Cursed Romance

by Raven Snow

  “We did leave you a note,” said Lydia, firmly. “So don’t you go and blame us for you not showing up until now.”

  “Where were you last night?” asked Nadine, sounding both curious and like she was trying to defuse the situation. “I don’t think I saw you or Rory come home.”

  “We were out with some friends,” said Tiffany, grabbing a chair from an empty table and dragging it over to sit with everyone. “Friends” could mean anyone. It usually meant someone she had only just met. Tiffany didn’t make many lasting relationships with people not related to her by blood— and it was questionable how well she dealt with those. “You guys haven’t seen Rory, have you?”

  “Why would we?” asked Rowen. “We weren’t out with your friends last night.”

  “I just thought that maybe he had already heard about the accident and swung by here.” Tiffany shook her head. “Never mind. It’s fine.”

  “Did you get separated?” asked Nadine.

  “It’s fine,” Tiffany said again. “I’m sure he’ll be at the house by the time we get back home.”

  ***

  With Rose going back to work on the Inquirer, everyone else felt comfortable leaving the hospital as well. Rowen headed to the office she and her husband shared next door to the newspaper. There they sat together, poring over what information they had on their missing person. “I’m not sure what else we can legally do here,” said Rowen with a sigh. She pulled a photograph of Andrea Halifax from the folder and placed it on top of the stack of papers before her. She was a pretty girl. Her hair was bleached blond. She had big brown eyes, a wide smile, and dimples. She could literally be anywhere.

  “I hope she’s all right,” said Rowen. She didn’t know the girl outside of what she had heard from their investigation. As a general rule, she didn’t like the idea of anyone getting hurt, though. “What do you think happened to her?”

  The question Rowen had posed was mostly a rhetorical one, but Eric answered it anyway. “I’m still not convinced she isn’t out there avoiding her parents. Now that it’s become an investigation, there’s a good chance that she’s afraid of coming home. She’s scared everyone will make a fuss and she’ll be in trouble.”

  Rowen could imagine that scenario. “Still, the longer she puts it off the worse it’ll get.”

  “You remember being that age, don’t you? This kind of thing doesn’t always involve common sense.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I was never really one for parties or hanging out with friends.” Rowen hesitated. She had never been too keen on those things, but she knew who was. She groaned. “We could always ask my mom,” she said with a sigh. “I’m not sure these parties she goes to have people at them that are Andrea’s age, but it probably wouldn’t hurt too much to ask her.”

  “Hmm.” Eric looked up, his gaze distant like he was considering that. “Sounds like a good idea,” he said with a nod. “Know where we can find your mother today?”

  “She’s probably doing readings at Odds & Ends. I’ll call ahead and see if she’s there.”

  ***

  Tiffany was indeed at the New Age shop. She didn’t have any clients presently, but she was in the back, shuffling her cards while she waited for customers to show up. There was no telling how long she would stick around for. She didn’t work specific hours. She mostly just stayed in the back room of the shop with her cards until she grew bored of waiting around.

  “She’s back there,” said Norm when the little bell over the door rang. He turned a page in the magazine he was reading before so much as glancing up. “You two doing all right? You look tired.”

  “The last few days have been a lot longer than days have any right to be,” Rowen said with a heavy sigh.

  He nodded like he knew precisely what she was talking about. “You’re telling me. I’ve had to run this place by myself all day.”

  Eric raised an eyebrow. “You’re sitting down and reading a magazine. Have you even had any customers?”

  “Hey,” said Norm, like that offended him. “For your information, I had… at least… two customers.” He closed his magazine with a great sigh, like that had sucked all enjoyment out of it for him. “How is Rose doing?”

  “She’s trying to keep herself busy. Ben is having surgery today, and she’s trying to keep her mind off it. Ben should be fine. It’s just a matter of him getting back on his feet now… Literally.”

