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A s Doreen dressed for her walk to Rosemoor, something about a new year always made her want to start fresh. Sure, they were well into January now, but the sense of newness was still there, having some special innate feeling that was different, that separated one year from another. It made her feel as if something extra came with the new year. Whether it was right or wrong, it always seemed as if, maybe, just maybe, something was out there just for her. Some years worked out better in that regard than others, but last year had been one for the books.

Not only had she managed to sell a lot of the antique furniture her grandmother had given her but Doreen had also involved her grandmother in several cold case investigations, making Nan’s final years more interesting and giving her a sense of purpose too. That was important, and, if this was the only way Doreen could give back to her grandmother, then this was what Doreen would do. It was simply a matter of reining in Nan and the rest of her crew at Rosemoor into some semblance of control. Otherwise, wow—when they got out of control, they had the tendency to go off in every direction without a care to any limits. Nan and her merry band of Doreen’s Deputies had become the talk of the town, and, no matter how wary Doreen felt about it sometimes, she loved that it made Nan so happy.

Doreen smiled as she called out to the animals, announcing that they were heading down to Nan’s.

Thaddeus half flew and half stumbled down the stairs, with Goliath swatting at him as he did. Mugs was already at her feet when she turned around, his tail wagging so hard that his big square butt bounced more than it wiggled.

She smiled at him. “Buddy, you might just need to go on a diet.”

He woofed at her several times, and she realized a diet wasn’t all that likely to succeed. Nan would have treats down there at Rosemoor for them, just as Doreen assumed there would be some for her. And honestly, she was looking forward to eating them just as much as her animals were. She chuckled as she raced toward Nan’s. It was cold outside, and there was a bite to the wind. Of all the things that she liked about Kelowna, this wintery stage wasn’t as much fun as she might have hoped, even though it had been warmer than usual.

Not that she had any reason to complain. When she had lived in Vancouver with her husband, Mathew, it had always been wet, wet, wet. There was always such a chill down there just from the dampness, and she had struggled with it. And yet up here in Kelowna with her grandmother, Doreen had adapted to the cold as if life were completely okay. And it was; it was more than okay. She had her work. She had her pets—Thaddeus, Mugs, and Goliath—and she had Nan and Mack. Life was good.

The animals danced around as she headed down the creek. They looked to be completely content with anything and everything she wanted to do this morning. It was hard to argue with that. The animals were always so much fun, and she knew that Nan absolutely loved having them visit her. As Doreen neared the river, she hoped to keep the animals out of it, so she didn’t have them soaking everything at Nan’s apartment. Unfortunately that message seemed completely lost on Mugs. He walked right into the water, determined that it was the best place for him to be.

She groaned. “Mugs, get out of the water. Isn’t it too cold? Plus, you’ll be soaking wet at Nan’s now.”

He woofed at her several times and wandered around closer to the shore. She kept watching, hoping he would decide to come right back out, and he did—eventually. It just took him a little while. When he finally caught up with her, she hadn’t gone too much farther, but his body language suggested, Hey, you’re taking off on me .

She smiled down at him. “I’m not kidding, buddy. We’ve got to go.”

He woofed and gave a big shake, splattering water everywhere, catching Goliath, who swiped at him. Mugs yelped a little bit, jumped back, and Doreen laughed.

“Now you know perfectly well that Goliath doesn’t like water, but you did it anyway. And you did it right there beside him, so it’s hard for me to feel too sorry for you.”

He gave her a look and then raced after Thaddeus, who was still busy half flying and half hopping, strutting down the pathway all on his own.

She sighed. “Thaddeus, don’t go too far.”

Thaddeus just flapped his wings and ignored her.

“Why do I even bother?” she muttered.

She didn’t pass anybody on the pathway. Mind you, most people preferred not to be out in these temperatures and certainly not first thing in the morning. She rarely saw anybody on the river at this hour. She thought maybe once it warmed up more people would appear, but it was hard to say. As she wandered a little farther down, she noted a few people gathering toward the turnoff but wasn’t sure what they were doing. When she saw other dogs with them, she realized they were all just outside, giving everybody a few minutes of fresh air. Still, with Mugs dripping water, it was better to avoid any engagement.

She smiled as she passed them and continued on to Nan’s. As soon as she got to Rosemoor, she headed for Nan’s patio, even though she probably should be avoiding the grassy lawn and going in through the main door. It was always a little bit of a challenge, depending on who was doing the groundskeeping at any given time. Still, it was winter, and no one would be working on the lawns or gardens right now. Plus, Mugs was wet, and taking him in through the main door wasn’t a great idea either.

