Rosemary Run Box Set

by Kelly Utt

  Penelope was surprised that the two of them already had inside jokes and shared information. But okay. Maybe they had stayed up talking while she slept.

  “Ready to get started?” Brian asked.

  “Affirmative,” Penelope said, feeling official. It seemed like the right vine under the circumstances. “What are we looking for? What’s the plan?”

  “Well, we’ll start with the news,” Brian explained. “Local, then regional, then national, then international.”

  “Yikes,” Penelope said. “International, even?”

  “We’ll want to cover all the bases. Depending on what we find, I’ll dig deeper.”

  “You mean on the dark web?” Penelope asked.

  “Maybe, if it will help.”

  Hana smiled proudly. She was enamored with Brian and living in her own real-life spy movie. Penelope understood because she felt much the same way about Marshall.

  “And what will we do with the information we find?” Penelope asked. “Will we leave the bunker?”

  “That remains to be seen,” Brian replied. “For the moment, we’ll stay put. I have contact who can do the heavy lifting for us if that’s needed. But yeah, maybe we’ll go out and do some recon. It all depends on what we’re dealing with here.”

  Penelope nodded. She liked being told what would happen. She had appreciated Marshall telling them his plans the night before. And it was a good thing he had. They wouldn’t have known where to find Brian otherwise.

  “Will people know we’re missing?” Penelope asked. “Shouldn’t you be tending to your garden?”

  “You do like to know everything, don’t you?” Brian asked.

  Hana chucked. “You have no idea.”

  Now it was Penelope’s turn to elbow Hana. “Hey now,” she said to her friend.

  They all laughed together. It felt good to take the pressure off for a moment.

  “Yes, Penelope,” Brian said. “I’ll tend my garden. Don’t worry about the details right now. Let’s take this one step at a time. I’ll fill you in as much as possible as we go along.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” Penelope replied. “I guess I never knew what was coming next as a kid, so I’ve tried to avoid that same helpless feeling as an adult.”

  Brain nodded knowingly. “I get that. It’s no problem. I’ll keep you informed when I can. Here, you can help me out by taking a look at the morning newscast for Channel 2 out of Sacramento. Use that workstation in front of you. There are headphones in the drawer.”

  “Got it,” Penelope replied.

  “Hana,” Brian said, her name causing his face to light up, “you take a look at Channel 5. I’ll read through the local paper.”

  “Okay,” Hana said. “Is Madeline okay out there alone?”

  “She’s fine for the moment,” he confirmed. “I’ll keep an eye on her. Once she’s finished with dolls, I have a stack of coloring books and a new package of crayons ready.”

  “Oh, I always loved a new pack of crayons,” Penelope chimed in. “One of childhood’s simple pleasures.”

  Brain smiled. “We try to keep simple pleasures flowing around here.”

  For some reason, that made Hana blush, her cheeks flaring into a rosy pink brighter than Penelope had ever seen. Hana stuck her tongue out at her friend, teasing. “Hush,” she said.

  Penelope and Hana pulled out their headphones and placed them firmly over their ears. They were the big kind that fit like earmuffs. They were noise cancelling, too. They each navigated to the website of their assigned news station, while Brian pulled up the website for the Rosemary Run Journal. They settled in for what they figured would be a long and tedious process.

  To Penelope’s great surprise, Marshall’s face greeted her when she landed on Channel 2’s homepage. “Oh, my God,” she said, both hands shooting up to cover her mouth.

  “What is it?” Brian asked.

  “It’s here, too,” Hana added. She hadn’t heard Penelope through the headphones, but she had seen her reaction. She pulled one ear piece back so that she could converse. “It’s Marshall. He’s the top story.”

  They gathered around Penelope’s monitor to watch the Channel 2 piece first. The headline told the story: Human remains found in Sweet Balm Bay. Rosemary Run man charged.

  19

  The day young Penelope had arrived home from the bank with the eighty-seven dollars from her savings account tucked into her pants pocket, her first of a series of difficult tasks had been to dispose of the small white envelope the cash had come in.