  Norm nodded. “Well, I did some candle magic this morning.” He pointed to a white candle still burning on the right side of the counter. It was mostly melted, wax pooling around its base. He was letting it burn itself out. “I’m sure the rest of the family has done the same. We’ll all get through this as a family.”

  Rowen felt a surge of affection for her uncle. He’d always been a bit distant. Much like Tiffany, he had the soul of a wanderer. Unlike her, it seemed like he’d finally grown tired of that lifestyle and settled down. Either that or he just couldn’t afford it anymore. Either way, it was nice to hear him talking about Ben like that, like he’d completely embraced him as a member of the family.

  “Remind me to grab a few things before I head out,” Rowen told him as she walked toward the curtain that separated the back room from the shop proper. “I should probably do a spell of my own now that I think about it.”

  “You know you’ll have to pay for whatever you take, right?” Norm called after her. His question went unanswered.

  Tiffany was sitting at her table in the back, shuffling. She didn’t look up when Rowen entered. She didn’t even look up when Rowen greeted her. “Hey,” said Rowen, a second time, plopping down in the seat across from her mother.

  Tiffany jumped, some of her cards dropping from her hands and onto the table. “Oh! Goodness.” She put a hand over her heart. “Don’t scare me like that.”

  “It’s not my fault I scared you. You were zoned out.”

  Tiffany picked up the cards she had dropped and went back to shuffling. “I guess you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “Sorry. I’m just worried about Rory. He still hasn’t shown up.”

  “Maybe he’s still out partying,” Rowen offered, assuming that was the sort of thing that her mother and her new husband generally liked to do.

  “He’s never spent this much time partying without me.”

  “It’s not like you’ve known him all that long,” Rowen pointed out. That was probably not the nicest thing to say, but it was true. Even now, they had known each other less than a year. The marriage had been something of a whirlwind, not that Tiffany lived any other way. “Maybe he just partied too hard and crashed,” Rowen added, seeing a troubled expression pass over her mother’s face. “I mean, that could easily be what happened, right?”

  “I’ve never known him to be irresponsible,” said Tiffany, her gaze going distant in thought. It was difficult to tell what she meant by that. She had her own definition of responsible, after all.

  “Have you asked the cards about it?”

  “Of course.” Tiffany frowned down at the cards on the table. “They haven’t really helped a whole lot. You know how vague they can be sometimes.”

  “Where were you partying last night?” Rowen went to the table and sat down across from her mother.

  Tiffany raised an eyebrow like it was odd for Rowen to ask this sort of thing. It was. “I didn’t know the host. It was in the trailer park just outside of Lichen Hollow. You know the place, don’t you?”

  Rowen nodded. She was fairly certain she knew the place Tiffany was talking about. She always drove by it on her way to and from Tarricville. “Did you call and see if he was still there?”

  “I swung by after I left the hospital. He wasn’t. I thought maybe he went to another party right after, but I can’t figure out where that might have been.” Tiffany sighed and went back to shuffling her cards.

  “Were they many kids at that party you went to?”

  “Kids?” Tiffany repeated, like the question had been ridiculous.

  “T
eenagers,” Rowen rephrased. “Like eighteen-year-olds.”

  “Maybe, I don’t know. I’m not very good at gauging ages,” said Tiffany. “Maybe there were. Why?”

  ***

  Rowen got the address of the party from Tiffany and rejoined Eric in the car. She dumped a heap of candles and incense in the back and headed for the trailer park her mother had mentioned. She filled Eric in on the way there.

  The trailer park was large and dusty red. The ground was uneven. The car trundled over it, bouncing with every dip and bump. Cars were all over, but the densest collection of cars was toward the back. Rowen was willing to bet that was where this party she had heard about had taken place. She parked amid the cars and headed for the front door.

  It took a minute or two worth of knocking to get someone to actually open the door. A young woman peered out at her blearily. “Yeah?” she prompted, eyes squinted almost shut, like the sunlight was blinding her.

