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M ack stepped forward just then. “Nobody will kill the dog,” he declared in an authoritative tone. “And obviously we still have a few issues to work out.”

“There aren’t any issues to work out,” Clarence argued, glaring at the old man. “Did you really kill Mom?”

Buck shrugged. “She was fading away to nothing anyway. It was a bloody kindness, what I did,” he muttered.

“Why? So, you could go bang other women?”

“I don’t care about other women, and you know that,” he stated, glaring at him. “Iris was so whiny at the end. So angry over the child. The woman just couldn’t ever get over it.”

“But that’s exactly why you killed your daughter Claudia, right?” Doreen asked. “Because she heard all about it from Iris. And eventually Claudia got suspicious too, and she wouldn’t let it go. She wanted to know the truth, didn’t she?”

He glared at her. “She should have kept her mouth shut too. What do they think? That I’m made of money? Meredith did that, and suddenly she died. That and Iris dying should have been enough for Claudia, but obviously not. Women are such hardheaded fools.”

“And you needed your boy Carl alive because you weren’t made of money, right?” Doreen asked. “Somebody to take over the mess you’ve made out of all the family businesses, somebody with an actual head for business, not like you. Not like Clarence.” Buck and Clarence both glared at her, and she nodded. “All the things that you worked for, Buck, and yet here you’ve got Clarence, busy killing his brother because Carl wouldn’t agree to fund Clarence’s political career.”

At that, Buck turned on his only living child. “That was just stupid, Clarence.”

“Really?” Clarence asked, staring at him. “I’m still stuck on the fact that you killed my mother.”

“Well, get over it. It was the same with her. She was just whining there at the end. Ungrateful is what she was.”

Clarence thought about it and nodded. “She was pretty bad, I have to admit.”

“So mourning the death of her fifth child is a reason to kill Iris?” Doreen asked, staring at these men in shock.

“No, of course not,” Clarence replied defensively. “I was trying to figure out what was wrong with her back then.”

“What was wrong with her was your father,” Doreen snapped. “And you should have figured that out by now, since you guys are two peas in a pod.”

Clarence glared at her. “I didn’t kill my mother.”

“Yeah, but what about your sisters?”

“I didn’t kill my sisters either,” he cried out. “You heard him, right?”

“Sure. He’s the one who killed Claudia. But which one of you killed Meredith?” Doreen asked.

“You’ve been talking to that old good-for-nothing gossip Sandra,” the old man snapped, glaring at her. Mugs crept closer, until the old man tried to kick her dog, but Mugs was just out of range.

“I told you that I’ll kill him,” Buck yelled, “and I’ll watch you cry.”

“Is that what you did all those years ago? Kill an innocent child, then watch while your wife cried in devastation?”

He stared at her and shrugged. “She needed to be taught a lesson.”

At that, Clarence turned and looked at him. “Good God,” he muttered, now with apprehension. “You killed a child? Why would you do that?”

“Because it wasn’t my child. It was your mother’s child.”

Clarence stared at him. “What? She had an affair? That kid wasn’t yours?”

Doreen snorted. “They were separated at the time. Buck didn’t want Iris, and, while they were separated, somebody else decided they wanted her. He wanted her in a big way, didn’t he?” she asked, staring at Buck. “But you couldn’t let them be happy, could you?”

“You don’t know anything,” Buck roared, glaring at her. “She needed to be taught a lesson. Just because I told her that she could go play doesn’t mean she was allowed to go play for real.”

“Ah, only you are allowed to do that,” she noted, with a nod of her head. “That’s pretty funny, considering how you treated her and your daughters.”

“If Claudia hadn’t made a point of asking me about that little girl, it wouldn’t have been an issue,” he declared, sneering at Doreen. “But she wouldn’t let it go either.”

“So, she got the same treatment as her mother.”

“Yeah.”

“And what about poor Lilybeth?” Doreen asked.

“ Poor Lilybeth, nothing. Lilybeth was anything but poor. All she did was blackmail me constantly.”

At that, Clarence turned and stared at him in shock. “That old woman was blackmailing you? Why?” he cried out.

