by Raven Snow
“Do you need any kind of ID or anything?” Rowen asked. She had already been in the process of pulling her license from her purse to prove that she was who she said.
“No need. I recognize you.” He led the way to a door that needed unlocking. He did so with the ring of keys on his belt. This room was much smaller than the larger storage and break room. It looked like it doubled as a janitorial closet. There were some canvases propped up against a wall. Rowen didn’t much appreciate that. It seemed awfully risky leaving the paintings on the floor where something could happen to them. She moved to pick them up.
“Hold it,” said the janitor. “Not all of those are hers.”
“Oh.” Rowen leaned each canvas back, trying to peek at what was on each of them. The janitor was right. Not all of these had been painted by her cousin. The nudes she recognized, but the landscapes looked wholly unfamiliar. She began to separate them out.
“Those are mine,” said the janitor when she didn’t ask.
“Are they?” Rowen leaned one back to look at it more thoroughly. It was pretty good. At least Rowen thought so. She had an untrained eye in these matters, but she definitely thought he showed more promise than Karen. “These are nice. Are they going up in the show?”
The janitor’s expression darkened. “Despite what that Darren Hawthorne fella said, I don’t think they are, no.”
“He said they were going up?”
The janitor nodded. “He said if there was any space they would go right up. Of course, since then he’s squeezed that new guy in there. What’s his name? Nathaniel? He squeezed that Nathaniel guy in, and now that your cousin’s art is coming down, who do you think he’s giving her spot to?”
“More Nathan?” Rowen ventured.
“Bingo.” The janitor heaved a sigh. “I only took on this job to get my art seen. I took an unpaid vacation from my regular gig as a school janitor to do it. Let this be a lesson to you. Give up on your dreams if you don’t have the cash or the resources to pull them off. Better you do it sooner than later.”
“You’re a real ray of sunshine, you know that?” Rowen picked up the paintings she had come for. “Well, either way, you do good work. If it was up to me, I’d hang it up somewhere for everyone to see.”
“Would you?”
“Sure.”
The janitor leaned down and grabbed one of his canvases seemingly at random. He hefted that up and offered it to Rowen. “Take it then.”
Rowen stared at the canvas. She hadn’t expected that. “Why me?” she asked.
“Why not you? It’s not like it’s gonna get seen anywhere else. Your aunts got that business downtown, right? Put it there.”
“O-okay.” Rowen let him stack the picture on top of the ones she was already carrying. “I’ll let you know if anyone wants to buy it.”
“Whatever.” He motioned her toward the door. “You do what you want. I need to finish up here so I can go home.”
Rowen nodded and followed him to the exit. “Hey,” she ventured before he could kick her out. “What are your thoughts about this whole Dayveed thing. What do you think happened?”
The janitor shrugged. “Dunno. Not sure if I care either. The guy was a jerk.”
That felt like an extreme thing to say given what had happened to the guy. Rowen was about to say as much when the door slammed in her face. Well, so much for that. She took the paintings and headed for the car.
Chapter Thirteen
Lucy Odele’s car was at Odds & Ends when Rowen parked there the next day. She regarded it with mixed feelings as she unloaded the picture from the janitor from the back. It was nice that Aunt Lydia had a new friend, but she had hoped to catch her alone. She needed someone to bounce ideas off of with this murder case on her hands.
“Hi there,” said Aunt Nadine when the bell over the door rang. “Oh.” She recognized Rowen. “What’s that you’ve got there?”
Rowen went up to the counter and laid the painting on top of it. Some guy gave me this if you agree to put it up where people can see it.”
Aunt Nadine stared at the painting for several long seconds, taking it in. “I’d love to. It’s gorgeous.” She looked back at Rowen. “You should show it to Lydia. She’s in the back with Lucy.” She frowned when she said that, like she was really sick of Lydia disappearing into the back and shirking her duties. Rowen couldn’t blame her. That sort of thing got old fast.
Rowen picked the painting back up and headed behind the curtain, sweeping it back to let herself in. “How’s it going, guys?” she asked loudly, making the both of them jump.
Lydia let a hand flutter to her chest. “Oh, my goodness, child. Don’t do that.”
“Sorry.” Rowen didn’t really mean that, but she said it anyway. She took the painting to the table between them and sat it there. They weren’t even pretending to be caught up in a Tarot reading today. It looked like they were just chatting.
“What’s this?” Lydia squinted down at the painting.
“Who made this?” asked Lucy, studying the landscape herself. “It’s lovely. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it before.”
“It’s by the janitor at that art gallery.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. “Well, he’s got some real talent.”
“So, what were you two talking about?” asked Rowen, being nosy on purpose. She didn’t like her aunt taking advantage of Nadine like this. It was nice that she had friends, but why couldn’t she hang out with them after work like a normal person?
“This and that,” said Lydia with a dismissive hand wave.
“We were talking about that boyfriend of hers,” said Lucy, coming right out with it. “I’m sure you know him, right? The one who’s moving away?”
“We talked about it,” Rowen confirmed with a nod, ignoring Lydia’s scandalized expression. “Why? What’d she say to you?”
