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D oreen drove down to Riverdale and parked, then walked into the front of the building, happy to see a completely different receptionist. She smiled at her as she brought the animals in. The woman looked at her, raised her eyebrows, and stated, “Sorry, no animals allowed.”

But Mack was right behind her.

“We need them,” he stated briskly, as he held up his badge.

The woman frowned at him, then eyed the badge and nodded. “You’re looking for Lilybeth’s room, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not going anywhere else, right?”

“No, we’re not going anywhere else,” Doreen confirmed.

She frowned and added, “Could you at least take the animals outside and enter through the patio then? At least that will keep the hair away from the residents who might have allergies.”

As that was a reasonable request, Doreen nodded. “I can do that.”

The receptionist led Mack away, while Doreen headed back outside, trying to figure out in her mind exactly where Lilybeth’s room was. When one of the patio side doors opened as she was out searching for Lilybeth’s room, she was relieved to see Mack and raced over to him. As she stepped into the room, she looked at him and stated, “That was a reasonable request on her part, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t cause any issue over it, but come on in. Let’s take a look around.”

As it was, Lilybeth’s room was clean, neat, and tidy.

Mack noted, “I did ask the receptionist about the turnover rate, and she stated that it was being rented at the end of the month, which is in another ten days,” he noted. “And although Lilybeth’s representative has been informed, as far as the receptionist understood, nobody had been to clean it out yet.”

“That makes sense,” Doreen muttered. “She did just pass on.”

He looked at her and nodded. “Did you say that Lilybeth had no living next of kin but had appointed a representative for her estate, a nurse, someone who works here?”

“Yes, Tabitha, the other receptionist, who is part of the Winters family,” Doreen noted. “I’m surprised this receptionist didn’t say that.”

“She might not know, and, if you think about it, there would be some benefits to having a nurse, working in this place, as your designated agent.”

“I don’t think Lilybeth got any benefits for having Tabitha as her representative. I think Tabitha got perks because she was blackmailing people,” she shared.

He shook his head. “You do know how to find the buried secrets.”

“I didn’t mean to though,” she wailed.

“I know,” he said, “and that’s the funny thing with you. It seems as if it just happens naturally.”

Focusing on the room, Doreen looked around and pointed out, “It’s almost as if it’s unlived in.”

“It is unlived in now.”

“You know what I mean.” She turned around the room. “It’s as if no personality is here.”

“What was Lilybeth like?”

“ Um .” Doreen frowned, as she thought about it. “Tabitha called her militant . Lilybeth definitely had a personality, but maybe not necessarily a nice one.”

He nodded and swept one hand about the room. “And this is what was left. Nothing at the end of the day. So, if she was blackmailing anybody, it was probably more to keep her spot here, so she wouldn’t get put out on the street.”

“The government would have found her a home, I’m sure,” Doreen noted.

“And maybe the home was trying not to get into trouble over her.”

“Maybe, but there are rules, and, if you break them, they will send you off to some other place, and that could be all that Lilybeth was trying to do—just live out the last of her days here. I think when I saw her, she was feeling… defensive, very much as if she’d made a lot of mistakes in life, and this was just one more.”

“Oh, that’s possible,” Mack agreed, “absolutely possible. If she was having second thoughts, maybe she mentioned something to somebody.”

“Maybe,” she murmured.

They quickly searched the bed and the dresser and a small closet and a bathroom. By the time she was done, Mack was just coming out of the little kitchenette area.

She frowned, looked back at the bed, and said, “That bed’s got to have more storage in it.”

He looked at her and nodded. “Let’s take another look.”

He quickly lifted up the mattresses, one by one, and only when they got down to the very bottom did Doreen cry out, “Aha.” As he peered under the mattress, still holding it up with his big arms, she pulled out an envelope from underneath and lifted it up for him to see. Mugs sniffed it and started barking.

Mack took a smell of it and sighed.

“What is it?” Doreen asked.

“Smells like weed, but I can’t be sure.”

And, indeed, the envelope had a little bit of powdery stuff in the bottom. “She can’t have that in here though, even if it’s legal in Kelowna.”

“I think it’s just the remnants in the envelope.” A note was inside, which Mack pulled out and began to read. “ If you find this envelope, it’s not mine. It belongs to somebody who’s made so many errors in this life, so many mistakes. He has caused so much pain that I hope he gets everything that’s coming to him when he finally hits the afterlife. I may not deserve to go to heaven myself because I have also made many mistakes .”

The letter went on and on, and Mack sighed. “It’s like the ramblings of a very tired mind.”

