by Raven Snow
Knowing Flint, Rowen wasn’t sure that she bought that. He was always eager to please. More than that he had a tendency to keep these sorts of things to himself. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure. What else do I have to do around here? Besides, it’ll be nice to be able to spend a night without your relatives doing a whole lot of judgmental loitering around.
“About that.” Rowen took a deep breath. She hadn’t really told him the whole story yet, after all. “A lot of the reason I’m inviting you to dinner is because my husband has questions.”
“Questions?” Flint repeated, raising an eyebrow as if that didn't quite make sense to him. “What kind of questions?”
“You know.” Rowen tried to play it down. “The invasive, personal kind, probably. The kind a husband asks when he’s jealous.”
Flint laughed. “Your husband is jealous of us?”
She glared. “What? That’s not so weird, is it? Sometimes guys get jealous.”
“Have you given him reason to be jealous?”
“Of course not!” Though, now that he said it, Rowen was beginning to wonder if she had done anything that might give Eric the wrong impression. “At least I don’t think I did.” She quickly focused her attention back on Flint. “Look, I just want to have a nice dinner with Eric. I want you two to like each other. I want you to make it clear to him that we’re just friends. Be his buddy. You’re good at making friends outside of my family.”
“Oh, is that all? That’s all I’m supposed to do?”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Rowen bit her bottom lip, not sure what to say if Flint wasn’t amenable to this. It wasn’t like she could force him to be friendly with her husband. “It’s just that you could probably tell the whole thing better than I could. I feel like it’s half your story to tell.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Flint’s smile softened, though. He didn’t look interested in teasing her anymore. “I’ll be there. Don’t worry about it.”
“I appreciate it.” Rowen released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Why was this such a weight off of her?
“Just so you know, I’m still not considering this a favor.” Flint headed for his car, a sleek sporty ride leagues classier than her own. “This is just dinner between old friends.”
“So you’re telling me I should hold a grudge about you potentially getting my Aunt Lydia in trouble with the police?” she called after him.
Flint’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay, it’s a favor. Maybe don’t mention that to your family.”
Rowen looked back at Margo still sitting in the car. She didn’t look like she was listening to what was going on outside. Her delicate features were lit up by the glow of her cellphone. She was texting away to someone or several someones, doing so like she had important news to tell. Something told Rowen that the entire family knew about the whole Aunt Lydia thing already.
It would be fine. Her family wouldn’t overreact.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was her family. The Greensmiths loved to overreact.
Chapter Nine
The next order of business was to head over to the police station. There had been an official statement this morning, but Rowen wanted to see if she could get any more news. Specifically, she wanted some news about Aunt Lydia. Better Rose wasn’t there for that.
“Do you think Julia Martinez was really in love with Mr. Hawthorne?” Margo asked while they drove. She hadn’t looked up from her phone. She just sounded curious.
That was the question Rowen had been wondering about herself for some time now. “Surely, she could do better.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Margo shrug.
“I dunno. He was always there for her career-wise. He helped her to get where she wanted to be.”
“And a lot of that was due to an affair.”
“But it’s not like he threw her under the bus for it. He clearly respected her as a person.”
Rowen inclined her head toward Margo, giving her that much. “They might have appreciated each other, thought highly of one another and stuff.”
“Yeah, well. Julia is gorgeous and Hawthorne isn’t so bad looking himself if you’re into guys twice your age. I’m just going to throw that out there.”
Rowen laughed. “Ew.”
“What, ew? I’d give him a go. If neither of us were involved with anyone and I didn’t have anything to lose from it, I would. Yeah, the more I think about this, the more I’m pretty sure I would. I’d try him out.”
Rowen wasn’t going to argue with her on this one. Margo was a grown woman. She could like who she liked. It wasn’t like she was going to act on it. She seemed reasonably happy with Eric’s brother, David, her current boyfriend.
There was less than a minute of silence that followed. “Do you think that Aunt Lydia really loves Hawthorne?” That was a little harder to gauge.
“I guess we would have to ask her,” she admitted. If there was one thing she had learned over the years, it was not to just assume things about Lydia. “At the very least, I know she thought he was handsome. Granted, she thinks a lot of people are handsome.”
Margo took a deep breath, like she regretted even asking this question. “Never mind.” She was ready to let it go, but it didn’t look like she would have a chance.
Outside of the police station, Aunt Lydia was standing there having an argument with Ben. Her hands were on her hips and a small gathering of police officers had formed a semicircle outside. When one of them came at her with a pair of handcuffs, she slapped them away.
“Should we call Rose?” Margo asked, sitting there, wide-eyed.
“Are you kidding me? No. Come on. Hurry up. Let’s go defuse this.” Rowen rushed from the car. She wasn’t sure how much she could actually do to help. The shouting became louder as the door opened. For once, Ben actually looked relieved to see Rowen show up unannounced at the station. He motioned her and Margo over, trying to block Aunt Lydia from the rest of his officers.
“Oh, girls!” Aunt Lydia sounded relieved. “You should get a shot of this. A bunch of grown men putting their hands on a poor little old lady like myself.”
