Deadly Desserts and Dark Secrets (Lainswich Witches Book 8)

by Raven Snow

  “Don’t,” Peony called after her. “Tell me what she says,” she added as Rowen continued back down the stairs.

  At least Willow was still getting ready when Rowen arrived at her apartment. That wasn’t actually a bad thing. It meant that they were getting a late start. At least it also meant that she didn’t have to feel guilty about not showing up when she said she would.

  Rowen waited in the living room for Willow to finish doing her hair. “This place is nice,” she said, taking a good look around. That wasn’t a generic compliment either. The apartment was looking wonderfully cozy since she had last seen it while moving Willow in. There were pictures hanging on the walls and little decorative throws and strategically placed flower arrangements and such. “Just needed a woman’s touch, huh?”

  “That was all Benji, actually,” Willow said from the bathroom. “I haven’t done anything. He just has a knack for it, I guess. Maybe he wanted to spruce the place up a bit after seeing Ben’s home. I’m not complaining. I like it either way, to be honest. I’m not picky.”

  That much was certainly true. Rowen wasn’t sure why she had assumed that Willow would ever bother with something this nice. “Is he already at work?”

  “Yeah, he’s been working a lot lately. I think they were interviewing Mrs. Nielson today. I’ve got that set to record. We’ll have to give it a watch later.”

  “How does he feel about Channel 2 hounding the Landis family like they have been?” Rowen couldn’t help but wonder. Benji seemed like such a nice guy. She couldn’t imagine that he was all right with it.

  Willow finally came out of the bathroom. Her blond hair looked much as it always did. Rowen couldn’t actually tell that she had done anything to change it or what could have taken so long. “Since you brought it up, it really seems to be bothering him. He doesn’t like to talk about it, but what he does talk about seems to have him down. They have him shooting B reel footage, so he spends a long time hanging out around their work and home, you know? Mr. Landis came out and yelled at him a few times, he said.”

  "How did he deal with that?” Rowen walked to the door as she spoke, trying to speed this along.

  Willow cringed. “He cried about it.”

  “Cried?”

  “Yeah, I don’t think he thought I could hear him, but I did. He was in the bathroom.” Willow locked the door behind the both of them and headed down to the parking lot. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

  “Why? Guys can get upset about things. It’s good he has a conscience.” Less good was the fact that he was still doing things he felt bad about, but Rowen didn’t bring that up. It was none of her business what Benji did for a living. “Speaking of being emotional about stuff…” Rowen still wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of Peony. A straight forward approach was probably best.

  “What?” Willow got a little impatient as she followed Rowen the rest of the way to the car, waiting for her to explain. “What is it?”

  Rowen pulled out of the parking space and headed for the prison. “Peony is really upset about you moving out.”

  “No kidding.” Willow rolled her eyes. This was all old news to her.

  “Seriously.” Rowen threw her sternest look in Willow’s direction. “You need to talk to her. She’s really upset.”

  “I know she is. She wouldn’t shut up about it.” Willow leaned back in the passenger seat, getting comfortable. “It’s not my fault if she’s gonna be all stuck on this. She doesn’t get to tell me what to do.”

  “Oh, stop that. You two are so close.”

  “Yeah, this doesn’t change that.”

  “Well, then let her know that!” Rowen snapped. “She says the two of you had plans to move out together some day. Is that true? Knowing the two of you, I bet it is.”

  Willow didn’t answer at first. “Yeah,” she said, finally. “I guess.”

  “And now she’s the last one of us still living at home,” Rowen pointed out. “If you were in her place, I bet you would be upset too.”

  “I don’t know about that. I think I’d be happy for her.”

  “But you can see where she’s coming from.” Rowen didn’t back off. She knew her cousin wasn’t this heartless.

  “I guess. I’m still not moving back home.”

  “You don’t have to. I like Benji. She told me she likes Benji too. You still need your sister, though.”

  Willow looked out the window. She didn’t say anything for a while, but Rowen could tell that she was thinking over what Rowen had said. “I’ll call her tonight,” she finally said with a sigh.

  Rowen believed her. She wasn’t sure if this would fix things between the sisters, but it would probably be a good start. At least now she could focus on other problems.

  Visiting hours were still in full swing when they arrived at the prison. The correctional officer behind the front desk looked surprised to see them. “Your grandmother didn’t mention you were coming by,” she said, flipping through some notes in front of her like maybe it was in there and she had just missed it.

  “We’re not actually here to see her,” said Rowen, even though it was odd Grammy wouldn’t predict something like this. She always knew when they were visiting, and it wasn’t like they were going to leave without seeing her today. “Jessica Landis should be expecting a visit with us. After that, if we could see our grandmother, we’d like that too.”

  “I’ll see if she’s feeling any better.” The correctional officer reached for the phone.

  “Feeling any better?” Rowen asked before she could. Beside her, Willow perked up from her daydreaming.

  The correctional officer nodded. “She’s been under the weather lately.”

  “What’s wrong?” asked Willow.

  “Well, the doctors on staff don’t seem to think it’s anything immediately life threatening or we would have given you a call.” The correctional officer offered them a sympathetic smile. “She’s just getting up there in years, you know? These things happen. Sometimes your health just starts to decline.”