Doreen danced over onto the patio, waiting for the animals to join her, and then opened up the patio door into the living room that Nan had left unlocked. Doreen smiled at Nan, as she called out, “Good morning.”

Nan came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek. “Aren’t you in a chipper mood this morning,” she noted, as she patted Doreen’s bright red cheeks. “Mack is obviously doing his job and keeping you happy.”

She flushed at that. “Oh, I won’t say that because it falls to me to make me happy too. Yet I’m definitely in a good mood.… Yes, I am.”

“Yes, you are, and I can see that.” Nan nodded, but her gaze was curious as she studied her. “The only thing that ever really puts you in a good mood is Mack and…”

Doreen repeated, “Mack and?”

Nan laughed. “Mack and a new case.”

She nodded. “Mack and a new case, that is correct.”

Nan was absolutely thrilled and clapped her hands gleefully, like a child. “Oh, this is excellent news. We’ll all be thrilled to have a new case.”

“We just finished a case,” Doreen pointed out, “so it’s not as if we needed another case right away.”

“No, but we love getting cases.” Nan chuckled. “Wait until I call the gang over.” And then she saw Mugs. Her face lit up, then twisted in mock horror as she realized he was wet. She grabbed a towel and tried to dry Mugs to his joy, thinking they were playing.

Maisie, one of Doreen’s Deputies, arrived shortly thereafter. Doreen smiled as she sat there with a cup of tea. There were no treats, which surprised her, but considering that she’d had more than enough in the last little while, she was totally okay with it.

When Richie showed up, basket in hand, his cane in the other, Doreen rolled her eyes and added, “You do know I’m perfectly okay if you don’t come with treats one day.”

“Good, because I can’t always guarantee that they’ll be there.” He sniffed. “Can you imagine? These were barely coming out of the oven. You would have thought they would be all prepped and ready by this time of day.”

“Why is that?” Doreen asked him, with a grin. “Just because you’re waiting for them?”

He nodded. “Absolutely because I’m waiting for them. The least they could do is be on time.”

She laughed out loud at that. “I don’t know that it works that way, but good on you for trying.”

He grinned at her, held out the basket, and shared, “I hear we have a new case.” He pumped up his chest, took a seat, resting his cane nearby, and rubbed his hands together. “I can’t wait to get started. It’s pretty boring in this place without cases, you know?”

“What did you do before?” When his eyes twinkled, she held up her hand. “No, no, I’m good. No details, please.”

“Didn’t think you would want to hear more,” he replied, with a smile. “However, anytime you want to talk, it’s not a problem.”

“Oh no, nope, no thank you.” Doreen shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

He burst out laughing. “That’s okay. Mack will get you fixed up, no problem.” She flushed at that and focused on completely ignoring him. He chuckled and let it go. “I shouldn’t tease you, but it sure is fun.”

“No, you shouldn’t tease me,” she agreed, glaring at him. “I really wouldn’t want Mack to be upset by our talk.”

“He wouldn’t be upset,” Richie stated, with a chuckle. “He would just laugh it off.”

“Maybe so,” she muttered, “but I’m not sure I will.”

He grinned at her and shook his head. “Oh, you’re always a good sport.”

“Maybe,” she muttered.

With everybody seated, Doreen went through the basket, placing items on a plate that Nan had brought out. “Are these croissants?” she asked in amazement.

“Seems to be,” he confirmed, as he stared down at them in appreciation. “At least they gave us enough this time.”

“How many people did you say you were feeding?” she asked, with a glance in his direction.

He shrugged. “Four, but then I also told them that you were coming. As soon as I tell them that, they’re all over it, doubling up on the order.”

She sighed.

Richie held up a hand. “I know you don’t like that, but the last thing you want us to do is starve. If our brains are starved of food, we couldn’t possibly work.”

“Aha.” She glared at him. “Does that excuse work for you?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, with a cheeky grin in her direction. “Did it?”

She sighed. “You guys are quite something.”

“We absolutely are,” Nan agreed, with a bright smile in her direction. “Now, tell us about this new case.”

“I’m still waiting to get the file,” she began, “but… the captain has asked me to look into a cold case that’s been sitting at the coroner’s office for a very long time. And because they haven’t had the chance and now don’t really have the time to devote to it, he wondered if I wanted to take a quick look.”

“You said yes, right?” Nan asked.

“Of course I did, but now I’m waiting for the file to come my way. I haven’t gotten it yet, so I don’t have too many details. I just know it’s a box of bones. My understanding is that the bones are from a baby or toddler, found long ago, buried in a garden in a pillowcase, with some teeth marks on the bones.”

