by Raven Snow
Rowen didn’t like the way she spoke about her family’s paper. It felt condescending even though it was true that they were a small publication. “No. Everything I do with the police is private. I have to sign confidentiality papers to make it stay that way.”
“And that man out there.” Irene pointed her cigarette to the window across from her.
Rowen didn’t have to look to know what man she was talking about. “Big, handsome and blond? That’s my husband. He’s a PI as well.”
“Hmm.” Irene’s eyes lingered on the window. “Good job.”
“Yeah, I’m rather fond of him. The looks are a nice bonus.” Rowen got back down to business. “Now, why did you call me in here?”
Irene moved and pulled the curtains closed at the window facing Eric. “I saw you coming out of Veronica’s trailer. I wanted to know what you were doing snooping around here.”
“Getting answers,” Rowen said, plainly.
“And what answers did Veronica give you?”
“I’m not really at liberty to say.”
Irene took another drag on her cigarette. “I suppose she told you that she was sleeping with the victim.”
“You knew about that?”
Irene snorted. “I know about everything that goes on with my team.”
“Do you know who murdered Stephen yet?”
“If I did, I would say so.”
“So you know everything except for the things you don’t know.”
Irene rolled her eyes. “Yes, fine. I know most everything. As long as it doesn’t have an impact on their work, I allow my crew a lot of… little things. They tend to travel a lot with me. That can be very taxing on some people. Morale tends to improve if they’re enjoying themselves. I don’t condone anything illegal, of course.”
“You mean you don’t condone anything illegal that could get back to you.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It seems implied.” Rowen grew silent but not for long. She was trying to figure out how to ask what needed to be asked. “You don’t actually believe this was the work of aliens, do you?”
“I believe it’s probably the work of one of his exes,” Irene answered without actually answering Rowen’s question. “I have a feeling that’s what Veronica told you as well.”
“But you didn’t encourage him to go missing for a day or two? You didn’t want his disappearance to look like an abduction?”
“Of course not!” Irene responded immediately and loudly, like she was horrified by the insinuation. “I would never. The only thing I’m guilty of is reporting on it. Who said otherwise?”
Rowen shrugged. “No one yet. It’s just a theory.”
“Well, it’s wrong. I just report an array of possibilities. I don’t have to scam people for views. You should know that. We’re friends by now, aren’t we?”
Rowen made sure to smile and nod. Not that she actually agreed with Irene. She didn’t trust her, and they certainly weren’t friends.
Chapter Thirteen
The visit to the campground hadn’t given them much. The pictures of the children had been shared. Of course, they still didn’t bear much of a resemblance to the kids that were missing. The popular opinion around camp was that the sketches were actually of aliens. Rowen had to concede that they definitely looked more like short little aliens than children. She hoped Peony would come through for them and draw some pictures of her own.
Eric and Rowen headed out to Odds & Ends next. They took the long way around, traveling through the countryside and coming up on downtown Lainswich from behind. They parked a couple blocks down and walked the rest of the way. The streets were still crowded, but it was the restaurants that looked to be getting the most business. Sure, there were more people in Odds & Ends than usual, but the extra staff seemed unnecessary at this point. Most of them just stood around, straightening shelves that already looked fine.
Behind the counter, Lydia perked up. “Rowen! Eric! What a nice surprise. I was just about to go have lunch. Do you two want to join me?”
“No,” Rowen said, trying to sound apologetic. Lydia had a tendency to overreact. It was like a hobby to her. “Sorry. We’re actually here on business.”
“Oh.” That had clearly stirred a thirst for drama in Lydia. “What kind of business?”
“Secret PI business,” Eric said, his voice low as they neared the cash register. When Lydia’s eyes lit up and she opened her mouth to say something, he pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh. Secret, remember?” He had known Lydia long enough to know when and how to quiet her down.
Lydia nodded, her eyes scanning the shop like she was searching for the person they were there for. “Can I help?”
“Is anyone in the back room?” asked Rowen.
“Not right now. Do you need to conduct an interrogation? You can use it if you need to.”
“We appreciate it,” said Eric while Rowen found the man she was looking for.
“Hey,” said Rowen, coming up behind the WNT employee that had complained about Stephen missing. Given that the guy had turned up dead, he was still filling in on his behalf. “Do you mind if we have a word?”
The man turned and looked down at Rowen. He was silent for a few seconds before sighing. “This is about Steve, right?”
“Stephen Berry, yes.”
“Yeah, sure. Okay.” Greg followed Rowen and Eric into the back. Next to Eric, he looked a bit like an understuffed scarecrow. He was around Eric’s height, but any muscle on him was lean and sort of spindly. Everyone sat down in the stock room. It felt terribly empty. If they didn’t get new shipments of stock in soon, they would run out of things to sell. Everyone found crates to sit on regardless. “My name is Greg,” said the thin man. “If you were wondering. You just kind of got my attention instead of saying my name, so I figured maybe you didn’t know.”
Rowen neither confirmed nor denied that. If she had ever known his name, she had already forgotten it. That didn’t need mentioning. “So the guy who was supposed to be here instead of you is missing, huh?”
