she said, hoping to shut him down as fast as she could. “We’re not going to see Big Guy.”

He glared at her and cried out again, “Big Guy, Big Guy.” Goliath swatted at him again. Immediately Thaddeus hopped higher up so that he was just out of Goliath’s reach, glaring at the cat the whole time. Then he went back at it. “Big Guy, Big Guy, Big Guy.”

She groaned. “If there was ever anything guaranteed to force me out of bed fast, it’s you when you won’t stop caterwauling.”

“Big Guy, Big Guy, Big Guy.”

She sighed, then tried to roll over and realized she couldn’t move at all because of the animals. She sighed. “Okay, fine. We’ll stay here for a few minutes.”

But even just lying here, her mind started working on the issues. Mack had stayed quite late and then had raced home, knowing he had to be prepped and ready for court this morning. She felt so sorry for him. It was obvious that this stage of his job was causing him all kinds of pain. She hoped she hadn’t contributed to it, but it was quite likely that she had. Not that she would change any of her actions, not when it had brought all these people to justice. Yet somehow some of them always seemed to get off. She didn’t really understand that, but, hey, she would still continue doing what she could do.

With a sigh, she disturbed all the animals and eventually got out of bed. As she headed to the dresser, looking for something warm, she found some heavy loungewear that looked cozy. She tossed her pajamas in the hamper and quickly dressed, then flumped downstairs in her big fuzzy slippers to put on coffee. As soon as she checked on her emails, she saw something there from Mack.

Checked this out at the office first thing this morning for you. Have fun .

She opened it up, and he had sent a couple announcements on criminal activities and convictions. Sure enough, one Winters male had been convicted of domestic violence. Buck, of course. She whistled and nodded.

Now she had something. Domestic violence didn’t necessarily mean much, but it did show a violent side.

Then she sent back an email, asking Mack for the cause of death on both daughters—at his convenience. She gave him the two names. She didn’t know whether anybody would be interested in their deaths, but she wouldn’t let that stone go unturned either. Now she needed to find any newspaper clippings or any other information on the daughters’ deaths.

Why hadn’t she thought of that before? She groaned as she shook her head.

She also hoped that the DNA kit came in soon. Then she could deliver that to Rosemoor. However, if it didn’t come in today, her trip to see Richie would have to be pushed back. Frowning, she walked her way through a simple breakfast and then hopped into her vehicle, leaving the pets behind, as she headed to the library, where she could hopefully get some information on Buck’s two daughters.

If nothing else the librarian herself might know something. As Doreen settled in at the microfiche machine, the other librarian on duty came back to see her.

“Hey, you’re here again. Must be working on a case.”

Doreen smiled at her and nodded. “I am. Did you ever hear anything about the Winters family?”

She frowned at her. “They’re a pretty famous family in town.”

“I know. I know,” she confirmed, with a wave of her hand. “There were two daughters, both long dead and gone.”

“Oh, Claudia and Meredith.”

“Yes,” Doreen confirmed, trying to keep her face neutral and her tone calm. “Any idea how they died?”

“I have no idea,” she replied, with a headshake. “I don’t imagine a whole lot of medical assistance was available in Kelowna back then. We probably only had like 150,000 residents at the time, and the Winters family was out on a big piece of property out of town—at least back then it was considered outside the city limits.”

Doreen frowned at the librarian. “We’re still only talking ten to twenty years ago,” she pointed out. “Not the Stone Ages.”

The librarian laughed. “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It seems as if it’s the Stone Ages when we talk about them though, doesn’t it?”

Doreen sighed. “Anyway, I was looking to see if there was anything about their deaths here.”

“You probably could get it from the archives.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do,” she pointed out.

It wasn’t her regular librarian, which added to her disappointment, because that favorite librarian was always a really good source for information. But this one seemed to be more interested in asking Doreen questions, and that was not helpful.

By the time she’d gotten through the microfiche, the little bit that she had found didn’t resemble anything that she had hoped for. She wandered the library for a little bit, looking for a couple books to take home just to read. Then she saw a man standing in front of the librarian’s desk, talking to her. He was sketchy. Something was off about him. She listened to him and realized from the pictures she had seen on the internet that this was the wannabe politician of the Winters family, Clarence Winters.