  “Do you mind if we come in for a minute?” asked Rowen. “We’re—”

  “Yeah, sure.” The woman stepped to one side, opening the door wider to allow them in. Given how willing she was to just let them waltz in, Rowen had to wonder if she was even the person who owned this place. Probably not.

  The inside of the trailer was a wreck. There were cans and bottles everywhere. Red party cups lined the counters and at least a dozen people lounged around on the furniture or floor. A television was playing a daytime court show, the volume turned down low. “Who owns this place?” asked Eric, taking a good long look around.

  The woman squinted her eyes again, this time like she was suspicious. “You’re not cops, are you?”

  “No,” Eric assured her immediately. “We’re just looking for someone.”

  That must have been good enough for her. She pointed at the sofa. “I think one of them is.”

  Rowen and Eric approached the sofa. A couple of guys were sitting on it. “Either of you guys the owner of this place?” asked Eric.

  Both men looked up. After a moment, shook their heads. One of the men looked back to the television after answering. The other kept staring right back at Rowen and Eric. He had reason to. They recognized him.

  “Marve, right?” asked Rowen. “Dedra’s boyfriend?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “What are you two doing here?”

  “Still looking for Andrea. Remember? We asked if you knew anywhere she might go to party. That’s why we’re here. This is a place we hear has parties.”

  “Weird you didn’t think to mention this place when we asked,” said Eric, crossing his arms over his chest. “Do you come here often?”

  “No,” Marve said quickly. He raised his voice. “This was my first time here, actually.” He probably hoped that, having heard him make that claim, the rest of the room would back him up now. Rowen wasn’t sure the party goers here were quite sober and loyal enough for that.

  “Go to parties often without your girlfriend?” asked Rowen.

  “She came too,” said Marve. “She just left earlier.”

  “And you didn’t see Andrea while you were here?” asked Eric.

  Marve shook his head. “I would have called you if I did, wouldn’t I?”

  “Not necessarily.” Rowen wasn’t sure why he would think they’d assume that.

  “Well, I didn’t see her.”

  “Excuse me!” Eric raised his voice higher than Marve had, rousing some of the folks still lounging about. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. “I’ve got a photo here of a girl named Andrea Halifax. If any of you have seen her, I’d really appreciate it if you’d speak up.”

  When no one said anything, Eric handed the picture to the girl who had let them in. “If anyone remembers anything, please give us a call. Our number is on there. We’ll be happy to reward any helpful information.”

  The woman looked down at the picture. If she recognized Andrea, it didn’t show in her eyes. “All right,” she agreed with a shrug.

  “Do you know of any other parties going on last night?” Rowen asked, following her husband to the door. “Or even a few nights ago?”

  Again, the woman shrugged. She didn’t appear to be at her most alert. Maybe after she’d had some more time to sober up she would be helpful. At least Rowen hoped that was the case.

  “Make sure you hold on to that,” instructed Eric. The woman nodded in response. Whether she had understood her instructions or not was unclear. “I’m not sure that wasn’t a waste of time,” Eric said with a sigh, heading down the front steps and back toward their car.

  “We found out that Marve guy was lying to us,” Rowen offered. “That means Dedra might be lying too.”

  “No huge surprise there. Young people lie to protect each other all the time.”

  “It’s gotten a little out of hand now though, hasn’t it? I mean, Andrea has to come forward sooner or later.”

  “You’d think,” grumbled Eric. “I just hope she’s able to come forward.”

  That was a troubling thought. Rowen was trying not to think about it too much. The idea of finding Andrea no longer among the living was a grim one. She didn’t envy the officer who would have to bring that news to the parents. Ben would probably blame himself for not being able to be as active as he would like to be in this case. It was just a bad scenario all around.

  “Rowen? Eric?”

  Rowen turned when she heard her name called. Eric did the same. She squinted into the distance, raising a hand to shade her eyes.

