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T he next morning Doreen was wide awake in bed, her mind running through the bits and pieces of information she’d gathered so far, and after returning home the previous afternoon, collated them into something that was a little easier to sort. Even listed possible scenarios, but absolutely nothing was pointing her in any direction. It was early yet in this case, so she shouldn’t be so overwhelmed, but she was putting pressure on herself, and that was something she did need to watch.

She’d had so much success that now she felt a greater pressure to find answers, an expectation that she maintain her good record, but nobody could do that all the time. Besides, there was a reason these were cold cases. But even that pep talk didn’t necessarily do its job.

She made her way out of bed, had a quick shower, then headed down to put on coffee. She couldn’t imagine what life was like without coffee, though maybe tea would do the same if that’s what you were raised with. That’s certainly how it was in England, but it was coffee all the way for Doreen. As she waited for the coffee to brew, she checked her laptop for emails, wondering if anything of interest had come through.

When she found no new emails, she stared down at it and sighed. She needed to get in touch with Mack’s brother to deal with more paperwork. She knew that he was waiting for something and would be sending her a bunch of things to decide on. She had him handling almost everything at the moment, just because it was easier to have one lawyer, even though some of this wasn’t necessarily his field. She was sure it was a mess for him, yet having one person coordinate it all made her life a little bit easier.

Just as she was about to pour a cup of coffee, her email beeped, and she found something there from a lawyer regarding Robin’s estate. As she read through the email, she shook her head. More paperwork was required, and everything was being sold. The dollar amounts were eye-popping. However, as long as Doreen had enough money for right now, she wasn’t in any particular rush. Since Robin’s estate was going through probate, there would apparently still be months of headaches to deal with. As with everything else, the legal process seemed to take a while.

The probate attorney had written that it would be eight to nine months before everything was settled. Doreen had just nodded and smiled. It’s not as if she could do anything about that time frame. So she would not get involved more than she already was. She was content to sit back and to let it all play out. Thankfully the sale of Nan’s antiques and a partial payment to Doreen gave her some relief.

She had confirmed with Mack’s brother that it was an accurate time frame. Probate being something done to help maintain the fairness and the ethics of actual estate settlements, she could do nothing but sit back and sign the paperwork as it came through. As usual, she just forwarded all the paperwork to Nick, and, as he approved it, she signed and sent it onward.

There was always so much paperwork, so much legalese to read. Since she didn’t want to get caught out in anything, it was just easier to funnel it all Nick’s way. Not long after she had forwarded this latest email to him, he called her right back.

“Are you having fun with these emails?” he teased.

“Not really,” she muttered, “and I know it’s a big pain for you, but, with so many bits and pieces, I don’t really trust anybody anymore.”

“I’m honored that you trust me.”

“There should be some advantage to… family connections,” she quipped in a cheeky tone.

He burst out laughing. “I’m glad you’re finally seeing some advantage to it.”

“I’m not quite adjusted to the whole thing yet,” she murmured, “but I am working on it.”

“That’s all we can ask of you,” he noted. “While I have you on here, I would ask a favor.” He took a moment and then came back strong. “Could you find time to visit my mother? She’s quite lonely.”

“Oh dear.” Doreen paused. “I stopped by last week, but you’re right.… I should be popping over a little more often.”

“It’s not that should be is involved in this,” he replied, “and I don’t mean to pressure you. It’s just a matter of she’s lonely, and we’re all so terribly busy. I just know that a visit from you always cheers her up.”

“Not a problem,” she said, “and I should have thought of it myself. I think of that automatically with Nan, but I need to get into the same habit with Millicent.”

He chuckled. “Stop putting so much pressure on yourself. You’re doing a fine job.”

“Am I?” she muttered. “I’ve just started a mess of a case—and from the captain no less,” she added, “but I’m not getting very far.”

“What’s the case about?” he asked. “Wait, did you say the captain?”

“Yes.”

“So, is it another personal case?”

“No, it’s one they’ve had in a box at the coroner’s office since forever,” she explained. “A set of bones from a toddler was found quite a long time ago, thirty-five some years ago, and they haven’t been able to figure out who she is or what happened to her.”

“Not even what happened to her?” he asked, his tone sharp.

“She died of her injuries, and the bones showed what looks to be animal damage, but that’s not what killed her. They are saying basically abuse killed her due to multiple factors, but there isn’t a whole lot to go on.”

“Of course not,” he agreed. “It’s been a long time, and for little bones especially.”

“I don’t know if they’re more fragile and disintegrate faster,” she noted, “but, in this case, there’s not much information. I’ve been down at the library, trying to locate birth and death information, hoping to find a match.”

He replied, “It wasn’t really all that long ago. It’s not as if we’re talking the Dark Ages. You might want to talk with some of the older midwives in town.”

