Jewels in the Juniper - Dale Mayer Page 0,32

want to put you out.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nan said. “If I miss some, I’ll just pick it up later.”

“Maybe, but I’m totally okay to walk home now.”

“If you’re sure?” Nan frowned at her.

“Absolutely,” Doreen said. “Besides, the tea’s all gone.”

At that, Nan started to laugh. “Good point. It is, indeed.” She stood. “Would you like some walnut bread to take home?”

“I’d love some,” Doreen said warmly. As Nan walked back into the kitchen, Doreen wanted to mention the vegetables she’d been promised, but, at the same time, maybe Nan had given them away to the others.

Then Nan came back out and set her basket down. “Pick the vegetables you want, please,” she said. “I’m honestly struggling to eat it all.”

“I don’t want to take too much,” Doreen said, but eyed the huge tomatoes with a gleam in her eye.

Nan chuckled and pulled out a plastic bag. “Here. Let’s get you some cucumbers and carrots. Green onions of course. Oh, and some tomatoes.” Very quickly she closed the bag, nearly emptying the entire basket, only leaving herself one tomato, a couple small baby carrots and a little lettuce.

“Nan, are you sure?” Doreen asked, looking down. “You’ve only got a little left.”

“Not only am I sure,” Nan said, “but here. She held out a tinfoil-wrapped packet. “Six slices of walnut bread. Feel free to share with the good detective, if you’d like to.”

“He’s cooking dinner tomorrow night,” Doreen confessed. “So I’m sure he’ll love some.”

Nan literally rubbed her hands together with glee.

Doreen frowned. “Don’t read too much into this,” she warned.

Nan’s face drifted off into a smooth and unlined innocent look that didn’t fool anyone.

Doreen laughed, then leaned over and kissed her grandmother on the cheek. “Thank you, as always.”

She called the animals and walked over to the flagstones, still feeling odd that Fred wasn’t around, then started her walk back up to the curb. She stopped and looked around, but Nan had already gone inside.

Doreen looked down at the animals.

“Time to go home, guys.”

Chapter 10

Saturday Evening …

Back inside, Doreen carefully put away her fresh veggies and the walnut bread. Now she had an address for Aretha’s home, but, more than that, she also had a brother-in-law from her most recent husband’s family.

She sat down at her laptop and did some research, but she felt restless now. The evening yawned before her, but she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she should check out where Aretha was living. Doreen mapped out the place and discovered it was only about six blocks from her home.

“If only we’d known that,” she announced, “we could have gone directly from Nan’s place.”

Packing up the animals again, she headed out the front door and took a shortcut that ended up taking her around the block, so only about four blocks were left. She was there in no time. Happy that she’d come this evening so she didn’t have to fuss and worry about it later tonight, she stopped outside the beautiful mansion with the big locking gate.

The place reminded her of the home belonging to Ed Burns. That was the case where the nasty son Jude had his father killed so he could take over the estate. This estate before her wasn’t as grandiose and definitely wasn’t worth the same amount of money, but still it was a lovely home. As Doreen looked at a bit of garden she could see from outside the fence, the gate opened, and a woman who’d been gardening stepped out and smiled at her.

“Hi,” Doreen said, with a beaming smile. “I was just admiring the garden.”

“You’re Doreen, aren’t you?” the woman said.

Doreen was startled. “How did you know?” she asked, but the woman just laughed.

“Because of the menagerie that came along with you, of course.”

Doreen looked down to see Mugs wandering through the beautiful daisies in the garden. “Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “Mugs, come here.” She tugged on the leash. Mugs dropped his butt and looked at her, as if to say he wasn’t interested.

The woman smiled. “Not to worry. He’s more than welcome in my garden. I’m Heidi, by the way.”

“Oh, I’m so grateful you don’t mind,” Doreen said. “Some people definitely do.”

“Not at all,” Heidi said.

“I wish I had some lovely plants like these,” Doreen said. “I’m redoing my nan’s garden. Well, it’s my garden now, I guess I should say. But I don’t have much in the way of perennials.”

“Come on in and take a look,” Heidi said. “I’m weeding out plants right now.