“Good God.” Nan stared at her. “They don’t give us much to work with, do they?”

“If they had much,” Doreen pointed out, “they probably would have done this one on their own.”

“Right.” Nan settled into her chair. “We certainly can’t let a lack of information stop us on this one.”

“No, and I’m not planning on it,” Doreen stated, “though obviously we will sometimes come up against cases where we can’t do anything with them.”

“But not this one,” Maisie declared, munching away on a croissant in her corner seat.

“Exactly,” Doreen agreed, “particularly if I’ve been asked by the captain to look into it. We want to put on a good showing.”

“Oh, absolutely. This could lead to all kinds of cases.”

Doreen chuckled. “And you would think, at some point in time, that this town would run out of cases.”

“Oh, I highly suspect a lot of very old cases were never sorted,” Richie noted in that heavy, serious tone of his. “When you think about it, so many things never seem to get resolved. Just knowing that makes you want to go back through every case and confirm we got them all.”

“It’ll be a while before we get there,” Doreen pointed out. “Let’s start with this one. But again, so far, all I really have to tell you is that I believe the bones have been sitting in the coroner’s office for a very long time, so it’s a very old case, and we may not have a whole lot of information to go on.”

“Doesn’t sound as if we have anything yet.”

“No, we don’t, at least not until I get the case file.”

“But that fact that the captain is reaching out to you and giving you this one, now that’s fascinating,” Richie exclaimed, eyeing her in admiration. “You’ve certainly moved up in the world.”

“I think in this case,… it’s more about proving myself helpful in some ways,” she suggested. “I’m sure that both the captain and Mack would put the emphasis on some ways , but there is the potential that the captain appreciates what we’ve done.”

“Exactly.” Nan beamed as she reached for another croissant. “I think it’s absolutely wonderful.”

“I do too,” Doreen replied, with a smile. “Yet we don’t have anything yet.”

“Of course, so we’ll reconvene.” Nan brought out her pen and paper, while looking around at everybody. “How about tomorrow morning?”

“Sure,” Richie said. “I’m guessing I can probably get more croissants tomorrow.”

“Ooh, yeah, if you could do that,” Maisie cried out, reaching for her third one, “it would be wonderful.”

Doreen frowned and asked her, “Maisie, are you feeling okay? You seem really hungry.”

“I fell asleep before dinner last night,” she shared, with a wave of her hand. “So, I woke up starving. If I had known Richie was getting these, I would have been here earlier.”

“I wasn’t here earlier though,” Richie noted amiably. “So, even if you’d been here, it wouldn’t have helped.”

Maisie just waved off that logic as not being her concern. “Maybe, but the truth is, this has been lovely and absolutely what I needed.”

He chuckled. “In that case I’m happy to have made your day.”

Doreen looked over at Richie. “I don’t want you to get into trouble for this.”

“No, I don’t,” he replied. “We all pay our rent around here, so we’re perfectly entitled to eat. Thus, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Sure,” Doreen muttered, “but I don’t pay rent here and don’t want you guys thinking you always have to feed me either.”

“I know, dear,” Nan replied, “and it’s good of you to always worry about such a thing, but we’re also allowed to have guests. Honestly, I don’t think anybody else is worried about it at all.”

“Maybe not, but, as soon as you get new employees or a different manager, they might think that you’re stealing or something,” Doreen pointed out, “and we can’t have that.”

Just then came a knock on the door, and someone poked in their head. One of the staff entered, took one look, and nodded. “So, he was telling the truth.”

Nan frowned at her. “Of course he was. Richie wouldn’t lie.”

“Of course he would,” the woman countered, with a chuckle. She smiled at Doreen and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Rachael.”

“Hi, Rachael. I hope this is okay.”

“It’s fine, but we just never quite know for sure if Richie is, you know…”

“I do know,” Doreen stated, as she rolled her eyes at Richie. “Half the time even I don’t know if he’s telling the truth, but today we are having a little meeting,” she added.

Rachel laughed and nodded. “Okay then, good enough.” And she quickly left.

Doreen looked over at Nan. “It doesn’t seem everybody is a firm believer in this.”

Nan stared at the door, a frown on her face.

Doreen reached over and patted her grandmother’s hand. “It’s fine.”

“She was checking up on us,” Nan declared in outrage, as she turned to Richie. “Did you see that?” Richie nodded, a frown furrowing his forehead. “Did you see that?” Nan repeated to Doreen.

“I did see that, and it’s fine,” Doreen added, still patting her grandmother’s hand.