“It doesn’t so much matter what she said. I have an idea to help her out.”
“And what’s that?” asked Rowen.
“Just solve this whole Dayveed business,” said Lucy, as if it was really that easy. “If you find the real killer, the public will back off, and maybe those Powers boys will feel comfortable in Lainswich again.” Rowen wasn’t sure what Lucy stood to gain from this, but she was certainly acting like it was in her own best interest.
“You can’t know that for sure,” said Lydia in a manner that implied Lucy had already discussed this with her before. “I don’t want to get my hopes up. I don’t want to get Nadine’s hopes up either for that matter. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“Okay, but what about my hopes?” asked Rowen, butting in. “What plan is it that we’re talking about here, because I can promise you that finding the killer is one of my top priorities right now.”
Lucy looked at Rowen as if that had slipped her mind somehow. “Right. Well, I’ll see what I can do.”
“What?” Rowen wasn’t sure that she followed. “See what you can do?”
Lucy nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” She stood abruptly. “I suppose I should be going.”
“Are you sure?” asked Aunt Lydia. “We could have lunch. It’s about that time.”
“You don’t think Aunt Nadine deserves lunch first?” Rowen asked.
Aunt Lydia rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. I can always order delivery.”
“That’s all right.” Lucy headed for the curtain. “We’ll get together again, soon.”
Rowen watched her go. “What do you think she meant when she said that she would see what she could do?” she asked now that they were alone.
“I haven’t the slightest,” Lydia admitted. “She does have a lot of connections, though. Maybe she feels like she can figure something out. Something you don’t have the resources to look into.”
Rowen considered that. What was hindering her investigation? What kind of connections did Lucy have that could help her?
“Speaking of this little mystery of yours…” Lydia began, sounding hopeful. �
�Do you think you’re any closer to solving it?”
“If you only want to know because you want things to keep going between you and that boyfriend of yours, that’s pretty low.”
“Of course not.” Lydia bristled at the accusation. “At least, that’s not the only reason.”
“I’m not any closer,” Rowen admitted. It hurt to admit, but there was no point in dancing around the truth. “I still have no idea what happened the night Dayveed died.”
***
It was time to buckle down and find an answer. If there was anything Rowen’s conversation with Lydia had shown her, it was that. She invited all her cousins to her house that evening. Even Peony was invited. Rowen hadn’t been sure if she would take her up on the invitation at first. She had been afraid that Peony was in too deep a state of self-loathing. Surprisingly, however, she had been the one to show up first.
“Glad you could make it,” Rowen said upon opening the door.
Peony was looking a tad rough around the edges. Her t-shirt looked slept in, and her hair looked as though it had gone a few days without being washed. Tina was at her side, looking considerably perkier. “I’m here for moral support,” she explained, waiting to be allowed inside.
Rowen let them both in. “I made some snacks if anyone’s hungry. They’re in the den.”
Rose arrived next, then Margo. Willow brought up the rear, sipping a milkshake through a straw as she entered. “Sorry, I got caught in traffic.”
Rowen eyed the milkshake. “Sure you did.” She motioned for her to go join the others in the living room. “Go on.”
Everyone had gathered around the coffee table. Margo and Tina both sat on the couch. Rose and Peony were on the floor. Willow sat beside her sister, looking bored already even after she had been the last one to show up. Even Eric had showed up to this thing. He sat in his favorite chair, exchanging small talk with her family— innocuous things like how their day went.
“I guess you all know why I called you here today.” Rowen went to take the free spot on the couch between Willow and Tina. “We need to crack this case before Lainswich really goes overboard and someone gets hurt.”
“It’s just a brick,” Willow said with a shrug. “They’ve done worse.”
Rowen nodded. “Agreed. This could get a whole lot worse. And we don’t want things to escalate to that.” She looked to her husband. He handed her the manila folder she had been keeping all of her evidence and working theories in. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very big folder. “So this is… a kind of strategy meeting, I guess.”
Rose nodded. “We should do this more often. It’s a great idea.”
Willow snorted with laughter like she couldn’t hold back the outburst. “Let’s see how this goes before we go about making it part of our routine.”
Rowen pointedly ignored Willow. Instead, she busied herself with taking some photos out of the envelope. “I’ve put together a list of subjects I feel are worth looking into… again.”
“Again?” Tina repeated.
Rowen had sort of been hoping they would overlook that part. “I’ve spoken with most… okay, fine, all of them already.”
“And you couldn’t narrow it down from that?” Willow asked, looking very unimpressed. “Do we seriously have to help you revisit each one?”
“A fresh pair of eyes on them would be good. And it’s not like there are all that many suspects. There’s Karen’s father and brothers. There’s the janitor, and there’s Nathan.”
“Nathan?” Rose repeated.
Rowen nodded. “Absolutely. He seems shady to me.”
“I think you might be a little biased,” Eric said in his defense.
“He’s not coming off my list,” Rowen insisted.
“Why am I not on the list?” Peony asked.
