by Raven Snow
“Yeah, well, Seraphina didn’t know much either. She did assure us that Darren wasn’t a murderer. I’m sort of inclined to agree with her about that. He doesn’t really seem like the type, even if Jerry was blackmailing him.”
“That’s what Eric and I think, too.” Rowen didn’t much like admitting that. She would have preferred it if that e-mail had led them straight to some obvious solution.
“Let’s not let him off the hook just yet.” Rose’s tone was thoughtful, like she had a plan of sorts that Rowen probably wouldn’t like much. “I don’t think he’s totally blameless in all of this.”
Rowen was both intrigued and frightened. “Do you think we can make an effort to keep this dinner civil?” That probably wasn’t going to happen.
The restaurant they met Darren at was one Rowen had never been to. It was a small, exclusive place that had opened up last year. It was difficult to get a reservation and notoriously expensive. Rose’s cool exterior fell when Rowen parked outside of the place. “You didn’t say we were eating here.”
“I seriously thought you would just assume we were going somewhere nice.” Rowen parked. She took special care with her door as she got out. The car parked to her left looked like it was worth a few dozen of her own ride.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Rose snapped back at her, trying to primp a bit in the mirror. She pulled some lipstick from her purse and applied it.
“No amount of lipstick is going to hide the fact that you’re wearing the same outfit you went to the Fourth of July barbecue in.” Rowen motioned her cousin out of the car. “Come on. Hurry it up.”
Rose made a miserable sound but climbed from the car. She dragged her feet all the way to the front door, like Rowen was leading her to her execution or something. “Are you sure we don’t have time to go back for a change of clothes.”
“I’m sure.” Rowen patted Rose on the shoulder and ushered her inside. “Just be glad I thought to dress up.”
Rowen regretted her words right after stepping inside. The interior had a rather jarring country western theme. There was straw on the floor and the hostess was wearing a cowboy hat. “Welcome! Just two in your party?”
Rowen ignored Rose’s laughter and the odd look the hostess gave her. “Actually, we’re meeting someone.”
The hostess led them to a private seating area in the back. Darren Hawthorne was already there. He was seated at a table alone. This was the first time Rowen had ever seen him dressed casually. He was wearing a plaid button up shirt and a pair of jeans. He smiled and stood when Rowen and Rose approached. “Ah, the lovely Greensmith ladies,” he said, not sitting back down until they had sat as well. “Aren’t the both of you looking lovely this evening. You’re looking especially snazzy, Rowen.”
Rowen looked fixedly down at the table. “I had an errand before this. Business stuff,” she lied, hoping that was a convincing enough excuse for her outfit.
Darren didn’t seem too much care either way. He simply smiled and nodded. “Have you ever been here before?” he asked, sliding a menu across to both Rowen and Rose.
“You have to have a reservation to get in, don’t you?” Rowen couldn’t imagine why. After walking through the place, it hadn’t looked all that packed. She opened the menu and nearly choked on air. The prices were what jumped out at her first. Oh, geez. She hoped that Darren graciously offered to pay at the end or something. She went ahead and started rehearsing halfhearted refusals. ‘Oh, no… Oh, I couldn’t… Are you sure? Well, if you insist…’
“I have a standing reservation here,” Darren said, not bothering to look at his own menu. “It’s my favorite place to come for business meetings. I recommend the salmon.” He turned his gaze exclusively to Rose. “I’m glad you could join us… Rose, is it?”
Rose nodded. “Rose Greensmith. I head up the Lainswich Inquirer now.”
“That’s right.” Somehow, Darren made even someone’s name slipping his mind look civil. “Well, you’re doing fantastic work. I have a subscription. I think small town print journalism is so important. We should really collaborate more often. We source a lot of work from big city publications. We have a lot of public interest pieces we sure could use your help on.”
Rose was interested. Rowen could read it on her face. She hid it well, swallowing down her excitement. “We’ll see,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s sort of bad timing to be thinking about new business ventures and partnerships and things like that.”
