Nan immediately gasped in joy. “I knew you could do it,” she said.
“Well, your friend was coming to visit me,” Doreen said. “At least she was planning on placing a letter on my back step or some way that I would find it.” She quickly told Nan what the letter said.
“Oh, that’s so like Rosie,” she said. “She’s so nonconfrontational, and she doesn’t want to cause trouble for anybody.”
“But her grandson was obviously causing trouble for her.”
“Yes,” Nan said. “And it’s really sad because she didn’t have much money either.”
“So, why would the grandson think that she did?”
“I don’t know,” Nan said. “The problem is the grandson knew that she used to have money, but she has since lost most of it.”
“How did she lose it?”
“Stocks, bonds, and then, of course, her own son was a bit of a layabout too, so she was always bailing him out of this and that. But she lost him in a freak car accident. He’s been gone a good fifteen or so years now.”
“And so Rosie’s grandson is the next layabout?”
“Unfortunately, yes. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
“What was Rosie’s husband like?”
“Pretty well the same.”
“Poor Rosie. She’s had a lot of problems in her life. What kind of a man was her husband?”
“David was a gambler,” Nan said. “He loved to do anything but actual work. He figured it was all too good for him. He did consider himself a fancy-dancy gardener though.”
“A gardener?” Doreen said. “That’s a lot of work for a layabout.”
“Well, for a long time, they had gardeners,” Nan said, her tone turning hoity-toity. “You know what I mean.”
Doreen rolled her eyes. “Sure, I know what you mean,” she said, “but that doesn’t make it the same thing. Heidi had money, but she still did a lot of her own gardening.”
“Well, I think David was the same,” she said. “Anyway, he went missing quite a few years ago, maybe ten years now.”
“What do you mean, missing?” Doreen asked.
Nan gasped. “There you go!” she said. “There’s your cold case. That’s your in into this investigation! I forgot about that.”
“What are you forgetting about?” Doreen cried out in frustration. “Nan, are you saying that Rosie’s husband disappeared a decade ago?”
“Well, he was here one day and gone the next, and poor Rosie was beside herself. She had just been given her first diagnosis of breast cancer, I think,” Nan said. “And, after that, it was really tough on her because her husband never showed up again.”
“Well, if he’s a louse, maybe having a wife who could be terminally ill sounded like too much work.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Nan said in a decisive tone of voice. “He really wasn’t a good man.”
“And was he ever declared dead?”
“I don’t know,” Nan said thoughtfully. “For all I know, Rosie might have divorced him and never told anybody.”
“Well, if she wanted to save face, it’s possible. Or, if he took up with a much younger woman, it’s also possible,” Doreen said, thinking of her own history.
“How sad is that, huh? She was with her husband for a good forty-plus years, and then she gets terminally ill like that, and he just ups and walks away.”
“But was her diagnosis then terminal? Because obviously she lived another ten years.”
“It might have been closer to eleven by now,” Nan said, “because she’s done two five-year sets where she’s cancer-free.”
“Which is why her death this morning,” Doreen said with a nod, “is so much harder. She was still cancer-free and could have lived another ten to fifteen years.”
“Exactly,” Nan said. “She was only about seventy-four, I think.”
“Interesting,” Doreen said. “So, old enough to have had a heart attack but young enough to have still possibly lived even another twenty-five years.”
“Exactly,” Nan said. “We really should have a talk with that grandson.”
“Somebody, likely Mack, will do the next-of-kin notification. If not, I’m sure he’ll interview the grandson based on her letter alone,” Doreen said. “Do you know who her lawyer was?”
“No, I’m not sure I do,” she said. “I remember recommending somebody a few years ago. I don’t know if she followed through or not.”
“Well, because, otherwise, the grandson might get her estate.”
“She was taking care of business a few days ago,” Nan said. “I should have asked her then if there was a reason. But, you know, a lot of us are constantly trying to put things into order so that we can get free and clear in our own mind about what our wishes are when the time comes, so we’re not leaving a headache for our heirs.”
“Right,” Doreen said drily. “I don’t think most of them do what you did though.”
“Oh my. You have no idea what I even have now,” she said, chuckling. “There’s a safety deposit box somewhere that’s got all kinds of stuff in it.”
Doreen stiffened. “What do you mean, all kinds of stuff in it?”
“Yeah, all kinds of stuff,” Nan said cheerfully. “Anything I thought I could use or should keep over the years is in it.”
“Like what, Nan?”
“Well, that’s why it’s in a safety deposit box,” Nan said, “so I don’t forget it. How can I possibly remember what’s in there? So, don’t ask.” Another crazy rabbit hole with Nan.
Doreen took a slow, calming breath and asked, “Do you have the key to the safety deposit box?”
“I think so,” she said. “Or I left it at the house. Did you find some keys in those pockets and the cupboards and the drawers when you were sorting through things?”
“Yes, I think there were keys,” she said. “I didn’t think any of them were for a safety