“Because she found out, probably from your mother, and that old woman just wouldn’t lay off. Lilybeth kept hassling me about killing a child, and finally I had to bring her in here and give her a space to stay until she died.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t knock her off earlier,” Doreen noted, staring at Buck. “I can’t imagine what it was like, facing her every day.”

“She said she had proof.”

“She did have proof, and she left a letter.”

He stared at her in shock, so irate that he tried to get out of his wheelchair. When he fell back into his seat, he slammed his hand on the handlebar of the wheelchair, roaring, “That stupid woman.”

“Yeah, and, whether she was right or wrong to do what she did,” Doreen added, “obviously she knew what you would be like to deal with.”

“She should.… I had an affair with her many years ago. She didn’t think much of my breaking up with her then. I think that’s when she got her claws into my wife.”

“And that’s possible, but, of course, you were allowed to have an affair, but your wife wasn’t?”

“No, she wasn’t,” he snapped. “She was mine.”

“And yet you didn’t want her.”

“Whether I wanted her or not had nothing to do with it. She wasn’t allowed to let somebody else touch her,” he declared, “and, once I got that through her head, she was fine again. But every time I looked at that little girl, I saw him .”

“You don’t even know who the father was,” Doreen said. “You’ve probably wondered all these years, but you don’t know for sure.”

“I sure didn’t care either, not once that kid was dead,” Buck said. “She snapped like a little twig. Honestly, I didn’t even realize what I was doing. I was just so angry. She just broke in my hands.” He stared down at his hands. “Once it was done, nothing I could do about it. The kid was gone. Besides, it was a perfect teaching moment for your mother,” Buck declared, turning to glare at Clarence, who stared at him in shock.

Clarence looked over at the others. “I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“No, I’m sure you didn’t,” Mack said, “although you might have been old enough to understand what was going on.”

“Not really, but Mom changed at some point. She became somebody else in a way. She just hid away and wasn’t happy anymore.”

“Yeah, look at what she did,” Buck yelled.

Doreen nodded. “Iris found somebody else, after your father told her to get lost and that he wouldn’t take her outbursts anymore. So Iris found somebody else, and then Buck forced her back into his life and got rid of the other guy.” She turned on him and asked coolly, “Did you kill him too?” His gaze narrowed to slits, and she nodded. “Yeah, well, we’ll need the location of that body too,” she stated calmly and then turned back to Clarence. “Buck probably killed Iris’s lover right in front of her, and then the child, who Buck couldn’t be sure was his or not,” she added. “So, Clarence, you killing your brother is just a chip off the old block thing.”

Clarence started to tremble and collapsed. “But I didn’t mean to,” he wailed. “It was an accident.”

Doreen shook her head. “It might have been an accident, but you sure didn’t get help for Carl, did you? You didn’t let anybody know there was a problem. I’m guessing you ended up burying him somewhere close by, so you can keep an eye on him, just like your father here. He buried that little girl in a garden on one of his rental properties. And guess what? They dug up the child’s bones while trying to plant a patch of yams.”

“Yams?” Clarence asked, blinking.

“Yeah, yams,” she confirmed. “They were turning over the bed, and they pulled up this shredded pillowcase with the bones of a toddler inside. No proper funeral, just, you know, a tiny body dumped in the middle of nowhere,” Doreen shared. “What was her name?” she asked, turning to look at Buck.

When he glared at her, she shrugged. “That’s okay. We’ll put something descriptive on her gravestone. Maybe the lovechild Buck Winters murdered or something of that nature. We need to let everyone know exactly what you did.”

“I don’t care what anybody says. I had every right to get rid of that thing. It wasn’t mine, and I shouldn’t have to raise it.”

“You don’t know if she was yours or not,” Doreen pointed out. “What I can tell you is that we’ve already run the child’s DNA, and it definitely came back as your wife’s.”

“I told you that already,” Buck replied, with a sneer, “and you don’t get to tell me anything else.”

“I can if I want to,” Doreen said, giving him a hint of a smile. “I just don’t particularly care to.” She then turned to Clarence and then back at Buck. “Which one of you took out Lilybeth?”

