by Raven Snow
“Have you watched the news?” Rose didn’t waste any time. She sounded on edge which made Rowen sit up a little straighter.
“When? Today? I watched it this morning, I guess. Why?” Rowen snatched the remote out of Eric’s hand. He frowned at her. “Why? Is it Channel 2? Did something happen with the murder?”
“Not exactly.” Rose gave a sigh. “Just change the channel. It’s on now.”
Rowen closed out the movie they were watching and found the local station Rose was talking about. Julia Martinez was on the screen. She was standing outside of the police station with a microphone in hand. “If you’re just tuning in with us, we’re here live at the Lainswich Police Department. We’re waiting on a statement from Ben Williamson, Chief of Police here in Lainswich. So far, he has been unavailable for a statement.”
Rowen leaned forward on the sofa. She looked over at Eric who had perked up a bit as well. “What’s going on?” he asked, looking over at Rowen like she would have answers.
Rowen didn’t ask Rose for clarification just yet. She kept watching the television. “As most viewers may recall, only a few short months ago, Chief Williamson’s mother was a major suspect in the deaths of--” That was enough for Rowen. This was definitely about Ben being investigated by the officers from Terricville.
“How did they find out about this?” Rowen asked Rose.
Rose gave a sigh. “I have no idea. Ben doesn’t know either, but I didn’t talk to him for long. There’s not that many people it could have been. Not even his coworkers knew, really. This has all been kept under wraps. I mean, they were going to come out with a statement. Ben was still working on what he was going to say with the police from Terricville. He was cooperating fully and everything. They were the ones who wanted to wait. They didn’t want to cause any kind of panic and have people questioning his authority before they were a little closer to forming a decision. Of course, now people are going to hear this and think he was trying to hide the truth from everyone again.”
Rowen didn’t want to panic Rose, but that was definitely what people were going to think. It had certainly been her first thought. “Who knew about this?” she asked instead.
“Aside from you?” Rose paused like she was thinking about it. “I don’t know for sure that Ben didn’t tell anyone else. Dave from work, he said. They’re friends. I doubt Dave would have told anyone, though. And… let’s see. Maybe… No, he wouldn’t have told his family. I remember him telling me that was the last thing he’d do. His mom would have come down to the station and fussed everyone out before she let Channel 2 get wind of this. Did you tell anyone?”
“Of course not!” Rowen was offended she even needed to ask. “Well, I mean, I told Eric, but it’s not like he’s going to tell anyone. I’m his only friend down here.”
“Hey.” Eric frowned at her then shrugged after a moment. “I guess that’s true.”
“So who…?” Rose trailed off, like she had an idea. “When I told you, Willow was at the office, right?”
Rowen thought back to that day. “Yeah, but she was in the other room.”
“I wouldn’t be shocked to find out she’d eavesdropped,” said Rose. And she was right. That wasn’t exactly out of Willow’s character.
“Yeah, but who would she tell?” Rose asked, though she knew the answer already.
“She definitely would have told Peony,” Rowen said without hesitation. “And Peony would tell Tina. Tina would tell everyone.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Rowen warned. “You don’t know any of this for sure. And you were speaking quietly when you told me, remember?”
Rose took a deep breath. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I guess you’re right, but someone had to tell Channel 2, didn’t they?”
“Does Officer Dave have any family?” It felt easier to pin this on someone she didn’t know all that well. “Maybe he mentioned it to his family. Maybe they told someone or someone overheard him.”
“Maybe,” Rose agreed. “I don’t--” She fell silent for a moment. “Oh, Ben is calling. I’ll have to call you back.”
“You hang in there and do what you have to do. Call me if you need help with absolutely anything, all right?”
“All right. I Appreciate it.” Rose hung up.
Rowen did the same. She pulled up her contacts in the same breath. “Who are you calling?” asked Eric, watching as she thumbed down to the number she was looking for.
“Willow.” Rowen dialed. She hadn’t said anything to Rose, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she was on to something there. She had a kind of gut feeling about it, and those sorts of feelings weren’t often incorrect.
“Hey, Rowen!” sang Willow, sounding just a little too cheerful and nonchalant.
“Hey, Willow.” Rowen was already growing suspicious. “Quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you know about all this going on with Ben?” Rowen waited for Willow to answer. When she didn’t, she pressed on. “It’s all over Channel 2 right now. If you turn on the television real quick-”
“Oh, yeah,” Willow said quickly. “I saw it just a little while ago. That seriously sucks. Rose is still at work. Have you talked to her? How is she holding up?”
“Just got off the phone with her, actually,” said Rowen. “She’s upset, obviously. She’s not sure what to think, though. She can’t figure out how this leaked.”
“Ben told people at work, right?” asked Willow. “One of them must have let it slip. Those things happen, right? You tell one coworker a secret and suddenly everyone knows.”
“We’re thinking something like that happened,” said Rowen, that gut feeling of hers feeling like it was on the mark with this one. She really wished it wasn’t. “Only, I’m not so sure it was Ben’s work that it happened at.”
“What do you mean?” Willow sounded more than a little shaken. Yep, she definitely had something to do with this.