“Oh?” Darren’s pleasant expression shifted to one of concern.
“Ben,” said Rose. “You know him. He’s my boyfriend.”
Rowen looked around for their waitress. They were already getting into this? Really? They hadn’t even ordered their drinks yet.
Darren nodded. “Oh, yes. Nasty business about that investigation.”
“No.” Rose held eye contact with Darren. Her tone wasn’t angry, just straight to the point. “The investigation was warranted, I think. The way it was presented to the public, less so.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Well, it’s not just me. The police feel that way, too. This was something they were planning on releasing anyway. It’s why I didn’t report on it, even though I could have.” Rose would have. She had a lot more journalistic integrity than Rowen ever had. “They didn’t want it to create a panic. As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a murder investigation going on. This took a lot of focus from that. A lot of time and energy is going into wrapping up this investigation faster to appease the citizens of Lainswich. It could have waited until after the criminal was caught.”
“I’m very invested in whoever killed Jerry Borowski being brought to justice.” Darren’s tone grew very serious as he said this. “I wouldn’t have aired that story if I thought it would hinder the investigation in any way. I genuinely didn’t think it would. I still don’t feel it has. In the end, I felt I had a duty to my viewers.”
Rose didn’t look to be won over by that. Not even a little bit. “A duty to your viewers?” she snorted. “You did this for the ratings.”
Darren actually laughed at that. “That was a part of it, obviously. The news isn’t some privately funded passion project.”
“You should still have some ethics, though. You shouldn’t dash the chances of justice for one of your employees just because you got impatient holding on to a new story.” Rose eased off a bit suddenly when the waitress appeared for their drink orders. It seemed the waitress had been circling for a while. She had probably been unsure of how to make her approach with all the arguing.
“Just water, thanks,” said Rowen. She didn’t dare order anything else. She just hoped water was free. In a place like this you could never really tell.
Darren already had his drink. “Same,” said Rose, ordering water as well. She turned back to Darren and waited for the waitress to leave before laying back in on him. “I feel like you hid that e-mail for similar reasons. You were worried about yourself and your bottom line. You’re happy to sit on information, but only when it’s convenient to you.”
“Rose,” said Rowen, giving her cousin a kick beneath the table. She didn’t need to start picking fights in a restaurant. Rowen didn’t know why she was even doing this. She was beginning to regret promising to bring her here.
“It’s fine,” said Darren, managing a convincing smile even after all Rose had just said. “I’ve heard about the upcoming forum. I know Rose here is under a lot of stress. I really do hope that your boyfriend keeps his job. I think he’s an excellent Chief of Police… Though, I do find it a little troubling that he’s sharing information with you.”
Rowen fought back a cringe. This was coming dangerously close to Rose letting a lot slip she didn’t need Darren finding out just yet. Eric wouldn’t thank her for ruining his own investigation.
“We consult,” Rose said without missing a beat. “The Lainswich Police Department comes to us on big cases like this. They give out that kind of information
on a need to know basis.”
Darren looked to be convinced by that. “I didn’t have much to tell the police, and I don’t have a whole lot to tell you.” He folded his hands before himself on the table. “I’m not sure what you’re hoping to learn from all of this.”
Rowen looked at Rose. She was wondering the same thing herself. She was tempted to step in and say something, but she resisted that urge. When it came down to it, she trusted Rose. Even under pressure, Rose was probably the most level headed out of all of the Greensmiths. (Except for maybe Aunt Nadine.) That might not be saying much, but Rowen would be shocked if she didn’t have a plan. She let her keep talking.
“I want to know what you think is going on here. I feel like you have some insight that could be useful.” Rose looked down at the table. She took a deep breath. She had managed to go without raising her voice this whole time and didn’t look like she wanted to start now. “I think… If there’s absolutely anything else you know, I wish you would tell us. I think, maybe, you’ve kept your own theories to yourself, because you aren’t certain about them and don’t want controversy so close to a time where you’re taking donations.”