Clarence shook his head, furious. “We aren’t murderers. We don’t just turn around and kill off people we don’t want in our lives.”

She looked at him, and a smile clicked onto her face. “Really? Have you looked at your dad lately?”

Clarence stared down at his father and asked, “Dad, you didn’t do something to Lilybeth, did you?”

“She was blackmailing me. Then she told me that she wouldn’t take my secrets to her grave, and she figured she might know someone who could help her.”

“Who?” Clarence asked, staring at Buck in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“She was talking about me,” Doreen acknowledged. “I’m the one who would help her reveal the truth.”

Clarence turned and looked at her. “I don’t even know who you are. I don’t even know what you’re doing here.”

“I’m the one who’ll see that you go to prison for murdering your brother, and I’m the one who’ll show up in court every day to confirm that Buck lives long enough to go to prison himself. Then all of that precious inheritance money will go to the victims’ families,” she said. “And not a penny will go to that lovely little daughter of yours, Clarence. Tabitha was complicit in murdering Lilybeth.”

The old man’s gaze widened. “How do you know that?”

“Because you weren’t capable,” she stated. “Tabitha set you up though. She let us know that you spoke to Lilybeth last. Tabitha was sure to let us know that, if we looked at anybody, it was likely to be you, Buck.” When his eyes opened wide, she nodded. “You seem to have created a whole lineage of people just like you. What I want to know is where you got the drugs.”

He shrugged and didn’t say anything.

“Did you use the same drug on all of them? But why would you change though?” she asked, with a nod. “How many people did you kill with the heart-attack-inducing drug? Iris’s child you just broke like a doll,” she noted, “but you drugged the four women and then, of course, the child’s father.”

“He deserved to die,” Buck declared in a shaky voice.

“Right, and tell me exactly why? Just because he touched what you considered to be yours?”

“That’s right, and, if you think that doesn’t matter, you’re wrong.”

“I’m sure it matters to you,” she stated in a calm voice. “Absolutely it matters, but I don’t think it’ll matter to the jury, not when they take a look at what you did and who you did it to.”

He just glared at her. “I won’t live long enough to care.”

“No, maybe not,” she agreed, with a smile. “But I can tell you that all those people you murdered, they will all be there waiting for you.”

“Let them wait,” he roared, with a sneer on his face. “I lived and they didn’t. That’s how the law of the land works.”

“Apparently that’s what you taught your son Clarence too,” Doreen said, with a nod. She looked over at Clarence. “Kind of sad though. You’ll spend the rest of your life in prison for what you did to your brother. But your father? He got to live out his life, despite all his crimes. However, Tabitha, that daughter of yours, Buck’s granddaughter, she’ll be in purgatory there right beside you two.”

Clarence shook his head, “She wouldn’t have had anything to do with this.”

“Really?” the old man laughed. “She’s more like you than you know. She’s the one who approached me about it. She told me that Lilybeth had been talking to this crazy detective lady in town, the one with the huge success record on solving cold cases. Tabitha told me how she was afraid that, if I had anything to hide, it would be a problem.”

“What did you do?” Clarence wailed.

“I told her that I did have a few things I would prefer to keep quiet. She’s the one who told me Lilybeth had been talking all of a sudden. My agreement with Lilybeth was that she kept her mouth shut,” he snapped, glaring at Doreen, “and she broke that confidence with you.”

“Yes, she did. Like many people facing their own mortality, Lilybeth realized that she needed to clear her own conscience, if she was to spend her final days in any sort of peace.”

“She shouldn’t have blackmailed me then, should she?” Buck snapped.

Just then Mugs came up beside him, and the old man swung down to try and cuff him. Mugs jumped back, but he had something in his mouth. He raced over to Doreen, the old man frantically trying to wheel himself closer. As Mugs reached her, she saw that he had a small vial in his mouth. She snagged it up, then nodded and handed it to Mack. “That’s the poison he likes to use,” she stated. “Did you just kill your granddaughter too?”

At that, Buck stared at her in shock. Beside him, Clarence gasped. “No, no, no, he would never do that. He loves Tabitha.”

