by Raven Snow
“Yeah, sure.” Craig smiled liked none of this was bothering him. It oh-so-clearly was.
“Not about this,” Rowen added. “I’m not talking to him about you… Oh, wow, I’m making this weird. I’m just…Bye.” Rowen walked toward Darren and did not look back. Already, she was cringing internally. That could not have gone any weirder.
Fortunately, Darren proved to be a good distraction. He looked up from the glass he was sipping from and spotted her before she made it to him. He raised his eyebrows. “Rowen Greensmith,” he said when she had stopped before him. “What a surprise to see you here. And don’t you look lovely.”
“Thank you.” Rowen smoothed down the skirt of her dress absentmindedly. “An anonymous benefactor sent my cousins and I a couple of tickets. Who was I to turn that down? I’ve never been to one of these. It’s quite the experience.”
Darren took a look around the sound stage. “Yes, I suppose it is.” He looked back to Rowen. He was looking especially dashing tonight. His white hair was combed back. His beard was perfectly groomed. His suit was stylish and the same blue as his eyes. It looked incredibly expensive. He looked back to her now. “An anonymous benefactor, you say? You don’t think this has anything to do with that nasty business at the Lainswich Police department, do you?”
Rowen had a feeling that was going to come up. It was good that it had. She would much rather he suspected she was here on account of that rather than this whole Seraphina business. “It might have. I didn’t ask. Anonymous benefactor and all.”
“Makes sense.”
“Not that I’m thrilled about the coverage of all that, myself. I wouldn’t fault someone for wanting to keep you folks on your toes. I won’t say we have a piece in the works that may be influenced tonight, but… Yeah, actually, we’re definitely working on a little something.”
Darren’s pleasant expression never faltered. His smile did turn a bit sad, like he was a touch disappointed. “We’re only doing our jobs,” he assured her. “I know the timing can feel inconvenient at times, but breaking news is breaking news. I imagine you knew about this yourself, what with your sister dating him and all. I’m honestly surprised you sat on this for as long as you did.”
“It’s a little more than inconvenient.” Rowen had to fight to keep her tone a civil one. It was difficult to dislike Darren, but it sure was easy to hate what he was saying. “The timing could actually hurt a lot of people. It also threw a wrench into the investigation of your employee’s murder.”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree here,” said Darren, wisely cutting the conversation short before it drew any unwanted attention. “I hope it offers you some comfort that I instructed everyone to leave your cousin Rose alone. I’ve had a few employees who wanted to surprise her with a candid interview. We’ve reached out to her for comment, but that’s it. I don’t feel like she’s a crucial element in the story. It muddies the focus.”
Rowen had no doubt in her mind that one of the people who had come to Darren wanting to interview Rose had been Julia. She had shown no hesitation in ambushing the Greensmiths in the past. “I appreciate that,” said Rowen, hesitant to show too much gratitude.
“Professional courtesy.” Darren waved a dismissive hand at her thanks, like it wasn’t necessary. “And I hope we can still have dinner. Maybe some time this week?”
Rowen nodded. “Sure. I’d like that. And don’t worry. I’m not intending to start a scene here or anything. I wish you all the best of luck with your fundraiser.” She might not raise a scene here, but she had a feeling Rose might when they had that dinner of theirs later this week.
“That’s very kind of you to say, thank you.” Darren raised his glass in a little mock salute. He looked into the distance, like someone was trying to get his attention. “Seems I’m needed elsewhere. I look forward to our dinner, but if you’ll excuse me…” He said his goodbyes and headed toward the stage.
Rowen watched him go. She spotted Julia Martinez waving in his direction. It looked like it was her who had flagged him down. Rowen watched. She was deep in thought when a hand came down on her shoulder and made her jump.
“It’s just me,” said Willow. “I told Benji I needed to spend some time with you. You ready to do the thing?”