“Oh my,” she muttered, staring down at her phone. “I hadn’t even considered that, but you’re right.”

“This is around the time when Mack and I were born, and our mom may know of some midwives working back then.”

“In that case I will definitely stop by and talk to her.” He burst out laughing. “And no,” she muttered, “I didn’t need an excuse.”

“I’m glad to hear that because I know how much she really appreciates any chance to visit with you.”

“Yes,” she murmured and then groaned, remembering her last visit. “She is lonely, and I get that, but what she really wants is a chance to ask me questions about when the wedding is.”

“Given her age, I’m pretty sure that’s something she would want settled while she’s still doing as well as she is.”

“She might want it settled, but I won’t be pushed,” Doreen stated adamantly.

“I get that, but, with your husband deceased, many people would think there’s no reason to hold back.”

“Maybe not,” she conceded, “but it still doesn’t seem to be settled yet to me .”

“No, but we’re getting there.”

“Are we?” she asked, with a wry smile. “Even now I just forwarded you that email from the lawyer handling Robin’s estate.”

“And thankfully we’re making progress on your husband’s estate too,” he added. “I’m staying on top of both, and it will come to an end at some point.”

“You keep saying that.” She chuckled. “Don’t mind me if I don’t quite believe it.”

“Probate being what it is,” he began, “definitely checks and balances have to be done. So far, everything is clear. Nobody’s contesting Mathew’s will, and his estate is all yours, particularly after the many years of your marriage. Then we have all the other issues that came out,” he noted, “and, if all goes as I see it, you will end up a very wealthy woman.”

“Sure, sometime,” she pointed out. “It’s not as if it’s now.”

He asked, “Do you need money?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “That’s not something we want to happen.”

“I still have all the antique money coming.”

A sigh of relief from the other end came first, then his tone sharpened again. “But you said coming , not necessarily in your wallet right now.”

“I’ve been paid for some of it already,” she replied, “just not all of it. And that’s because it takes like ninety days for the larger pieces.”

“No, ninety days for all of it.”

“Right,” she muttered, “and the bigger stuff recently sold, so… ninety days from then.”

“Okay,” he replied, a bit unsure, “but, if you run into any trouble with that, you let me know.”

“Will do, and, yes, I’ll still stop by and talk to your mom.”

With that, she ended the call and phoned Millicent, who cried out in delight.

“Do you have time to come for a visit?” she asked Doreen. “I was hoping to maybe talk to you a little bit more about Mack.”

“I was thinking maybe early this afternoon, but I’m not sure if you’ll have a nap later.”

“I usually do,” she admitted, with a chuckle, “but, if I know you’re coming, I’ll hold off.”

“No, no, no, you don’t need to do that. You’ll just be more tired.” Doreen looked down at her watch. “Of course you could probably just put on the coffeepot now.”

“Done,” she cried out in joy.

“Okay, I’ll pack up the animals, and we’ll be over in a few minutes.” And, with that, she disconnected, looked down at the animals, and asked, “How do you feel about going over to see your other grandmother?”

Mugs just looked at her, rolled over onto his back, and yawned.

“Oh no you don’t,” she stated. “If nothing else we can go get some information.”

She bundled up and grabbed her purse and the leashes. As she opened the back door, prepared to walk to Millicent’s, she stopped as a cold blast of air hit her, then slammed the door shut. She looked down at the animals and announced, “Okay, we’re driving.”

Not a one of them argued with her as she headed to the car, helped them all up, hopped in, and turned it on. The engine took a minute to turn over. Even her vehicle reacted to just how cold it could be. Frowning at that, she waited for the engine to warm up and then drove slowly the few blocks over to Millicent’s place. As soon as she pulled in and parked and exited the car, the animals raced up to the front door with her.

Millicent opened the door and let them right in. “If I’d realized it was so cold,” Millicent noted apologetically, “I would never have asked you to come over.”

Doreen stepped inside, barely holding back a shiver and smiled. “I may not be used to the cold, but I have to admit it caught me by surprise this morning.”

“It’ll do that to you every once in a while,” Millicent stated, with a beaming smile, “but I did put on coffee for you.”

She laughed. “And, as you know, that will bring me over anytime.”

Chuckling, the two women made their way into the kitchen, where Millicent poured Doreen a cup of coffee, and they sat down at the table. Knowing that Millicent would start talking about the wedding plans, Doreen jumped in with a little bit about her case.

“Don’t know if Mack told you, but the captain wanted me to look in on a case that had confounded everybody so far. It’s old and not something they have time to do anything about,” she explained, “so I’m looking at it now.”

Millicent nodded at her in delight. “That’s lovely to hear. I’m glad that the captain trusts you with it.”

