Chapter 21
For the life of her, Doreen couldn’t understand why men’s clothes were in Nan’s attic. Old clothes too. Of course Doreen’s mind associated these clothes with the dead man photographed in the spare bedroom. She couldn’t be sure.
Doreen refused to believe Nan had anything to do with Jeremy’s death.
Just then the doorbell rang. Doreen didn’t want anybody to see this stuff, so she closed the bedroom door as she headed downstairs to the front entryway. She opened it to find a middle-aged couple beaming at her. Both were slightly overweight, in their early fifties and dressed like twins with pumpkin-colored T-shirts and khaki pants. She gave a hesitant smile and said, “Hello. May I help you?”
The woman grabbed Doreen’s hand. “We’re so delighted to meet you. And we’re so sorry you’ve had such a nasty event upon your arrival.”
Doreen tried to pull her hand back, but the woman wouldn’t let it go. “Do I know you?”
The man gave a hearty laugh. “We’re your neighbors to the right.” He motioned to the house next door. “We were away the last two days, so we missed a lot of the commotion. But, when we heard, we wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood.”
Doreen’s eyebrows lifted, and she studied the couple. “Oh, isn’t that nice.” Yet inside she wondered if that was a neighborly thing to do. It just seemed weird. When she was with her husband, nobody would ever do something like this. Of course they couldn’t get past the security gates anyway.
The man thrust a tinfoil-covered pan into her free hand and said, “Here. We brought over a dish for you. It’s one of our favorites.”
She looked at the pan in surprise but felt she had no option but to accept it. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “It smells wonderful. It’s very kind of you.” And it was. She’d seen little kindness these last few months.
He beamed at her. “Well, we’re very kind people,” he said.
The woman, still gripping Doreen’s other hand, said, “Oh my, yes, we certainly are.” She turned to look at her husband and added, “I’m sure you’ll find everybody here is very friendly.”
“So far, that hasn’t been my experience,” Doreen said in a dry tone. “Then again, it’s not every day a dead body is found on your property.”
Instantly the two visitors gasped.
“That must have been just terrible for you,” the woman cried. At that she blushed, waved her hand, finally releasing Doreen’s. “Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry. I’m Cindy. This is my husband, Josh.”
Josh stuck out a big mitt to shake hers. “Pleased to meet you.”
She nodded and tried to nicely free her hand from his. It was impolite to grab onto her hand and hold it so long. Still, they were being friendly, and she certainly hadn’t seen many friendly faces since her arrival. “I’m Doreen,” she said. “Nan is my grandmother.”
The woman, slightly younger than her partner, clasped her hands in front of her and almost gave a little hop and skip, like a twelve-year-old. “Oh, my dear, that’s lovely. Nan is such a sweetie.”
At that Doreen smiled naturally for the first time. “She certainly is.” She didn’t know if she should invite them in, but for some reason, she was loath to do so. She turned to the man and asked, “How long have you lived here?”
“Oh, must be thirty years now, possibly more,” he said with a beaming smile. “Best place to live. Nothing ever happens here. It’s nice and peaceful.”
She avoided pointing out that something had happened here and just nodded, figuring they were here when Jeremy Feldspar was in Nan’s house. “Interesting. Was Nan here when you moved in?”
They both nodded. “She certainly was. What a colorful character. She was always out and about the city with the neighbors.”
Doreen smiled. “I’m learning a lot about my grandmother since coming here. What you know about somebody on one level is a whole different thing when you step into their lives.”
Cindy patted Doreen’s shoulder. “We’re so happy that Nan has you. She shouldn’t be alone in the special years of her life.”
“She won’t be alone now.” Doreen looked for a place to put the dish down, but Mugs, having completely inspected the front porch, was now sitting at her side, staring up at the couple. He wasn’t being overly friendly, and if she wasn’t mistaken, a slight growl came from the back of his throat.
She squatted down slightly and stroked his head. “This is Mugs.”