She tried to study him without being observed, but it wasn’t that easy. He looked over at her once or twice and frowned. When he caught her gaze, she just smiled in a noncommittal way and refocused on the bookshelves in front of her. But her mind couldn’t focus and she had trouble finding anything that interested her—particularly as she was constantly checking to see what he was up to. Not a whole lot else she could do, and if she wasn’t going to spend some time finding something to read for fun, she really needed to just walk out, and that’s what she did.

As she walked past them, she heard him talking about increasing the library’s budget. She rolled her eyes at that. Anybody who listened to that BS was somebody just wanting to be buttered up because honestly, politicians were always quick to spew a whole truckload of promises. Yet, once they got into power, the real game started. They didn’t even understand how things worked until they got into power, and then they realized that the budgets were already 100 percent spent, twelve times over. So, all their little promises were never kept.

She stood outside in the early morning air, considering how her absence so much lately could likely contribute to whatever was bothering Mugs—perhaps all her animals. Maybe it wasn’t even that. Maybe Mugs was just tired these days. She could relate.

She got back into her car, and, as she turned on the engine, she realized that Clarence Winters was walking toward her. He had that smile on his face. Still, she wasn’t exactly sure if he was trying to garner votes or what. She didn’t really know if there was an election coming up. She was always so busy with everything else and hadn’t necessarily gotten involved with that stuff in town. Politics didn’t interest her in any way. Still, she also knew that, if change was to happen, it had to happen at the grassroots level of the people. As he stopped to talk to her, she slowly rolled down her window.

“Hi, I’m Clarence Winters,” he announced, with a big smile. “I saw you in there.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on your conversation. I needed a bit of help from the librarian, but it looked as if you guys would be a while, so I just left.”

“Oh dear, oh no,” he said, waving his hands in a big expansive movement. “That’s not it at all. You can certainly go in and talk to her now if you want.”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll catch her later,” she replied. “It wasn’t important.” Then she looked at him and frowned. “Do I know you?”

He almost preened. “I don’t know. I’m running to be the next mayor in town.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Maybe that’s where I’ve seen you then, on the posters.”

“That could be. It would be nice to think that the posters were working.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“I’m relatively new here,” she shared, “so I don’t know anybody in town. At least the ones I do know aren’t in politics.”

“Right.” He nodded.

It’s almost as if he realized she was fresh blood, so he launched into his soap box about how he wanted to increase the library budget and increase the playgrounds and parks for the kids, making it much more of a family area.

She just listened with half a mind, but, when she got an opportunity, she turned it around. “So, that means you’ve got family here yourself then. I presume you’re one of the old-time families in town.”

He laughed and nodded. “Absolutely,” he stated enthusiastically. “There were four of us kids, but now there’s just the two of us.”

She detected a mock sorrow to his words. “You’ve already lost two siblings?”

He nodded, and this time managed a little more sorrow in his tone. “Yes, my brother and I are the only ones left. We lost my two sisters quite a few years back.”

She nodded. “I’m sure your parents are happy to know that still the two of you are here to carry on the family name.”

“Oh my, yes. My mother has passed, but my dad is still alive,” he shared, with a big merry laugh. “Buck Winters is going strong, a bit of a cantankerous old coot, but he’s still a force,” he admitted. “Yeah, we were terrified of him growing up,” he shared, with a headshake. “Those were the days, and now it’s all about compassion and empathy and completely different parenting. I think they call it gentle parenting.”

There was almost a snideness to his tone. “No clue,” Doreen muttered.

“You don’t have any children?” He eyed her intently.

She shrugged. “Nope, not yet.”

“Are you single?” he asked, his gaze assessing.

“Engaged,” she said, holding up her ring.

“Ah, of course you would be. It’s hard to find any beautiful women around who aren’t hooked up already.”

“Not sure about the hooked-up terminology,” she said, instinctively disliking this man more and more, “but we’re definitely happy to be together.”

“And that’s the way it should be.”

“And with the four of you kids, there must be quite a load of grandkids and great-grandkids for your father,” she added, with a happy sigh. “I do enjoy hearing about big families.”

