Old Flames (Lainswich Witches Book 9)

by Raven Snow

  Flint slowed to a walk, finally coming to stand in front of her. “She’s not really involved with the work we’re doing. Basically, we’re going over documents and she’s looking in on us occasionally. I think she just likes having us handy.”

  “So she just wanted me gone. How sweet of her.” Rowen didn’t really mind. She had remembered what Seraphina was like before she came here.

  “Consider yourself lucky.” Flint rolled his eyes as if to say he was sick of working for her. “Anyway, I’m out here on a smoke break.”

  “You smoke?”

  “Nope. You got a minute? Let’s sit and talk.”

  “Sure.” Rowen couldn’t resist. She wanted to hear what he’d been up to. She followed him back across the lawn and around the house. There were some benches around back that formed a semi-circle around an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Flint picked the nearest white stone bench and Rowen sat down beside him.

  “Sorry I didn’t keep in touch.”

  Rowen shrugged. “I’m sure we’re both to blame for that. I knew where you were for a while there. I didn’t exactly pick up the phone and give you a call.”

  “Things were awkward between us,” Flint conceded.

  “So, I guess you got that law degree.”

  “Graduated with honors and everything.” Flint grinned, like he really was proud of that. “I have my own practice.”

  “That is impressive!”

  Flint’s expression suddenly turned a bit sheepish. “Not all that impressive. My parents more or less paid for it. They didn’t want me spending too much time away from home. You know how they are.”

  “A lot like my family from what I remember.” Rowen knew how that could be. “Still, if Seraphina is calling you in like this from…” She trailed off, not sure where it was Flint was staying now.

  “Well, I was all set up in the city, but our family just recently moved back to Tarricville so that’s where I am these days. But, yeah, I guess I do all right.”

  “Tarricville?” That was right next to Lainswich. “You should have looked me up before now!”

  Flint winced. “It was a recent change, I promise. Besides, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to try and look you up. I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me again. Running into you here, I just couldn’t help myself.”

  Rowen gave Flint a punch in the arm. “Of course I wanted to see you again.”

  “What have you been up to?”

  “Oh, geez. Plenty.” Rowen thought back on the stretch of time since she had last seen Flint, trying to think of just the highlights. “Let’s see. I moved out of Lainswich not long after you did. I moved to the city and worked for this trashy little news blog. A murder called me back here, and I met my…” Rowen hesitated to actually say the word. Given her past relationship with Flint, it made her uncomfortable. “My husband,” she amended, noting the way Flint raised his eyebrows and sat up a little straighter. “After that, I decided to move back into the Greensmith house. Not that I’m living there anymore. My husband and I have our own place now.”

  “Wow,” breathed Flint. “Congratulations.” It was difficult to tell if he meant it or if he was putting on a front.

  “Yeah, thanks. He runs a private detective agency. I help him out with that. I try to divide my time between that and working on the Lainswich Inquirer.”

  Flint nodded. “I’d heard about the paper. It sounds like you’re doing really well for yourself. I’m happy for you.”

  “Likewise. Sounds like you’ve really accomplished a lot.”

  Flint smiled and opened his mouth as if to reply before the French doors out to the pool opened and two men stepped out. Rowen recognized them as the other lawyers from inside. Given the way they were fishing cases and lighters from their pockets, it looked like they had come out here for an actual cigarette break. The taller of the two paused in taking a cigarette from its case when he noticed Rowen. “Oh,” he said to Flint. “Sorry, didn’t realize you just came out here to socialize.”

  The portly lawyer snorted. “How could you not? Have you ever seen that kid smoke?”

  “It’s fine.” Flint waved a hand like their presence was no big deal. “I know I need to head back in soon anyway.” He looked back at Rowen. “We can always catch up later, right?”

  “Obviously.” Rowen looked back at the two lawyers, sensing that they still had their eyes on her. “Nice to, ah, meet you,” she ventured, because it seemed like something she was supposed to say.

