Murder in the Marigolds by Dale Mayer (best young adult book series .txt) 📕

She shook her head. “No, I should probably go to the doctor, but I haven’t bothered.” She looked at him. “So how was she killed?”

“She was stabbed.”

At that, she stared at Mack, the color draining from her face. “Well, that’s up-front and personal.”

“Which is also why your name has to be considered.”

“Can they tell if it was a right-handed or a left-handed person?”

His gaze sharpened. “We haven’t gotten those results yet.”

“Well, let’s hope it’s a right-handed person as my injury would have prevented me from doing this deed.”

He looked at her injured shoulder and said, “That would be very helpful.”

“And, of course, you won’t let me work on the case at all.”

“Nope,” he said decisively. “Absolutely not.”

She glared.

He shrugged. “Come on. You know how this works.”

“Right, new cases are yours. Old cases are mine.”

“And this is not an old case,” he said. “And you remain on the suspect list until we have a better suspect. So don’t add further suspicions.” His glare added emphasis to his terse wording.

She shook her head, disagreeing with him. “But she’s a visitor here right now. It’s not like she even came from this area.”

“That doesn’t mean that we pay her death any less attention.”

“Of course not,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “Don’t mind me. You just shook me a bit. And here I’ve been sad and depressed about Isaac and his mom leaving and returning to the coast.”

“And yet,” he said, studying her carefully, “that’s a good thing. She and her son can have a beautiful life. And she has her biological family to help her raise Isaac.”

“It is a good thing,” she said, “but, I guess, I was hoping to see more of Isaac.”

“You really like the little guy, huh?”

She beamed. “He’s a character, and he’s very sweet.”

“Well, he will have a much better life now,” Mack said. “And just because he’s gone to Vancouver doesn’t mean he’s out of your life forever.”

“And that’s a good thing too,” she muttered. “At the same time, it’s odd, you know? I find these people or make friends—or it seems like maybe I’ll make friends—but then something goes completely wrong, and I end up destroying their lives.”

“Well, you didn’t destroy anybody’s life this time,” he said. “It’s very important to remember that you did a very good thing here.”

“True, they were in a terrible situation,” she said, “but I don’t know. I have just felt a little bit down.”

At that, Thaddeus, who’d been on her lap, walked up closer and curled up on her belly. She stretched out a hand and gently stroked his beautiful feathers. “He’s been better though.”

“Good,” Mack said. “Thaddeus, you doing okay now?”

Thaddeus immediately stretched up his wings and called out, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

She chuckled. “I don’t know how people can live alone,” she said. “These animals provide so many hours of joy and comfort.”

“And it sounds like you need that right now,” he said, his gaze low and worried.

She caught the odd note in his tone, and she smiled. “I’m okay. Really, I am. I just, you know,” and she gave a wave of her hand at the policemen standing behind her. “This is a very odd day.”

“We’ll be gone soon,” he promised.

“Well, good,” she said. “I don’t really have anything else to offer. I need to contact some people and see about getting some money from somewhere,” she muttered distractedly, as she stared down at the creek. “At least the water is going down, so that’s good.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to take any more crazy unexpected swims.”

“I’d be okay not doing that again,” she said emphatically.

He smiled, stood, and said, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good,” she said. “You might bring some coffee, when you come.” He snorted and she smiled. “Hey, at least I didn’t tell you to bring groceries, although it seems like it is about time for another cooking lesson.”

He stopped and looked at her with interest. “What do you want to make?”

“Well, I’m still eating tons of pasta, which is good, since it’s keeping some weight on my frame,” she muttered. “But there must be other things to eat too.”

“Name them.”

“Granola would be nice.”

“You know you can buy that, right?”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, really. It’s just as simple as picking it up at the grocery store.”

She frowned. “Maybe it was the price then,” she said. “I thought it was expensive.”

“I guess it depends on what you call expensive, but, if you don’t buy tons and if just you eat it, it won’t be very much at all.”

She nodded. “That might make me happy,” she said, with a smile. “Maybe I’ll walk down to the store and buy some then.” She stopped with a quizzical look. “Just like any store or a specialty store?”

“Any grocery store, like, seriously any store,” he replied.

She smiled. “Good to know.”

At that, he headed back toward the guys.

She knew he turned to look at her again, but she didn’t bother glancing back at him. Inside, she was still in this weird fog. The thought of her ex-lawyer being murdered just blew Doreen away. As far as she was concerned, her ex was probably involved, and that just made it something she thought of as an open-and-shut case; yet Mack and the others had come here.

They’d actually come here, asking about her whereabouts, and she didn’t know what to do with that. It just hurt on so many levels. Yet it was something he had to check out, something he had to determine was nothing. And it was nothing, but she was an emotional wreck because of it. She didn’t even watch as they left. They just disappeared, as she sat here, now with Goliath in her lap, trying to push Thaddeus aside. Instead the savvy bird had crawled up on top of Goliath, and Mugs was stretched out beside her on the deck.

“Well, now what do we do?” she muttered.

But then her phone rang. She stared down at