by Raven Snow
“That wasn’t long after high school,” Rowen reasoned. “Did you not hang out after that?”
“We did some. It was never the same again, though Teaghan liked to pretend it was. Tilda and Trish never really looked at me the same way again. I think I had unofficially left the clique somewhere around then. But, no, Teaghan didn’t start acting super distant until I was openly friends with Peony.”
“Well, at least you were willing to come out in the open with that,” Willow grumbled.
“Will you shut up?” Peony hissed back at her sister.
“Cut it out.” Rowen elbowed Willow. “Sorry,” she said to Tina, though she wasn’t sure if she actually meant it or not. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about them keeping this relationship of theirs under wraps for so long. She was even a little mad at herself for not noticing. Then again, it didn’t seem like anyone in her family had noticed. They had done a really good job at hiding things given how perceptive the Greensmith family was.
“Well, you don’t have to keep this hidden any longer,” said Willow. “I mean, not now that we’ve found out.”
Some of the color drained from Tina’s face. “Please don’t.”
“Why not?” asked Willow, her frown deepening.
Tina anxiously raked her fingers through her hair. She pushed it back behind her face. “Just don’t. Please? I’m afraid my old relationship with Teaghan will come up. The police are already looking into me like I’m a suspect. I hate it. I can’t even sleep right lately. It’s just… It sucks.”
“And why shouldn’t the police be looking into you?” asked Willow. “I mean, if you don’t have anything to hide, why bother being secretive?”
“Don’t be dense,” Peony snapped at her sister. “You know the cops don’t always get things right or do stuff fair. Especially when Greensmiths are involved. Besides, there’s that new police detective hanging around that’s a real pain.”
“Sutton,” Rowen said for her.
“Yeah, that’s him.” Peony nodded. “And, besides, I know she didn’t do anything to Teaghan. I was with her the whole night. So, if she’s incriminated, so am I.”
That at least seemed to cow Willow some. “Fine.”
“When was the last time you saw Teaghan?” Rowen asked, getting things back on track. “Was it when she came to the table?”
“I wish,” said Peony, speaking softly as if to herself.
Tina inclined her head, glancing to Peony. “No, she cornered us alone a little while after that. She wanted to know if we were an item.”
“And what did you say?” asked Willow, eyes fixed intently upon Tina as if what she said next was very important.
“I didn’t lie, if that’s what you think,” countered Tina finally meeting that judgmental gaze of hers. “I told her that we were seeing each other. Then she made this big show about how great that was.”
“She was super loud about it,” Peony added.
“She was trying to make a scene,” continued Tina. “Like I said, it’s what she does. She lives for drama… Well, lived for drama.”
“Was she mad?” asked Rowen.
Tina said. “It’s hard to say. She didn’t seem thrilled. I don’t think she liked the idea of anyone she had been with ever moving on from her, you know?”
“Was anyone around to overhear all of this?” asked Rowen.
“Trish and Tilda were there,” said Tina. “But, I mean, they’re always around her, were always around her. God, it’s hard to think of her as being gone.” She shook her head as if to clear those thoughts from her mind and carry on with her train of thought. “Anyway, they pretended not to hear. They kept sneaking glances in my direction though, so I knew they had heard.”
“Teaghan was being really flirty,” said Peony, sounding annoyed by that.
“She didn’t mean anything by it though,” Tina added quickly.
Peony didn’t seem convinced. “Yeah right.”
“She didn’t mean anything more than she usually means by it,” said Tina, rephrasing. “It’s just in her nature to be flirty, especially with exes. She wants to see if she can be more desirable than whoever they’re with now.”
“Like Richie?” asked Rowen.
“Hmm?” Tina didn’t seem to be following.
“Trish’s husband,” Rowen explained. “To hear Teaghan’s husband and Tilda tell it, Teaghan had been having an affair with her personal trainer. Her personal trainer just happened to be Trish’s husband.”
“Ah.” Tina raised her eyebrows like this was news to her.
“You didn’t know about that?”
“No, but I’m not surprised. I’m not sure I remember Richie. If he went on to marry one of Teaghan’s friends, though… Well, yeah, Teaghan would want to see if she could make him want her. I can totally see her getting flirty with a personal trainer. Why? Do you think he killed her?”
“I think the fact that she was being flirty with the guy might have something to do with it. I’m not entirely sure what, but… I don’t know. Can you think of anyone else who might have had something to do with all this?”
“Not off the top of my head,” said Tina. “But, I’ll keep thinking about it. I’ll give you a call if I can come up with something.”
That was all Rowen could ask for. She was about to say as much when a new voice interrupted them. “How long are you planning on being out here?” asked the voice of an older woman. The lady from the front desk stepped around the corner, an unhappy scowl plastered across her face. “If you’re not going to call out, you do actually have to work, you know?”
“I know,” Tina blurted, staring at the woman wide-eyed, like she was afraid she had overheard something. “I’m coming.”
“Now?” asked the woman, implying that she wasn’t about to walk back into the library without her.