  The tall lawyer raised his eyebrows like he hadn’t expected an actual greeting. “Likewise,” he said, not sounding like he actually meant it and was just being polite.

  “This is Smith.” Flint indicated the tall man. “And Cox.” He motioned to the portly man. “We’ve been working together for a few weeks now.”

  Cox nodded, heaving a big, exasperated sigh. “It feels like longer than that.”

  Smith took a long drag on his cigarette. “It feels like she just keeps bringing more lawyers on.”

  “Well, she wants to make sure she wins this thing, right?” Rowen got the impression that they didn’t realize she was a reporter. That wasn’t to say she was going to write anything about this. She just found it amusing.

  “Open and shut case,” said Cox. “Not sure we really need this many people handling things, but if she’s willing to pay for it, I’m not going to argue with her.”

  “There’s quite a bit of paperwork that needs doing,” Smith said in Seraphina’s defense.

  Cox pursed his lips, like that wasn’t enough to change his mind on the matter. “I feel like I could delegate a lot of that to people who work for me, back at my office. There’s no need for all of this.”

  “It’s what she wants, and there’s no harm in it.” Flint spoke firmly, like he wasn’t going to have them arguing about it any longer. The money must be really good.

  Rowen was trying to think of an excuse to have Flint step aside with her so that they could continue talking when her cellphone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the screen. It was Rose. She assumed she was just calling to check in on her. Rose had known that she was going to warn Seraphina. She probably wanted details of how that had played out. “Excuse me,” she said to the men as she stood and walked away, stopping behind some shrubbery. She answered the phone. “It went about how you’d expect.”

  Rose was silent for a moment. “What?” she asked, finally.

  “The meeting with Seraphina. It went about how you would expect it would.”

  “Oh.” Rose sounded like she had somehow entirely forgotten about all of that. “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah, and you’ll never believe who I ran into.”

  “Can you leave?” It was like Rose hadn’t even heard her fully. “I don’t feel comfortable telling you about this while you’re there.”

  Whatever this was about, it sounded big. “Okay, just give me like fifteen minutes to—”

  “There isn’t really time for that,” Rose blurted. Rowen heard her take a deep breath. “Sorry. This is just important. If you’re at all able, please get in the car and start driving back here now.”

  Rowen was terribly curious at this point. “All right. Give me a second.” Pressing the phone to her chest, Rowen went back to Flint and his coworkers. “Hey, sorry, but I need to run.” She looked to Flint with her best apologetic smile and rattled her number off at him. He had a good memory. He’d get it. “Give me a call sometime soon, okay?”

  “Absolutely.” Flint was already pulling out his phone to save the number.

  Rowen wished she had more time for goodbyes. It had been so long since she’d seen him. She’d see him again soon, she reminded herself. Also, Rose was still on the line waiting to tell her some piece of juicy gossip. Rowen got in her car and began to drive. She set her cell on speaker phone as she did so. “All right, Rose. What’s going on?”

  “Are you alone?”

  Rowen looked at Seraphina’s house shrinking in her rear
view mirror. “I’d say so. I’m driving. Why couldn’t you just tell me, by the way? What’s up?”

  “I didn’t want you to react while you were around Seraphina.”

  “I was around her lawyers, actually.”

  “Even more reason.” There was a heavy silence, like Rose was getting ready to announce something dramatic. “Mr. Hawthorne had a heart attack. He’s in the hospital, the one near the station.”

  “What?” Rowen had to steady her hand on the steering wheel. That was some big news. She was suddenly glad Rose had told her to leave before she told her. There was no way she would have been able to keep her reaction neutral. Tipping Seraphina or her lawyers off about the news would have been…controversial. “Is he all right?”

  “He just had a heart attack,” Rose repeated, implicitly indicating that, no, he wasn’t all right. “I don’t know many of the details, which is why I want someone down at the hospital. You’re my best bet for going down there and getting the full story.”

  “We’re making a story out of this?”