Rowen sighed. She wasn’t going to play games. “Just tell me the truth.”
“I don’t--” Willow began, but she stopped. Rowen heard her take a very deep breath. “Okay, fine. This might be my fault. I overheard you talking to Rose.”
“Willow!” Rowen winced. Why did her family have to be the cause of so many problems? “Let me guess. You told your sister, and your sister passed the happy news on to Tina?”
“No!” Willow said, quickly. “I mean… I don’t think so, anyway. She might have. I don’t think it was her. I told her not to tell anyone. And, even if she told Tina, Tina is really good at keeping secrets. She never told anyone Peony and I dined and dashed at that fancy new place downtown.”
“You dined and dashed?” This was too much. Rowen could really only deal with one major disappointment at a time. “Why would you--? Nevermind. If you don’t think it was Tina or Peony that blabbed, then who was it?”
“You don’t know that it--”
“I know that it was you,” Rowen insisted. “You sound too guilty for it to not have been you. So, if it wasn’t Peony and it wasn’t Tina, then that only really leaves… Oh, Willow. You didn’t.” Rowen realized all at once what must have happened. Still, she didn’t want to believe it. That couldn’t be right. Willow had heaps more common sense than that.
“I told Benji,” Willow said, quietly. She sounded so dejected, like she knew what a bad idea it was in retrospect.
“Willow!” Rowen wished she could reach out and wring her neck through the phone.
“What’s going on?” asked Eric, his attention split between Rowen and the television. It looked like word from the police station was that they would be giving a press conference shortly. In the back of her mind, Rowen wondered if they should send someone to that. There wasn’t a whole lot of press in Lainswich. If they didn’t go, the only news presence would be Channel 2. They couldn’t have that.
Rowen ignored her husband. She would explain later. “Why would you do something like that?” she asked instead. “You barely even know the guy
! What reason could you have possibly had?”
“He seemed so sweet!” Willow said in her own defense. “We were just talking. He was telling me about some of the stuff going on in his life. I did the same thing is all. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.”
“You know who he works for!” Rowen knew Willow could be a ditz, but this was just downright stupid. It looked like she’d made a mistake believing Willow was smarter than she let on.
“I know.” Willow groaned. “Look, it’s not like I can take any of this back. I wish I could, but I can’t. If it’s any consolation, Benji and I are finished. I’m on my way to give him a piece of my mind as we speak.”
“I’ll come along for that.” Rowen scooted Chester off of her lap. “Where are you going?” asked Eric.
“You don’t have to,” Willow said quickly. “I mean, there’s no point. Why would you?”
“To give him a piece of my mind.” Rowen hesitated. “He’s not at the police station, is he?” Even she wasn’t so sure about heading down there. Starting a scene where Channel 2 could easily film it seemed like a very bad idea.
“He’s at the station,” said Willow. “I just got off the phone with him.”
“Good. I’ll meet you there.” Rowen hung up before Willow could object. She wasn’t entirely sure how they were going to get into the station. She figured she would sort that out once they got there.
“I don’t see how this is going to help. How is this going to help?” asked Eric once they had parked the car in the Channel 2 station’s parking lot. All the vans were gone. They didn’t have many, and they were all currently out on assignment, no doubt. Willow was already parked near the back door. She stepped out of her car and gave the both of them a halfhearted wave.
“I’d do the same if someone did this sort of thing to you.” Rowen got out of the car.
“That didn’t actually answer my question.” All the same Eric got out of the car, and they both walked to where Willow stood near the wall.
Willow was looking at her feet, her expression a sheepish one. “I’m sorry you felt like you had to come all the way out here. I never meant for--”
“How do we get in?” Rowen interrupted, nodding to the door they had gone in through last time. They had had Benji come out and let them in then.
“I just got here a little bit before you,” said Willow. “I called Benji to let him know I’m here. I think he’s coming down to let me in.”
As if on cue, the door opened. Benji stepped out into the parking lot, leaving it propped ajar. He scanned the area and froze when he saw Rowen and Eric. Apparently, he’d only been expecting Willow out here.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve.” Rowen marched right up to the boy and proceeded to stare him down. “You take things you were told in confidence, and you just blab them to your superiors? You used my cousin for a story.”
Benji looked at the ground. “You used me to get into the building for information last time. I’m not sure what for, but…” He trailed off. He seemed to realize he was the only one that was going to come to his own defense out here. Not that he was wrong. Rowen had used him a bit.
“It’s not the same,” said Rowen, partly to convince herself. “There’s no upside here. Who is this going to help? They were going to come out and announce the investigation anyway. This just complicates everything and puts Ben’s career in jeopardy. He’s good at his job! He’s great at it, even!”
“I never said he wasn’t! I didn’t--” Benji stopped suddenly. He took a deep breath and looked over at Willow. “I didn’t mean to,” he amended.
Willow frowned. She took a few steps closer, putting herself between Rowen and Benji. “What happened, exactly?”
