by Raven Snow
Eric kept his eyes straight ahead as they pulled out. He said nothing, though his jaw was set and his gaze was stony. That he clearly wanted to talk but didn’t want to do so in front of Rose wasn’t a good sign.
Rowen made the call. Peony answered after a couple of rings. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey. It’s Rowen.”
“Rowen?” Peony repeated, sounding a tad puzzled. “What’s up?”
A lot was up, actually. Rowen didn’t go into that just yet, though. “Just calling to check on whether or not you had set up a meeting yet.”
“With Tina?” asked Peony. “We left you a message about it.”
“I don’t have my phone.”
“Why not? Did you lose it again?”
“Long story,” Rowen pressed on. “Did you get a meeting or not?”
“Got a meeting for tonight over dinner,” said Peony. That was good news. Rowen had been confident they would come through for her. “It’s in a couple of hours, at the diner across the street.”
Rowen tried very hard not to laugh aloud. This was her own fault. They couldn’t have known that the diner across the street was where their remaining suspect worked. Oh well, maybe they could just kill two birds with one stone. Edward Lister seemed to work just about every night at his diner. “We’re on our way back to the office now,” she said instead. “I’ll see you guys in a bit.”
Eric headed toward the office without argument and parked. Rose got out of the car, but before Rowen could follow Eric reached for her arm. “Hang on,” he said, touching her wrist.
Rose looked at her cousin but continued on like she hadn’t heard anything. Rowen sort of wished she hadn’t. She really, really wasn’t in the mood for this. She said as much when they were finally alone. “I’m not sure this is the best time. I know you want to talk about what just happened, but can it wait until tonight?”
That was not at all the right thing to say. Eric drew his hand back and frowned at her. “You might be dead by tonight,” he said. “You’re certainly reckless enough. What guarantee do I have that you’re not going to just run off and get yourself killed in a few minutes?”
“The goal isn’t to get myself killed. It’s not like I’m being reckless on purpose or anything,” Rowen said, certain he knew that already. “I’m trying to catch a murderer here.”
“That’s not your job,” Eric said, pointing out the obvious. “You heard what Ben said. Leave it to the police.”
“If I had done that, Roland would have been killed,” Rowen reminded him. “Besides, I didn’t get hurt.”
“Not for lack of trying!” Eric snapped, startling Rowen. “Seriously, what were you thinking chasing him down like that?!”
“What were you thinking just letting him get away?” Rowen demanded. She wasn’t going to bring that up, but he was lecturing her so why shouldn’t she do the same? “That very well could have been the murderer. I went after him because I don’t want him to have the opportunity to kill again. That seems like the safer option to me, honestly.”
Eric looked away from her. He seemed frustrated but uncertain of how to best word that frustration. “You never listen to me,” he said finally. “You’re always rushing off into danger. You’re supposed to be a journalist, not a detective. You’re always off trying to solve these things on your own, though. You don’t care what I think. Half the time, you don’t even bother to tell me that’s what you’re doing.”
“This has an impact on me,” said Rowen. “It has the potential to hurt my family and maybe even you. I’m sorry if you feel like I don’t respect your opinions, but-”
Eric interrupted her. “It’s not just that I feel that way. You don’t respect me.” He took a deep breath then, as if trying to calm down and clear his head. “I’m not going to keep you,” he said. “I know you have another possible murderer to go look into.”
“Two, actually,” Rowen said, in a small voice. “We’re meeting Tina at the diner across the street. That’s the place the other guy owns, remember?”
Eric looked annoyed but unsurprised. “Why even question them? Haven’t you had enough excitement for one day?”
“We already have it set up.” Rowen had considered calling it off.. “I think the shooter might be the guy we caught attacking Roland.” She was sure that the same idea had occurred to him. “I just… I have some ideas I still want to explore.”
“That means the killer could be after you,” Eric said. He didn’t seem to be trying to tell her something she didn’t already suspect, just trying to stress how serious that was for everyone involved.
“You can go home if you need a break from all of this,” Rowen offered. “I know it’s been a long day.”
“Are you kidding?” Eric looked upset she could even suggest such a thing. “You think I’m going to leave your side until all of this has been dealt with?”
“I hope you will,” Rowen said, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m not sure I can deal with you following me around like this for the foreseeable future. I love you, but you have to trust me sometimes. I don’t put myself into danger where the benefits don’t outweigh the risks. My first priority is to keep everyone safe, myself included.”
“Well, my first priority is to keep you safe,” said Eric, which surprised Rowen a bit. Honestly, she hadn’t imagined she held such an esteemed position in his life. “And you make it really hard to do that!”