Rowen looked around. No one was really looking at her anymore. Darren and Craig were probably going to be pointedly avoiding her for the rest of the night. Especially Craig. “Now is as good a time as any, I guess. If anyone asks…?”
“We’re looking for the bathroom,” Willow interrupted, finishing that statement for her. “I know, I know. Let’s hurry up before Benji comes to see how much longer this is going to take.”
“All right.” Rowen looked around for an exit other than the one they’d come in through. She spotted one to the left of the stage. There weren’t too many people near it. It was half hidden behind the stage itself. There was a good chance that no one was going to see them go through it. If they looked confident enough when they went through it, anyone who did see them might not think much of it. “Follow me.” Rowen began cutting her way through the crowd, holding Willow’s hand in her own.
“Can we go out this door?” Willow asked once they were close.
“Probably not,” Rowen said, quietly. “But it should help get us where we need to go. Just act like you know where you’re going.”
“Got it.” Willow let go of Rowen’s hand and strode toward the door wearing a very casual expression. Rowen followed suit. Her hand was on the door handle when someone loudly cleared their throat in their direction.
“Where are you two headed?” asked the familiar voice of Julia Martinez.
For the second time that night, Rowen jumped. Willow held it together a bit better than she did. “We’re looking for the bathroom.” She smiled a very sheepish smile. “I figured this had to take us near one, right?”
Julia Martinez raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. She was looking especially lovely tonight. Rowen had to admit that to herself even if she would never say it out loud to Julia. She was wearing a very classy black cocktail dress that complimented her dark complexion. “You didn’t consider going out the way you’d come in to look for a bathroom?” Julia asked.
“If we went out the front, I was afraid we wouldn’t be allowed back in,” Willow said making a point to still sound embarrassed. “We didn’t have a ticket stub or anything. They took our tickets to this thing at the door.”
“This isn’t a concert at a club,” Julia said haughtily. “Go out the front. They’ll recognize you and let you back in.”
“Will they?” Willow looked at Rowen. “Well, you were right.” She looked back to Julia. “Sorry about that. Thanks for the heads up. Come on, I still have to go really bad.” She took Rowen by the arm and led her back into the crowd.
Rowen glanced back in Julia’s direction as they walked. She had already looked away from them. At least there was that. She didn’t seem suspicious. Willow was an exceptionally good liar. “That could have gone better,” Rowen said with a sigh.
“Yeah,” Willow agreed. “So, what now? Do we try leaving through the front?”
“I guess we’d better.” Rowen hated to, but what other option did they have? “I’m not sure we can get through without someone noticing if we go that way, though.” She hated to think they weren’t going to accomplish what they had come here to accomplish, but there was no helping it. Geez, she was never going to hear the end of this from Eric.
“Hey, Willow!” Another wrench was thrown into their plans as they saw Benji waving at them. Willow stopped as he worked his way through the crowd that separated them. “Are you and Rowen hungry? I have us a table over there if you want to sit down and eat.”
Willow looked at Rowen. She opened her mouth to say something, probably that they were busy. Something occurred to Rowen, though, and she cut her off. “Actually, we could use your help, if you don’t mind.”
Benji’s smile fell. His friendly expressio
n shifted to one of cautious concern. He had every reason to be suspicious of them. They had asked for help a lot as of late. All of it had been a bit dangerous for his career. Even Willow looked uncertain. “What do you need?” asked Benji.
Rowen looked around. They were surrounded by people. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private, and I’ll tell you.”
“Are you sure about this?” Willow whispered to Rowen.
“No,” Rowen whispered back. “But I’m not really seeing any other option. She led the way to the opposite edge of the sound stage near the entrance they had entered the area. It was mostly unoccupied at this point. She stood in the corner, where Willow and Benji gathered round. Benji still looked more than a little nervous. “Can we ask you a big favor?”
Benji’s eyes darted from Rowen to Willow. “I don’t know,” he said. “What is it you want?”
