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

“Well, you could always leave me some money,” she said. “I’m sure you don’t want to see your wife suffer.”

He laughed. “You seem to be doing just fine on your own.”

And, with that, he strode down the sidewalk and headed to the car. She cut through the house from the deck, stood on the front porch, and watched, deliberately waiting until he left, before she investigated something twinkling in the bright sky. The early morning light had hit something down there in her garden bed, but she didn’t want to give Mathew any inclination that she might be looking for something. He drove down and around the cul-de-sac and took off. Seconds later she heard Mack’s truck rattling upward. She stayed on the front steps, with the animals around her. Thaddeus was walking up and down on the railing, calling out, “Thaddeus loves Doreen. Thaddeus loves Doreen.”

Richard opened his door and called out, “Why are you making so much racket this early in the morning?”

“Well, we weren’t making any racket,” she said, “until you started yelling.” She motioned at Mack. “Of course, the cops are here, so you can always complain, if you want.”

Mack hopped out, looked at her quizzically, then looked at Richard and asked, “Is there a problem?”

Richard harrumphed, then walked back inside and slammed the door.

“He was just about to make a noise complaint,” she said helpfully.

He rolled his eyes at her. “So, you’re in trouble again?”

“Not deliberately,” she said honestly.

He laughed at that. “Says you.”

“My ex just left.”

He froze on the spot and then slowly fixed his gaze on her face. “Why was he here?” And then he swallowed hard. “Or did he stay overnight?”

Her eyebrows shot upward. “That’ll never happen,” she said and then shook her head. “He woke me up, pounding on the front door, just about twenty-five minutes ago.”

“Why’d he come?”

“He wanted to return the USB key.” She held it up in her hand. “When I started making coffee, he invited himself to stay for a cup, but he didn’t like it much.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I made it as black as sin,” she said, with an evil grin, “and even his two overly heaping spoons of sugar didn’t help him get it down.”

Mack started to chuckle. “Ah, so you like dark coffee now, huh?”

“Always have,” she said, “and it is a bit strong, but I would never let him know that I didn’t like it.”

He reached out, took the cup, from her hands, and took a sip. “Wow, that’s good,” he muttered, staring at it, and then looked at her. “You just get better and better at this stuff.”

“Well, he didn’t finish his, and there’s still some in the pot.”

Mack nodded. “I’ll go grab a cup.”

She smiled. “You do that, and here, in the meantime, I will pick up that thing that I can see over there in the grass.”

He froze immediately, came back, and said, “What are you talking about?”

She pointed at whatever was shining down in the garden, caught between the marigold blooms and the bark mulch behind it. He immediately retraced his steps to the bottom riser and over to the marigolds. Digging into the back, he pulled it up. “Aha!”

“Well, look at that, another USB stick. Or is it? It’s odd-looking, isn’t it?” she said, frowning, because it was mostly just a smooth slim piece of metal.

“It’s more expensive,” he said, “but these things hold a lot.”

“Well, I don’t know where it came from but—”

“But,” he said, with a big smile, “let’s hope it’s all about the right person.”

“I hope so. I was waiting for Mathew to leave, before I investigated it. Then I heard your truck coming, so I thought, if I waited for you, then it wouldn’t look like I planted evidence.”

“Well, it could be that you planted it and then asked me to go pick it up.” She glared at him, and he just laughed.

“Come on. Let’s go grab some coffee and see what’s on this. Besides, you already have the other USB keys,” she said.

He nodded. “Absolutely. But they’ve been turned over to forensics. And now we’ll see what’s on this.” He pushed her gently through the door, with all the animals crowding in as well. “Let’s take this to the kitchen.”

Sitting down on the table, he pulled her laptop to him, looked at her, and she smiled and nodded. That was the thing about Mack; he was always respectful. Well, he was always respectful, except for when he wasn’t, like when he was hanging up on her. But then she probably deserved as much of that as he did. He popped in the USB and quickly opened it up and found a single file. That was it. He popped it open and immediately it came up. It was a one-page letter, yet Doreen could see that the document was several pages long.

“What’s behind the letter?” she asked, because the letter was just one page.

He flicked through it. “Wow, look at this,” he said. “It’s her Last Will and Testament.”

“Aah,” she said, staring at it. “Why is it on that key?”

“Well, she is a lawyer, so maybe she felt she needed it. If anything happened to her, it would be on her person.”

“Which means,” she said, staring at him, “that she thought her life was in danger?”

He nodded slowly. “I’m afraid so. And, if you read the letter, you’ll see who she thinks it is.”

Chapter 19

Tuesday Midmorning …

Doreen read out loud from the beginning.

“To whom this may concern. If I am dead, you need to look at Mathew. He was my latest relationship and a meganarcissist, the craziest I’ve ever met. He is dangerous. He is dark, and he is involved in many criminal activities of which blackmail is only a part. I thought I was treading into the shadows, before I met him. But something dark and ugly attracted the two of us together. And, like anything, it was combustible to the point