Greg folded his hands on his lap and looked down at them. “Seems that way. I didn’t think it was Steve at first. I didn’t think they’d send him here. He’s terrible at selling things… Which might be why Irene was willing to part with him for a few days… I wonder what that says about me.”
“So, you knew Stephen well?” asked Eric.
“I did, yeah. He took me under his wing when I first joined. I’d never had a job like this, traveling all around. Steve had been at it for a while. He’d even traveled around with bands before that, while he was still a teenager.” Greg shrugged. “He was a cool guy, kind of like…” Greg couldn’t seem to find the word.
“A father figure?” Rowen ventured. Greg did look like he was a great deal younger than Stephen. Mid to late twenties? Early thirties?
Steve smiled sadly. “No, definitely not a father figure. My dad was a God-fearing prude. Steve was more like, I don’t know, a cool uncle."
“When was the last time you saw Stephen?” asked Eric.
Greg hummed, like he was having some trouble remembering. “Not sure,” he admitted. “I’ve been working here a lot. I haven’t really had enough time for socializing, not if I want to get any kind of sleep.”
Rowen considered pressing the matter, but there was something else that she wanted to ask first. “Do you know a woman named Harmony?”
Greg’s eyes widened some, implying that he did. “I don’t—” He must have realized that he’d fumbled any kind of denial there. He didn’t try to back pedal. “I guess I heard him mention her some.”
“How so?” prompted Rowen.
“He didn’t like her one bit. She used to follow WNT around. She and Steve had sex sometimes. I’m not sure how often it happened, but she ended up having two kids. She said they were both his. He denied it. You know the story. This time she was trying to corner him and have some sort of blood test done.”
“When was th
e last time you saw her?” Eric asked.
Greg looked around the room, like he was wary of someone nearby, listening in. There wasn’t anyone around, but he lowered his voice anyway. “After he went missing, she sort of cornered me. She asked if he’d skipped town.”
“But he hadn’t.” Rowen stated the obvious when Greg didn’t elaborate. “He was in the woods.”
Greg nodded. “I tried to tell her that I didn’t know where he was, but she wouldn’t take that for an answer. That’s when I just kind of… told her the truth.”
“The truth?” Eric repeated.
“Yeah… It’s… I’d rather not repeat it. I could lose my job, and… I really like my job.”
“You should tell us,” Rowen urged. “We’re just a couple of private investigators. Maybe we can help you out here. You’ll need to talk to the police about all this stuff anyway. It’s better if you just tell us the truth now. It’ll mean we can vouch for you in the future.”
Greg breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. He was on the fence. Thankfully, he relented after only a few more seconds. “Fine, but I’d rather it not get back to WNT that I was the one who told you this.”
“We won’t name any names,” Rowen promised.
“All right.” Greg leaned against the arm of the chair he was leaning in. His chin rested on the heel of his hand and his fingers were at his lips. Rowen could tell by the ragged stubs of his nails that he was a nail biter. “WNT… kind of fakes things sometimes.”
“Kind of?” Rowen had figured that much already.
“Okay, they do fake things from time to time… If they can’t get any footage that’s actually worthwhile… which is often.”
“Are you saying that Stephen’s disappearance was planned?” asked Eric.
“Yeah, probably. Lots of employees get bonuses if they help with some kind of narrative. If it involves something against the law, they get even more money. The only terms are that they don’t rat anyone out. In Steve’s case his excuse would have probably been that he was out drinking or having a little get away in the forest. I’m sure he did it for the money and for a chance to get away from Harmony. From what little I know of the woman, she seems like a handful… You don’t think she’s the murderer, do you?”
“Doubtful,” Eric muttered.
“Are you saying… She’s not the other body they found, is she?”
Rowen figured that there was no need to keep it a secret. “There are pictures all around on the internet. I’ll give the police chief a call and tell him that you could maybe identify the body assuming no one else comes forward. Would that be all right with you?”
Greg nodded. “Y-yeah. I guess that would be all right… I’m sorry, do you think I could have some time alone? This is a lot to take in.”
“Sure. Of course.” Rowen stood.
Eric stood as well, taking a card from his pocket as he did so. “Call us if you think of anything. We’re sorry about your friend. He sounds like a fun guy.”
“He was,” Greg said, softly. “It’s not gonna be the same traveling without him.”
Rowen headed from the back, holding the heavy curtain open for Eric as he filed in behind her. She was about to say something when the bell above the door rang. Rowen could hear the slapping of bare feet on tile as someone small entered. She couldn’t quite see who it was yet, but apparently Lydia could. “Oh, my goodness!” she exclaimed, making just about everyone in the store jump. Not deterred in the least, Lydia made a beeline toward the front door and hefted a little girl into her arms.
Rowen could see the cause for alarm. The girl was muddy; her blonde hair had bits of leaves and pine needles stuck in it. In one hand, the girl was holding a piece of torn printer paper. “This is me,” she said, shoving the paper at Lydia’s face.
Rowen hurried over, scattering the people who were trying to discreetly get closer. She took the picture from the girl. The drawing was a much better likeness than the last. Peony must have drawn this, which was probably why one of the first places it had been posted was on the door of Odds & Ends.