“I don’t know how much is trust as much as he’s hoping that we can find some closure on a case that’s bothered him all this time.”

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” she agreed, with a nod. “So, tell me about it.”

Doreen sighed. “It’s a little troublesome, a little upsetting, because we—not we, but somebody in the past—found a child’s body, a toddler really, in a garden. They were turning over the bed to plant yams and found the bones underneath the surface. I don’t know how deep under the surface, but it was obviously time for it to come to light.”

“Oh my.” Millicent frowned. “I feel as if I’ve heard something about that.”

“And you might have,” Doreen noted, frowning at her. “It was around thirty or thirty-five years ago, so it would have been somewhere around the time that you had Mack and Nick.”

“Right,” she muttered, nodding. “I do remember a lot of discussions about it at the time.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember the details though.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m not sure any of us have much in the way of details, and that’s a bit of a concern too. We just have the bones, and I have asked the captain via email this morning if there was any chance of pulling DNA, so we can put it on the genealogy sites.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about that,” Millicent replied. “That’s really clever.”

“Even with that I will probably still need some help in order to sort out who could possibly be related to her,” she shared, “but that might give us a start.”

“Of course, of course.” As Millicent stared off into the kitchen window, she frowned.

Doreen nudged her. “Are you remembering something?”

She shook her head, then stopped. “Kind of. I do remember something that bothered me. It’s not as if we found things like that all the time.”

“No, of course not,” And then she stopped, confounded at her words. “What do you mean, we found things?”

“I’m pretty sure if you check the address where the bones were found, it’s not that far from here. Kelowna has really grown in the last thirtysomething years. We used to be a collection of communities that all became one as the population grew. You can go from one end of the city to the other in under twenty minutes now. Of course the communities of Black Mountain, Joe Rich, Lake Country, and across the lake don’t count as they aren’t part of the actual city and might take a little longer to reach depending on traffic.”

“Really?” Doreen mentally kicked herself for not having checked out exactly where the bones were found. “That’s interesting,” she muttered. “Would you know your neighbors around here from back in the day?”

“Oh sure, but, even if the bones were found about thirty-five years ago, as you say, they could have been there for longer.”

“That could well be true, but I’m not exactly sure. I would have to grab my notes and the case file and check it.” That was something she had wondered herself. “I was down at the library, looking at all the births and deaths from that general time frame, but there’s just so many.”

“Oh my, yes.” Millicent nodded. “When you’re having babies, it seems as if everybody is having babies. You want to go to the doctor, and you can’t because it’s so full of other people’s babies,” she shared, with a laugh. “Maybe that’s just the way it works, so that you tend to notice people who are in the same stage of life as you are. Still, it was pretty impressive to see just how many families were expanding thirtysomething years ago.”

“And did anybody have any idea about what was going on back then?”

“Oh, you mean with the body? No, I don’t remember anything specific ever said. You should talk to the midwife.”

Doreen nodded. “Nick mentioned that too.”

“He dated a midwife in town here at one point in time,” she shared, with a chuckle. “At least she wanted to become a midwife. I don’t know that she ever went through with it or not. For a while there everybody was using midwives, and then it seemed as if they went out of fashion, and nobody was.”

“I think things probably come and go, depending on the surroundings and the people who you’re involved with.”

“That could be, and I do remember a mention of finding the body, obviously of a small child, but I honestly don’t recall much more about it.”

“No, that’s fine,” Doreen replied. She had to admit to being a little on the tired side. And a little disappointed. They talked for a little bit longer, as she finished her coffee, then she stood to say her goodbyes and to collect the animals to head back home again.

Millicent added, “You should probably talk to Lilybeth.”

“And who’s Lilybeth?” Doreen asked, frowning.

“She used to live around here. She was the midwife at the time.”

“She lived close by?”

“Yes, for a while, she did. Though I’m not exactly sure what years she lived here.”

“Any idea where she is now? Is she still in the area?”

“She’s staying in a home but not Rosemoor.”

“Right, several others are around town.”

“There are, but I can’t remember where she’s at. Seems as if it might be the one down close to the river.”

“If you remember the name of it,” Doreen suggested, “I would be happy to check.”

“I don’t have any idea, so you need to check on that. If you talk to Lilybeth, she might have something to say. I remember her reaction to the body being found seemed a bit odd.”

“In what way?” Doreen asked.

“I’m not sure. I just remember her reaction was… almost shocked, yet not. Something was off about it. I remember asking her about it, and she got offended. Yet the more she protested, the more I felt that she might know something.”

“I will talk to her. That won’t cost me anything.”

Millicent laughed. “No, talk is cheap, but getting the truth? Now that’s a whole different story.”