by Raven Snow
“I know who that is,” said Rowen, nodding to the woman laid out on the ground. She recognized the sunburn and the feathers woven into the woman’s hair. There was no confusing her for someone else. She knew that face.
“You do?” Ben gave Rowen all of his attention. “Who is she?”
“I don’t know her name,” Rowen said quickly, getting that out of the way first. “She was a customer at Odds & Ends, though. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but she was super rude.” That reminded Rowen of an obvious detail that needed to be mentioned. “Oh! She… she had children.”
Ben took a pad of paper from inside his jacket. “Do you know their names? Ages?”
“They were young. They were playing hide and seek in the back room. It was a girl and a boy. The girl was a few years younger than her brother, I believe. They had strange names.” Rowen wracked her brain, trying to remember what those names were. “The little girl was Sara.”
“That’s not strange.”
“And… and the little boy was named… Oh! Roswell. His name was Roswell.”
“That’s pretty strange.” Ben jotted all that down before looking across the officers on the scene. “All right, it seems like we might have some missing kids on our hands. Morris. Blake. You two go back to the campground, see if anyone has seen kids around. They answer to Sara and Roswell.” Ben looked to Rowen. “What did they look like?”
“Um.” Rowen swallowed, slightly uncomfortable now that all eyes were on her. She knew the Lainswich police weren’t crazy about her. “Under ten, I think. The boy was about this high off the ground. The girl was shorter and younger. Both of them are blonde.” There was a stretch of awkward silence once she was finished speaking. “That’s all that I can really remember.”
Ben nodded. “Well, you heard her, go on. Sutton, I want you to call in to the station. We need to get a real search party going here if those kids are missing.”
Sutton nodded and stepped away to do just that. Rowen looked around as everyone went back to what they were meant to be doing. Most of the officers were out on the streets blocking off the area. It would probably be near impossible to get home right about now. Not that Rowen wanted to go home. She wanted to be doing something. She wanted to help. Sure, she had identified one of the bodies and let the police know there might be children missing. Still, she wanted to do more. It was hard to get those kids out of her head. Rowen had never been crazy about kids, but she definitely didn’t like the idea of them roaming around the woods alone. It could be worse, she supposed. They could have found the children’s bodies as well. That would have been a real nightmare.
“Are you sensing anything?” Ben asked quietly.
Rowen realized that she had been staring out into the distance. That probably looked like she had sensed something, but no. She was just stuck in her own head dreaming up worst case scenarios. “No, there’s too much all around us.” It wasn’t uncommon for Rowen’s impressions of a place to be blocked out by too much noise. Strong emotions were like static, and with so many people from the camp stumbling across her body here, there were a lot of strong emotions. She closed her eyes to try and zero in on what was happening. No dice. “Do you think I could walk around the woods some?”
“No,” Ben answered immediately. “We’re treating this whole area like a crime scene right now. I’m not letting you wander this place alone. Besides, Rose would kill me if you ran into trouble out there.”
“There might be kids in trouble out there,” Rowen pointed out.
“I know, and I’m ready to deal with that. How about I give you a call once we’ve moved the body? It shouldn’t be as crowded in the morgue. You might be able to pick something up then.”
Rowen sighed but nodded. “All right. That might work.” She really wasn’t sure that it would, but it felt worth trying.
***
The men Ben had sent to look for the kids radioed back eventually. There was no sign of the kids. A few people claimed to have seen them based on their description. It was difficult to tell if they were telling the truth or if they just wanted to be involved in the case somehow. Either way, they couldn’t give any information on where the kids were now.
Rowen was forced to leave not long after that, and things kicked into gear. A small team worked to protect the bodies from the elements while some forensics guys drove in from Tarricville. Ben began the process of organizing a proper search party. He seemed eager to return to the station and mark things off into grids and teams. They had apparently gotten started as soon as Sutton had called. “I’ll need you to head down to the station and work with a sketch artist,” he told Rowen. “It’ll be fastest if you ride down with Sutton. He can use his siren. I can’t imagine how long it would take otherwise. Traffic has to be moving at a snail’s pace out there.”
As reluctant as Rowen was to ride with Sutton, she knew that Ben was right. Finding these missing kids was more important than anything right now. “You don’t want to go down yourself?” asked Sutton. “I can handle things here if—”
“I need you back at the station.” Ben didn’t even let Sutton finish speaking. “And that’s not optional. It’s an order.”
Sutton’s face screwed up like he had something he wanted to say. “Okay,” he managed, finally. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Get going.”
***
It was more than a little awkward walking back to the campground side by side with Sutton. He didn’t say anything the whole time, and the silence was incredibly heavy between them. Once they reached the camp it was a little more tolerable. There was a lot of talking going on, a lot of hushed voices and rushed speech. Rowen couldn’t help but wonder if this was making them want to leave or stay longer. Normally, she would have hoped for the latter. There was a good chance the person who had murdered Stephen and the woman in the woods had come in with the tourists, though. It would be a shame if they managed to slip out of town with a surge of tourists leaving.
