by Dale Mayer
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
About Evidence in the Echinacea
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Author’s Note
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
A new cozy mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. Follow gardener and amateur sleuth Doreen Montgomery—and her amusing and mostly lovable cat, dog, and parrot—as they catch murderers and solve crimes in lovely Kelowna, British Columbia.
Riches to rags. … Chaos quiets. … Crime is circling. … And cold cases never cease …
After almost a month in picturesque Kelowna, Doreen Montgomery still can’t keep her notoriety to a minimum or her nose out of other people’s business. Now those suffering from the loss of a loved one seek her out, wanting her help. While the last thing Doreen wants is to have the media discover she’s involved in another cold case, she is already hooked on the details …
But even more is going on. News has gotten out that Nan’s old house is brimming over with valuable antiques, antiques Nan collected and left for Doreen, and the seedier elements of their lovely town are circling like vultures. With her animals in full assistant mode, Doreen must investigate the cold case, right the wrongs of the past, and keep her home safe, all while evading the media—and Corporal Mack Moreau.
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Chapter 1
In the Mission, Kelowna, BC
Wednesday Morning, One Day After Solving Her Last Case…
Doreen Montgomery opened the front door to her home, pulling away the madly barking Mugs from the entrance. Since arriving in Kelowna to live in her Nan’s house, she’d been adapting from her old life as a wife to a mega rich man to being a single woman living on her own – in poverty. She and her pedigreed basset hound had been saved from a bad marriage, where neither of them had been loved, to her new life with Goliath, an oversized Maine Coon cat and a talkative – sometimes too talkative – African Gray Parrot named Thaddeus. The moment there was a knock on her door, complete chaos ensued. Like now…
She stared at the stranger in surprise. He didn’t look like media but the vans outside, the crowd with tripods and cameras said he most likely was. Mugs calmed slightly but he switched to sniffing the stranger’s pant legs.
Suspiciously, she asked, “Yes, may I help you?”
The man in a three-piece suit, looking extremely elegant and way too perfect for the small town of Kelowna, particularly for her neglected house, smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Scott Rosten, an appraiser from Christie’s, the auction house.”
“Oh my,” she said in excitement. She shook his hand with a little too much enthusiasm. “I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon.” At her tone, Mugs started to get excited. She shushed him and moved Mugs back so Mr. Rosten could come inside away from the media watching avidly from the edge of her property. With a satisfied shove she slammed the door to the flashing bulbs outside. She turned with a bright smile to Mr. Rosten. “Sorry about them.” She waved at the media outside. “Things have been crazy here.”
“No problem. My flight got in early,” Mr. Rosten explained, his gaze locked on Thaddeus, her African gray parrot on her shoulder. “There didn’t seem to be any reason to wait, so, if I’m not putting you out, is it possible to talk to you now?”
He motioned at Thaddeus. “Wow. Is he friendly?”
“Absolutely. This is Thaddeus.”
“Welcome. Welcome,” Thaddeus squawked.
“Thank you,” Mr. Rosten said chuckling. “He’s quite a character.”
“That he is, and I’m glad you’re here. The earlier the better as far as I’m concerned.” She motioned to the mess around her. “Take a look around, Mr. Rosten.”
“Call me Scott.” He stepped further into the living room, his gaze locked on the closest piece of furniture. “Wow.”
She gazed at him anxiously. “Wow? Is that a good wow or a bad wow?”
“It could be a very good wow.” Without hesitation he went to the first little chair, picked it up, checking the maker’s mark. “You see items like these in pictures, but they aren’t quite the same as seeing them in real life.”
“Not to mention there’s just something about the feel of real wood in your hands,” she replied bending down to tug Mugs back slightly, so he wasn’t in the way.
“If you’re an antiques lover, there’s also a reverence for the history behind each piece,” he said, his fingers gently caressing the carved feet, then the edges where the cushions met. “These are absolutely stupendous.”
“Do you think they’re real?” She hated to ask so bluntly but didn’t know any other way to say it.
The antiques appraiser looked at her in surprise. “Oh, they are definitely real.”
“Right. Okay. So I know they’re real wood, and I know they’re real furniture, but are they real antiques?” She scrunched up her face. Doreen, get a hold of yourself. You’re acting like a fool, a greedy fool. “I’m not explaining myself very well,” she said.
He held up a hand. “You’re doing just fine. What you’re really asking is, are these the same rare pieces we were hoping they were. And I can tell you, for this one in my hand, the answer is yes.”
“And there’s that one,” she said, pointing at the second one across the room. Immediately Thaddeus walked down her arm and sat on her wrist. She chuckled and walked over to place him on the mantel.
Scott walked to the matching chair, picked it up, studied it, placed it beside the first chair, then fell to his knees in front of the coffee table. “Wow. Just look at the work that went into this.”
“Wow, just wow,” Thaddeus cried out as he hopped from the mantel to the back of the chair they’d been looking at.
