by Raven Snow
Rowen put a hand on Margo’s shoulder. She could hear her breathing quicken and knew that she was beginning to panic. “It worked out. You’re fine. You did the right thing.”
Margo shook her head. She wasn’t convinced. “It could have gone so wrong so easily. I could have been killed!”
“But you weren’t.” Rose offered Margo a strained smile. “We’re going to catch this guy. You’re safe.”
“I appreciate that, but… Well, I’ll feel much better when whoever did this is in custody.” Margo took a deep breath. “I just… I don’t understand why it happened in the first place. Why would anyone want to kill me?”
Rowen and Rose locked eyes over her desk. Rowen could tell what she was getting at, that she was silently inquiring whether or not they should say anything about Jasper. Margo didn’t notice. She was looking off into the middle distance, quiet and thoughtful. Ever so slightly, Rowen shook her head. It wasn’t Jasper, she told herself. Given how mad Margo was with him right now, it would be a mistake to even bring it up.
There was a knock at the front door. “That’s probably Julia,” said Rowen, standing and making her way across the office.
It was indeed Julia Martinez at the front door. She was alone, though she was dressed for work. Her dark hair was arranged around her face in perfect, heavily hair-sprayed curls. Her suit jacket and pencil skirt were crisply pressed. Behind her, Rowen could see a Channel 2 news van parked on the curb.
Julia smiled. “You said I should come over,” she said, like Rowen needed reminding.
“Julia,” said Margo.
Julia locked eyes with Margo over Rowen’s shoulder. She rushed forward and the two embraced. “Oh, sweetheart. I was so worried when I heard.” She held Margo out at arm’s length as she stepped away, her hands on her shoulders. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, you know.” Margo gave her friend a pained smile. “I’m getting by.”
“Well, you’re stronger than I am. Of course, I’ve always known that.” That didn’t sound very sincere coming from Julia, but not much did. Margo didn’t seem to care. If anything, she was eating it up.
“It’s a lot to take in. I’m still trying to keep up with it all. I’ve hardly gotten any sleep since it happened. Obviously, I’m trying to help the police as much as I possibly can. I don’t want this happening to anyone else.”
“Well, make sure you take care of yourself. It’s commendable that you’re putting the community first, but you just leave all that to the police. I would be devastated if anything happened to you.” Julia seemed to notice Rowen out of the corner of her eye then. Rowen was still at the door, throwing the occasional look out the window and toward the news van. “I assumed it was all right to bring a crew. Margo did say she was ready to talk about her experience.”
“I am,” Margo said quickly. Her eyes widened suddenly. “Oh, God. I’m really not dressed for it, though.” She looked to Rowen. “Do you think Eric could bring me a change of clothes and my makeup bag?”
Julia waved a hand, dismissing the question before Rowen could respond. “Don’t worry about it. Your outfit is fine, and I have a makeup bag in the van. I have someone on staff for hair and makeup. I wouldn’t let you on camera if you weren’t looking your best.” She gave Margo a wink. “You know that.”
Margo put a hand over her heart and exhaled slowly. “Thank goodness. All right. Let’s get that started then.”
Julia didn’t bother walking the short distance outside and to the van. She opened her purse and pulled out her phone instead. Neither her expression nor tone were nearly as sympathetic as she addressed whoever answered the call. “I need hair and makeup in here. Everyone else get ready. We’re rolling as soon as that’s taken care of.” She hung up and was all smiles again. “Jenna’s on her way.”
Jenna turned out to be a girl who couldn’t have been more than twenty. She looked like a cheerleader fresh out of high school with her bleached blond hair and bubbly pink ensemble. That said, she did have the sharpest winged eyeliner Rowen had ever seen on a human. Say what you would about her age, she clearly knew what she was doing with the large canvas makeup bag she was carrying. She opened it up on a desk. Margo sat down in front of her so that she could get started.
