by Raven Snow
“So, where’s the next stop? Whodunnit?” asked Lydia, looking over to the passenger seat at Rowen.
“Home,” said Rowen.
“Home?” Aunt Lydia repeated, sounding disappointed. “I thought you found something.”
“I did,” said Rowen, pulling the diary from her purse. “There’s something I need to do first, though.”
Chapter Thirteen
Eric was still at the house. His parents had left for the police station, but he had stayed behind. There were a lot of calls to be made, apparently. Not only was there a need for lawyers, there was also a need to call business partners and clients. An arrest didn’t reflect very well on his family.
“I’m surprised major news outlets haven’t caught wind of this yet,” said Eric. He was between phone calls and glanced up when Rowen entered the room.
He was talking to her now, apparently. That was promising. “Not that surprising,” said Rowen. “News never seems to travel very far from Lainswich. It’s like we live in a bubble.”
Eric nodded. He gave Rowen a look up and down. He seemed torn over what to say to her, finally settling on, “What did you do today?”
“The usual. Sleuthing.” Rowen had just handed the book over to her Aunt Lydia, Willow, and Peony to pore over. If they found anything else, they would give her a call. In the meantime, Rowen had other business to attend to.
“I hear the locals are giving you a hard time.” As annoyed as Eric was trying to appear, he was unable to keep a note of concern from his voice.
Rowen offered him a tired smile. “All the more reason for me to solve this thing fast,” she said. “Speaking of which, that’s why I’m here.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m going back to Justin’s place,” she said. “I thought you might like to know.” It was probably too little too late, but she felt like it was necessary to tell him.
“That so?” Eric watched her for a moment, and then started to rise.
“If you need to make more phone calls, you don’t have to come with me,” said Rowen. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Eric shook his head. “Do you think there’s a chance he’s the murderer?”
“He’s my front runner right now, yes,” Rowen admitted.
“Well, I have to come then, don’t I?” He led the way outside, phone still in hand.
Rowen told her family she was leaving, then hurried after him. They took her car. Eric made a few phone calls while she drove, which Rowen was thankful for. Listening to Eric complain to strangers on the phone was preferable to awkward silence.
It had to end sometime, though. When it did, she took the opportunity to fill him in. She told him every little detail, and he was listening to it silently, nodding occasionally. She was just getting to the part where they stole the diary when she pulled into Justin’s drive.
“You stole evidence?” Eric asked. It seemed like a rhetorical question. He was already pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, like just being around her exhausted him.
“I’ll put it back,” Rowen promised. “But, just so we’re clear, coming here to put the thumb screws to Justin is probably super illegal, too.”
“I don’t have much sympathy for this guy,” said Eric, which seemed like a given after the guy had tried to first extort, and then turned in his brother. “I’m sort of hoping he’s the killer.”
“Don’t do anything rash,” Rowen warned him. “He could always call the police. That would look bad for everyone involved.”
As it turned out, calling the police was not the worst thing Justin could do. When he opened the door this time, it was with a shotgun in hand. “What are you doing here?” he asked, eying the both of them warily. “I suggest you get out.”
“We’re just here to talk,” Rowen assured him. “We don’t want any trouble. We just want to sit down and have a conversation.”
“I have nothing to say,” Justin said, his eyes moving to Eric again. “Especially not to him.”
“We know you tried to blackmail my brother,” said Eric, speaking before Justin had a chance to slam the door in their faces. “I’m betting the police don’t know that, though.”
“He tried to give me money!” Justin said, his eyes growing wide at Eric’s accusation.
“And you took some of it, didn’t you?” asked Eric. “Regardless of who started what, I have a feeling it’s going to reflect poorly on you.”
Justin looked from Eric to Rowen and then back again. Reluctantly, he opened the door. “Don’t try anything,” he warned, holding up his cell phone to show them that he had it handy. “I won’t hesitate to call for help if I have to.”
“Be my guest.” Eric led the way inside. Rowen followed him to the nearest sofa. It had a few empty cans on it, but Eric cleared them off for a place to sit.
“Just make yourselves at home, why don’t you?” Justin muttered sarcastically. He pulled up a chair from the adjacent dining room. “Get to it. What do you want?”
“We want the truth,” said Rowen.
“The truth?” Justin laughed. “The truth is that your boyfriend’s brother took that poor woman back to her own home and killed her there.”
Eric tensed, but didn’t say anything.
“We want the whole truth,” said Rowen.
Justin seemed bound and determined not to be helpful. “I already told the police everything. You can go ask them.”
Eric reached into his pocket. He saw Justin tense. The man was still holding onto the shotgun and began to raise it now. Eric didn’t pull out a weapon, though. He pulled out his wallet. “How much?” he asked.