“If I tell you, even if you can’t help, I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself.” Rowen didn’t think he was going to go blabbing to anyone. He did seem to like Willow an awful lot.
Benji cringed. “Oh, come on. I’m just an intern. I really don’t want to lose this job.”
Willow offered her boyfriend a smile. She gave his arm a squeeze. “Sorry, Babe. I hate that you keep getting put in this position.”
“Then stop putting me in the position,” Benji snapped, making Rowen nervous that they were finally pushing the limits of how much he was willing to put up with. “What is it you want this time? I can’t promise that I’m going to help… But I guess I won’t tell anyone if I can’t.”
“That seems fair,” said Rowen. She lowered her voice. “We need to get into Darren’s office.”
Benji just stared at them like they’d requested he help them assassinate the president or something. “Of course you do,” he said after a long, awkward stretch of silence. “Why wouldn’t you need someone to help you… break into my boss’ office? Not just my boss either. Like, my boss’ boss. So, not only would I lose my internship, I’d also get a bad reputation in the industry. And that’s just if I don’t get arrested.”
“You won’t get arrested,” said Willow, sounding certain of that. “Come on, it’s important.”
“Why?” asked Benji. “Why is it important?”
Willow looked at Rowen. This wasn’t her story to tell, after all. Rowen appreciated that she hadn’t just blurted the truth, that they were installing a program on Darren’s computer to see if he was cheating. She didn’t want to tell him that. “We’re trying to solve Jerry’s murder,” she blurted instead. “And I have this working theory that he e-mailed Mr. Hawthorne before he died. I need to take a look in his computer and substantiate that theory.”
Benji stared. He seemed to be at something of a loss, not saying anything for several moments. “This is illegal,” he said, finally.
“Don’t you want to solve this thing?” asked Rowen. “Don’t you want to figure out what happened to Jerry and see what Mr. Hawthorne knows?” That was a stupid question. That didn’t change how illegal any of this was. All the same, Benji suddenly looked a bit torn.
“What would I have to do?” he finally asked.
Willow looked surprised he’d bought that. Rowen was a bit surprised herself and had no follow up to his question because of it. Willow recovered first. “Well, we have to get to his office,” she said. “And we have to use this exit here to do it. Julia Martinez caught us trying to get out of that one door next to the stage. We told her we were looking for the bathroom, but I’m not sure she bought it. She told us to use this exit, but we’re not sure we can do that and still sneak away to Mr. Hawthorne’s office. We’re in a bit of a pickle. Worst of all, Julia could still be watching us. So, it probably looks pretty bad that we’re still loitering about here when I made it sound like I was having something of a bathroom related emergency.”
Benji’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? Oh, geez. Oh, wow.” He looked around, like he was scanning the room for Julia. “We definitely need to head for the bathrooms.” He began to walk toward the exit they were standing next to.
“What do we do after that?” asked Rowen, making sure she kept her voice low as they walked past some of the hired help for this thing.
“I’ll get us there,” Rowen assured her. “Don’t worry.” Of course, she had no room to promise that. Benji was the one they were depending on now.
No one seemed to mind when they left through the front and followed Benji to the bathrooms. There were a few people in the bathrooms already. Rowen could hear them talking from the door. Willow started to head in there, but Rowen caught her by the arm. “Not yet.” She looked at Benji. “Where to?”
“Back to the party?” Benji suggested. After a moment, he sighed and continued down the hallway.
“Are we leaving now?” asked Willow. “Because I sort of have to go now.”
“Later,” Rowen hissed, leading her along.
It looked like Benji knew where he was going. He took a lot of turns, but he took them all confidently. “How well do you know this place?” asked Rowen, beginning to get mildly concerned.
“Pretty well,” said Benji, glancing back at her as he continued to walk. “I used to intern at a few other shows before they put me on the news.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Willow, sounding genuinely interested. “That’s a lot of internships, isn’t it?”
“Three.”
Willow made a face at that. “And these are all regular old unpaid internships? When are you going to get a real job?”