One of the officers snorted at that, drawing a glare from Lydia as she tried to figure out who had done it. Meanwhile, Ben put himself between the two. “Everyone calm down. Men, I want you to head inside. This is way more force than is necessary, and we all know it. If one or two of you would like to stay, feel free. I encourage it, but I do believe that we all know we have far more important work to be doing.”
Gradually, all of the officers headed back inside. At least it didn’t sound like they were holding a grudge against Ben. Rowen knew from firsthand experience that he hadn’t been showing the Greensmiths any special treatment. Right now, she sort of wished he was. It sounded like Lydia had gotten herself into a bit of trouble.
“What happened?” asked Margo, the first one of them to come right out with it.
Ben began to answer, but Lydia was more than happy to blurt out the whole story herself. “I was asked to come down here and give a statement, which I did.”
Ben made a teetering sign with his hand like that was arguable. “She came in and gave a statement, but she told us what she felt we needed to hear.”
“The rest seemed like a waste of your precious time,” Lydia said a bit sarcastically.
“Why didn’t you bring a lawyer?” Rowen asked immediately.
“As if we have one of those,” Aunt Lydia mumbled.
“We do, actually. Flint would have been happy to come down with you. You know that.”
“And you know I’d never let that man come down here with me in a million years.”
“Amen,” Margo echoed.
Rowen elbowed her cousin. She didn’t need her making things worse. “So, she didn’t answer any of your questions.” Rowen tried to steer things back onto topic. “What happened then?”
Ben raised his eyebrows, looking at Aunt Lydia like he wasn’t sure where to s
tart. Aunt Lydia was. “They tried to restrain me! I was there of my own accord, and they tried to restrain me!”
Margo gasped. “You tried to restrain her? With what?”
“Handcuffs!” Lydia cried.
Margo shook her head gravely. “Oh, those don’t work. Not on any of us. Not even on Rose. It’s a witch thing.”
“Stop volunteering information please.” Rowen hissed. “Why did you have to restrain her?”
“Because she hit one of my men with her purse.”
Rowen imagined that she looked about as hesitant to make a judgment call as Ben was to pass it. “And why did she hit one of your men with her purse?”
Aunt Lydia didn’t speak up first this time “One of them said something snide.”
“What did they say?” asked Rowen. But Aunt Lydia didn’t care to repeat it, and it didn’t look like Ben would without her permission. It was easy to imagine that it had been about Mr. Hawthorne or Lydia being a homewrecker or something.
“It was inappropriate, and my men will be dealt with. I’ll have a word with them when I go back in there.”
Rowen nodded. “And will our aunt get in trouble for this?”
Aunt Lydia looked like that would take a lot of gall on their part. “I’d like to see them try.”
“If any of the men would like to come forward and press charges on the matter, they’re welcome to. I doubt that’ll be the case. Harassing a person of interest on the clock comes with its own drawbacks.”
At least there was that. “You didn’t call any of us about Lydia being a person of interest?” That was really the matter weighing heavily on her.
“I knew if I did, I’d have all of you stomping around here demanding justice.”
Rowen could understand that. “But you don’t think she was responsible for anything?”
“Personally?” Ben looked at the three Greensmiths assembled before him. “No, but I have to explore every option laid out before me.”
Rowen nodded, even though she got the impression that she wasn’t getting the whole story. “Margo, will you take Aunt Lydia to go call her daughter?”
Both Lydia and Margo looked a bit annoyed by the request. Margo obviously didn’t want to agree because she just wanted to stay to hear some gossip. Lydia wanted to go call Rose because she wasn’t made of stone. It was obvious to anyone with a set of eyes that this had bothered her deeply. Rowen could feel some uncertainty around her. Was this her fault? Should she have hit the officer? Should she have come here at all? Had she just made things worse for her family?
“As much as I hate to admit it, Flint might have been an asset here.” Ben seemed to think better of that as soon as the words had left his mouth. “Never mind. He really can’t be trusted. Too risky.”
Rowen gave Ben a shove then looked around to make sure that no one was watching. She didn’t want to look like she was getting an attitude with the officer, or worse, being playful. “I really wish you had told me she was coming up here.”
“She’s a grown woman,” Ben reminded her. “Besides, it really did have to be done. Honestly, I thought it would go a lot more smoothly than this.”
“I don’t know what gave you that idea.”
Ben bit at the inside of his cheek. “Yeah, things were pretty dramatic from the get go.”
“Of course they were.”
“My men weren’t terribly delicate. I’m afraid they viewed your aunt as a homewrecker from the moment she got here. Never mind that she was helping the deceased procure a divorce.”
“Do they think that she had ulterior motives for that?”
“I’m sure they do.”
“And what about you?” That was of the most interest to Rowen. For whatever reason she cared what Ben thought. Sure, it had been a long time since they had dated, but since he was involved with Rose, it almost felt like he was part of the family already.
Ben hesitated. That wasn’t a good sign. He was obviously trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to say without offending anyone. “I don’t think that she murdered anyone or had any violent intentions. I do wonder if she had any reason to still be so close to Seraphina.”