“How much?” Justin repeated, dubious.
“All I want out of you is the truth,” Eric insisted. “Just tell me everything that happened, and we’ll get out of your hair, all right?”
“A thousand dollars,” blurted Justin.
“Done,” said Eric. He opened his wallet and began to pull out bills.
Justin gaped at how much cash Eric was carrying. He also looked uncertain, like he was wondering if he should have asked for more.
“Tell you what.” Eric seemed to have noticed his expression as well. “If I like what you have to tell me, I’ll throw in another thousand. How does that sound?”
Justin’s tongue darted over his lips. He eyed the money. Finally, he reached out and took the first thousand. “What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Start from the beginning,” said Rowen, leaning back and making herself comfortable.
Justin considered the question, likely trying to find a good starting point. “I throw a party once every couple of months,” he said. “Everyone knows about them, and everyone is invited. Your cousins have been to a couple.” Justin nodded at Rowen. “You know. Willow and Peabody.”
“Peony,” Rowen corrected. “And I’m not surprised. Those girls have a fondness for parties.”
“Right.” Justin continued, unconcerned with the correction. “So, lots of people come to them. This last party had a bunch of people. I don’t even know how many. We don’t do anything terrible, though. I mean, cops show up. It’d be a bad idea to let things get too out of hand.”
“With that many people at a party, things have to go wrong sometimes,” Rowen pointed out.
Justin shrugged. “Sometimes people will sneak in substances they shouldn’t or start a bonfire, sure. It happens.”
Rowen raised her eyebrows at that. “And the police don’t do anything?”
Justin hesitated.
“If you want that extra thousand dollars, answer honestly,” said Eric, crossing his arms over his chest.
“They never say anything about it,” Justin admitted. “I mean, who am I to judge, though? Everyone needs some time off, right? Even cops. Heck, especially cops. If they don’t want to jump to the call at every little crime, that suits me just fine.”
“So, police like Ben Williamson?” asked Rowen.
“Sure,” said Justin. “He’s
been to a few. Heck, even the police chief has shown up once or twice. They’re good parties.”
Rowen would have to take his word on that. She had never been a huge fan of parties. The only big ones she had ever attended had been with Willow and Peony, to keep an eye on them.
“Anyway,” Justin continued. “Lindsay came to a bunch of my parties. She was a real party animal, that one.” Justin hung his head. “I’m really going to miss her. No one could get a party going like she could. That girl would dance like nobody was watching.”
“Did she sleep with anyone at the parties?” Rowen asked.
Justin looked up. “You mean was she having an affair? Probably. She was really flirty with guys. Not me, but other guys. I don’t know if she was sleeping with them, but it seems like a safe bet. She would have someone drop her off at the party, and she would always find a way home with someone else. But, hey, that was none of my business. Last I heard, she was talking about divorcing her husband, anyway. She said he was sleeping with other women while he was on the road. So, fair’s fair.”
It wasn’t Rowen’s place to pass judgment on Lindsay for that sort of thing. She didn’t know the whole story between her and her husband. It wasn’t her morals that concerned her the most, either. “Who did she typically flirt with?”
Justin thought back. “Different guys. She would find one she liked and focus on them for a while. She flirted with Ben for a while.”
“Ben?” Rowen was surprised to hear that. She was finding out all sort of things about her ex lately. “Who else?”
“She seemed into your brother this past party,” said Justin, speaking to Eric. “She danced with him for a while. He was going to drive her back home.”
“And you saw her get into the car with him?” Eric prompted, sounding skeptical.
Justin picked up on the skepticism. He gave Eric a dirty look. “Of course, I did. If I say I did, I did.”
“Tell us exactly what you saw,” Rowen said, before either man picked a fight.
“Well, like I said, it was a big party. I only saw Lindsay a few times during it.” Justin fell silent for a moment. His eyes went distant. He was probably picturing it in his head. “She was dancing and drinking. She took a liking to David. A lot of people took a liking to him that night. He said he was loaded and had the funds in his wallet to back it up. Sort of like you.” Justin pointed at Eric. “Anyway, I saw her with him off and on through the night. The last time I saw her, she was crying.”
“Why was she crying?” asked Rowen.
“I mean, I don’t know for sure, but… I imagine it had something to do with this cut on her arm.” Justin indicated his own forearm. “I found the full length mirror in the bathroom broken later. I think someone might have pushed her.”
“My brother isn’t violent,” Eric interjected.
Justin snorted at that. He pointed at his own split lip. “I’d have to disagree with that, but we can let the police decide, I guess.”