Rowen wasn’t entirely certain how to respond. She glanced back to their office building. David had poked his head out the front door and was watching them. Rowen doubted he could hear them from here, but she bet he was concerned. Maybe Eric should spend a little more time worrying about his own family.Though, thinking like that felt unfair. “I wish you would trust me,” she said instead.
When Eric had nothing further to say, Rowen headed back inside. “Sounds like I missed some excitement,” Margo said when Rowen came through the door.
“That’s an understatement,” said Rose, sitting at her desk. “If it’s all the same with you guys, I might head home for the evening. “I don’t think I can take another shooting.”
“Go catch up on your sleep,” said Rowen. “You’ve earned it.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to tell Mom about all of this,” said Rose, which was probably a good idea. Telling Lydia would have the rest of the family descending on them with question after question - Tiffany included. Rowen certainly didn’t have the patience for that.
“She’ll read about it tonight,” Peony pointed out. “She checks our blog every night.”
“Well, she can find out then.” Rose stood from her desk and bid everyone a good night.
Eric came in as she went out. He didn’t say anything to anyone. He just moved to take a seat on the sofa in the office. David went over to join him. Quietly, they exchanged some words.
“Tina should show up soon,” said Peony, indicating a text on her phone. “We can go on over and wait for her.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Willow said from the hallway. At least she had come out of the supply closet. “You guys can go do all the detective work you want, but I don’t want to get shot. Thanks.”
Rowen started to tell her that she was overreacting. After the day that she had just had, though? Willow’s reaction was probably fair. “Well, whoever wants to come with me - feel free. No pressure. I know it’s been a long day for everyone.”
“I think David and I will go home,” said Margo, looking over at David and giving him a smile. It seemed like this was something they had already discussed. Rowen would be genuinely surprised if David wasn’t already regretting his decision to move here.
“I’m going,” said Eric, like it needed to be said.
Speaking of people who were regretting throwing in their lot with the Greensmith family, Rowen felt her heart pound a little faster when Eric spoke. It wasn’t in the good way it once had either. She was beginning to fear that she was living the last days of their relationship together.
“I’m going, too,” said Peony. Willow whispered something to her but she didn’t seem to pay her any mind. “I had to spend you don’t wanna know how long feeding that horrible woman’s ego. I feel obligated to see this through.”
So, the three of them headed to the diner across the street while everyone else went home. Rowen, Peony, and Eric all piled into a booth near the back. A waitress came over and took their drink order. Everyone just got water - except Eric. He ordered alcohol.
Tina didn’t take long to show up. It didn’t look like she had changed a ton since high school. She still wore her skirts too short and her shirts too tight. Her hair was curled and her makeup was well applied, if a bit caked on.
“She got all dolled up for this, didn’t she?” Peony muttered, watching her through the window.
That certainly looked to be the case. This was a woman who still cared, very much, about what others thought of her. This really didn’t look like the kind of woman who took shots at other women with a hunting rifle. Rowen stood and waved her on over.
“Rowen!” sang Tina, like it was actually good to see her. “It’s been forever.” She pointedly overlooked Peony and smiled at Eric. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around.”
Eric put on a winning smile. He was good at those. He stood and offered Tina his hand, which she took. “Eric Richardson,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Rowen felt like Eric had left out the part where he was her boyfriend on purpose. She didn’t add it for him. “Thank you so much for meeting with us on such short notice,” said Rowen, taking a seat when Tina did. She slid a menu across to her.
“Oh, it’s my pleasure,” said Tina. “Honestly, I’m just flattered that the community thinks so highly of me. The news just made my day.”
Rowen looked across the table at Peony. What exactly had Peony told the woman to get her out here? This really seemed like something she should have shared before she was put on the spot like this.
Peony made a face and shrugged helplessly.
“What are they interviewing you for?” Eric asked. “I just tagged along for dinner. They didn’t fill me in on the details.”
Tina beamed, like she was happy for a chance to regale someone with her own achievements. “Apparently, they ran this article on ranking the most influential people in Lainswich,” Tina explained. There had been no such article, of course. “People wrote in their nominations and, well…” Tina spread her arms and beamed. “How many nominations did you say it was?” Tina asked, looking to Peony and finally addressing her.
Peony shrugged. “I dunno. Like… twenty?”
Tina shook her head, slowly. “I wish I knew who sent them in. That’s really flattering, you know? I didn’t think I had touched that many lives.”
“That’s incredible,” said Eric, smiling and managing to sound genuinely impressed. Bless that man; he had saved Rowen a considerable amount of embarrassment.
“And then you have to figure that not everyone whose life I touched wrote in,” Tina continued. “I mean, most of them probably don’t even read that paper. I know I don’t!” Tina laughed then seemed to think better of it. She reached out and laid her hand on Rowen’s. “No offense. I just don’t read many papers.”