  “I thought that was you!” It was Roland. Rowen had forgotten he lived here until now. She hadn’t been by his place in a long while, not since she’d been here while trying to track down her mother’s serial killer ex. Roland was an ex of Tiffany’s too, albeit a more recent and less murderous one. Rowen liked him a great deal more than Rory, possibly just because she had known him longer and he stayed in one place. He was certainly a good deal homier than Rory. Right now he was wearing a wife beater that really accentuated his farmer’s tan. Still, he was a nice guy. Tiffany had liked him for that. Say what you will about the woman, she had always been a big proponent of inner beauty. “What are you kids doing here?”

  “An investigation.” Rowen nudged her husband. “Do you have another print out of Andrea?”

  Eric patted down his pockets and came up with another folded piece of printer paper. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen this girl around here lately, have you?”

  Roland took the paper and unfolded it. He looked at the picture for several seconds before shaking his head.

  “No, sorry. I don’t recognize her. A lot of people come through here, though. Ever since those college kids moved in, there are parties nearly every night.” He started to hand the picture back, but Eric shook his head.

  “Hang on to that,” Eric told him. “Just give us a call if you remember anything.”

  Roland nodded. He folded the picture back up slowly. There was something on his mind. It was obvious by how he was trying to drag out the moment, not wanting them to go just yet but also not wanting to say what it was he was thinking either. “How’s your mom doing?” he finally asked, looking up at Rowen.

  Rowen shrugged. “About as well as she ever is, I guess. She’s fretting right now because her boyfriend—husband is missing.”

  Roland raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

  “Not missing, missing,” Rowen corrected. “Not missing like Andrea is missing. They went to a party together last night and got separated is all.”

  “Ah.” Roland nodded. “Well, I hope he turns up.” He didn’t sound like he much meant that. It was just something to say that sounded right.

  Rowen nodded, similarly un-invested in Rory showing up. “I’ll see you later, Roland. You should come over for dinner sometime. You know you’re always welcome.”

  “Maybe I’ll do that,” Roland said with a smile, even though he probably wouldn’t—at least not while Tiffany was in town. Things were still pretty awkward between them.

&nbs
p; Eric led the way back to the car. “So… What did we learn from that?”

  “That Roland lives a sad life and college kids lie?”

  “Well, neither of those things is anything new.”

  Chapter Five

  The whole family was not at the hospital when Ben was discharged. When he discharged himself, the doctors wanted him to stay a while longer. Rose even urged him to listen to their advice. Ben wouldn’t have it. “I’m not spending another day cooped up in this bed,” he had insisted, not even taking the time to consider their demands. He was determined to leave against medical advice, even if it meant dragging himself down the hall.

  Rose had called Rowen and Eric as well as Margo and Jasper. She wanted Rowen to try and talk some sense into Ben and, if she couldn’t, she wanted Eric to help get him to the car. They would have to set him up at home too. There was no way he was going back to the office yet, regardless of how much he might insist.

  “Do you really think there are things you can get finished from bed at home that you can’t from a hospital?” Rowen asked.

  “Yeah,” said Ben, fixing her with a blank look. “Yeah, I really do.”

  So Eric helped him out of the hospital, utilizing a wheelchair despite Ben’s protests. “Stop being such a baby and let us help,” said Eric, swatting Ben in the back of the head once they were out in the hall. “I know you want to get back to work and not be a burden on anyone, but you’re doing more harm than good right now upsetting your wife. Use some common sense.”

  Ben relented after that. He was a good guy. Rowen couldn’t imagine that he meant to upset his wife.

  ***

  They drove to the house Ben and Rose shared. There, they set him up in the bedroom. Ben wanted to stay in the home office, but that was out of the question. “You need to stay off your feet until your next doctor’s appointment, at the very least,” Rose had told him, firmly.

  Ben reached a compromise. When they finally left the room, he’d set himself up something of an office in the bedroom. Despite being unable to work, he was on the phone with his station in moments. He insisted he needed to make sure everything was running smoothly without him.