“Not so much for us.” Clarence waved his hands about carelessly. “We weren’t terribly prolific,” he muttered, as he glanced back at the library. “It’s all in the archives. The family is old-time, and we’ve got all kinds of history.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll look into it a bit.”

“If you’re interested and if you’ll vote,” he began, “all you need to know is that I’m right here and that I’m the guy to take care of your interests.”

“I like to do a little research on my candidates. I know I’m a bit of a dinosaur, but I want ethics and morals and some honor system going on with my politicians.”

“Of course, of course,” he conceded, with a bright smile. “If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask.”

“I might at that,” she replied. “Thank you.”

He turned and walked away, but his steps were rapid, as if he had places to go, people to see.

She wasn’t even sure what it was about him, but just the fact that he was a politician seemed to be enough to get her back up. She drove home, her mind full of all kinds of things, and realized that what she really needed was access to the police records and the obituaries.

On that note, she sent the captain a text message. Can I ask for assistance from someone on this cold case, so I don’t have to bother you all the time?

He called her a few minutes later. “Hey, Doreen. What do you need?”

“I need to know what the two Winters’ sisters died of,” she replied. “I’m not sure how or where you would get that information, but I presume you have something in the database.”

“ Hmm .” She heard the sound of a keyboard clacking in the background. “Both died of heart attacks,” he shared, a few minutes later.

“Heart attacks? Both of them?”

“Yeah, both of them. Why?”

“Lilybeth also died of a heart attack,” she pointed out, and a dead silence came on the other end.

“Oh wow. You really don’t pull your punches, do you?”

“I don’t find that being quiet gets me answers,” she muttered. She wrote down her notes on this. “I guess there’s nothing else in the database, is there?”

“No.”

“ Hmm , so no family doctor listed by any chance?”

“Ah, no, I don’t see that, but you could talk to the coroner.”

“Ooh, I like that idea. And is it the same coroner you currently have, the one I’m working on the box of bones for?”

“Yes, and I think she would be quite interested in talking to you.”

“Lovely. Send me her name and contact details, if you don’t mind, and I’ll give her a quick call and see if I can set up a coffee with her.”

“You do that, but be prepared to have the coffee down in the morgue. She’s married to her work.”

“Got it,” Doreen noted, “and honestly, a tour of the morgue would be right up my alley.”

He groaned. “Oh, Lord, I should probably not even be putting the two of you together,” he said, with a snort. “In a way, you’re two peas in a pod.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” she pointed out. “Besides, I haven’t really been able to make many friends in town. Especially women.”

“She’s the same as you in many ways. Although she’s highly academic and scientific, while you’re driven by some uncanny instincts,” he noted, “be prepared, as she’s always focused and very driven.”

“Right, so academically speaking, we’re definitely not on the same page,” she restated, with a laugh. “And she’s single, which I’m not really anymore,” she pointed out.

“That’s right. You aren’t.” The captain chuckled. “Have you guys picked a date yet?”

“Nope, we sure haven’t,” she replied. “I’ve hardly even shaken off the dust from my last marriage. It’s hard to believe that I only arrived in Kelowna last spring.”

“Yeah, that Mack of ours, he’s a fast worker,” he quipped, with a jovial tone.

She smiled. “Which is also why he knows better than to pressure me to set a date.”

“Ah, and I hear a hint of warning in your tone. Got it.” This time his laughter was big and full.

She smiled. “I’m glad everybody is happy for us. If Nan has her way, it’ll be quite the event.”

“Have it at your place, so you can keep the venue cost down if you want,” he suggested, “but still prepare for a good one hundred people to be coming through there on that day.”

She looked out the kitchen window into Nan’s backyard and noted, “This place might handle that, but it will be touch-and-go.”

“It sure would, but, if it was a lovely day outside, it would be a great place to have a wedding.”

She smiled. “I’m not against that. I just hadn’t really considered it. Yet you’re right. The venues are so expensive.”

“And, if they’re not for you,” the captain added, “you don’t have to do it. The wedding should be for you two and should represent what the commitment you’re making to each other means to you. It’s not about all the pomp and the ceremony, with the right dress and all that. It’s all about the simple things.”