The waitress came back over with their water. “Are you ready to--” she began, but stopped when she made eye contact with Rowen. “I’ll give you a minute,” she said, quickly hurrying off again.
“I assure you, I don’t have anything to tell you,” said Darren, looking at Rose with what appeared to be genuine pity in his expression.
“And I assure you this won’t find its way into my paper,” Rose hesitated as she spoke, like it was painful for her. “And… I’m willing to keep anything damning from my boyfriend.”
That got a laugh from Darren. “And, even if I did have something to tell you, which I don’t, why would I believe any of that? You’re more of a journalist than I’ve ever been, and I imagine you love your boyfriend very much.”
“I do.” Rose nodded and took another deep breath. “Which is why I’m willing to keep this between us. If I can help him solve this thing before the public forum over whether or not he keeps his job, it could help to sway public opinion. It could help. It could help a lot.”
“It could,” Darren agreed. He looked from Rose to Rowen then back again. Gradually, his sympathetic expression fell away into a more neutral one. The mask of civility was gone. He didn’t look callous or cruel without it, just a lot more businesslike. “I didn’t appreciate Jerry trying to blackmail me. I was about to fire him and remind him that if he followed through with his plan to release what he had on me to the world, I would make sure he never worked in this industry again.”
“That seems fair,” muttered Rowen, meaning it.
“He died before I could make that clear to him.” Darren shook his head. “I was upset about that. I still am. I might not have liked him much, but he wasn’t a bad kid. He was full of himself and he was an idiot, but he didn’t deserve to die. I was going to fire him regardless, but I didn’t wish him dead. It was a shame. It really was.”
“And if you had to guess who killed him? Rose prompted.
“I don’t know who killed him.” Darren didn’t sound like he was lying. Rowen’s hopes sank for a moment, and she imagined Rose’s did too. “But I know who I would question next.”
“Who?” asked Rose, leaning forward a bit across the table.
Darren frowned. “I’d rather not say. This person was also featured in the material I was being blackmailed with.”
Rose glanced over at Rowen. She looked back to Darren, probably realizing she couldn’t just blurt the name they were both thinking. “If you tell me, I-”
“It’s Julia Martinez, isn’t it?” asked Rowen, already knowing the answer. Why beat around the bush any longer?
Darren stared. “Why would you think that?” he asked Rowen.
“It seemed obvious,” said Rowen. In retrospect, it sort of did. “Blackmail is usually about an affair of some sort, isn’t it? And, if you’re having an affair with anyone… Well, Julia Martinez looked like a likely candidate at the gala.”
Darren looked reluctant to confirm or deny. “Well, I don’t have any more answers at any rate.”
“So, question Julia is what you’re saying,” Rose inferred.
“I didn’t say--”
“Yeah,” said Rowen, interrupting him. “We question Julia.”
“Question her if you want.” Darren forced his way back into the conversation. “Either way, I would appreciate it if you kept your theories to yourself. I never told you any of this. This is all guesswork on your part.”
Rowen took this opportunity to fix Darren with a frown. “Does your wife know about any of this?” She knew for a fact that he hadn’t told Seraphina explicitly.
“I love my wife,” said Darren.
“Yeah, but you didn’t love her enough to talk about seeing other women on the side, did you?” If Rowen could get him to come clean and agree to let Seraphina leave with all she wanted, that would save Eric a lot of trouble. Of course, it was never going to be that easy.
“Maybe we should cut this dinner a little short.” Darren pulled his napkin from his lap and placed it on the table.
Rowen stood. “Sounds like a good plan to me. This place is a little out of my price range.”
Rose quickly followed suit, rising from her seat. She turned back to Darren once before they left. “After this is all over, maybe we can set up some kind of collaboration. That actually sounded like a pretty good idea.”
“Come on, Rose.” Rowen grabbed her cousin by the arm and led her out. She had a feeling they had missed any business opportunities.