Eric started to say something else, but Rowen put a hand on his knee. She gave him a meaningful look. There would be plenty of time to pick fights when this was all over and done with.
“As I was saying,” Justin continued. “I kept an eye on her after that. She stayed with David, but she was all teary-eyed. I think she just wanted to get out of there. He took her outside.” Justin pointed to the window he had watched them from when they arrived. “I saw him in her car through that window. I don’t like the guy, but I wouldn’t make up something like that.”
Eric made a noise of disapproval. He didn’t say anything, but it was obvious that he had his doubts.
“So, why didn’t you tell the police what you had seen immediately?” asked Rowen. He was playing the part of an innocent in all this, but he had accepted blackmail money. That alone was cause for suspicion.
Justin looked like he was trying to formulate a lie. Fortunately, he thought better of it. That thousand dollars must have been awfully enticing. He wasn’t going to risk it by insulting them with a blatant lie. “I have a lot of debt,” he admitted. “And, you know, parties are expensive. David reached out to me the night after all this happened. He had heard about the murder and wanted me to tell him what I knew about the night before. He said there was blood in his passenger seat. After hearing about the murder, I guess that worried him.”
Eric leaned forward. This part, especially, seemed to interest him. “You didn’t tell the police immediately because you don’t think he did it.”
Justin stared back at him. He started to object, but he finally just spread his hands. “Not really, no,” he admitted. “I mean, coming back to the scene of the crime to ask what happened doesn’t really seem like murderer behavior to me— not that I would know, I guess. He was pretty trashed, though. I think he might have done it and then not remembered it. He doesn’t really strike me as the serial killer type, though. If he killed her, I think it was an accident.”
“Did you tell the police that?” asked Eric.
“No,” said Justin. “But I didn’t tell them I thought he was the murderer, either. I just told them what I saw.”
“Fair enough.” Eric stood.
Rowen frowned at her boyfriend. It seemed he’d just decided they were leaving now. She’d like to stay and ask a few more questions, but apparently, Eric thought they had heard all they needed to hear. She stood as well.
“What about my money?” asked Justin, as they both walked to the door.
Eric pulled some bills from his wallet and tossed them to the ground on his way out. Justin had some choice words to say to his back as they both walked away.
“You should probably stay on his good side,” Rowen warned. “They could ask him to testify against your brother.”
“I’m not sure he would dare. That’s twice now he’s taken bribe money, and he’s not a very good liar.” Eric got in on the passenger side of the car. “Besides, I don’t think the case against my brother is going to make it that far— not if I have anything to do with it.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Rowen, getting in as well.
“Let’s swing by the police station,” said Eric. “I need to check on my parents.”
Rowen nodded. She didn’t have a particular destination in mind, anyway. Talking with Justin hadn’t exactly produced the results that she wanted. If anything, she had taken a step backward. She was having quite a bit of trouble picturing him as a murderer now. He just seemed too pathetic to be a murderer. Wracking her brain for what to do next, Rowen headed for the police station.
Chapter Fourteen
Rowen parked outside of the police station and let Eric go on inside. She stayed out in the car to call her relatives. She hadn’t checked on Rose and Margo since she had left them at the office this morning. She called them first.
“Hey,” Rose answered, sounding exhausted. Who could blame her? She had had a long day.
“How are you holding up?” asked Rowen. “Is there still a crowd outside?”
“No,” said Rose. “I haven’t seen anyone out there for a while now, thank goodness.”
“Did you have to call the police?”
“No, Margo went out and turned a hose on them,” said Rose. “It was just a garden hose, but I guess no one likes getting wet.”
Rowen laughed. Good for Margo. That probably hadn’t earned them any sympathy, though. Of course, Rowen wasn’t sure she cared what Lainswich thought anymore.
“I think some of them might have camped out in the diner across the street,” Rose complained. “They might have just gone there to hang out and eat dinner, but we don’t really want to leave just yet. We’re afraid they’ll follow us to the car.”
“Spend the night if you have to,” Rowen said, hit with a sudden and very real pang of concern for her cousins. “An uncomfortable night in the office is better than an angry mob.”
“I don’t think they’re angry. I think they were just looking for an opportunity to harass our family.” Rose gave a sad sigh
. “But, yeah. We planned on staying the night. We’ve tried the Ouija a few more times, but we haven’t had any luck. She’s definitely gone, Rowen.”
“I know.”
“How are things on your end?”
“Uneventful,” Rowen reported sadly. “We found a good lead earlier, but I’m not getting my hopes up. I’m about to call home now though and see if they made anything of it. Give Margo my love and wish me luck.”
Rose did. Rowen hung up and called Willow’s phone next.
“Hey, Rowen,” Willow answered, with a yawn after a couple of rings.