Rowen spotted Irene as she passed by the WNT trailers. Irene was holding her coffee in her hands. She stood inside her trailer, looking out the window with wide eyes. Her eyes met Rowen’s after a few seconds. Perking up, she moved like she might head toward the door. There were questions she wanted answered, no doubt. Rowen probably struck her as the kind of person to give those answers. She paused, though, her gaze landing on Sutton next. Plain clothes or not, he had the grizzled look of what you imagined when you thought “detective.” Irene closed the blinds instead.
“Hey, Rowen!” A familiar voice called Rowen’s name. She turned to see Willow and Benji approaching at a brisk jog. “What’s going on?”
Sutton cleared his throat, like Rowen needed reminding that she wasn’t supposed to share anything. “I’ve been brought in on a case. Tell Rose I won’t be able to help out there for a while. Eric will be joining me too, so you might be shorthanded.”
“Oh.” Willow knew the drill by now. “Well, I can probably help out, I guess. I’m not getting that interview tonight after all.”
“Really? Who is?”
“I don’t think anyone is. She said something about a live stream tonight being in poor taste.” Willow shrugged. “I mean, it seems like news worth reporting to me, especially since it corresponds with all this alien business.”
To her left, Rowen heard Sutton give an exasperated sigh. “I’m not sure aliens were involved here,” Rowen said, gently. She knew she wasn’t supposed to talk about the case, but she felt pretty comfortable saying that much.
Willow didn’t seem fazed by Rowen doubting her. “I’m sure we’ll figure out what’s going on eventually. We’ll see who’s right then.”
Rowen didn’t want to argue with Willow. She just nodded and told Willow to take care before continuing on with Sutton.
***
Sutton was parked out front. “Get in,” he said, opening the back door for her.
“I’ll ride in the front, thanks.” Rowen opened the passenger side door, getting i
n there instead. “Don’t worry. My open mindedness isn’t catching.” She might not believe aliens were to blame here, but Rowen still thought of herself as a witch—something Sutton found patently ridiculous despite seeing some of her skills in action.
Sutton didn’t force Rowen into the back. He walked around and got in the driver’s seat. That stern face of his looked stonier than ever as he turned on his siren and pulled out.
“So what do you think about all this?” asked Rowen.
There wasn’t a response from Sutton at first. Maybe he had hoped the ride would conclude like walking from the woods had, in silence. Finally, he spoke up, “I don’t think it’s aliens, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t really. I think I kind of gathered that already.” Rowen looked out the window, at the men with their yellow vests and handheld traffic signs. “It does feel like the two are connected though, right? I mean, obviously someone tried to make this whole thing look like an abduction. For what reason, I really couldn’t say.” She had plenty of ideas spinning around in her head, but there wasn’t enough proof for her to even narrow them down just yet.
“I’m really not at liberty to talk about all this,” said Sutton.
“I think a good first step would be to really figure out where those lights came from. I really think all of this comes back to that.”
“I can’t-”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t want to talk to me.” Rowen sank back in her seat. She decided to change the subject. “So, are you all settled in to Lainswich?” She knew he had been hired on a while back, but it hadn’t been all that long. Lainswich was a hard place to settle into if you hadn’t lived there most of your life.
“I miss Tarricville.”
That sounded surprisingly truthful. Even if it had been meant as an insult to Lainswich, Rowen was glad for the honest answer. “Any family there?”
“Not really.”
‘Not really’ sounded complicated, but Rowen didn’t ask for elaboration. “Do you commute?”
“I did.” Sutton’s voice took on an almost angry quality. “It didn’t work out. I got an apartment in town a few weeks ago.”
“How is it?”
“A dump.”
“Oh.” Rowen knew Sutton was being short with her because he wanted her to stop asking questions. She didn’t. “I could keep an eye out for a better place to live. I went apartment and house hunting with Eric when we decided to move out together. I know all the nice places around here, all the ones that don’t charge you an arm and a leg for a crummy little hole in the wall.”
“I’m fine,” said Sutton, still curt.
“You sure? It’s no trouble.”
“I don’t spend a lot of time there.”
“I should have figured you were the workaholic type, huh?” Rowen couldn’t imagine Ben hiring anyone who wasn’t now that she thought about it. “So you got a girlfriend?”
That got Sutton’s attention. Rowen knew it would. He even took his eyes off the road long enough to shoot her a look that communicated his annoyance. “That really isn’t any of your business.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Also none of your business.” Sutton looked back to the road. He swerved suddenly, realizing he was about to plow into the back of a stopped car.
“Sorry,” Rowen said quickly. She meant it too. She hadn’t meant to endanger them both. “Honestly, I’m just asking because, well, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that Margo has a crush on you.”
“A crush?”