She was surprised to hear that from the captain, of all people.

“It’s about knowing that your life is connecting to Mack’s in all the ways that matter, at a level that nobody else can really appreciate, beyond their own marriages,” he shared.

She smiled at such wholesome advice. “Thank you, Captain. I really appreciate hearing that. The Rosemoor lot is ganging up on me.”

“Of course they are.” He chuckled again. “You’re pretty well obliged to invite everybody from there.”

“I don’t see how I could possibly get away from it,” she agreed. “There’s been talk about having a reception down there too.”

“You could do that as well,” he noted. “If they have the room, that might not be a bad idea. Or you could have an alternate reception for them,” he pointed out. “And, if you’re planning on a honeymoon getaway, don’t forget to remind Mack. I hate to even bring it up, but he’ll need to put in for holiday time.”

“Right,” she noted, “definitely something else to add to my list of considerations.”

“I’m sure we can give him whatever time off he needs, but the sooner, the better in terms of planning everybody’s holidays.”

“I understand,” she said, amused. “It’s one of the nuts and bolts of all this planning, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” he agreed. “Weddings all sound fine and whatnot, but there are some really big nuts and bolts, particularly if you’ll rent a venue. Personally I absolutely love the idea of a fall wedding at your place. With the river and the sunlight, it would be gorgeous. Even the families could bring the kids, and everybody could play in the river.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” she noted. “It would be much more like me, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t know about the kids and the families,” he pointed out, chuckling, “but the relaxed and casual good-friend vibes, definitely.” Somebody called out to him. “Now, as much as I am enjoying this, I’ve got to go.” And, with that, he ended the call abruptly.

She smiled as she phoned the coroner. Elizabeth Harley was the name she had written down. When somebody answered the phone, Doreen stated, “I’m looking for Dr. Elizabeth Harley.”

“If you called this number,” the woman said in exasperation, “I would presume you understood it’s my number.”

“I did dial this number,” Doreen replied, with a note of humor, “but just because you answered this phone doesn’t mean you were the coroner herself. After all, you might have an admin or an assistant or someone who took all your appointments and handled your calls.”

“Who am I talking to?” the coroner asked in crisp tones.

She laughed. “Sorry, I’m Doreen.”

There was dead silence for a moment. “As in Mugs, Goliath, and Thaddeus? Their Doreen?” the coroner asked cautiously.

At that, Doreen burst out into bright, clear laughter. “Absolutely. I am their Doreen ,” she confirmed. “And, if I’m lucky, they’re also mine.”

“Ha, animals will take every ounce you’ve got to give,” she muttered, “but they’ll still retain their own personalities.”

“They will, indeed,” Doreen agreed, still laughing. “And I’m okay with that.”

“Sure, your animals are absolutely nuts,” she muttered, “but they appear to be loyal to you. I have heard so many stories that I feel as if I know them.”

Doreen gave a long-drawn-out sigh. “And sadly those stories were probably all true.”

At that the coroner’s tone warmed considerably as she laughed and laughed. “So, what can I do for you?”

“The captain suggested we meet, since he’s asked me to look into the case involving a child’s body, with those bones resting in a box on your shelf,” she explained. “I’ve already made some progress, though I’m not sure I’ve gotten as far as I can yet. I did have a few questions about the deaths of two women who could be related—meaning related to the dead toddler’s possible family.”

“Good God,” Elizabeth said, fascinated. “You’ve already ID’d the family?”

“Yes, the Winters family.” Then she quickly explained about the child’s DNA that she uploaded and the genealogy results.

“So, the child’s distant relative was related to this Winters family. Can you send me the child’s DNA results?”

“Absolutely,” Doreen said, and she quickly forwarded the email.

The coroner brought it up while they were on the phone. “Oh, that’s interesting, very interesting. Okay, so we have a partial match on the child’s DNA, so definitely in the Winters family, but why did we have the Winters DNA in our database to begin with?” It took a few minutes, and then she muttered, “Ooh.”

“Yes,” Doreen replied, with a smile. “Buck Winters was charged with domestic violence and convicted of it sometime in the past. So, as part of the local investigation, the authorities got his DNA and put it into their criminal database.”