“I’m coming,” Tina said again. She smiled back at Rowen and her cousins. “I’ll give you a call,” she said again before disappearing into the building with her boss. The door banged shut behind them, leaving the Greensmiths locked outside.
Rowen sighed deeply. “I guess we’re walking around to the front.”
“I can’t believe you hid this from me,” said Willow, ignoring Rowen completely.
“So what if I did?” Peony snapped right back, not looking in the least bit apologetic. “My love life really isn’t your business, you know? You left home and moved in with your own boyfriend. It’s not like we even talk as much as we used to. I mean, I don’t demand to know every little detail about Benji.”
Willow huffed like Peony was miles off base. “I would at least let you know if I started dating someone else.”
“Only because it would involve you having to move back home where I’m at.”
“Because you’re my sister! I’d tell you because you’re my sister! We’re supposed to tell each other everything.”
“Yeah, well, that’s kind of fudging the truth a little, isn’t it? We’ve never told each other everything. Besides, we’re not even all that close anymore. You hardly spend time with me anymore. It’s like high school all over again. You graduated and suddenly you were too cool to hang out with me anymore.”
“I’ve never been too cool for you.”
“I know that, but I’m not convinced you do.” Peony walked around her sister and started heading in the direction of the parking lot at the front of the building.
“Don’t walk away from me!” Willow yelled after her sister. She broke into a run to try and catch up.
Rowen sighed to herself. Maybe she was going to do her next interview alone after all. Part of her was relieved to not have to deal with Willow. At the same time, she really wished it wasn’t a fight with Peony that had pulled Willow away. This whole thing felt like a great big mess in the making.
Rowen took a deep breath and began to walk around the building herself. She took her time. It was still quite early, and she didn’t really want to wander into Willow and Peony’s argument. As much
as she wanted to diffuse things for them, it seemed like something they were going to have to work out on their own. It really was high school all over again. Peony was sick of being left behind. It had hit her hard when Willow had moved out without her as well. She got lonely easily. Her relationship with Tina was probably one of the few things that had been all hers. Rowen just hoped that the relationship worked out. She didn’t like the idea that Tina was hesitant to come out in the open about it. If they broke up with what was between them still under wraps, it would hit Peony hard. Still, Rowen wanted to give Tina the benefit of the doubt. She had become an all-around better person since Peony had saved her life. It was a shame that it had taken that for her to stop openly disliking the Greensmiths, but it was still something.
Willow was standing next to Peony’s car when Rowen reached the parking lot. She was tugging at the passenger side door, loudly demanding to be let in. “Unlock the door, Peony! Stop being so stupid!” Willow kicked one of the car’s tires just before stumbling back as the engine rumbled to life. Peony quickly whipped out of the parking lot as Willow swore loudly.
“Will you chill out?” Rowen hissed at Willow. She glanced to the door of the library. There was at least one person near a window, looking out with wide eyes at what was going on. “You’re making a scene. They’ll call the cops or something.”
“Like I care,” Willow grumbled, but Rowen had the distinct feeling that she really did care. She was just in a bad mood right now. Getting arrested for public disturbance certainly wouldn’t do much to remedy that. “Can you drop me off at the Inquirer?” Willow managed to ask that question with considerably less malice than what had been in her tone before.
“As long as you aren’t planning on fighting with your sister again. I assume that’s where she was headed.”
Willow nodded. “Yeah. I won’t fight with her. At least, I’ll try not to.”
Rowen didn’t ask if she remembered that she had initially wanted to come along for interviews today. She felt fairly certain Willow had already given that some consideration. It was good that mending things with her sister was more important to her. It was a good sign.
***
The drive to the Lainswich Inquirer from the library wasn’t a long one. Peony’s car was already parked out front. Rowen pulled in beside it. “Remember,” she said, not bothering to get out. “Don’t make a scene.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Willow got out of the car and headed inside. Rowen watched her through the window as she moved between desks and toward the small kitchen.
Rowen was throwing the car into reverse when the door to the Inquirer opened again. It was Margo coming out this time. She walked up to Rowen’s window and rapped lightly on it. Of course she wasn’t going to slip out of there without attracting some sort of attention. Reluctantly, Rowen rolled down the window.
“What’s up with them?” asked Margo, inclining her head toward the Inquirer.
“Who?” asked Rowen, dumbly. It was such a stupid thing to say that she had to fight back the instinct to wince at it.
“Who?” Margo repeated with a chuckle. “Peony and Willow. Duh. What’s going on there? Anything I should know about?”
“I figure they would tell you if they wanted you to know about it.”
“Did they tell you?”
Rowen shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. You know how those two get sometimes. It’s just how they are.”
“Hmm.” Margo didn’t look convinced. “There’s something else to this.” She eyed the gear shift Rowen’s hand was still resting on. “Are you headed somewhere?”
“I have an interview I need to get to.”
“Want some company?”
Rowen really should have seen that coming. If it wasn’t Willow trying to ditch work, it was definitely Margo trying to get by with the same thing. “I think I’m fine on my own.”
“Oh, come on. You know you don’t want to go alone. It’s safer in numbers. Besides, I can be a second opinion. I can help.”