“I’m glad we’re finally getting to this,” said Julia, typing away on her phone while she waited for Jenna to do her thing. She didn’t need to give the conversation her undivided attention. Multi-tasking was second nature to her. “Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why it had to wait. I don’t mind waiting.” That didn’t sound entirely true, but the important part was that Julia had waited. She had respected Margo enough to do things at her speed. “We were lucky with that drug bust story. People have been eating that up. Busy news week, huh? Normally, we go weeks or months without a big story.”
“I haven’t written as much on the drug bust as I probably should have,” Rose said thoughtfully.
“Well, who can blame you? With everything going on right now, you have every reason in the world to be a little behind.” It was hard to tell whether Julia was saying that to be nice or if she didn’t want the competition. “I read the story you did write on it, though. It was a good piece. You do nice work.”
“Thanks,” said Rose, sounding uncomfortable with the compliment.
“Have there been any new developments?” asked Rowen, genuinely curious. The case had been at the forefront of her mind until recently. A lot had happened, making the idea of a drug cartel a little less interesting in the process.
Julia raised her head from her phone. She looked from Rowen to Rose. Clearly, she hadn’t expected to need to fill them in on what was going on. She probably had some reservations about sharing her leads.
Rose cleared her throat. To no one’s surprise, she had managed to keep abreast of what was going on. “Well, the couple that owned the home were well-liked by their neighbors. It was a husband and wife. They were a school teacher and an oral hygienist, respectively.” She motioned to Julia. “I know Channel 2 talked to some of their coworkers. All of them expressed shock. Apparently, this was really out of their character. At least it seemed that way to them.”
Julia shrugged. “You can never really know a person, can you?”
“No, I think you can,” said Rose. “You can know them poorly.”
“Whatever.” Julia looked back at her phone. “We have some of the husband’s former students on tonight. You guys should watch. I’m sure it’ll be riveting television.”
“You don’t think it’s more important that people know about a potential murderer on the streets?” asked Margo. Her voice was a little stiff. She was trying very hard not to move her face as Jenna did some contouring.
“It’s a big story, make no mistake about that,” said Julia. “But it’s not the only story. The drug thing is big news. People want to know about that stuff.”
“It is a matter of public safety,” Rose reasoned. “It had been suggested for a while that there was a burgeoning drug problem in Lainswich. I know Ben was bothered by it. It was a huge deal for everyone else until this happened. Now it’s out in the light.”
“She’s right,” Julia said with a nod. “We were having experts come on and talk about the uptick in addiction and possession charges. It didn’t bring in many viewers though. We scaled down our reporting on that side of things. People weren’t too interested in the statistics until now. Now you’ve got everyone and their grandmother buzzing about it. Especially since the husband worked at the school. He probably enlisted some of those kids to deal for him. That’s the popular consensus on the matter anyway. I’m inclined to agree.”
“People are concerned now that there’s hard evidence kids might be involved,” Rose agreed. “It really is a good thing. I mean, this was hard stuff they were pushing. It wasn’t the typical things you see kids experimenting with. Honestly, I’m surprised it took the town this long to start showing some concern about it.”
Julia didn’t
look particularly surprised. “You know how people can be around here. They like to look the other way until something they can’t ignore happens. Then they’re all up in arms about it wondering why no one did something sooner.”
“Ben has to back away from Margo’s case for… obvious personal reasons. He’s still leading the investigation for the whole drug thing. I’m sure they’ll find something. It’s just a matter of time.”
Julia raised a well-shaped brow. “Oh? Has he said anything to you? Does he have any leads?” She asked the question casually, but it was obvious she was digging for something she could use on air.
Rose wasn’t fazed. She gave Julia an apologetic smile. “He doesn’t tell me much. He can’t talk about this stuff at home. That’s doubly true with me working here.”
Julia had put her phone down on a nearby desk. “Sure, but you’re his wife. Surely, he lets stuff slip. I know you’re professional enough to separate work and home life. What he does is stressful. Surely he…” Julia tilted her head and gave Rose a wink. “You know.”