Benji took a deep breath. “Julia Martinez didn’t know I was dating you until recently, I guess. She found out, and I thought she was going to be mad. Instead, she started drilling me for answers. She didn’t outright interrogate me or anything, but she’d… I dunno. She’d try to trick me into answering stuff, I guess. I let the thing about Ben slip, and there was no backpedaling from there. She asked the right questions to the right people after that, and… well…” Benji shrugged helplessly. “I’m really sorry. I really am. I hope we don’t have to, you know, break up or anything.”
Rowen snorted at that. “I’m pretty sure this sort of thing breaks you up by default.”
Willow shrugged, surprising both Rowen and Benji. (Eric didn’t look to have much of an opinion on the matter.) “I dunno. It sounds like he has a pretty good excuse for all of this.”
Rowen turned on her cousin. “Seriously?”
Again, Willow just shrugged. “The same thing could have happened to me or you.”
Rowen took a critical look at shrimpy little Benji. He had the look of a man who would roll over and tell anyone anything. “I don’t think so.”
“I really didn’t mean to,” Benji insisted. He’d perked up once Willow had implied there was still a chance for their relationship. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“It will happen again,” Rowen insisted. “Neither of you can keep your mouths shut.”
Willow frowned at her cousin. She looked back at Benji, ignoring her. “I’m still upset.”
“I get that.” Benji nodded. “I mean, that’s fair. I guess I would be upset, too.”
“I’m not close to Ben, but I love Rose. If he isn’t happy, then she isn’t happy.” Willow chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I bet she’s really mad at me. I wish there was some way I could make this up to her.”
“Is there any way I can help?” asked Benji.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Willow looked off into the distance. She was silent for a few seconds, like she was considering something. “Well… Maybe.”
Rowen looked from Willow to Eric, wondering if he was hearing what she was hearing. Was Willow trying to flip this around to her advantage? She really didn’t know what to make of her cousin sometimes.
“What?” It sounded like he was eager to help. He pulled it back a bit almost instantaneously. “What is it you want me to do?” he asked, his tone a little more guarded this time.
“Well, it would be nice to know when news like this is going to break,” said Willow. “We could use a little warning, you know? So that we can prepare. If you could give us a heads up when Julia gets a hold of a new story like this, that could help a lot.”
Benji looked uncertain. “You’re asking me to be a man on the inside.” It wasn’t a question. In no uncertain terms, Willow was asking him to be a double agent for Channel 2.
“If you can’t, I understand,” Willow said quickly. “It’s just, it would help I think. It would definitely make me feel more comfortable around you. Otherwise, we probably shouldn’t see each other until all of this blows over.”
“No,” Benji said quickly. “I can tell you things… If they’re important and, you know, relevant to you somehow. Like, if they’re about Ben.”
“Or Jerry,” Rowen interjected.
Benji looked at her like he had forgotten she was even still there. “No. I don’t think that’s--”
“We’re helping Ben with the investigation,” Rowen added, before he could finish an objection. “Like, officially. He brought us on to consult. We’re not aiming to scoop Channel 2 or anything. This won’t come back to you, so don’t worry about that. We just need to be able to warn Ben if something has leaked. The release of information in this investigation is sensitive. If something leaks before they’re ready to release it, that could do a lot of damage.”
Benji still looked uncertain. “I’m not sure how you can promise this won’t come back to me.”
“This is all about catching a murderer,” said Willow. “You want to catch whoever killed Jerry, don’t you?”
Benji crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the ground again. “Yes, but I’m still an intern. This could really… I mean, I know it’s insensitive to say, but this could seriously hurt my
job prospects in the future.”
Willow reached out and lightly touched Benji’s arm. She offered him a smile. “So, worst case scenario, you come intern for us at the Inquirer. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s not quite the same.” Still, Benji finally nodded. “Fine. If it has anything to do with Ben or Jerry, I’ll let you guys know as soon as I can, all right?”
Willow gave his arm a squeeze. “I appreciate that.” She looked over at Rowen next. “We good?”
“We’re better.” Rowen turned her gaze to Benji. As long as they were here, she might as well ask. “Hey, did Jerry ever mention anything about having a story?”
“A story?” Benji repeated. He looked awfully tired. This whole ordeal had clearly taken a lot out of him. “What kind of story?”
“I don’t know,” Rowen said honestly. “Any kind of story. Something he thought he could make money on.”
Benji shrugged. “We weren’t all that close,” he said. “I was just an intern. Frank might know. They talked a bunch. Any footage he took went through him.” He rolled his sleeve up and glanced at the digital face on his watch. “You can ask him if you want, I guess. He didn’t go to the police station with Julia, and he doesn’t get off for another fifteen minutes.”
Rowen looked at the door and the halls beyond it they weren’t technically supposed to enter. “Do you mind?”
“I’m already risking a lot for you guys,” Benji muttered. “What does one more thing matter?”
Willow pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Sweetie.” She was really pushing it. Rowen wondered how much longer she could keep this guy wound around her little finger.
Frank was where they had seen him last, sitting in front of a bunch of monitors again. He wasn’t playing anything this time. Instead, he was spinning around in his chair, looking bored. Julia Martinez’s coverage of the Ben situation was playing on one of the screens.