“Don’t mind him,” Doreen said as Scott stared at Thaddeus in surprise. “He loves to repeat our words.”
“He’s amazing.” Scott reached out a finger smiling as Thaddeus stroked his finger with his beak. “He’s lovely.”
“And he’ll take all your attention if you let him,” she warned.
“Good point.” Scott turned his attention back to the furniture. “Can you give me a hand?”
It took the two of them to gently flip the coffee table so he could see the maker’s mark and the numbers on the underside.
He nodded. “These are three pieces of the same matched set. I was so hoping the photographs didn’t lie. But until I came and checked it for myself …”
“And the couch?” she asked, her voice doubtful. “It’s really big.” At her words, Mugs jumped up on the couch and immediately stretched out. Horrified, Doreen quickly moved him off. “Mugs get off,” she cried. “Sorry, Scott.”
“Don’t be. The couch has been well loved. It’s part of life. And the size of the couch is what makes it part of that very unique set. Montague only did two like this. It was intended for a large bedroom sitting area. He wanted it to match the bed.”
Together they slo
wly flipped the couch, which was at least big enough to seat six. He checked it for scratches, smiled when he saw a couple, then crowed in delight when he looked at the maker’s mark and said, “This is all the same set.”
“Does that mean you think you can auction them off for a decent price?”
“Absolutely.” He looked at her. “Are you ready to let them go?”
“Interesting that you should ask that. Before I realized this furniture belonged to my great-great-grandmother, I had zero attachment. Now that I know they’ve been in my family for a century, it’s a little harder, but yes,” she said looking around at her living room. “I can’t even sit on them anymore now that I’m so petrified of damaging them.”
“They have been sat on by your family for generations,” Scott said. “I know you say they were in your family, and your grandmother is still alive. It’s on her word that these pieces were in her grandmother’s possession. Do you have any paperwork that proves provenance?”
“That’s a new word I’ve just learned,” Doreen said with a smile. “Fen Gunderson is the one who first introduced me to how important that is. My grandmother says a folder is in the house somewhere, but I’m not sure where it is. I was hoping we could move out some of these pieces, and then potentially I could find it.”
“Right,” he said. “I understand you have the matching bed too, correct?”
Doreen nodded, heading to the hallway. Mugs raced ahead of them.
“A bed and two night tables,” she said, walking to the staircase.
Scott looked over the moon at her words.
She led him upstairs, apologizing every step, saying, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon, so I didn’t clean up yet.”
“Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter at all.” He chuckled as Goliath ran up the inside curve of the stairs, his movements fast and lithe.
Goliath was a huge golden Maine coon cat and had come with Nan’s house as part of Doreen’s gift from her grandmother. He was the size of a bobcat, but that didn’t scare Scott, so the appraiser must really like animals. She knew she’d like him. And not just because he was here for her antiques.
“The animals are curious too,” Scott noted.
On the heel of his words, Thaddeus cried out pathetically from the upstairs hallway, “Curious animals. Curious animals.”
Scott laughed. “And a talking parrot.”
“He is indeed and they are all curious.” Doreen said as she scooped up Thaddeus. The large beautiful blue-gray parrot with long red tail feathers also came with Nan’s house. Doreen was getting used to his constant repetitions. And definitely enjoyed his affectionate nature.
When they walked into the master bedroom, Scott stopped, delighted. Whereas she frowned. Both Goliath and Mugs had stretched out on top of the bedding. She groaned. Thankfully Scott didn’t seem to care. He was standing enthralled.
“We sent pictures of the furniture in this room to Christie’s,” she said, placing Thaddeus on the window ledge. “I guess you’ve seen them already.”
“And again the pictures don’t do this set justice,” he said with a smile. He lovingly stroked one of the large posts. “Absolutely beautiful.”
“If you think so,” she said. “Honestly, it’s been my bed. So it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. I’ve been sleeping in it.”
“Montague always designed a couple small drawers into the headboard. May I look?”
“Absolutely,” she said, watching in surprise. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he wanted a place to put his glasses and for the pills he had to take at night. Montague built these little drawers to suit his needs. As I said, he built two complete sets. It was his way of covering his costs. One set for himself and one set for sale.”
Scott sat down on the side of the bed and gently checked out the headboard. And, sure enough, it didn’t take but a few minutes before she heard a light clicking noise, and a drawer popped out. Scott turned to look at her. “It’s here,” he said. “And now I know for sure this is his piece.”
Doreen looked in the drawer, but it was empty. She hated the sense of letdown she felt when she hadn’t even realized a drawer was here to begin with.
Goliath shifted on the bed beside them and rolled over, his tail flicking as he watched Scott carefully. Thaddeus hopped down to the mattress and walked closer to Scott. “Welcome, Scott. Welcome, Scott.”
Scott chuckled. “He’s quite something, isn’t he?”