“Buck loves her until they become partners in crime, and then,” Doreen noted, “all bets are off. I didn’t see her on my way in.”

At that, Clarence bolted out of the room and headed to the front desk.

Doreen looked over at Mack.

He sighed. “I’ve already got the police out front. Do you really think Buck killed Tabitha?”

“No, I think she’s smarter than he is.”

The old man sputtered, but a woman spoke from the doorway. “Thank you for that much at least.”

And there was Tabitha, Buck’s granddaughter, with a gun in her hand. The old man looked at her and cackled. “There you go,” he said in a fit of laughter. “I wondered if you had the guts for it.”

“Oh, I’ve got the guts for it,” she stated calmly, “and that’s because I want to get the heck out of here. And now that I know Dad killed off the only golden goose in the family, I want to take the money that’s left and run.”

Doreen shook her head. “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

Tabitha laughed. “You don’t know anything. I did though, and I pegged you right from the start. The minute you walked through that door, I knew you were trouble, and it didn’t take me very long to get it out of Lilybeth,” she admitted, “and I took care of her right quick.”

“And yet you gave me the letter.”

“I wasn’t sure what to do at that point, and I hadn’t even had a chance to read it, so I figured it didn’t matter. Lilybeth was dead, and a letter from an old biddy wouldn’t make any difference.” Tabitha raised her gun.

Doreen immediately checked for her animals, noting that Goliath was nowhere to be found. She looked around, twisting and turning.

“What are you doing?” Tabitha asked in exasperation. “Do you not realize I’m holding a gun on you?”

“You might be,” Doreen replied, “but you could also end up in really bad straits yourself in just a few seconds.”

“What are you talking about?” Tabitha cried out, staring at Doreen. “What is wrong with you? You come in here, and you act completely confident, and nothing seems to faze you. You don’t even care that I’m holding a gun on you.”

“Why would I?” Doreen asked, turning to her. “Seriously, why would I?” The woman just blinked, and Doreen nodded. “You people have already killed so many others, and you don’t have a clue what you’re up against, and here you are, acting as if you’re something special.”

Fury twisted Tabitha’s face as Doreen went on.

“You’ve already admitted to killing Lilybeth, and here your grandfather has admitted to killing your mother, your aunt, and your grandmother.”

Tabitha stopped, turned to the old man, and asked, “What’s she saying? You killed my mom?”

“No, I didn’t say I killed your mother,” he said, turning to Doreen. “Can’t you keep it straight?”

“My apologies, he killed your aunt Claudia. By the way, do you know what happened to your mother? I would certainly think that bears looking into as well.”

Tabitha frowned, a horrified expression on her face, then looked at the old man and asked, “Did you have anything to do with it?”

“No, of course not,” he snapped, “but you could ask your father, seeing as I’ve just learned that he’s apparently killed your uncle,” he muttered.

“The whole lot of you are nuts,” Doreen announced.

The gun turned her way again, as Tabitha sneered at her. “You really shouldn’t talk to people who hold guns on you, at least not with such disrespect.”

“ Right ,” Doreen muttered, looking at Tabitha with a bored expression on her face. “You know what I am? I’m tired of people telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. I’m tired of people wielding guns, thinking it makes them all powerful. You know what’s better than any of that?”

“What?” Tabitha snapped, glaring at her.

“It’s called loyalty.”

At that, Goliath jumped up onto Tabitha’s back. He dug in his claws and slowly dragged his way down, with her screaming and flailing all the while, the gun firing off in all directions, but Doreen and Mack were well and truly hidden behind the bed. When the firing stopped, Doreen looked up to see Tabitha screaming at the cat, who was nowhere to be found.

She was still frantically firing a now-empty gun, which kept clicking and clicking.

Doreen looked over at the old man, who stared at his granddaughter.

“You idiot, you could have killed me,” Buck roared.

She turned to him and shared, “That was the plan anyway. You would be next.”

He stared at her in dumbfounded shock. “You would kill me?” he cried out.

“Why not?” she snapped. “You may want to sit around here, waiting until you die of old age, but I don’t. I’ve waited long enough. You’re done for.” She lifted the gun and went to fire at him.