Chapter Thirteen
Julia Martinez was a difficult woman to track down. She wasn’t at work, and Rowen had no idea where she lived. In the end, she had to ask Benji again. He wasn’t too thrilled to hear from Rowen again so soon. Rowen did her best to make the request sound innocent. She asked for Julia Martinez’s phone number. That was a pretty normal thing for a person to ask for. At the very least, it was more normal than asking what her home address was.
“Don’t tell her I gave you that,” Benji cautioned. “She really hates you guys. She’d be mad at me.”
“We’ll tell her we found it online,” Rowen assured him before hanging up. She really did use the internet after that, using it to look up the address connected to the cell number.
“We going there now?” asked Rose.
“We?” Rose wasn’t Rowen’s first choice for a partner in this. She might dislike Darren, but she really seemed to hate Julia.
“Yes,” Rose said firmly. “We. I’m seeing this thing through with you. It’s Ben’s job on the line. Remember?”
Rowen tried to shake Rose, but she couldn’t. Finally, she just plugged the address into her GPS and headed there with her cousin in tow. “Don’t make a scene,” she warned. “You’ve got to play nice. Do you understand me?” Rose assured her she did, but Rowen wasn’t so sure. She decided not to argue either way. She called Eric to tell him what was up and headed for Julia’s home.
Julia Martinez didn’t live all that far from Darren Hawthorne. Her home was big and spacious, right on the edge of where Lainswich’s upper class lived. “Must be nice,” Rowen muttered as they drove down the long stony drive.
Rose snorted. “Oh, hush. Your house is gorgeous and your husband is rich. Don’t act like you’re not insanely lucky, too.”
“Fair enough.” Rowen parked in front of the garage. She was lucky the place wasn’t so upscale that it had a gate. They made it to the front door without incident. Rowen knocked, but there was no answer.
“Are we sure this is the best idea?” asked Rose, looking around as they stood there on the stoop.
Rowen ignored her. She knocked again then noticed a doorbell. She rang that instead. The chimes were so loud she could hear them outside. She sort of wished she hadn’t done that. Her aim wasn’t to make Julia as angry as possible before speaking with her.
Through a rectangular window to one side of the door, Rowen saw Julia come hurrying up. They made eye contact through the window, and she saw Julia slow and mouth an expletive. “Oh,” said Rose, quietly. “She is not happy to see us.”
“All the times she’s tried to ambush us outside our home and work, this only seems fair,” Rowen muttered back.
The door opened and Julia stood there, one hand on her hip. “What are you two doing here?” she demanded.
“We need to talk,” Rowen said, bluntly. “And we didn’t think you would agree to meet with us somewhere if we called.”
“I wouldn’t have answered the phone,” said Julia.
“Exactly,” Rowen shot back. “This is important. It’s about your affair with Darren Hawthorne.”
Julia’s eyes went wide when she said that. She looked around and behind them, like maybe there were more people out there that she couldn’t see. “Come inside,” she hissed at last, stepping to one side so that they could both come in. “Hurry up.”
Rowen and Rose both hurried inside before she could change her mind. The house was just as nice on the inside as she had imagined. Everything was very white and clear. It was a bit sterile for her tastes. It felt like the kind of home you saw in a clothing catalog. Julia guided them past a flight of stairs and to a living room with (shocker) a white sofa. “Sit,” she said. It was more order than invitation.
Rowen and Rose both sat side by side. “Nice home you have here,” said Rose, looking around. She didn’t sound terribly sincere, more like she was just saying what you were expected to say in this sort of scenario.
“Talk,” Julia said next.
Rowen wasn’t going to put up with being spoken to like that. “Chill out. We’re not writing an exposé on you sleeping with your boss. I don’t care what crumby life decisions you make, to be honest. This is about Jerry.”
Julia raised an eyebrow at that. “Jerry?” she repeated. “What about him?”