“No,” Rose said plainly. “He doesn’t. We don’t talk about work when we’re at home.”
Rowen knew for a fact that wasn’t true. She knew they tried, but things still slipped. It was inevitable. Julia was right about her being professional, though. Rose was too professional to let that bit of information out now.
“I’m done,” announced Jenna, taking a step back from her handiwork. She picked up a hot pink hand mirror and offered it to Margo.
It was good work. Margo was an expert at doing makeup. She had been perfecting her craft since the sixth grade. Rowen remembered pounding on the bathroom door before school every morning for years, yelling at her cousin to hurry up. Jenna had made Margo look better than ever in a fraction of that time. Her cheekbones popped, and her eyes looked larger and appealingly catlike.
“It’s not bad,” sniffed Margo, angling the mirror so as to better see all sides of her face. “The foundation is a little too heavy.”
Jenna opened her mouth, but it was Julia who spoke. “It looks better on camera if you’re a little heavy handed with it.” She went to the window and waved at the van. They must have been watching, because a couple of people immediately hopped out carrying a camera and sound equipment. Julia turned and looked back to Rose. “Okay. Where do you want us?”
The interview went well. At least, Rowen thought it did. It wasn’t live, so Julia allowed for multiple takes of things. She let Margo watch everything back on a small screen and choose the angles she liked.
Rowen wasn’t sure how much of their input Julia would take into account with the final product, but the illusion of choice was nice at least. The whole thing took about an hour when all was said and done. Things moved quickly after that as Julia and her crew packed up their things. They had other news to cover, after all.
The rest of the day was busy but unremarkable. Rowen helped Rose with website updates. She felt obligated to after letting everything fall on her like she had. Peony and Willow came in eventually. They were a lot of help and, for once, didn’t complain about working overtime.
Margo said she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to work. Rowen wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but no one pressured her. It was a bit annoying that she insisted on watching television. It made concentrating an issue. Rowen eventually had to retreat into Rose’s office with her laptop. Only then was she able to finish editing Rose’s newest article.
It was dark outside by the time everyone got ready to go home. “See you tomorrow?” Rose asked as everyone paused by the door to put on coats and scarves.
“Yeah,” Willow said with a shrug.
“Where else would we go?” asked Peony.
“I suppose,” said Margo with a sigh. “I don’t want to be at home alone.”
Rose smiled and nodded in return. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow then.”
Chapter Nine
Rowen wasn’t the least bit surprised to find that Eric had not retrieved everything to Margo’s very particular specifications. Margo huffed and puffed as she rifled through her bags. “You could have called,” she said.
“I thought I had everything on the list,” Eric said in his own defense. He didn’t look incredibly sorry, and Rowen didn’t blame him. The list had been ridiculously long. The stuff he had brought took up about a third of the guest room.
“I said I needed my blue kitten heels,” said Margo holding a pair of navy pumps aloft.
“Those are heels, aren’t they?” Eric looked at his wife for support.
“Those are three-inch heels, honey,” Rowen said gently.
“And they’re not blue,” Margo added.
“They’re sort of blue.” Rowen gave Margo a stern look, trying to remind her to watch herself.
Margo must have caught the look, because she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” said Eric.
“I should have known you wouldn’t be able to find everything. I’ll just stay on the phone with you when you go back tomorrow.”
Eric’s eyes widened. “Tomorrow?” Clearly, he hadn’t planned on making a return trip.
“Is that a problem? I would go, but… Well, I just don’t feel comfortable there.”
“I’ll go,” Rowen said quickly. “I’ve got a better idea of what you want anyway.” She didn’t want to put her husband through unnecessary stress. If she went and grabbed the wrong stuff, she didn’t have any reservations about telling Margo to get off her case. She was tempted to do it now.