“Right, but does she actually say who she is talking about?”

As he continued to read, he stopped and read out loud again. “ And, in case you’re wondering who I’m talking about, it’s old Buck. That man has caused so much pain and so much terror, and I swear to God he’s killed at least four people. That’s what happens when you keep secrets. Once you keep one, you have to keep them all because people find out, and they blackmail you. I gave him a dose of his own medicine to come and stay here because I can’t stand the thought of being alone out on the street. I don’t know what would happen to me if I wasn’t here .

“ I’m pretty sure he killed a child, his wife, and both his daughters, in that order. And, if it wasn’t him alone, it was him and his sons. Not one of them respects women. Not one of them sees any point in sharing a mother lode of inheritances if they don’t have to. I do worry about the younger generation and how they seem to think they’ll get something out of this. Something will happen to them, and it’ll happen to them way before they expect, and it’ll just be sadness all around. But I can’t stop it, as I can’t even help myself. Dear God, I just hope I’m not around when it happens .”

Mack shrugged, turning to her. “It’s hardly a confession.”

“Maybe not,” she muttered, “but it’s a heck of an accusation.”

He nodded. “And you know what accusations are too.”

“Right,” she muttered, scratching her nose. “They are worthless unless we have proof. Are you telling me there isn’t anything in here we can use?”

“We can try, but, once the family gets wind of what’s here, there’ll be a bloodbath.”

“Maybe, but what about the receptionist, Tabitha? She’s family, and the younger family are all about looking to get a windfall and then getting out of town. At least according to Sandra.”

He turned and frowned at Doreen. “That’s Tabitha then, the receptionist here, the younger generation mentioned in this letter? The legal representative for Lilybeth?”

“Yeah, that would be Tabitha,” Doreen confirmed. “And, according to this letter, I presume she could be the next one to get into trouble.”

“But the old man won’t kill her, right?” Mack asked.

“No,” she said, turning to look at him, “but that just means it’ll be up to one of the two brothers.”

“Clarence, the politician?”

“Or Carl, the big businessman,” she noted. “And, if we can’t prove which one, we won’t prove it at all.”

“I know,” he muttered, studying her. “But I’m really glad you appear to have picked up some Criminal 101 stuff.”

She smiled at him. “You’re a good teacher.”

He laughed, and then the door opened, as old Buck sat there in his wheelchair, with Clarence at his side.

“Look at that,” Buck began, staring at them. “What are you doing here?”

Mack held up his badge. “We’re investigating a murder,” he replied. “And you two are the ones we want to talk to.”

Clarence started to bluster. “What are you talking about? I didn’t have anything to do with this, and I won’t stand here and allow that kind of talk. That kind of talk can destroy careers.”

“It can also destroy lives,” Doreen noted, with half a smile.

“Where’s your brother?” Mack asked Clarence.

“Last I heard, he was off in China doing something,” Clarence replied.

She stared at him for a long moment. “When was the last time you talked to your brother, Mr. Winters?”

He frowned at her. “It’s been a while. We haven’t been close.”

“Maybe not,” she noted, “but I really need to know when you last saw him.”

Mack stepped up beside her and reached out a hand. She grabbed his hand and squeezed hard.

Doreen continued. “It occurs to me that he’s been missing, and he’s been missing for quite a while.”

Clarence glared at her. “If he’s missing, we would have heard from his office, and there would be an investigation. But it wouldn’t be happening here because he wasn’t here when he went missing.”

“ When he went missing?” Doreen repeated.

“ If he went missing,” Clarence immediately clarified.

She stared at him and nodded. “I guess a fair bit of money would be involved in an inheritance, wouldn’t there?” Clarence did his best to look innocent and shocked that she would even ask the question, but she was on to him now. “I wondered which one of the two of you it would be. Then I realized I had never even seen Carl. He’s not in town, and everybody just says he’s off on business. How long has he been missing?”

When Clarence refused to answer her questions, she turned and looked at the old man. “And you’re really okay with that, huh ? You’re okay with one son taking out the other, so Clarence gets everything he wants, while everybody else just dies off?” She stared at Buck. “So how on earth are you okay with that?”

The old man stared at her for a long moment, then slowly turned to look at Clarence. “I don’t know what she’s talking about, Clarence, but where is your brother?”

“Heck if I know,” Clarence stated cheerfully. But there was an edge to his tone as he glared at Mack and Doreen. “You still need to explain what you’re doing here.”

“I don’t have to explain anything at all,” Mack declared. “However, we do want some answers, and you can start with that question.”