  Penelope had never made such a withdrawal before-- she was nine-years-old, after all-- and she hadn’t expected the envelope to be a part of the equation. If she had thought ahead or had done some research, she might have anticipated the need to dispose of it. She kicked herself for the oversight.

  Jean didn’t allow her daughter much privacy. Penelope knew she couldn’t simply put the envelope in the household trash. So she’d had to scheme. And the envelope was just the beginning. It was a shame, really. Penelope hadn’t wanted to sneak around. She hadn’t seen any other way. In fact, Felix, of all people, had shown her that hiding things from Jean had been necessary.

  Six months prior to the Sunnyday Sales Club ordeal and the savings account withdrawal, Felix had told Penelope that he’d planned to get her a ten-speed bike for her upcoming birthday. She’d wanted one like it for what felt to a young girl like forever. She wanted it to be blue, with a soft seat and gears on the long handlebars that snaked downwards, designed for a good grip while leaning forward to ride fast.

  The bike had seemed out of reach, a luxury Penelope wouldn’t be able to enjoy. Not as long as Jean was her mother. And especially not as long as Felix was laid off from his job and without disposable income. Penelope had thought it impossible to obtain. Yet she had pined for it anyway. She’d longed for her own ten-speed each time she saw neighborhood kids riding them around. They had looked so cool. So fast. And a bike had been a sure way to spend more time away from home and away from Jean.

  When Felix had told his daughter about the gift, he’d taken her to the department store to pick it out. He’d let her ride it around the aisles, trying it out. Then he’d put it on layaway so that he could make payments over time. If all went according to plan, he’d pay the last of the balance just before Penelope’s birthday and he’d bring the bike home to her. The only catch: Felix told Penelope that she mustn’t tell her mother about the bike. Not a word. He had stressed the fact that Jean wouldn’t like it, and that she’d make him cancel the layaway if she knew. To get the bike, Penelope and her dad would need to keep it a secret.

  “It’s just between us,” Felix had said. “You can’t tell your mother. Okay?”

  Young Penelope had nodded, not knowing better. She had been a kid. She had just wanted a bike like the others. It hadn’t been unreasonable. It wasn’t like she had asked for a pony. Or a trip around the world. But it had been a large enough purchase that she’d had to hide it from her own mother.

  “What will Mom say when you bring it home on my birthday?” Penelope had asked.

  “Once it’s home and she sees you riding it, she’ll have to go along,” Felix had said. “She isn’t so cruel as to deny her child something when it’s already in her hands.”

  Penelope had nodded, then said goodbye to her blue bike as the layaway attendant wheeled it into the back and gave Felix a claim ticket with an identifying number.

  “Will it wait right there for me?” Penelope had asked, wishing she could have taken it home right away.

  “Yes, babydoll,” Felix had said. “It will wait right here until I get enough money to pay it off. Then I’ll bring it home for your birthday. Before you know it, you’ll be riding it around the neighborhood with the other kids.” He knelt down in front of his daughter and gave her a tight hug. “When you’re grown up, I want you to look back and remember that being a kid was fun. You deserve that. And even though times have been tough lately, I promise to always do my b
est for you. You’re my girl, Penny.”

  Felix had gotten Penelope a cherry slushy and a warm, salted pretzel at the snack counter on their way out of the store. All along the ride home in Felix’s little white car with red leather interior, Penelope had contemplated the need to hide news of her bike from her mother. As she had sipped her slushy through the tall straw nervously, she gulped air along with it. It was that day that she had begun holding her breath when she knew she’d have to lie. She was too young and inexperienced to navigate the subtleties of her parents’ marriage, or the intricacies of her mom’s mental illness. All she knew was that she couldn’t tell everyone everything anymore. Not if she wanted anything fun for herself. It seemed like Jean only wanted Penelope to suffer along with her. Felix hadn’t wanted that for his daughter, but the only alternative he had offered had been to hide the good things from Jean. He had said outright that it had been necessary. It had been a lot for young Penelope to handle.