“What do you mean, it’s fine?” Nan asked in outrage. “How dare they check up on us.”

With a sigh, Doreen sat back. This would likely start something which was exactly what Doreen was trying to avoid. “They do have a significant overhead here, Nan. I’m sure they have to stick to a budget, and, if you’re grabbing treats to this extent, they probably need to know that you’re eating them.”

“Of course we’re eating them,” Nan snapped in horror. “It’s not as if any of us were raised in times when we had so much that we could afford to waste food.”

“Maybe not,” Doreen pointed out. “You also know that a lot of people do all kinds of things that they shouldn’t do, and maybe it isn’t appreciated on their part.”

Nan blinked, then looked at her and asked, “Child, what exactly are you talking about?”

Doreen sighed. “I’m just letting you know that sometimes people do things that they shouldn’t, and we want to confirm that the staff here isn’t worried about whatever you guys are up to all the time.”

Nan blinked, shook her head. “They really have no right to question us.”

Doreen winced. “Maybe we shouldn’t look at it that way. Maybe we should look at it more as…” She glanced around at the three of them, all looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and added, “Maybe they’re just checking up on your welfare.”

Nan sniffed at that. “Nice try, but that’s hardly an improvement.”

“Sorry, but this is an old folks’ home, after all. I hate to rain on your parade, but sadly people occasionally die here.”

At that, Nan’s lips twitched. Then she went off in gales of laughter. “Oh my, I can’t help but see this image of poor Richie here, dying with a basket of extra treats on his chest.”

Richie grinned. “I’m not against that at all. I’ll go out with a bang. If I can’t die in bed, then I for sure plan to die with a full tummy.”

That seemed to set off Nan again.

As her grandmother giggled and laughed, Doreen just shook her head, not exactly sure what she should be doing about this scenario. She may need to step in and talk to management to see if it was okay that she was here, eating their food. The last thing she wanted was to cause them any difficulties.

“It’s fine,” Nan told Doreen, as if reading her thoughts. She tapped her forehead. “I know you, child. You’re already starting to fuss.”

“Me?” Doreen asked, frowning at her. “Here I thought you were the one starting to fuss.”

“Oh, never,” Nan muttered, “but you should grab another croissant. I know how much you like them.”

“Sure, but only if there’s enough for everybody,” Doreen noted, and still there were plenty. She reached for one and had a bite, smiling. “They really are good.” She motioned at Richie.

He nodded as he snagged one. Not to be outdone, Maisie snagged yet one more, and Nan grabbed one too.

When only one was left, they all looked at Doreen, and Nan pointed. “That’s yours, dear.”

“Do I look as if I need more?” she asked humorously.

“Absolutely. I swear to God you’re losing more weight.” Nan stared at her intently, as she looked her up and down.

“I’m fine, Nan,” Doreen muttered.

“You might be fine, but we can’t have you so skinny at your wedding.”

“Why not?” she asked, eyeing the croissant in her hand. “Isn’t that what every girl dreams of?”

“Doesn’t matter about every girl,” Nan stated, “but, for you, it’s always about trying to get weight back on you. As soon as you get on a case, you forget about eating, and all kinds of things happen.”

She smiled at her, kissed her on the cheek, and said, “And I love you too.”

Nan smiled, and tears came to her eyes. “You’ve been such a blessing, my dear.”

Richie nodded. “Without you, Doreen, we would all have died of boredom by now,” he added. “If I’d realized all this work was so much fun, I would have hassled my grandson a lot earlier.”

She winced. “Not sure you should be hassling him now either,” she pointed out. “You could be getting him in trouble.”

Richie shook his head. “I called the captain the other day, asked him if I was bothering people, and the old chap was fine and understanding. He told me it was all good, and we were fine.”

Doreen stared at him. “You did what?”

“I didn’t want anybody to think I was some old dolt, causing trouble,” he explained. “So I went to the source and asked him myself.”

“That was well done,” Nan declared, facing him. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I don’t tell you everything anyway,” he muttered, glaring at her. “Why would I? Besides, I just wanted to feel good about it myself.”

Doreen smiled. “I love that. It’s a great thing.”

“It was. I think the captain appreciated it. I’m not sure that my grandson is all that happy about our work, but I ain’t gonna stop, so he better get happy about it,” he stated, with a smile.

“Did you check with him to see if you were becoming a bother?” Doreen asked him.

“Nope, I sure didn’t,” Richie declared. “Why would I ask anybody who will say yes?” And, on that note, he chomped down on his croissant, and everyone fell silent.