She nodded. “But I bet they haven’t done anything about it, have they?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but we have to trust them to do their jobs.”
“What if the person is dead?”
He thrust his chin toward her. “If they’re dead already, we can do nothing to help them, so we’ve got some time.”
She rolled her eyes. “What if they’re dying? What if they’re gasping for their last breath, just waiting for us to come rescue them?”
“Since we don’t know where they are, that’ll hardly be helpful,” he growled.
She knew she was being ornery again, and it was only the good manners she’d been raised with that slowly pulled some of the stiffness out of her response as she turned to Nick. “Well, we don’t need to air our dirty laundry in front of you.”
“Hey, the fact that you even have dirty laundry is interesting,” he said, waving his hand at her. “Too bad none of this is related to your husband.”
“I only wish nothing were related to that man,” she said, with an eye roll. “I don’t know how much Mack has told you, but he isn’t a very nice man.”
“I’ve learned quite a bit about him in the meantime,” Nick said. “I have to investigate each person before we can make any decisions on what to do.”
“I don’t even have any money to pay you, so I have no business talking to you about it in the first place,” she said. “Lawyers are expensive, and this conversation has got to be costing somebody hundreds.” She stopped, looked at him, and said, “But not me, right?”
At that, he laughed out loud. “No, not you. I’m not charging you for this conversation.”
“Oh, good,” she said, “because otherwise the door is right there. I’ve got no money,” she said. “And, if your brother doesn’t stop drinking all my coffee, I won’t be able to have coffee for myself, much less anyone else.”
“Oh, for the love of Jesus!”
She turned and glared at Mack, as he raised his hands in frustration.
“Yes, I know Thaddeus is listening.”
She nodded. “And you’ve already taught him enough bad language, thank you.” Again Nick burst out laughing. She sniffed, turned, and said, “The coffee is ready.”
As the men joined her, she heard Nick saying something about her being delightful, and Mack replying something about Nick having no idea. She was about to take that as an insult, but, when she turned and looked at the glare on his face, she realized it probably wasn’t appropriate for her to attack him anymore just now. It was only her insecurities causing her to be so difficult.
“I know that Mack has appealed to your sense of helping out the underdog,” she said, “although why you would feel you need to do that, I don’t know. But I can tell you that this is a very thankless case.”
“Meaning?”
“I don’t know how to get you any money for doing the work you’re doing,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t have any.”
“Mack was very clear about that,” he said, “and we attorneys are not all after money, by the way.”
She stared at him for a moment, then handed him a full cup of coffee. “I can offer you a cup of coffee,” she said.
“And I’ll take it thankfully,” he replied. He looked around at her house and said, “You’ve obviously done much decluttering around here.”
“Well, yes, I did. But Mack did the new addition,” she said, with half a smile. “He and his buddies did the big deck,” she said, then led the way outside. “He’s done a ton out here, all last weekend and the weekend before,” she said. “It’s been amazing.”
Nick looked at Mack, who nodded. “A lot of the guys from work came in to help,” he said. “The thing is, she has done a lot for the community, and we were happy to have the chance to pay back some of it.”
She danced around the deck. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Nick stood at the edge by the kitchen door and said, “It is beautiful. You have a lovely place here.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s my nan’s.”
“Well, it was your nan’s,” Mack corrected. “It’s yours now.”
She nodded. “I keep forgetting that,” she confessed. “And it’s only because Nan is such a beautiful person that I have this home now.”
“I’m sure she is delighted to be able to help you,” Nick said.
“She is. She has done so much for me. She’s always done so much for so many people in many ways,” she muttered. Looking down at the poured concrete all the way to the path by the creek, she smiled. “It’s really a beautiful place now.”
Nick looked around and asked, “Do you have any chairs to sit in out here?”
She snorted at that. “Not now.” She pointed at the set she’d moved off to the side. “The one chair just broke yesterday, almost dumping me on my butt. I need to get a new set, but, when I said I had no money, I meant it. I have no money.”
He grinned. “And that’s okay. You don’t have to do everything all at once.”
“Well, that’s good,” she said. “It’s all I can do to figure out how to survive with what I’ve got right now.”
“And it looks like you’re doing just fine,” Nick said. “Cut yourself some slack.”
She smiled up at him. “So you’re one of those nice men, aren’t you?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Well, I hope so.”
She nodded. “As long as you’re not like Mack.”
Mack straightened from his slouch against the back door and burst in outrage. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You won’t let me help, lots of times,” she said. “You tell me off all the time,” she added, then she stopped. “Well, you are helping me learn to cook, and you do help me by paying me to look after your mother’s garden.” Then she stopped, looked at Nick, and asked, “How come you don’t look after your mother’s garden?”
He chuckled. “I do look after a lot of things for our mother,” he said. “But you’re right. Mack is paying you to help with the garden.”
“I think he’s just doing it to be nice,” she said, “at least if I’m being honest. But the thing is, I really do need the money, so I try not to protest too much.”
Mack looked over at his brother and said, “I told you that she gets sidetracked easily.”
“Oh, and what else did you tell him?” she said in a challenging tone. He just glared at her. “Fine,” she muttered, as she sat down on the edge of the steps. “Grab some deck,” she said. “That’s what I’ve got to offer.”
Both men immediately sat down, one on either side of her.
Chapter 10
Doreen looked at Nick. “So did you find out anything useful?”
“I found out all kinds of useful things,” he said. “I was trying not to alert him that somebody was looking into his affairs though.”