“Soon, if I’m lucky,” said Benji. “If they don’t catch me snooping around this place. They were approaching me over a permanent camera man position.”
“I guess there’s an opening now, huh?” asked Willow, which was a bit blunt as far as questions went.
Benji looked ahead again. “Yeah,” he said, leaving it at that.
Eventually, the halls started to look familiar. Rowen recognized that place. It was where they had been the last two times they had been here. Rowen was almost willing to thank Julia. She wasn’t sure she ever could have found her way back here without a guide. They might have been wandering these halls for ages, never mind finding their way back.
“Right here.” Benji stopped outside of a door. “This is Mr. Hawthorne’s office.”
Rowen tried the door. It wasn’t locked. That was a relief. She pushed the door open and headed inside. Willow followed close behind her. Benji lingered where he was, looking torn. “I’ll keep a look out,” he said at last.
“Good idea,” said Rowen, though this place was mostly empty. They would likely hear someone coming before they even got to this hallway. All the same, Rowen would prefer that Benji kept his distance. He didn’t need to see that she was installing something onto the computer.
“Do you know the password?” Willow asked as soon as Rowen was behind the desk and had given the mouse a wiggle. Rowen wished she hadn’t.
“How are you going to get into it?” asked Benji, looking back at them with wide eyes, like he hadn’t considered the computer needing a password yet.
“It’s fine,” said Rowen, already typing. “I already have a good idea of what the password is.” Rowen hoped that Willow was smart enough not to ask any more questions about why she had an idea of what the password was. She didn’t want to think up a lie on the spot. Fortunately, Willow kept her mouth shut. Rowen got the computer open in peace. She immediately had to roll her eyes at the computer’s background. “A picture of himself? Seriously?” Sure enough, there was a black and white picture of Darren accepting an award behind the icons. At least that made doing what came next easier. Seraphina had been right. The man was just too charming.
Rowen put in the flash drive. Sure enough, after a few clicks, a program began to install itself. Rowen glanced up to the door, trying to gauge whether or not anyone was coming.
“How long is this going to take?” asked Willow. She was smiling like this was all very exciting to her
. At least someone was enjoying this. Benji certainly wasn’t. He was out in the hall, bouncing on his heels impatiently.
“I don’t know,” said Rowen, looking at the progress bar that would shoot forward before slowing to a crawl. “Not long, I hope.”
Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. “Someone’s coming,” Benji hissed, keeping his voice down.
Of course someone was coming. Rowen swore under her breath and glared at the computer to hurry up. “Come on, come on, come on.”
“Close the door,” said Willow. She motioned Benji inside. “Close the door and be quiet.”
“I can’t go in there,” Benji hissed back at her. “If someone sees me in here, I’m fired.”
“Hurry up,” Willow urged. She was still wearing a smile, the weirdo. “Close the door, or they’re going to catch all of us.”
“What if it’s my boss?”
“It’s not your boss.” Willow went to the door and made a grab for Benji, likely intending to pull him into the room herself. “Come on!”
It was then that Benji panicked. “I’ve got to get out of here,” he said, suddenly. He bolted from the doorway and hurried away down the hall and away from the approaching sounds.
“What the-- Willow!” Rowen looked down at the install that was still going and back at the door. This whole thing was falling apart. Willow moved through the door, likely intending to follow after Benji. “Willow!” Rowen called again, trying to get her attention. She didn’t need Willow leaving her too. For a moment there, she thought she got her attention. Willow must have misinterpreted what Rowen was getting at. Instead of coming back into the room, she just closed the door behind herself.
Now Rowen was alone. Fantastic. She looked at her install. If it was almost done, maybe she could follow them too. But no. The install was only at fifty percent, and those footsteps in the hall were getting closer. What if it was Darren? What if he was coming back to his office? Rowen shook her head. She was letting Benji panic her. It couldn’t be Darren. That would just be too unlikely.