Everyone fell silent. They all exchanged looks like they weren’t sure what to say. No one blamed Peony. Or maybe it was just that no one wanted to blame Peony. They all knew she had hexed Dayveed, but none of them wanted to acknowledge that it might have played a hand in his death. “Because you weren’t the one who murdered him,” said Rowen. “Regardless of whether or not you hexed him, someone had to kill him, right? Someone had to move that body onto the statue’s lap.”
Peony nodded. “That’s what I thought at first, but… What if it was an accident? What if he fell and hit his head because of me?”
“That still doesn’t make sense,” Rowen insisted. “Why would he set up the murder scene like that?”
“Because he was overly dramatic?” Peony ventured. She had obviously given this a whole lot of paranoid thought.
“That seems unlikely.” Rowen reached down and gave her cousin’s shoulder a squeeze. “We’ll figure out who really did this. Don’t worry. Besides, when we spoke with Dayveed through the Ouija board, he said it was a man who killed him. That’s who we should be looking for.”
“Try telling that to Channel 2,” Margo grumbled, leaning back where she sat. “All they care about is ratings. They’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion.”
“Well, not out of proportion so much as they’re just focusing on the wrong areas,” Rose corrected. “But, yeah, I agree. This would be easier if they weren’t trying to throw us under the bus.”
“But why wouldn’t they?” asked Willow, her tone sarcastic. “We always bring in the ratings, don’t we?”
“Why does it have to be a guy?” Tina asked, surprising everyone. All eyes turned to her.
“What do you mean?” asked Rowen.
“I mean why does the murderer have to be a guy?” She seemed to think that question kind of spoke for itself.
“We asked Dayveed,” Rowen explained even though she was fairly certain Tina already knew that. “We used the Ouija board, and he told us all he knew about what happened to him.”
“Okay.” Tina still didn’t look convinced by that explanation. “But does that, like, have to be true? Do ghosts not ever lie?”
Rowen opened her mouth to respond to that but no words came out. Tina had a point. Ghosts weren’t all that different from their human counterparts. They could lie just as they had when they had been alive.
“Why would he lie?” asked Willow.
Tina shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t really know him that well.”
“None of us did,” said Rose.
“Well then…” Tina looked around to make sure everyone was okay with her adding her two cents. “A lot of the guys I know are super proud and kind of jerks. If a woman killed them, I don’t think they would admit to that.”
“That’s… a good point, actually.” Rowen hadn’t thought of it that way. She had just assumed Dayveed would have no reason to lie to her.
“Why’s everyone looking at me?” asked Eric. Rowen looked up to find all eyes were on him. “I wouldn’t lie about something like that. I’d want my murderer brought to justice regardless of what gender she is… Can’t say all guys would do the same, though. I mean, Tina has a point. He could have been lying. I wouldn’t discount that just yet.”
“So he was ashamed of being killed by a woman?” Willow asked, like she was making sure she had heard that right.
Rowen considered the possibilities there. “Either that or he wanted his murder to remain a mystery.”
“Why would he want that?” asked Willow.
“I get it,” said Rose. “He can’t change that he got murdered, but he can try to get his art to benefit from his murder. That adds a layer of mystery to his art. It makes both he and his art more popular.”
“So what?” Willow looked around the room as if trying to see if anyone had a better handle on this than she did. “Should we not solve this thing because that’s what he wants?”
“Of course not.” Rowen shot her cousin a disapproving look. She couldn’t possibly be that ditzy. “We have to solve this thing regardless. All this means is that we may have been looking in the wrong place. We have to take what Dayveed told us with a grain of salt.”
Rose ignored Margo’s complaining. “Who do we add to our suspect list then?”
“Do we have that many female suspects?” asked Willow.
“I’ve just been watching this whole thing from afar,” said Eric. “But if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on that Karen woman.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Rowen agreed.
“Why would she do it?” asked Peony, perking up a bit upon hearing that.
“Well, she’s the only person I can think of who could have had an obvious motive,” said Eric. “Everyone here who met Dayveed seems to agree that he could be a real jerk. What if he and Karen butted heads? From all accounts, she’s not the easiest person to get along with either. I can’t imagine that those two mixed well together.”
Rowen considered that. “I’m not sure she had an obvious motive.” She couldn’t say it was out of the realm of possibility, though. It certainly sounded more likely than a lot of the theories she was working with. “I’ve already spoken with her, though. She didn’t seem especially nervous. I get the impression that she’s going to be a tough nut to crack.”
“We have to try,” said Rose. “We have to explore every possibility, this one included.”
***
Once the snacks were all eaten up, everyone left. Rowen didn’t feel particularly good about that. They had done a whole lot of talking without coming to much of a conclusion. They needed to look into their suspects again, but no one had any ideas as to how they could do that differently.
“You’ll figure something out,” Eric assured his wife as they both stood in the bathroom, getting ready for bed.
Rowen spat toothpaste into the sink. “Murders go unsolved all the time. Eventually, we’re going to fail to solve one. Maybe this is the case we drop the ball on.”
“Don’t be so negative,” said Eric, throwing his used dental floss into the trash. “It’s not like you.”