“Sara, right?” Rowen asked softly, smiling at the girl.
“Yeah,” said Sara, looking back at Rowen. She looked down quickly after that, like she was suddenly shy of all the attention.
“Where have you been?” asked Rowen. “Everyone is looking for you, you know?”
“You’re not in trouble,” Eric added quickly.
“Right,” said Rowen, realizing her words might have been taken the wrong way. “We’re just really happy to see you again.”
“We should call Ben,” Eric said quietly.
Rowen nodded in agreement. She looked around at the onlookers next. Everyone averted their gaze quickly, like maybe this little girl was related to someone in the shop and none of their business. Rowen was thankful for that. “We should probably get her somewhere a little more private.”
The bell over the door rang. Norm and Nadine entered, both back from their lunch no doubt. They both paused when they caught sight of Lydia holding a child. “What’s going on?” asked Nadine.
“I need the two of you to mind the store for a while. This child needs me.” Lydia didn’t wait for an answer. She marched to the back room with the child in her arms.
“What’s going on?” Nadine asked again, looking at Rowen and Eric this time.
“It’s a long story. I… I’ll tell you later.” Rowen hurried after Lydia. She passed Greg as she went.
“Is everything okay?” asked Greg.
“Everything is fine,” Rowen told him on her way past. She pushed the door to the storage room open.
Lydia had already sat the girl down on some boxes and was pulling the debris from her hair. “I should get a wet paper towel, clean some of this dirt off of you. You’re a mess.”
“Wait,” Rowen said quickly. “Let’s—Let’s not do that just yet.” There could be evidence on the girl. They needed to preserve everything as best they could. Eric was already dialing Ben in the corner of the stock room.
Lydia frowned. She was probably going to demand to know why she couldn’t help the poor girl when Sara spoke up herself. “I’m hungry,” she announced in a small voice. That was all Lydia needed to hear from anyone to jump into action.
“You poor thing. When was the last time you ate?”
“I dunno.”
“Oh! You poor thing.” Lydia rushed to the mini fridge where she kept her lunch and snacks and drinks and such. “How about quiche? Do you like quiche?”
“I dunno.”
Lydia heated up the quiche and brought it to the girl with a bottle of juice. Rowen wasn’t sure kids that young typically liked quiche, but she didn’t want to give the girl cause not to eat. That turned out to be the best course of action.
“Do you like it?” asked Lydia, waiting patiently as Sara took her first bite.
“Mmm hmm,” said Sara, her mouth too full of a second bite for her to answer.
“Wonderful.” Lydia looked very pleased with herself. “I’m making meatloaf for dinner tonight. Maybe I can get you some of that as well.”
The girl nodded. Maybe she just wasn’t a very picky eater. She was just polishing off her quiche when Eric came up beside his wife again. “He’s on his way. He won’t be long, so…” Eric lowered his voice to just a whisper. “He suggested that we ask her any questions we need to ask her now.”
Rowen nodded and did just that before Lydia could ask the girl if she wanted dessert. “You remember me, right? You remember being here before, right? Playing hide and seek with your brother?”
Sara nodded. She let Lydia take her plate away and took a sip of juice.
“Do you know where your brother is?” asked Rowen. That was the most important question here.
“In the woods?” Sara framed that like a question. It sounded like she hadn’t seen him in quite a while.
“And when did you last see him?”
“I dunno.”
That shouldn’t have bee
n much of a surprise. Even Rowen had no way of knowing when the kids had officially gone missing. Sara probably didn’t have much concept of how much time had passed either. “Where did you last see each other?
“In the woods.” That was likely why she had guessed he was still there. “We were playing hide and seek while we waited on Mom.”
“She told you to play hide and seek out in the woods?”
“Yeah. She had adult business. She told us to play.”
Rowen could believe that. Harmony hadn’t seemed to pay a lot of attention to what her kids were doing. It sounded like she would let them play just about anywhere. “And did your brother find you?”
“No, I’m really good at hiding.”
“Did you hear or see anything while you were hiding?”
“I heard Ros looking for me, and I saw him going the wrong way. Someone shouted. I dunno what they were saying.”
“But you stayed hidden.” Rowen guessed. She remembered having to coax Sara out of hiding. “Do you know why your mom was going out there?”
“She said she needed to meet with our dad.”
Now that was something Rowen hadn’t been expecting to hear. “Do you know your Dad’s name?”
“Stephen,” Sara answered immediately. “She shouts it on the phone a lot. He’s a deadbeat.”
It sounded to Rowen like Sara had overheard a lot of those conversations. “Have you ever met your Dad?”
Sara made a noncommittal motion with her shoulders. Rowen didn’t force her to give a clearer answer. She had a pretty good picture in her head already. From what she had learned about Stephen, it didn’t sound like he was the sort to fess up to being a father. Harmony had probably paraded the children in front of him more than once. It probably hadn’t gone well.
“When did you see your mother last?” asked Eric. Bringing up the girl’s mother had been something Rowen had been hesitant to do.
“Before the hide and seek,” Sara said calmly. “She said she was going to make our dad do something.”
“Do something?” Eric repeated, fishing for elaboration.
