Rosemary Run Box Set

by Kelly Utt

  Penelope sighed. “Thanks, Hana. I appreciate that.”

  “So, what is it?” Brian asked. “Time is of the essence here.”

  Hana nodded. “Yeah, Pen. What is it?”

  Penelope steeled herself, gripping the arms of her chair. Saying what she knew would be hard for her. Really hard. It went against every coping mechanism she had learned and used in her life.

  “It’s tough,” Penelope said. “It’s… about Cheryl.”

  “Go on,” Brian prompted.

  “At the party. With Audrey… I saw…”

  Her palms sweat. She felt dizzy. This was new. Penelope was used to her body reacting when she told a lie. She wasn’t accustomed to its reaction when she told a hard truth. It felt scary, but also good. She liked being honest.

  “Go ahead, Pen,” Hana said. “It’s okay. You’re among friends.”

  “Fine,” Penelope said, shaking her head as if she could shake the nervousness out. “At the party, Hana, remember the guys you saw who drugged Audrey and led her into the pool?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “And then the guy Cheryl told us about seeing hitting on Audrey? The one she said looked like Bradley Cooper?”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “Earlier in the evening, I saw Cheryl talking with all three of them. And I saw her slip a small vial of something to one of them.”

  “Oh!” Hana exclaimed. “Like the vial I saw the one guy use to put something in Audrey’s drink?”

  “I think so,” Penelope said. “I think Cheryl was in on it. Like, I think she was working with them.”

  “Huh,” Brian said again, reaching for a pad of paper in the drawer in front of him. He grabbed a pen and took notes.

  “Wow,” Hana said. “Our Cheryl? Your Cheryl? Did you confront her?”

  “Yes, our Cheryl. And, no. I didn’t confront her. She came to my condo yesterday saying she had to tell me something. I was going to talk to her about what I saw, but as soon as she heard about me and Marshall being together, she shut it down. Wouldn’t tell me a thing. So, I let it go, too. I figured there would be time. I was planning to talk to Marshall about it. And now...”

  Hana shook her head.

  “I just hate it, though,” Penelope continued. “Cheryl was still happy for me… during our conversation yesterday. She was still being my friend. But she seemed conflicted. We’ve been friends for so long. I can’t imagine losing her. That’s why I’ve waited to say anything. I’ve been trying to make sense of it in my mind. And then, with the way she blew up at Marshall last night... It seemed like she wanted to throw him off her trail. You know?”

  “I can see that,” Hana said. “Just, wow.”

  Brian scribbled furiously, making charts and circles with arrows in between.

  “What are you thinking?” Penelope asked him.

  “I don’t know yet,” he replied. “But let’s look at the loyalties here. Marshall was connected to Reggie, but now says Reggie isn’t on your side. Again, I trust Marshall, so I’m automatically on his. When you spend time in country with someone like I did with Marshall, you learn their character. You have to rely on the people by your side in that kind of hostile situation. And Marshall proved himself again and again. My money’s on Marshall being a good guy. So, if we move from there, we have to assume that Reggie is not a good guy. At least, not in this particular situation.”

  “Right,” Hana agreed.

  “Let’s line up the bad actors in one column: Reggie, Cheryl…”

  Penelope winced as Brian said her oldest friend’s name. Even though it was true, it still hurt. It reminded her a lot of when Zach said something negative about their mother. He was quicker to point out Jean’s shortcomings and the effect her behavior had on her children.

  Brian continued. “Three guys at the party… Let’s identify them. There’s the one that looks like Bradley Cooper.”

  “Yeah, Cheryl called him Cooper Clone,” Penelope added. “And Hana said she’d do Bradley Cooper.”

  “Pen!” Hana exclaimed. “What is wrong with you? Because I honestly wonder sometimes.”

  Brian chuckled. “Okay, Cooper Clone. What do we call the others? There’s the guy that slipped something into Audrey’s drink, right?”

  “Yeah,” Penelope said. “Drink guy.”

  “And the guy who led her into the pool. Pool guy?”

  “That works. So, we add them to the bad actor list along with the blonde man in the bay, and the blonde woman on the motorcycle. Yes?”