“I guess that’ll work.” Margo looked at the things laid out before her as if she wasn’t convinced she had enough. “I can make this work for now… What’s for dinner?”
Dinner was a somewhat annoying affair. Margo was a picky eater. She didn’t complain about it when they were with their aunts. Her aunts wouldn’t have stood for that sort of thing. It seemed she didn’t have the same reservations around Rowen.
“Do you have anything else?” she asked, frowning at the spaghetti sauce on the stove top.
Rowen took a deep breath. “I mean, maybe there’s a can of soup in the pantry.”
“There’s leftover Chinese in the fridge, I think.” Eric paused. “I’m not sure if it’s still good. It’s been about a week… I mean, it’s probably still good, right?”
Margo wrinkled her nose, not even bothering to reply to Eric. “There’s meat in this, isn’t there?”
“Yeah,” said Rowen, not sure that really needed a response but supplying one anyway. “It’s turkey, though. If that makes a difference at all. It’s lean.”
“No,” said Margo. “I’ve been thinking about becoming vegan.”
“You’re not vegan.”
“I know that. I said I was thinking about it.”
“Start at a less stressful time then, maybe.” Rowen handed her cousin a plate.
Margo took the plate, though reluctantly. “I had just started the night all of this happened, though. I really hate to let it impact my life like this. It’s giving my aggressor power over my life that he doesn’t deserve.”
“Okay, well, it’s not like we had a tofu stir-fry and he came over and dumped it in the trash. This is what we’ve got, Margo. Do you want it or not?”
Margo ate some noodles with a packet of tuna on top. She decided fish didn’t count as meat. Rowen didn’t know how the whole vegan thing worked, but she wasn’t going to try to talk her out of it. She considered herself lucky that she didn’t have to call take out. She had barely managed to talk Eric down from volunteering to go pick her up something.
They watched television after dinner. The segment they had recorded earlier came on at the time Julia Martinez had said it would. Rowen had her heart in her throat the whole time. She was certain something was going to happen that would upset Margo. Not so much that it would be digging up recent bad memories, but more that she was so picky about her appearance.
Fortunately, the whole thing went well. Julia had
used only the camera angles Margo had approved. The light and makeup were both flattering, and Margo was articulate.
Margo sat on the sofa in rapt silence, nodding her approval occasionally. It was only when the segment came to a close and segued into a story about the recent drug bust that she showed even the slightest sign of annoyance. “I wish they would give what happened to me a little more time.” She looked to Rowen. “Don’t you think that would have been a good idea? I mean, he’s still out there. The public needs to know.”
“I think they get the idea.” Rowen motioned to the television. “I’m sure they’ll run that segment again. Julia mentioned wanting to do another once more information came out, didn’t she?”
Margo inclined her head as if remembering the news pleased her. “That’s true.”
“There you go then.” Rowen glanced at the clock. It wasn’t very late. She and Eric were kind of night owls. They were often up well past midnight, but tonight Rowen wasn’t sure she would make it until ten. “Well, I think I need to hit the hay.”
“Really?” Margo raised her eyebrows. She took a steaming mug of tea in her hands and took a long, slow sip. “Must be getting old, huh?”
Rowen kicked her cousin in the shin, nearly making her spill her tea. “You’re older than me,” she reminded her. “And I don’t see how you’re not tired. I hardly got any sleep last night— or this morning, rather. I could sleep for a week.”
Margo shrugged. She must have slept like a log at the police station. She had always been a sound sleeper when Rowen lived with her.
“We have work tomorrow anyway.” Well, it was more accurate to say that Rowen had work. Margo was just tagging along to sit there and look pretty. Odds were that she wouldn’t be doing any real work for as long as she could get away with it.
“I think I’m going to stay up a little longer.” Margo tucked her feet up onto the sofa as Rowen stood. She reached for the remote and went looking for something to watch other than the news. It wasn’t like they were talking about her anymore.