“They were friends,” Rowen reminded him.
“And yet, I hear that she was still having an ongoing relationship with Mr. Hawthorne.”
Rowen felt her face grow a bit red at that. “She’s always just sort of done what she wanted.”
“But doesn’t that seem odd?” Ben shook his head like he didn’t want her to answer that. “Look, my point is that I find it unlikely that they could all be so close to each other at the same time. If I had to guess, I would say that someone was using someone. Seraphina was looking for information on Hawthorne through Lydia or vice versa or, well, you get the point. It’s really hard to say.”
Rowen got where he was coming from. “I don’t think Aunt Lydia would be that naive.”
“Which wouldn’t exactly be good news, would it?” Ben offered her a strained smile. “Try not to worry about this too much. I didn’t even want to mention it to you until I had more to go on.”
“So why did you?”
“After this, you would have dragged it out of me before too long anyway. Better to just tell you now.” He glanced back at the police station. “I should get back there before they start planning a mutiny. You let me know if you find anything out.”
Rowen headed back for the parking lot. All of this bothered her a great deal. With her family’s luck, Aunt Lydia really did have something to do with this. She didn’t like the sound of that. She already had one relative in jail. She didn’t need another one.
Rowen sighed, wondering why Ben really had told her all that he did. It was risky for him, giving them this much information. Maybe he figured it was his best shot at getting additional information. It wasn’t like they were going to write this stuff in their paper. Incriminating Aunt Lydia? That was the last thing she wanted to do. Rowen didn’t like being used. Still, she liked having the information.
“How did it go?” asked Margo, looking up from her phone. On the other side of the car, Aunt Lydia was talking a mile a minute on her own phone to her daughter.
“It’s a long story.” It wasn’t that long of a story, but Rowen didn’t want to repeat all of its implications there. “It should be fine.”
And it was fine for the most part, at least right then. Rose gave Julia Martinez a call and explained the situation. She wanted to nip this in the bud before it got out of hand. Julia was amenable at least. Rowen didn’t hear the conversation, but it all sounded very calm from behind Rose’s door. Granted, Rose could be threatening her for all she knew. Oh well. Whatever got the job done when it came to things like this.
Now there were only articles to work on. That provided Rowen with the perfect opportunity to slip next door. Eric was typing idly at his computer. Paperwork. Who knew being a private detective involved so much paperwork? His eyes widened when he saw Rowen. He smiled. “You done with all that running of yours today?”
“Turned out pretty eventful. I might go home and take a nap.” Rowen yawned for emphasis. She was sure that he wanted her to sit and give him a hand with what he was doing. She definitely didn’t want to do that. She loved her husband, but not enough to work two jobs for his sake.
“If you want to help me file some of this stuff, I could join you. I just need to figure out what goes to who tomorrow and see if I can’t find out a bit more dirt on this guy’s ex. I’d like to go up to Tarricville and meet her someday soon. Maybe tomorrow.”
“We have that dinner tomorrow,” Rowen pointed out, which she regretted saying as soon as the words had left her mouth. Obviously, doing their jobs was more important.
“All the more reason for us to go ahead and get this finished. I’d definitely prefer working on a dinner than, well, work.”
“I’m not sure I can right now.”
“Sure, you are. You’re standing there right now, telling me about how you don’t
have time. Do you know how much we could have gotten done while you were complaining about not having time?”
Rowen bristled at that. It stung. “I had a long day.”
“So did I! What do you think I do here all day? Just sit around like a sad dog, waiting for you to come through those doors?”
“No,” said Rowen, her own voice sounding cold to her own ears. “But, apparently, you spend a lot of time here thinking about our relationship. Did I do something to make you mad?”
“Did I?” asked Eric. He didn’t wait for an answer. He shook his head. “Go home. I’ll be there in a bit. We can talk about this stuff then.”
“But your work—”
“I don’t think we’re going to get anything done like this.” It hurt to hear Eric say that, but he did have a point. “I want to go home as much as you do, you know.”
Reluctantly, Rowen headed for the door. She hated parting on bad terms, but she hated forcing resolutions more. She could feel it if she focused. This wasn’t the sort of argument that was going to solve itself in one talk. This one was going to take some work.
Chapter Ten
Rowen might have made that work a little harder before she had even woken up. She stirred to the phone ringing. It took her a moment to figure out precisely where she was. Sprawled across the sofa it seemed. She had fallen asleep in her clothes and makeup from the day before. The television had been switched off, but Eric hadn’t done a whole lot beyond that. She saw a light blanket on the floor. Maybe he had made a go at tucking her in with that before leaving to their bedroom.
All at once Rowen remembered that her cellphone was ringing. Was it really eleven already? Geez, she was late for work. Had Eric left without her? She reached for the phone. Margo. Good. She was definitely easier to explain mistakes to. “Hey.”
“You sound like you just woke up.” There was no judgment in Margo’s voice. She just sounded intrigued. “Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Oh.” Margo’s voice fell flat, like that was a less exciting answer than what she had been wanting to hear. “Then why aren’t you here? Rose asked me to call and find out. She’s busy.”