The couple bent down to greet the dog with what must be their usual overexuberance. They must be exhausting to be around for very long. Who had the energy for all that ebullience?
“And what about Nan’s other pets? Is Thaddeus still here?” Josh asked.
Instantly the bird was behind her, as if hearing his name. Thaddeus landed on her shoulder. She was startled for a moment but quickly adjusted.
The couple smiled. Josh gently stroked Thaddeus’s neck.
“Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”
The couple laughed gaily.
“Isn’t he just wonderful?” Cindy said, beaming. “How lucky for Nan that you’re here to look after her animals.”
“Yes, how very lucky.” Doreen tried hard to be polite, but something about these people made her depressed. Surely nobody was nice all the time.
Just then Goliath came up the front steps to weave his way through everybody and to join in the melee. Doreen glanced at him and then asked the couple, “Do you have any pets?”
Josh shook his head. “We had, but we lost them a couple years back, and it was just so traumatic we didn’t feel we could go through that again.”
Doreen nodded. That she understood. She wasn’t sure what she would do when she lost Mugs.
Cindy stepped back and said, “We’ve taken up so much of your time. So sorry if we were bothering you.”
Doreen wondered if she had been unfriendly, if she should’ve invited them in. But they were already halfway down the steps, waving.
“Stop by anytime you want to visit,” Josh said. “I work from home most days, so one of us is always around.”
Cindy chuckled. “And thankfully I don’t have to work. Josh looks after me very well,” she said with a big smile. “If you’re ever feeling friendly, or just don’t want to be alone anymore, come over and have a cup of tea.”
With a big wave, the two of them left.
Doreen stood in the front door, feeling like a fool. She’d been raised better than that. In the background she could hear Nan’s voice in her head. What was that all about, dear? Why didn’t you invite those nice people in?
And that was the crux of the problem. They were too nice. Maybe it was just her suspicious mind, but it did seem to her as if they had been fishing for information.
She didn’t have any information to give them. The thing was, they would know when the house was empty. They would know when Nan was in or out, and if they had wanted to bury the body on the property, there was plenty of time for them to do so between Nan’s exodus and Doreen’s arrival. Still, these neighbors had come under Doreen’s critical review just for being on the spot and having access. So chances were good they’d have moved the body elsewhere for just that reason. Unless of course, they couldn’t carry him far or didn’t want to get caught with a dead body in their vehicle. Both of which were very valid points too.
Still, she couldn’t imagine trying to move a dead adult male body.
She gave herself a shake and walked back inside. “Come on, Mugs. Let’s go in.”
With the dog and cat at her heels and Thaddeus on her shoulder, she slowly closed the door. As she did so, she caught sight of a woman on the other side of the cul-de-sac, staring at her. She gave her a half smile. The woman turned around and walked inside, slamming her door.
Well, not everybody was friendly apparently. What did Doreen expect? Since she’d arrived, there had been nothing but kerfuffles at her house. Anybody who wanted peace and quiet probably thought the neighborhood had gone to the dogs with Doreen’s arrival.
Unable to help herself, she locked the front door behind her and headed to the kitchen. When she took the tinfoil off the pan, she found fresh-baked buns of some kind. She had to admit they smelled delicious. Were they homemade? Feeling much more endearing toward her neighbors, she picked one, ripped it in half, buttered it and took a big bite. In truth, it was very good.
That was exactly what she needed right now.
She made a cup of tea, buttered a second bun and then took both upstairs. The only reason she could think of for not inviting Josh and Cindy inside was because of the stuff she’d found in the attic. And, yes, she felt guilty now that she’d tasted the wonderful buns.
She still didn’t want anybody to know what she’d found. Anyone but Mack. But, before she told him about her latest find, she had to go through all the boxes. Once he got here, he would likely take everything away. And then he wouldn’t share any further information with her about them. Although she innately trusted Mack, for whatever reason, still the evidence found in these boxes could initially point more fingers in Nan’s direction.