  Rowen looked at Willow who looked as uncomfortable with that phrasing as she felt. They both knew Grammy was old, but her dying in prison wasn’t something they had really thought about. Granted, it sort of seemed obvious in hindsight. “Well, if she’s feeling up to it, tell her we’d like to see her.”

  The correctional officer reached for the phone again. “I’ll do that. Go ahead and take a seat.”

  They weren’t waiting long. Another officer came and retrieved them from the waiting room. It seemed like the post murder influx of visitors had died down a bit. There was only one other person in the visiting room when they were escorted in there. It was Jessica Landis seated at a table waiting for them. She had been ready to see them, and it seemed rude to keep her waiting.

  Jessica looked tired. There were prominent bags under her hazel eyes. She didn’t even bother cracking a smile when Rowen and Willow sat down across from her. “You must be from the paper.”

  It hadn’t been a question, but Rowen answered it anyway. “That’s us. I guess your husband mentioned us on the phone?”

  Jessica nodded. “He said you were nosy, but he likes you more than those monsters at Channel 2. He said it didn’t seem like you were going to harass my family.”

  “We just want to get the truth out there,” Rowen assured her. “We’re no fans of Channel 2 either.”

  “Well, the truth isn’t pretty,” Jessica said, bluntly. “But my family didn’t have anything to do with that. They should be left alone.”

  “I totally agree. That’s why we wanted to talk to you.” Rowen placed the recorder she had brought along between them. “Do you mind if I record this?”

  “That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?” Jessica sounded awfully world weary. Rowen couldn’t really blame her. She had every reason to be tired. Knowing that someone was trying to kill you and that someone else was indirectly dead because of you was probably a very exhausting feeling.

&nb
sp; Rowen set up the recorder. “How have you been holding up?” That was probably a terrible question to ask, but she couldn’t help it. She was genuinely concerned about this woman. She felt for her and her family.

  Jessica must have sensed the concern. She relaxed a bit, looking less on guard. “The prison itself is fine. It always has been. I mean, as far as prisons go. I’d never done time before this, but this place isn’t as bad as the movies and televisions shows and such led me to believe. I suppose I should be happy I live in a place like Lainswich. There aren’t a whole lot of dangerous criminals here.” She reached up and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. “That said, I’m not getting a whole lot of sleep. It’s hard to sleep when you know someone is out to get you.”

  “It seems like they think an attempt was made by someone on the outside. It’s unlikely there’s going to be another attempt on your life.”

  Jessica didn’t sound convinced by Rowen’s words. “You can’t know that. They don’t have any suspects in custody last time I checked.”

  “Do you have any suspects in mind?” Rowen wasn’t going to argue with her. It was probably smart of her to be on the lookout. “Is there someone you can think of who would want you killed?”

  “Well, the Nielson family, obviously.” Jessica folded her hands on the table and looked down at them. “And I can’t really blame them, can I? I guess I would want the same thing if it was one of my kids.”

  “You mean Terrance and Trevor?” Rowen asked, glancing down at the notes she had brought along. “You’re their stepmother.”

  Jessica nodded. “They’re good kids. I love them like they were my own.” She gave a sigh. “After all that’s happened, I’m not sure they feel the same but…” She shrugged. “What can you do? I just try my best.”

  “Have you had any altercations with any of the Nielsons?”

  Jessica didn’t answer at first. It seemed she needed a moment to really consider that the question. “It depends on what you mean by altercation, I guess. I didn’t see them a whole lot outside of court proceedings and, of course, the… well, the accident itself.”

  Rowen nodded, trying her best to seem patient and understanding. She didn’t want to ask what she was about to, but it was important. “Maybe you should walk us through what happened that day.”

  “You mean the accident.” Again, it wasn’t a question. Jessica took a deep breath as if steeling herself for the tale. At least it seemed like she had planned for this. “It was a normal day, really. I got off work. I was bringing Trevor home from soccer practice. His coach was sick that day, so it let out early. We went home the way we usually do. I’ve driven that way a million times, so I guess I was going faster than I should have been. I don’t know. I didn’t notice at the time. I feel so stupid now.” Jessica took a deep, shuddering breath.

  “Take your time,” said Rowen, gently.

  Jessica took another deep breath. It seemed to calm her down considerably. She collected herself and assumed a very somber expression. “That poor little girl was in the road. I’m not sure why. There was a stream on the other side. Maybe she was going to play in that. I know I would have at her age, even if it meant crossing the street. It’s not like it’s even a busy street normally. There’s almost no traffic through there.”

  “Was her brother with her?” Rowen remembered that Mrs. Nielson said her son had been watching Stephanie at the time. She imagined a teenage boy was probably on his phone or something. She wondered if he had seen the whole thing and how he had reacted to it.

  Jessica just raised an eyebrow. “Who? Billy? No, he wasn’t there.”

  “His mother said –”

  “Oh.” Jessica frowned. “You interviewed her first?”

  Rowen nodded. “I interviewed her yesterday.”

  Jessica opened her mouth as if to say something but appeared to think better of it. “It’s none of my business, really. I try to stay out of it.”