“You have no idea,” Doreen muttered. Even as she watched, Thaddeus walked closer to Scott. He seemed very interested in their visitor. He didn’t usually care who was here.
He got up and walked to the other side, asking, “Do you want to see how they open?”
Doreen nodded and leaned over his shoulder as he pressed a tiny little button. Sure enough, the second little secret drawer popped open. “Nan said her grandmother used to hide treats for her in a lot of the furniture, so Nan ran around and searched for stuff all the time.”
“Well …” He lifted a gold-foiled chocolate. Thaddeus waddled closer the shiny foil attracting his attention. “That’s what this is then. Maybe you should deliver it to Nan. Although it’s likely decades late.” Scott gently brushed Thaddeus back as he held the treat out to Doreen. “This isn’t for you, big guy.”
Thaddeus’ crown lifted high and his head bobbed. “Treat for the big guy. Treat for the big guy.”
Scott chuckled. “You’d better take this before he decides it’s his.”
Doreen held out her hand, completely enchanted at the thought of her grandmother as a little girl, running around the house, searching for chocolates. “This is a very special moment,” she whispered. “Would you mind if we placed it back in the drawer? I want to take a picture to show her.”
“If you’re still willing to sell,” Scott said, “I do have to arrange for proper shipping. And that’ll take a couple days. Every piece has to be wrapped properly before moving them.”
“Understood,” she said. But she really hadn’t considered what the process would be. In the back of her mind she was thinking an hour and they’d be all done. But … somehow she doubted it.
He looked at her. “But that means you don’t have a bed.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m also starving. I don’t have a job, and I’m trying to keep the roof over my head. I can find another bed to sleep in.”
He nodded in understanding. “That’s good.” He looked at the night tables. “To find both the sitting room set and the bedroom set is absolutely wonderful. The second set is no longer together.”
“Are there other pieces that go with the set, other than what we’ve found so far?”
He nodded. “Three dressers—a tallboy, a short boy, and a vanity.” He looked around the room, his eyes lighting on the vanity.
She’d never seen a grown man cry. But he stood trembling in front of it, as if it was the best thing he’d ever seen in his life. She got up and asked, “Is this the vanity piece?”
He just nodded. Completely unable to talk.
“I guess that’s one of the pieces then.” She opened the drawers. “I haven’t had a chance to go through this vanity yet.”
“We should do that now,” he said, “because I should check the label underneath, confirming it’s part of the same set. And that mirror looks like it’s very delicate.”
She was afraid to move it, but they dragged it forward, with Mugs getting in the way at every step and Thaddeus insisting on riding on her shoulder. Finally Scott could slip behind and check for the mark he sought, one on the mirror and one on the vanity itself.
When he stood, such a sense of peace appeared on his face. He kept stroking the edge of the mirror. “It’s definitely one of the pieces. Two hidden drawers should also be in this piece.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Where?”
He chuckled. “How about I give you a few minutes to see if you can figure them out yourself?”
She didn’t see any drawers like the headboard had. As Thaddeus hopped then walked the surface of the dresser, her fingers slid over the top and then the side. She shrugged and looked at him. “I haven’t a clue.”
“That’s one of the reasons to empty the drawers. Because one of the secret drawers is behind one of the big drawers.”
She grabbed empty boxes and an empty laundry hamper nearby and then opened the drawers, gently sliding the contents into the boxes. Everything from papers, notebooks, perfume, and some jewelry had been stored in the vanity. It was going to take time to sort through and this was obviously not the time.
There were seven drawers—three on each side and a big drawer across the center. With all the drawers out, sitting on the vanity stool, Scott pushed a small depression on the panel inside where the drawers sat, and a drawer popped out at the very back. He removed the drawer. Inside was a little padded velvet envelope. He picked it up and handed it to her. Thaddeus made an odd cawing sound.
“It’s not yours either,” Doreen said affectionately. “Regardless of what you think.”
She released the catch and poured into her hand what appeared to be a locket. She opened it, and her breath caught in the back of her throat. “Oh my.” Inside was an image of a woman who was maybe fifty and on the other side was a baby.
“Do you know those people?”
“I think this is my Nan,” she said, tapping the woman’s face. “And I’ll say that’s me.”
“Well, there you go. Family is family.” He replaced the drawer. “Is it your mother or your father who is Nan’s child?”
“My father,” she said, “and he died, after a wild and reckless life, of a drug overdose many, many years ago. My mom stayed friends with Nan for my sake and because Nan helped us a lot when I was growing up.” Doreen carefully closed the locket and put it back in the velvet pouch. Not wanting to lose it, she slipped it into her pocket. “I’ll ask Nan about it.”
“You do that. Now let’s find the other drawer.” It was on the right side. He popped open the other secret drawer and found yet again another gold-foiled chocolate in it. Doreen laughed in delight and took another photograph, picked up the chocolate, and put it beside the first one she had set on the windowsill. Thaddeus immediately flew to the window ledge.