  “Yes,” Penelope and Hana said.

  Brian continued to scribble. “And good actors are Marshall, the two of you… Who else? Meg?”

  Penelope and Hana looked at each other. Neither wanted to implicate their friend without evidence. They didn’t know what to think about Meg.

  “It’s hard to say for sure,” Penelope explained. “She seemed to be telling the truth last night. And Marshall seemed to believe her.”

  “Good,” Brian confirmed. “Good column for now. What did she say?”

  Hana jumped in, pulling her knees to her chest. Her pose reminded Penelope of the other morning on the dock and just how far they’d come since then.

  “That she had been entertaining a doctor from San Francisco in the library all night. She said they were listening to a jazz quartet and didn’t leave the room until first responders were on the scene.”

  “Wait,” Brian said. “Go back. I thought you said Audrey had disappeared.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Penelope confirmed. “Then what were first responders doing there?”

  “That’s a good question,” Hana replied. “I don’t know. I didn’t call them. Did you, Pen?”

  “No.”

  “Huh,” Brian replied.

  His mannerisms were similar to Marshall’s. Penelope noted that it must be a Marine thing.

  “Okay,” he continued. “We’ll put a pin in that. We don’t necessarily need to know what everyone at the party was doing, as long as we figure out what is relevant to us. And to proving Marshall’s innocence. We’ll go back to that if need be. Tell me more about the characters closely involved. Anybody we’ve missed?”

  Penelope ran a hand through her hair as she thought. Her body was relaxing more now that she had spilled the beans on Cheryl.

  “There’s the doorman at my building,” Hana blurted, remembering.

  “Oh? What’s his name?” Brian asked.

  “Zeke Finley. The blonde woman asked him about me. He’s the one that tipped me off to the fact that she was following me.”

  “And how much do you know about him?” Brian asked.

  “Not much,” Hana explained. “He’s been my doorman for a year and a half or so, but all we do is make small talk.”

  “Okay, then,” Brian continued. “We can’t really put him in any column. We’ll make a new one for unknown.” He scribbled more, his charts looking almost unintelligible at this point. “Anyone else? Anyone at all.”

  “Meg named the prospective client from San Francisco that she was courting: Dr. Mitch Bowker,” Hana added. “Unknown.”

  “And there’s my brother,” Penelope added. “He isn’t involved yet, but once he realizes I’m missing, he’s likely to get involved. Zach Cline. Add him to the good column. No doubt.”

  “Does he live in Rosemary Run?” Brian asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” Brian said again. “I’ll compile a fact sheet for each person. I’ll share the doc with the two of you and I want you to make a bullet point list, adding every minuscule piece of information you can think of related to their involvement here. Make note of what they look like, who they hang out with, what their motivations might be, and anything else you can think of. I mean it. Everything. Then we’ll start digging.”

  “Okay,” Penelope agreed.

  She thought about Marshall and how he must be feeling, trapped behind bars. He was probably worried about her. He wouldn’t know for sure that she had made it to Br
ian’s. She thought maybe she should try to get a message to him.

  “Brian?” Penelope asked. Hana had leaned her head on Brian’s shoulder while she waited for him to create the document.

  “Yeah?”

  “Marshall mentioned that you might have burner phones for us?”

  “I do, but we have to be careful. Who do you want to call?”

  Penelope sighed. “I want to let Marshall know we’re okay. He’s probably worried sick.”

  Brian shook his head. “Penelope, I know you just met me last night, but please, trust me on this. The advantage we have right now is secrecy. No one knows where the two of you are except Marshall, and I guarantee you he won’t tell anybody. We only have one bunker. We can’t risk leading anyone here.”

  21

  For two long days, Penelope and Hana stayed at Brian’s house with him and Madeline. No one left. And no one arrived. The four of them enjoyed each other’s company, none more so than Brian and Hana. They cooked delicious food, watched movies, and even sang along with Brian accompanying on acoustic guitar. It was good. But it wasn’t enough for Penelope.