  “What?” asked Rowen.

  Willow had stayed out of this so far, but she had perked up slightly just now. “She lied to make herself sound better.”

  That made sense. Rowen wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of that before. Mrs. Nielson certainly seemed like the sort of person who might do something like that. She looked at Jessica who looked away. “I won’t write about any of this,” she promised. “I’ll leave out anything you’re uncomfortable sharing. You have my word on that. I’d just like to have a better grasp of the situation.” She also got the sense that Jessica wanted people to know the truth. Rowen knew she would want that even if it wouldn’t be appropriate to share with the media.

  “There was no one watching that girl,” Jessica blurted. “And, I mean, I don’t think you should watch children all the time, but – my son must have knocked on that front door for a full ten minutes. He couldn’t get that Sara woman to answer. Best I can tell, she was passed out drunk. No one else was at home.”

  Rowen winced. No, this definitely wasn’t something she felt comfortable writing about. She could see why Jessica had been hesitant to say anything. “You told that to the cops, right?”

  “There was no need. They could tell.” Jessica looked down at her hands on the table again. “I must have waited in the street with that girl for close to thirty minutes. It took an ambulance ages to find us out there.”

  Rowen remembered driving out there. It had been a bit confusing and arduous. She hated to ask, but it was the next, obvious question. “Was Stephanie still alive when the ambulance came?”

  “She was killed on impact.” Jessica didn’t sound like she could decide whether this was better or not. “At the time, I thought she might still be alive, but looking back it was clear she wasn’t. When Trevor finally found the mother, she was just distraught. How could she not be? The whole thing was very chaotic.”

  “And you confessed right off the bat?” Rowen prompted.

  “I didn’t see any point in lying about it. I’ve never felt worse. I still feel horrible. The whole trial was straight forward, at least.”

  Rowen decided to change the subject to something slightly more pleasant. “I see you got married while you were in here.”

  The corner of Jessica’s mouth twitched into a smile. “I love that man. We had been together for a long time and never really bothered with marriage. Of course, he stuck by me through this whole thing. Marriage made it easier for him to come and visit me here.” Her smile faded a bit. “I just wish I could be there for the family. Especially now.”

  “And you have no idea who could be behind this?” Rowen needed more to go on than what she was being given. This would all make for a good article, sure. That wasn’t all she wanted to do here. She needed to solve this thing. If she could figure out what was going on, that wouldn’t just help Jessica. It would help her family. As far as she was concerned, the Landis males were completely undeserving of the flak they were getting from the neighborhood and Jessica was already paying for her crimes.

  “If I did, I would tell someone.” Jessica raised an eyebrow at Rowen like that was a stupid thing to keep asking. Obviously, she would turn in someone she thought was trying to kill her.

  Rowen hesitated, not sure that she should pass on what she was about to say. “Your son told me something strange.” She just went for it. It piqued Jessica’s interest immediately. “He said that he thought Billy Nielson might have something to do with this.”

  “He did?” Jessica was visibly confused. “Which son was this?”

  “Terrence, I think.” Rowen thought back and nodded. “Yeah, it was Terrence. He came to me privately just to tell me this, so I figure he has some cause for it.”

  Jessica frowned. “I’m not as close to Terrance as I would like to be. I love him, but he’s always been distant.”

  “You don’t know why he would suspect Billy as having something to do with this?”

  Jessica was quiet for a moment, but she finally shook her head. “I don’t know why he would suspect him
. I think they went to school together. I don’t really know Billy that well, though. I met him during court. He seemed angry. I can’t really blame him.

  Rowen realized that was probably the most she was going to get from Jessica. She focused instead on asking different questions, questions that would work well for an article. If she couldn't solve who tried to kill Jessica, the least she could do was make her seem a touch more sympathetic.

  The questions didn’t take too long. It was a good thing too, because someone came for Jessica after a while. They were running short on visiting hours. “We’ll be sure to send you a copy of the article once it’s finished,” Rowen promised. “Hang in there. The police are good. They’ll solve this thing.”

  Jessica didn’t look very convinced of that, but she forced a tired smile anyway. That left Rowen alone with Willow while they waited for their Grammy to be brought in. There was no point in them going back to the waiting room.

  “Well, we didn’t learn a whole lot from that,” Rowen said with a sigh, putting her recorder away.

  Willow shrugged, not looking too concerned. “So, let’s go question that Billy kid.”

  “I don’t know.” She still hadn’t heard a decision from Rose. Herself, she was still on the fence about it. It seemed a little strange to drag the kid into this. It seemed like it had the potential to make them look really bad.

  A correctional officer opened a door and led Grammy inside. Despite what the staff had had to say about her health, she looked much like she always did. She smiled when she saw her granddaughters and drew them both into a big hug. “Well, I’m just seeing you all the time lately, hmm? Someone should be murdered around here more often.”

  “Grammy,” Rowen warned. That kind of talk probably wasn’t encouraged around here.

  Grammy just chuckled and took a seat. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure today?”

  “We came for an interview with Jessica Landis,” Rowen explained. “Whoever killed Rhonda was trying to kill her instead.”