  When her birthday had rolled around, she had, in fact, received the shiny new tens-peed as Felix had promised. Jean had been angry, but when was she not? Her face had turned boiling red when she’d seen Felix unloading the bike from the back of his car. Penelope had done her best to ignore Jean’s reaction, though it was difficult. She had jumped on the bike, and with her dad’s permission, she had ridden it quickly out of the driveway and away from Jean. Felix had given his daughter her first real taste of freedom and autonomy. It had been a mixed blessing.

  Through the experience, Penelope had learned several important things. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but her subconscious mind had been soaking the lessons up like a sponge, cataloging them for future reference.

  She had learned that she could trust her father to keep his word. Even during difficult times, he had told her she could count on him. And she had. She had also learned that to have nice things that she wanted, she had to hide them from her mother. But she had taken that even further. Deep down, Penelope felt like she didn’t deserve nice things. Her nine-year-old mind wasn’t sophisticated enough to understand Jean’s self-esteem issues and how they had been thrust upon her daughter against her will. A part of Penelope still felt that way, even now. Only the contradicting belief also existed within her. Felix had shown Penelope that she did deserve nice things. It was a jumbled mess.

  When it had come time to dispose of the money envelope, Penelope had considered turning to Felix. He had sided with her before, and it had been his idea to keep things from Jean. But Felix had been out of town, working again at a new job. And besides, Penelope had wanted her independence. She had wanted to handle things on her own. True freedom could only come from self reliance.

  Feeling clever, Penelope had hidden the envelope in the Sunnyday Sales Club folder, then taken it to school the next day where she had thrown it away in the big metal trash can in her classroom. Another hurdle had been leaped. Another step in her plan was complete.

  She had kept the cash in the Sales Club folder, too. At first, she hadn’t been sure exactly what to do with it, but on the fly, she had figured it out.

  Sitting bored in social studies one day when she had finished her assigned work, Penelope had raised her hand and asked her teacher if it was okay to enter her sales records on the lined ledger that had been provided with the folder. Each class had been offered rewards and prizes for high sales numbers, so Penelope’s teacher had been happy to allow it. Using her best penmanship, Penelope had carefully matched up gift items with addresses in her neighborhood, recalled from memory which had been learned while riding around on her bike. At her desk that day, Penelope listed fake order after fake order until the total came up to eighty-six dollars and twenty-five cents. It had taken all of her math skills to tally it properly.

  When finished, Penelope had marched up to her teacher’s desk and presented the cash, explaining that one of her neighbors had said to keep the extra seventy-five cents in change. Her teacher had smiled, commending Penelope for such high sales, and telling her to thank her parents for their support. Little did the teacher know, Penelope hadn’t even mentioned the Sunnyday Sales Club to her parents. She’d see to that later.

  It would be just like it had been with the ten-speed bike, Penelope had hoped. Once Jean saw the tent in Penelope’s hands, she’d be angry, but she’d let her keep it. Felix would be proud of his daughter’s deceit, since it was for good reason.

  Penelope had thought it was the only way to get what she wanted. She couldn’t just ask. But little had young Penelope known, things hadn’t been destined to work out exactly as she had planned.

  20

  “It’s Marshall! They have him!” Penelope exclaimed as she clicked the play button on the online newscast.

  Penelope, Brian, and Hana sat stunned as they watched footage of Marshall being handcuffed and put into the back of a police car. Luke and Neil were there, walking confidently to their own vehicle as a uniformed officer drove Marshall away.

  “That’s not good,” Brian mumbled.

  “I can’t believe it,” Penelope continued. “We talked to those detectives yesterday. They told us they didn’t think we were involved with Audrey’s disappearance.”

  “Pen,” Hana said. “They said a man’s remains were found. This is about the blonde man. Maybe they found Marshall’s DNA on his body. A strand of hair could have easily attached itself during the struggle.”

  Penelope’s heart sank.

  “Let’s listen,” Brian urged.

  A polished female reporter named Sharonda Vinson stood outside the Rosemary Run Police Department as she read from notes in her hand. She explained that an unidentified man’s body had been found in the bay, and that, at this time, Marshall was the only suspect in his murder. She used the word murder and said she expected Marshall to be charged. Police suspected foul play.