“I think it’s empty, dear,” Doreen noted helpfully. “You might need to reload first.”

Tabitha blinked at her and muttered, “You are so done.”

“I don’t think so.” Then Doreen shrugged. “However, I could be wrong.”

Tabitha just looked at her and asked, “Why aren’t you scared?”

“Because that was my cat who attacked you,” she said. “And you have no idea what’ll happen if you come after me again.”

“If I see that cat again, I’ll shoot it,” she bellowed, “and I’ll shoot the dratted dog too.”

“I wouldn’t do that either,” Doreen warned. “They get really upset if you target them. I get that you’re angry and all, but it’s probably a good idea to call it a day.”

Tabitha glared at her, then at Mack, almost helplessly resigned. “Can’t you shut her up?”

“No,” he replied. “I’ve tried, believe me, but she doesn’t listen to a word.”

“You’re not kidding,” Tabitha snapped. “So I’ll make her listen.” Then she lifted the gun again, but got nothing but another harmless click . Mack then stepped toward her, and she tried to avoid his grasp. “No, no, no.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Doreen said, with a bright cheerful smile.

Tabitha went to throw a punch, and, just as she did so, Mugs stepped up against her, clipping her back leg, dropping her to the floor, so she knelt in front of him. “No,” she cried out.

Mack quickly grabbed her, twisted her arms behind her back, and snapped his cuffs on her.

“What about me?” Buck asked, glaring at Doreen. “You think I’m not somebody you have to worry about?”

“I’ve got your vial of poison,” she noted calmly.

“Yeah, but what about my handgun?” he asked, as he lifted his own incredibly tiny gun.

She looked at it and smiled. “Wow, is that a derringer?” Seeing the gun brought back memories for her.

He stared at her and shrugged. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. Why do you care?”

“I don’t really,” she admitted. “My husband used to collect weapons like that. Honestly, I just thought they were for show since they looked more like a toy.”

“It’s not a toy,” he declared, as he pointed it at her. “Now, you’ll take me out to the vehicle and help me get to the airport, so I can get a private plane out of here.”

She shook her head at him. “That’s not happening.”

“Of course it’ll happen. I’m the one holding the gun.”

“You might be holding the gun, but you won’t get to use it.”

Just then Thaddeus popped out of her hair and crowed, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.” Then he flew out, batting his wings hard in the old man’s face, forcing him to cover his eyes. Thaddeus grabbed the gun in his beak and basically dumped it to the ground. It went off harmlessly, setting off more cries from the spectators gathered in the hallway, all peering through the open doorway, staring at the goings-on.

Mack groaned, then walked over and checked the old man for more weapons. As he looked at Doreen, he asked, “Are you done now?”

“It’s not just me,” she clarified. “The animals get to play their parts too, you know?”

He rolled his eyes, looked at Thaddeus, and asked, “Are you happy now?” He preened several times and then walked onto Mack’s shoulder, as if it was a higher and much better place for a bird of his importance.

Doreen sighed. “Of course he’s happy. Thanks, Thaddeus.”

He laughed. “ He-he-he. ” Then he nuzzled up to Mack. “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

“I know, buddy. Thanks for your help,” Mack said.

Mack looked over at the door, now full of curiosity seekers and his constables, trying to make their way inside the room.

When Arnold entered and looked around, he nodded. “I guess Doreen’s on the case, huh ?”

Mack groaned and nodded. “Isn’t she always?”

Arnold grinned. “I gotta say that it’s nice to have her as part of the team though, you know?”

“Sure.” Mack groaned. “But you know what would also be nice? If the team was doing the job they were supposed to be doing.”

“Hey, you can’t blame us for this one,” Arnold said, raising his hands. “The captain asked Doreen to look into it.”

“I know,” Mack grumbled. “The captain will be thrilled because we’ve solved the cold case, and I don’t even want to know how many other murders.”

“But just think,” Doreen said, giving him a cheeky grin. “I waited for you to show up for the pistol-waving action part this time.” He just looked at her and sighed. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a great big hug. “I’m really glad you’re back and done with court.”

“Me too,” he replied. “Are you done causing chaos for tonight?”