Rowen forced a smile. She was glad Tina didn’t read their paper. Maybe she wouldn’t notice when they didn’t write this article they were “interviewing” her for. With Tina’s ego, there was probably a slim chance of that.
The waitress returned to take their orders. Everyone ordered and Eric got himself another drink. Rowen held a hand up for the waitress to wait a moment. “Is Edward working tonight?” she asked. He was who she was more interested in, honestly.
The waitress raised an eyebrow at the question but still managed a smile all the same. “Not right now.”
“He usually is, though, isn’t he?” Rowen pushed before the waitress could leave it at that.
“He called ahead and said he would be running late.” The waitress shrugged. “That poor man is here every single day. As far as I’m concerned, he can take a day off whenever the heck he needs to.”
Eric raised his beer. “Amen to that.”
“Well, if he comes in, would you mind sending him on over this way?” asked Rowen. “I wanted to say hi. There was something I wanted to ask him. You know, as business neighbors.”
The waitress nodded and forced another smile.
“Edward?” Tina repeated once the waitress had walked away. “Edward Lister, right?” Tina smiled knowingly and leaned down to sip from her straw. “I used to know that man so well. We dated in high school, you know?”
“Yeah,” said Peony. “We knew him then, too. He dated our cousin Margo.”
Tina’s expression darkened a bit at that. She said nothing to disparage Margo. She just continued to sip at her drink, a little more visibly disgruntled than she had been before.
“Do you still keep in touch?” asked Rowen.
“I try to keep in touch with everyone,” said Tina, which was either a lie or meant that she really, really didn’t think the Greensmiths were worth her time in that respect. “I eat here sometimes. He’ll try to give me my dinner on the house when I do.” She lowered her voice. “Just between us, I think the guy still has a bit of a thing for me.”
Tina didn’t seem to notice Peony roll her eyes at that but Rowen certainly did. She humored Tina. “How has he been lately?” asked Rowen.
“Oh, fine,” said Tina. “Aside from being, I guess, a bit lonely. He’s just fine.”
“How did he take the shooting?” asked Rowen.
“The shooting?” Tina repeated, in a tone of voice that rather thoroughly took her off the list of suspects if nothing else had before. “What shooting?”
“The one that happened here,” said Rowen. She motioned to her own building just out the window and then in the opposite direction, further down the street. “Surely, you saw it on the news.”
Tina nodded. “Oh, right,” she said. It was difficult to tell whether she was lying or not. “Scary stuff.” Her gaze wandered past Rowen. She smiled.
Rowen looked over her shoulder in time to see Edward coming. He had seen better days. He was looking a bit rough in his kitchen gear and apron. His blond hair was pulled back in an unkempt ponytail, and there were dark circles under his blue eyes. “How’s it going?” he asked, coming up to the table.
“Edward!” sang Tina, beaming at him. “It’s so nice to see you again. It’s been awhile.”
Edward looked at Tina. He smiled and nodded. It was a very forced smile. It was unclear as to whether or not he actually recognized her. “Good to see you, too,” he said before addressing the whole table again. “I heard you guys were asking after me?”
“That would be me,” said Rowen. She looked him up and down again, noting that he was wearing blue jeans and that they were dirty. She didn’t know Edward terribly well, but she knew that he took a lot of pride in his diner. It seemed rather unusual that he would come to work this disheveled. “We were just having dinner, and I thought I would check in on you,” she explained. “That shooting was really something, wasn’t it?”
Edward raised his eyebrows. Rowen could have been reading into it a bit too much, but to her it seemed that his expression turned guarded. “I heard about that,” he said. “I wasn’t here for it, but I heard about it. Are you all right?”
Rowen shrugged. “As all right as I can be, I guess,” she said. “It was pretty terrifying. I’m surprised you weren’t at the diner for it. It seems to me like you’re always here.”
Edward nodded at that. “Usually,” he agreed. “I’ve been a little under the weather lately.”
“That’s terrible,” said Rowen, feigning genuine concern, like she believed what he said. “Is work the best place to be if you’re feeling sick?”
Edward was pale. Rowen’s question made him turn a bit red, like he was embarrassed. “I’m not contagious,” he said. “I’ve see
n a doctor. It’s just really bad allergies.”
That still struck Rowen as a lie. Someone like Edward? He wouldn’t risk hurting the health rating of this place. “Well, I hope you feel better,” she said. He started to leave, but Rowen continued before he could say any goodbyes. “I actually had some excitement today, myself. I’m not sure if you heard about it.”
“Hmm?” Edward lingered at the table, waiting for her to continue. He had the look of a man who very much wanted to be done with this conversation. That was also a bit on the odd side. Rowen had always known him to be charming even though he didn’t particularly like her.