  Penelope cringed. It physically pained her to listen. Sharonda seemed smart and trustworthy. And she wasn’t sensationalizing the story. She stuck to the facts, telling viewers she’d have more by the evening newscast. Once she had said her piece, she cut to an interview with Mayor John Hughes. He stood on the steps of the Rosemary Run court house and said he trusted the town’s investigators to ensure justice would be done.

  “We have to go to him,” Penelope said, standing.

  “Um, no we don’t,” Brian said. “Marshall is a big boy. A little stay in jail isn’t going to hurt him. He’s seen plenty worse.”

  “But…”

  “Look, this seems bad,” Brian continued. “But it might be a good thing. At least, we know Marshall is safer there. It would be hard for the woman you saw following you or anyone else to get to him when he’s in police custody.”

  “That’s true, Pen,” Hana added. “You know it is.”

  “Then what?” Penelope asked.

  “Then we stick to our plan,” Brian confirmed. “This is one piece of information. While it’s upsetting to you, I know, it’s not the only piece of information we need. We have to figure out what’s going on here. There’s a larger picture.”

  “But Marshall is innocent,” Penelope added. “I’m the one who choked that man out. And we were acting in self defense. The guy was trying to kill us!”

  “She’s right,” Hana said. “I was there for the whole thing.”

  “Reggie’s surveillance footage will prove it,” Penelope explained. “Maybe we should contact him. He’s probably mad at Marshall right now for leaving him, but they love each other. Reggie wouldn’t want to see Marshall jailed for a crime he didn’t commit.”

  “Reggie? Is that the guy Marshall was married to?” Brian asked.

  Penelope nodded.

  “What do you think about contacting him?” Hana asked Brian.

  Brian took a deep breath, then glanced out to check on Madeline. “I wouldn’t advise it. Not yet. We don’t know who is on our side and who isn’t.”

  “True,” Hana replied. “Marshall said something last night about Reggie not being on our side. Your phr
asing reminded me of that. I think he was going to tell us more, but we sort of ran out of time. There was drama with Cheryl…”

  Brian looked interested and lowered his brow. “Tell me more about that. What kind of drama?”

  Hana looked to Penelope to explain.

  “It wasn’t a big deal,” Penelope said, shrugging.

  “It sounds like it might be relevant here,” Brian urged. “We can’t leave anything out. The first rule of investigating is to assume that every single piece of information is important. Please tell me everything.”

  “Okay,” Penelope said, sitting back down in her chair and clasping her knees.

  “It’s okay, Pen,” Hana said. “I know how you feel about Cheryl, but go ahead, tell Brian. He won’t think any less of her. He’ll respect the friendship.”

  Hana knew of Penelope’s concern because she shared the same.

  Penelope thought it was strange that just two days prior, she and Hana had been at odds. Now, they were growing closer by the minute as a result of the stress they were under. All things considered, Penelope was grateful. Hana was proving herself a good and loyal friend. She had shared what she’d seen at the party with Audrey, and she was being honest and forthcoming. It was time for Penelope to do the same.

  “Okay, okay,” Penelope began again. “Cheryl had an outburst last night and yelled about not trusting Marshall. He wanted her to say what she’d seen at the party so we were all on the same page, and she avoided the question. She was nervous. And volatile. I’d never seen her so jumpy, and we’ve known each other since grade school. But that isn’t all.”

  “Huh,” Brian said. He leaned back in his chair, settling in for what seemed like it would be a long story.

  “Is there more?” Hana asked, confused.

  “There is,” Penelope confirmed. “Hana, I tried to tell you and Meg at the dock the morning after the party. But you didn’t want to listen… and it just didn’t happen.”

  “We were all in shock and trying to figure out what was happening that morning,” Hana replied. “But you’re right. I didn’t listen to you. I knew you were trying to be serious, and I deflected. I wanted to avoid it.” Brian eyed her. “I’m sorry.”