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Doreen slept in the next morning, only to wake up to find Mack standing in her bedroom doorway, grinning at her. She blinked several times and groaned. “What time is it?”

“It’s eight.”

“In the morning?” she asked, sitting up.

“Yes. I’ve been up most of the night. I slept for a few hours, but now I’m heading over to the office. I just thought I would pop in to check on you and to have a cup of coffee.”

Still yawning, she grabbed her robe and headed down to the kitchen behind him.

He quickly set up the coffeepot and looked over at her. “For somebody who churns up all the chaos you cause,” he muttered, “you should look a whole lot more exhausted, but instead you look absolutely beautiful.” He leaned over, gave her a searing kiss, and muttered, “Come on. Move up the wedding date already, will ya?” She blinked several times as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her. Just then his phone rang, and he listened for a minute, quickly responded, then disconnected and groaned. “See? Now look what you’ve done.”

“What have I done?” she asked.

“Everybody is bringing up all their own questions from other matters all over town and beyond, now that you’ve solved this case. They’re looking for help for everything. Remember that envelope from under Lilybeth’s bed?”

“You mean, the letter inside?”

“Yeah, and some pictures too?”

“Right, but I didn’t get much chance to look at them before the chaos happened.”

“Yeah, well, we blew up the photos, and one of the men knew where the garden was from one of those pictures, and they headed over there to see if they were right. They were supposed to finish up and to go home but couldn’t leave it alone. They argued about the garden.”

“What? Where was it?”

“I don’t know, and I really don’t have a clue why I should even tell you,” Mack added in exasperation. “Nor do I have a clue what inspired them to grab a shovel and to dig around. But they did…”

“You better tell me. I found the photos, after all.”

“You may have found them,” Mack noted, “but Darren thought he knew where the pictures were taken from.”

“And then they went and dug in that area?”

“Yeah, they did, mostly because Arnold was bugging him about it, saying he was wrong and didn’t know. So, true to form, they made some ridiculous bet out of it, but anyway it didn’t take Darren very long, and they dug up something.”

“What was buried there?”

“Old X-rays.”

“X-rays?”

“Yeah, but the old hard kind that they used way back when.”

“Okay, if you say so. What difference does that make?”

“I don’t know.” Mack raised both hands. Then his phone buzzed, and he read the text message and groaned. “Well, now I do,” he said, with a sigh.

“What is it?”

“Apparently they found a bone with the X-rays.”

She started to grin.

“No,” he ordered in exasperation, but she just cackled. “Our hands are full right now,” Mack declared.

“That’s good. Maybe by the time you’re caught up, I’ll have the X-ray mystery solved. By the way, what was planted in that garden?”

“I don’t know. Do you want me to find out?”

“Yep, I do, indeed.”

Several texts later, Mack groaned. “I don’t know what these are.” He pointed at them, as he held up his phone to show Doreen the image of a flower.

She looked at them and nodded. “They seem to be part of the chrysanthemum family.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “See? It doesn’t work. You can’t do an alliteration for this one. Besides, it won’t be your case. It’ll be mine.”

“Really?” she asked, checking out the photos. “Looks to be an old bone.”

He frowned as he pulled the picture back, realizing that the bone was there.

“It’s part of a jawbone,” she noted. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded. “Elizabeth will love this one.”

“No, she won’t. Besides, you can’t make an alliteration out of it. So you don’t get to have anything to do with it.”

She looked at him and smiled. “ X-ray in the Xanth .”

“What’s a xanth ?” he asked in confusion.

“Mums.”

“Mums?”

“Yeah, chrysanthemums,” she explained, with a beaming smile. “So, that’s next.”

“I don’t care if it’s next or not. That bone has been there for a very long time, so it and the X-ray can lay there for a little longer. I have to go finish up the mess from last night.”

“Okay.” She gave him a hug. “Now at least I know what’s next on my list.”

“Doesn’t have to be,” he protested. “You need to rest. You told me that you needed a rest before getting married.”

“I do,” she agreed, but then she grinned. “I just don’t need a super big rest.”

“Right,” he muttered, with an eye roll, “as if I’ll believe that.”

“You should because now”—she rubbed her hands together—“we have X-ray in the Xanth .”

He leaned over, kissed her hard, and announced, “I’m going to work, and maybe that’s just self-defense on my part.”

“Call it what you want, but I’ve got my next cold case to work on.”

“You do that. Just remember to get some rest, as you’ve got a wedding to plan.” And, when the smile fell off her face, he laughed and laughed. “No pressure.”

She smiled and nodded. “I really do appreciate you.”

He gazed at her and nodded. “And I really appreciate you.”