“Right, and I did pull the DNA off this child. Let me see. Wow, it was about eight years ago.”

“And, until I had a DNA match, we didn’t really have a family name or anything to go on,” Doreen shared. “It’s fascinating how the genealogy searches are growing. And to think this all begins when a second cousin was found per the DNA.”

“That’s happening all over the place now, right?”

“The younger generations want to know more about their history, and it’s getting all the older people caught up in their past wrongdoings.”

“Exactly,” Elizabeth noted. “Oh, I found the DNA of Iris Winters in the police database.… Oh my. Now we have a direct match between the unnamed child and Iris Winters, but not to Buck Winters himself, the one with the domestic violence record.”

“I wondered about that. So it’s not his child but seems to be the child of Iris Winters, who is deceased. So, as far as we can tell, that’s where we’re at. I don’t know how we got Iris’s DNA into the database, but I’m sure glad we did.”

“So you’re interested in the two daughters of Buck and Iris Winters. Why?” the coroner asked.

“I was hoping for more information on their deaths.”

“My online death records show they both had heart attacks,” she shared, as she went through files on her computer. “Nothing suspicious.”

“Did you attend those deaths?”

“They weren’t unusual deaths, but the mother had also died unexpectedly of a heart attack.”

“Right,” Doreen noted. “And that doesn’t pull any triggers for you?”

“Women in particular die of silent killers, such as high blood pressure and heart attacks all the time,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s a stroke first, and sometimes they go right into a heart attack, and they die very quickly. That’s one of the reasons why women should be looking after their blood pressure.” After a moment she asked, “How’s yours?”

“I have no idea,” Doreen stated flatly. “The fact that I haven’t been taken out by a dozen assailants already remains a credit to my animals but certainly not to my health.”

“You need to look after that,” she declared, warming up to her subject.

“By the way, there’s was a recent death, a woman’s body, Lilybeth.… Lilybeth, Lilybeth. I’m trying to think of her last name. Chirkoff.”

Elizabeth confirmed, “Oh yes, her body came through here, and I believe the funeral home is picking her up today.”

Doreen asked, “And, to you, that was a normal heart attack?”

Dead silence came on the other end, and then Elizabeth replied stiffly, “Is there something you’re trying to say here, something about my qualifications?”

“No,” Doreen stated, “not at all. While Lilybeth is not any blood kin to the Winters family, she did point the finger at them in connection with Baby Jane in your morgue. So what I am wondering is whether we have someone who’s been getting away with murder for quite a while.” And then she explained her telephone call with Lilybeth right before her death.

“Good God,” Elizabeth replied. “Nobody told me anything about that.”

“I did remind the captain this morning.”

“I do have a couple emails from him in here,” she noted, “but I didn’t really get that as a message.”

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to know about the Winters sisters. So, we now have three women, all in the Winters family, all dying of heart attacks, so all could be genetic.”

“That’s absolutely how genetics work,” Elizabeth stated. “Yet, with Lilybeth having also passed so suspiciously and quickly from a heart attack, that worries me a little. Since she’s not related to the Winters family, it would not be a death based on the Winters’s genetics.”

“True. I understand there are drugs on the market these days,” Doreen began, “drugs that can bring on heart attacks. So, I guess I’m asking if you could possibly take a sample of Lilybeth’s blood, tissue, or whatever you need, and test for any of the drugs that might have done that.”

“Her representative didn’t want anything disruptive done to her body.”

“Right,” Doreen muttered. “I don’t know what her family might be like, but wouldn’t they be worried if some suspicions surrounded her death?”

“ Great ,” Elizabeth replied. “I think the funeral home is due to be here anytime, so I’ve got to go.” And, with that, she disconnected.

Doreen stared down at her phone. If Mack had been available, she would have called him and filled him in on that conversation. While she felt the captain would be very interested, he was also very disconnected. But, then again, he was running the entire department, whereas Mack, being Mack, was just trying to keep her out of trouble. She smiled at that, and almost instinctively, as if he understood, Mack phoned. She answered it in a bright, cheerful voice.

His tone, however, was much less cheerful. “What are you up to?”