Rowen couldn’t argue with that. Margo was right. A second opinion might very well be helpful with something like this. “We should talk it through with Rose first, make sure she doesn’t need your help here more.”
“More than solving a murder? Is there anything more important than that?”
Again, she had a point. Rowen made sure that they both asked Rose anyway. It seemed like the only proper thing to do. Rose wasn’t thrilled, but she didn’t want to deny them either. The sooner this thing was solved, the sooner people would stop showing up to give their own take on who the killer was. At least that’s what Rose seemed to think. Rowen wasn’t so sure. She had a feeling that people were going to keep on showing up as long as this was the talk of the town. If it wasn’t guessing who was the murderer, it would be something else tangentially related. She didn’t say that out loud, though. She just rolled with the permission they’d received and headed back to the car.
Trish would be their first stop. Rowen had texted her this morning to see if she could have a word with both Trish and Richie. Trish had texted back almost immediately in the affirmative. She was more than happy to do an interview, she said. She had been wondering why it had taken the Lainswich Inquirer this long to get in contact with her specifically.
Rowen had Trish’s address plugged into her GPS. She had barely made her first turn when Margo came back at her with the questions she’d had earlier. “So what’s going on with Willow and Peony?”
Rowen groaned. How could she not. “It really isn’t my place to say.”
“Is it about a guy?”
“No.” At least Rowen could say that much without lying.
“It’s something Willow did, right? I heard her in the kitchen apologizing.”
Rowen was glad to hear that Willow had, at the very least, apologized. It wouldn’t have been good for anyone if both of them had just stayed mad. “They had an argument.”
“What kind of argument?”
“The kind of argument that they’re getting over already. It’s not important, and it’s not your business.”
“Excuse you. It’s family business if one of my cousins is upset. Besides, you know.”
“Not because I asked or pried or anything. I just kind of… walked in on it.”
Margo gasped, a sound so loud that Rowen nearly swerved into the oncoming lane. “So, it is a guy!”
“I said it wasn’t.”
“Willow is cheating on Benji with someone. Oh my gosh. Who?”
“Willow isn’t cheating on anyone,” Rowen snapped. “At least not that I know of.”
Margo’s voice was growing more excited with each passing moment. “So it’s Peony then. Peony is sleeping with Benji?!”
“No! Why would you… Forget Benji. Benji doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“Then I don’t know—” Margo stopped speaking abruptly, her eyes growing huge and her mouth dropping open. “No,” she breathed before looking to Rowen again. “You can’t be telling me… You don’t mean Peony has a thing with that friend of hers. What’s her name? Tina? You aren’t telling me that’s who this is all about!”
“I’m not telling you anything. You’re just throwing ideas at me and waiting for me to confirm or deny them.” Rowen was getting tired of this. Mostly though, she just didn’t want these things spread around. This was Peony and Tina’s own private business after all. It didn’t feel right gossiping about it.”
“Oh my gosh, it is.” Margo put a hand over her mouth. “You denied all the other stuff until now, so that must be it.”
“It’s not Tina,” Rowen lied, but it was too late for that. Besides, she wasn’t great at lying.
“I wouldn’t have guessed,” said Margo, not even entertaining the idea that she might be wrong. That was how unconvincing Rowen had been. “It makes sense though, now that I think about it. They spend a lot of time together. I kept thinking they were going to move in together eventually, since they were such good friends and Peony
is sick of being the only one of us still at home.” Margo didn’t draw attention to the fact that she only lived as far as the side yard of her childhood home. It was a generous thing to suggest that she had “moved out.” “Moving in together would be a big step, way bigger than if they were just friends.”
Rowen wasn’t sure about that. She couldn’t imagine the idea of moving in with a friend. That sounded like a good way to lose a friend. Granted the same was probably also true for a girlfriend. Rowen took a deep breath and gave up on hiding the truth from Margo. The damage was done. There wasn’t anything to do about it now. “Don’t tell anyone I told you, because I didn’t. Don’t tell anyone, period. Don’t even go to Peony with this.”
Margo had been nodding, but she stopped abruptly, like she had taken issue with that last part. “Why not? You know I would support her. I love her, and Tina seems nice enough these days. Plus, she’s pretty. She’s a good catch. I mean, she’s on my list. She’s, like, in the top twenty.”
“What kind of list are you talking about?”
“I’m sure no one in the family would care,” Margo continued, like she hadn’t heard Rowen’s question at all. “They’ll be happy as long as she’s happy. That’s really all there is to it.”
“Tina has family and friends too, you know?”
Now that got Margo’s attention. “You don’t think that the reason they haven’t said anything is because Tina is ashamed, do you?”
“That’s what Willow got so mad about. Though, I mean, we can’t act like this wouldn’t change things for Tina. Her reputation already took a hit when she started hanging out with Greensmiths. Having a romantic relationship with a Greensmith is another animal entirely. Besides, we don’t know what her family is like. We lucked out with our family. They’re always accepting. Tina might not be so lucky. There’s a lot to consider here. Besides, now would be a bad time to bring their relationship out into the open anyway.”