  As for solving the mysteries and luring the bad guys so they wouldn’t be a threat to Hana and Penelope’s safety, progress was slow. Brian, Penelope, and Hana worked together on internet research, and Brian made inquiries with some of his contacts in the intelligence community. In fact, it turned out that Brian had worked in military intelligence. He told the ladies stories from his time in the service and entertained them with near misses that would have changed the world had the public known what had happened. Penelope wondered if Marshall had worked in intelligence, too. She inquired with Brian, but he insisted that Marshall would need to answer that question himself.

  The three adults put their heads together, and as a result, they compiled a ton of information about everyone on their lists. They scoured news reports and internet chatter, including on the dark web. It was solid work. Brian reiterated that these things took time. He reminded them they were safe, and that was the primary goal.

  But Penelope was growing restless. Marshall was still in jail, and she was desperate to do something to help him. She had found the courage to jump on the blonde man’s back the day he attacked Marshall on the dock, and she knew she could do something like it again if she had to. She regretted running away and leaving her love when the dog had attacked. She felt more and more like she should have stayed to help Marshall in any way she could. Maybe then he wouldn’t be in jail. Maybe the two of them could be snuggling and cuddling together, like Brian and Hana.

  When Brian said he and Madeline needed to leave the house for a while to go check on his elderly mother, Penelope hatched a plan. She would wait until Brian was gone. Then, she’d use his tech room to get a message out to Zach. She could trust Zach. She knew that much for sure. She’d initiate a phone call using Brian’s landline upstairs to tell her brother what was happening, and she’d ask him to go to Marshall to let him know she was okay.

  It seemed like a decent idea. She wouldn’t leave the property. And she wouldn’t contact Marshall directly. As far as Penelope could predict, a phone call to her brother wouldn’t cause any trouble. The only snag: she needed to do all of this without Hana knowing. Penelope was sure that Hana would tell Brian if she found out. Her allegiance was to him now. Penelope didn’t mind or blame her friend, but she wanted to keep this to herself.

  What Penelope would do about her breathing situation, she wasn’t entirely sure.

  “We won’t be gone long,” Brian said as he and Madeline packed up a bag of toys and snacks. They were all upstairs in the house. The sun was shining brightly outside. “Everything you need is down in the bunker. I recommend you stay down there, but I understand if you need a little daylight. Just stay indoors.”

  He showed them a hidden key and demonstrated the fastest way to lock down the bunker.

  “Don’t worry about us,” Hana said. “You two go. We’ll be here when you get back.” She kissed him on the lips. Madeline didn’t seem to mind her father’s new relationship. She liked Hana, and she smiled when they kissed.

  “You sure you’ll be okay?” he asked, looking at Hana but eying Penelope to the side.

  Penelope stayed quiet. She didn’t want to be backed into a corner and forced to lie. She knew that wouldn’t go well. She focused on saying what was true.

  “We’re grown women,” she said, teasing. “And we’ve each lived alone for most of our adult lives. We’ll be fine. Go!”

  Brian kissed Hana again before stepping outside with Madeline and locking the door behind him. He promised to return by sundown, in plenty of time to watch an evening movie together and get Madeline tucked into bed.

  As his truck pulled out of the driveway, Hana turned to Penelope and squealed. “OMG!” she said. “Can you believe this, Pen? He is dreamy!”

  “You sound like a schoolgirl with a crush,” Penelope replied, though she knew their relationship was much more than that.

  “Don’t do that,” Hana said.

  “Do what?”

  “Deflect. Minimize. Be jealous.”

  Penelope sighed as she plopped down on Brian’s sofa. “You’re right. I know. I’m just kidding, but I shouldn’t kid. I see what the two of you have. It looks a lot like love at first sight.”

  “I know!” Hana said, her voice returning to its original happy tone. “It’s like we… like we…”

  “Like you belong together.”

  “Exactly!” Hana confirmed. “I never would have thought Brian was my type, but oh, is he ever. And in bed...” She rolled her eyes back in her head and parted her lips.

  “I feel the same about Marshall. At least you didn’t push him away and send him into the arms of someone else… like I did. That wasn’t my finest hour,” Penelope explained.