“I am.” Then she yawned and nodded. “I think I can confidently leave you guys to clean up the mess.”

At that, everybody at the doorway cheered and laughed.

She smiled, kissed Mack on the cheek, and added, “Really glad to have you back on the team again.”

“I’m not part of your team,” he muttered.

“Nope, I know. You are the team.… I’ll just gather up the animals and get them out of here. You’ll update the coroner, won’t you?”

“Elizabeth will love you.”

Doreen grinned. “Maybe. At least she can now get the bones off her shelf after all these years.”

“But you didn’t get a name.”

She turned, walked back to the old man, and asked him, “What was the name of the baby you killed?” He glared at her, and she shrugged. “I can tell everybody what a jerk you were, but I could also tell them of all the things you did accomplish in life, and it wouldn’t be a complete loss,” she muttered. “But killing that baby? That’s the one murder that’ll get to everybody. Especially if she was laid to rest without a name.”

He stared at her. “Her name was Mary,” he muttered in a heavy voice.

“And her father?”

He shrugged, glanced around the room, and added, “Nobody cares about the father.”

“Oh, I think somebody cares about the father.”

Buck sighed. “It was a guy from Vancouver. He was up for some geological study. Anyway, they met when she was out walking, and somehow it ended up being this big hot and heavy affair. I don’t know anything more.”

“Yeah, you do. You know his name. No way you would have killed him without at least knowing his name.”

He glared at her. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter,” she stated, “because somewhere is a family who doesn’t know what happened to their son, so a name and the location of the body now .” And heck if he didn’t start spilling.

By the time it was done, Arnold just shook his head. “Another family will be happy to have some closure.”

“And yet not happy,” Doreen corrected, as she straightened up to face Arnold. “Of all the stupid reasons to get killed.”

He nodded. “And yet, if they’ve been waiting for him to come home all these years, at least now they might get some answers too.” He patted Doreen on the shoulder. “You look a little tired, Doreen. Take the critters and run along. We’ve got this.” And he hitched up his pants, turned to Mack, and muttered, “Please tell me that you’ve got a recording of all that.”

Mack held up his phone.

Arnold grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Boy, this will be another feather in the cap for us.” He was chuckling now. “And a video recording to boot.” He turned to Doreen. “Go on. Get lost. We’ll handle this.”

Mack nodded. “You’ve done all the hard work, Doreen. We can do the rest.”

And, with that, she smiled. “I think I’ll take you up on that.”

“Just don’t expect me home anytime soon,” Mack added.

“No, I won’t.” She gave him a bright smile, knowing that today, whether people were happy about it or not, it was still a good day. As she headed out, she found the coroner coming in, scrambling to get past the crowd.

Elizabeth glared as she entered the room and asked, “Now what is going on here? If I listened to the gossips, it’s all kinds of craziness. There are animals, shootings, dead bodies, all kinds of stuff. What is going on?”

Mack turned to her and smiled. “See? This is the problem with having Doreen on a case.”

“Doreen?” Elizabeth turned to look at her.

Doreen smiled at her. “Mary,… the child’s name is Mary,” she said. “Her father’s name was Pierce Masdine, and her mother’s name was Iris Winters. That little girl, her name was Mary.”

At that, even the coroner’s eyes teared up. She opened her arms and wrapped up Doreen in a great big hug. And then she pushed her back off to the side. “Go, go, go,” she snapped. “We have work to do.” Elizabeth looked around and asked, “Who’s dead?”

Mack smiled. “No one.”

Elizabeth blinked. “Who called for me then?” she cried out, glaring at him.

He shook his head. “I have no idea. It’s been a bit of a nightmare for the last little bit.”

“Ya think?” she quipped. “About time you got back to work, Mack. That fiancée of yours, she had to work really hard to get this done. You really should make her a deputy.”

At that, Arnold started to laugh. “Oh my God, can you imagine how bad it would be if she was official?”

Darren, who stood at the doorway, cried out, “Please, no, there’s no way I could handle my grandpa if Doreen was official.”

Arnold grinned. “You’ve got a point there.”

And they all burst out laughing.