Buck Winters slowly turned, looking at Clarence again. “Where is your brother?”

“I don’t know where he is,” Clarence snarled. “If I knew, I would tell you.”

Buck studied him for a long moment. “I haven’t talked to Carl in a very long time.”

“Neither have I. And I told you that.”

“You told me that you had a bit of an argument and that he took off.”

“What was that argument about?” Doreen asked. “I want to know, but I’m already pretty darn sure the argument was all about money—all about money for your political career, all about money to push your agenda into politics, right?” she asked. “It takes a lot of money to do that. But Carl wasn’t into that, was he? He wasn’t into your wasting money on running for a political position, was he?”

“He only cared about business,” Clarence stated, staring at her. “And he’s entitled to care about what he wants to care about.”

“He is,” she agreed, with a nod. “The thing is, I don’t know where he is, and, until you can bring him forward so we can talk with him, I’m wondering if you didn’t follow in your father’s footsteps and do something to Carl.”

For the moment, as Clarence glared at her, he hadn’t really registered the insult about his father. But, when he did, he turned to look down at the old man, then back at her and asked, “What are you talking about?”

She smirked at old Buck. “You didn’t tell him?” she asked in a mocking tone. “You didn’t tell him that you murdered his mother? You didn’t tell him that you murdered his sisters? Why is that?” she asked. “I thought this was all about togetherness, the two of you.”

Clarence turned and frowned at his father, as the old man continued to glare at Doreen.

Doreen continued. “But you’re okay if he murdered your son, right?”

“He did not murder my son,” Buck declared in a harsh tone. Then he turned to Clarence. “Please tell me that you didn’t kill your brother. Dear God, please no.” Clarence just stared at him, and the old man started to rant and rave. “Good God. How could you do that? We need him. Don’t you understand? He’s the only one who ever understood the business. He’s the only one who kept the company afloat. Without him, we’re nothing. How could you do that?”

She took a step back as the two of them started in, insults flying like crazy, and she realized that Mack had his phone out, recording it all. She beamed as she watched the chaos she’d created take the place by storm.

Finally the men fell silent, and Clarence glared at her and Mack. “You repeat this, and it’s clearly hearsay. None of that will ever get even close to being allowed in court,” he stated in a smooth tone.

“Of course not,” Doreen said. “Do you really think the court cares about the fact that you murdered your brother for the inheritance or the fact that your old man killed his wife and killed his daughters, even his illegitimate one?”

Then she turned to Buck and smiled. “The little one you killed wasn’t your blood daughter.” Then she turned her attention back to Clarence. “So maybe Clarence murdered his sisters. Maybe that was all about you.”

He just stared at her, his jaw working.

She nodded. “After all, why would you share an inheritance like that? It would have been all yours, and all you needed was your brother to agree to your political career,” she suggested, with a smile.

“You need to just shut up,” Clarence snapped.

But the old man turned and grabbed Clarence’s hand and repeated, “Tell me that you didn’t kill your brother.”

“You don’t even care about the rest of the family, do you?” Clarence asked, turning on Buck. “It was always all about Carl.”

“It was always all about Carl because Carl actually understood business,” Buck snapped. “Carl kept us going when things got bad. Carl bailed us out, remember?”

“I wanted to go into politics,” Clarence stated. “I wanted to be somebody.”

“You didn’t need to kill Carl to be somebody ,” Buck snapped.

“He didn’t want to spend the money on my political campaign. He said it was a waste of time and energy.”

“And it was,” Buck agreed, staring at Clarence, then Buck slumped in his wheelchair. “I can’t believe you killed my boy,” he muttered, tears in his eyes.

“Yeah? What about me? I’m your boy too.”

“Yeah, you’re my boy all right—in more ways than one.” He turned to Doreen. “How did you figure all that out?”

“All because of the bones that you buried in the garden all those years ago,” she began. “That little girl had a story to tell, and we finally have the technology to catch up and to tell it.”

“That little girl,” he muttered, “wouldn’t stop crying.”

“She just wanted her mother, but you decided her mother needed to be taught a lesson. And that lesson was that you were in control, right? That it was all about you. That everything was about you,” she explained, staring at him. She could see Mugs wanting to get closer and closer to old Buck. She tried to call Mugs back, but he wasn’t interested.

Buck looked down at the dog as it came closer and declared, “I’ll kill it, you know? You let it get anywhere close to me, and I will kill that dog,” he vowed. “And I’ll watch your face and smile while I’m doing it.”

“You might,” she conceded, “but then again you might not. He might get you first.”