  Hana sat down on the sofa next to her friend. “I get it. But you’re together now. Everything worked out okay in the end.”

  “Is that what you’d call this? Marshall is in jail and I’m stuck here, like a prisoner.”

  “Pen,” Hana said with a sigh. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’m supposed to be the drama queen, remember? Don’t go stealing my role. Our entire friendship might crumble.”

  They laughed.

  “You miss him, don’t you?” Hana asked softly.

  “I really do. I can hardly stand it.”

  They stared at each other, then out the front window. Neither of them had an answer as to what they should do. At least, not one that Penelope wanted to share with Hana. She hoped Hana would hurry up and get out of her hair somehow so that she could get in touch with Zach.

  “It reminds me of my mom,” Penelope said, seemingly out of the blue and surprising Hana.

  “Oh, really? How so?”

  “She used to complain all the time about being a prisoner in her own home. I’m not sure, but I think that was one of the main things she was angry about. I think she resented me and Zach for needing taken care of. As if we were the reason she was stuck at home.”

  “That doesn’t even make logical sense,” Hana replied. “Your dad wasn’t abusive or anything, was he?”

  “No,” Penelope answered. “Not that I know of. Certainly not to me. My parents yelled and screamed at each other quite a bit. At least, once Zach was born, and we moved to Rosemary Run. My mom was unhappy here. She missed her family and friends in Washington State, where we had lived previously. She had grown up there. Dad had, too. Then they moved here for Dad’s job. Mom hated it.”

  “Still,” Hana said, “she could have gotten a job to get out of the house, right? She could have made some friends. It isn’t fair to pin that on you. Or your Dad. Hell!”

  “I know. I don’t think he knew what to do with her. And I don’t think she was normal. I mean, I think she had something wrong with her. Maybe more than one thing.”

  “That sucks,” Hana said, chewing on a fingernail. She’d been letting them be since they’d arrived at Brian’s, but Penelope�
�s childhood was apparently stressing her out.

  “It sure does.”

  “How long ago did she die? Twelve years ago now?”

  Penelope took a deep breath before answering. It was still painful. “She’s been gone twelve years. Almost thirteen. And Dad’s been gone eleven.”

  Hana shook her head. “I’m no expert,” she said. “But it doesn’t seem normal for you to be this upset this many years later. I think you have trauma that needs released. Especially if you want to have a good relationship with Marshall. You know?”

  “You’re probably right,” Penelope said.

  “I know I am,” Hana replied. “I’ve been your friend long enough to watch you play it safe and wait on the sidelines of life. You can’t keep doing that if you want true happiness. You have to go out there and get it.”

  Tears fell from Penelope’s eyes as she listened. She knew Hana was exactly right. She’d been thinking about the same thing herself lately. Her childhood trauma was a secret she’d buried for far too long. She didn’t usually talk about it. She tried not to even think about it. But it affected her. It was a jumble of burdens that felt heavy and sticky, like quicksand or tar. Penelope knew that she could either hide her hurts and remain a prisoner of her own accord, or she could face them and set herself free. Being with Marshall would necessitate setting herself free. Especially if she wanted children. And she did want children.

  “I want to go get my happiness,” Penelope confirmed, thinking about her plan to reach Zach. “I want to be brave, to both get what I want and stop letting the past hold me back. I’m just not sure exactly how to do that.”

  Hana turned to face her friend and put one hand on her shoulder.

  “What?” Penelope asked. “Are you going to break it down into steps for me?”

  “Maybe I should,” Hana replied. “Especially with Cheryl on the outs. I might have to step up and take over some of her duties.”

  Penelope slumped down at mention of Cheryl’s name. That was another sore spot. And it somehow felt tangled up with the feelings from her childhood. She furrowed her brow, tears continuing to roll down her cheeks. “I… It’s a tangled mess, Hana. I don’t know what to say. As strange as you are, you seem to have a normal family. Normal parents. Normal siblings. The same goes for Cheryl and Meg. You all have perspective that I don’t seem to. You know how to behave in ways that I don’t. But at the same time, the way Cheryl acted the other day reminded me so much of my mom. It’s hard to make sense out of it.”