Rowen chuckled to herself. “Yeah, sorry. I know this isn’t me passing on a message in middle school. I guess it’s more precise to say that she… I dunno. She’s interested, probably wants to get you into bed.”
“What?” Sutton swerved again, even though his eyes were on the road this time. He took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter.
“Sorry,” Rowen said again, though she didn’t mean it quite as much as she had before. “Margo finds you attractive. She’s been flirting with you. I thought you knew.”
The silence that followed indicated that Sutton had not. Either that or he had willfully ignored it. “Why?” he asked, which was a good question all things considered. Sutton openly disliked the Greensmiths. Why Margo would still be attracted to him was a bit of a mystery.
Rowen shrugged. “The heart wants what it wants, I guess. That’s kind of a truism for Margo especially. She goes through a lot of guys. It’s kind of her thing. She’s dating someone right now, and I’m afraid she’s getting tired of him. I mean, her sights are definitely set on you at the moment. I feel kind of sorry for Jasper—That’s the guy she’s seeing now. He’s nice, but he was seeing her on the sly when she was still dating my husband’s brother. Before that-”
“I don’t need to know all this.”
“Fair enough. Just, if she makes a move, maybe make sure she breaks up with Jasper properly first? I’d rather he and his parents not have a new reason to be angry with us about something. He comes from a rival witching family.”
“Of course he does,” Sutton mumbled, mostly to himself. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep my distance.” The way he said that was a tad patronizing. Still, Rowen felt a little better having gotten that off her chest.
***
The Lainswich sketch artist wasn’t the best. Rowen gave her all the details. She did this several times, rephrasing things here and there. Roughly the same picture was shown to her each and every time. “Like this?” asked the woman turning both pictures.
Rowen shook her head yet again. “No, sorry. That’s not quite right.”
The sketch artist huffed. Rowen was clearly trying her patience. “What’s wrong? You can never tell me what to change.”
It was the same problem, the problem Rowen didn’t know how to word without offending anyone. She gave up. “They’re kids. Little kids.”
“And?”
“The way you draw them, they look like tiny little men. Look at Roswell. He has jowls. Either he’s fifty-something or his face is melting off.”
The artist’s eyes widened and quickly grew moist. She gathered up all her pages and hurried off with them. Rowen began to call after her with an apology, but she couldn’t think an appropriate one up before the woman was gone. She was considering going after her when the door behind her opened.
“You finished in here?” Ben asked, poking his head in.
“I’m not sure.”
“Where did the sketch artist go?”
“I made her cry and she ran away.”
“What?” Ben stepped the rest of the way into the room.
“She can’t… draw that well.” Rowen lowered her voice for that last part, just in case the woman was listening. “Why did you hire her? Where does she come from?”
Ben spread his hands helplessly. “The pickings are slim around here. She was the best choice, believe me. At least she’s good at drawing grown men.”
“I might ask Peony to draw those kids later, if that’s all right.”
Ben nodded. “That’s fine. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but finding those kids is more important than that at the moment.” He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Anyway, it’s raining out there. We had to move the bodies before that. Normally we’d just put a tent over them and wait for forensics, but where they are, water is just going to drain down and make a mess of everything. They’re in the morgue if you would like me to drive you down to see them. Eric should be getting there soon, if he’s not there already.”
“Sure. Let’s go.” Rowen wasn’t sure how much success she would have speaking with the dead in this particular instance. She had never met Stephen in life, but she knew the woman was very loud and headstrong. She imagined she would have heard something even with all that noise at the crime scene.
***
Ben was a little more amenable to small talk than Sutton had been. “Are people trying to leave or are more people than ever coming in?”
“We’ve blocked off a lot of roads. The only roads out of town require the person to go through a police stop. No one is sneaking out unless they walk— at least for a little while. We have to solve this thing quickly.”
“What’s already leaked out to the media?”
“Too much.” Ben grew a bit stiff, like the thought of that angered him. “People from that impromptu search party were way too eager to spill all they’d seen to any news outlet that would listen. A lot of them had even taken photo or video, obviously.” He shook his head. “It’s a mess. I should have found a way to shut them down before it came to this.”
“At least you found the bodies,” Rowen offered. “That’s more important than all this leaking to the media, right? What if those two hadn’t been found until after everyone had left?” Ben didn’t say anything to that. He kept on frowning. Rowen let him brood. “What do you think happened?” she asked instead.
“How about we see what you can find out at the morgue first? I’ll give you my opinion after that.”
***
The hospital wasn’t very busy. It seldom was. The only people who went there were residents of Lainswich, after all. If there were tourists around, there weren’t many. The only Lainswich newcomers Rowen knew of were in the basement. Ben led her there, having a quick word with staff as he went. He didn’t need to flash his badge. They knew who he was. They also knew who Rowen was. She wasn’t sure if they knew what she did in the morgue, but she suspected they had an idea. A couple of people shot her dirty looks on her way there.