  “I think it’ll be all right. Julia is the one who tipped me off about all of it. I think she wants the story out there to drum up some sympathy for her boss.”

  “I’m not sure that sympathy is going to help him a whole lot in a divorce case. Besides, is this what he wants?”

  “Julia would know better than I would and, either way, it’s news.”

  “Fair enough.” Rowen glanced at the clock on her dash. “It’ll take me another twenty minutes or so to get there. There’ll be traffic at this time of day. Why don’t you meet me there?”

  “I’ve got to hold down things here.” Rose answered almost before Rowen could complete her question. “There’s articles to proofread and a space for a new headline to prep and—”

  “You have Margo, Willow and Peony there, right? They can do all that. I bet they’re just sitting outside your office now, slacking off. Come on. Give them the work and come with me. You said we need our best. You’re our best.”

  There was silence on the other end, like Rose was deciding whether to be flattered or annoyed. She went with a practical mix of both. “You don’t get to choose what I do, you know. You might have run this place once, but you don’t anymore. That said. I, uh, I guess I haven’t gotten out in the field much lately, have I?”

  “Nope.” Rowen really wanted Rose to get herself back out there. Not so long ago, Rose had been a very sweet, very shy person. The newspaper job had really helped to coax her out of her shell. Unfortunately, once Rowen had put her in charge, Rose sort of shrank back down into a different kind of shell. She hid behind a desk which was a complete and total waste.

  Rose was good. Her journalistic ethics, the way she got answers, it was all good and it was all impressive. “This is a big story,” Rowen added, when it seemed like Rose was still on the fence. “I need at least two pairs of eyes on this, don’t I? And I bet Julia Martinez will be there. You have the working relationship with her, not me. She likes you, so I definitely need you.”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” Rose shot back immediately. “She just…” She couldn’t seem to finish that sentence. “Fine. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Hooray!” sang Rowen, smirking since she just knew that Rose was rolling her eyes right now. “See you in twenty minutes.” She hung up the phone and focused on the road before her. A thought came to her then, one that wiped any trace of that smile from her face. What if the murder she had predicted this morning had been Mr. Hawthorne’s? What if he had already been killed and she had failed to give him any kind of warning? That warning could have saved him.

  Instead, she had put going to visit Seraphina off for the longest time, and then she’d wasted even more time sitting down to have a friendly chat with Flint. She winced and hoped more than anything that Mr. Hawthorne was all right. He wasn’t her favorite person, sure, but he was still a person. If she sensed something was about to happen, didn’t she have a moral obligation to warn the people it could happen to?

  ‘Be a little easier on yourself,’ a voice inside told her. ‘What were you going to do? Warn the whole town of Lainswich? Get on Channel 2 and broadcast your warning to everyone?’

  That made sense, but maybe it was the wrong kind of sense. With the gifts she had, was it her responsibility to do those sorts of things?

  That was a question that would have to wait until later. Right now, she had to get to the hospital. Rowen pushed the thoughts of guilt into the back of her mind and focused instead on driving.

  Chapter Four

  The hospital wasn’t very crowded. The Stonewell Memorial Hospital wasn’t anyone’s first choice when it came to getting medical help. It was used for emergencies and not much else. If Hawthorne came to, Rowen was sure he would want to be taken somewhere more reputable. Geez, Rowen hoped he made it. She wasn’t sure she could handle the guilt if he didn’t. It was one thing to tell yourself something wasn’t your fault. It was another thing entirely to believe it.

  “This way,” said Rose, snapping Rowen from her thoughts. She led her down a series of dreary white hallways to a waiting room. It looked to be a more private waiting room than the one in the ER. There was a sign over the door that read, ‘No Phones Past This Point.’ Rowen and Rose both paused to switch off their own phones and headed inside to find Julia Martinez busily texting away.

  There was no one else in the waiting room. Football was playing on the television, but Julia wasn’t paying any mind to it. “We’re here.” Rose finally spoke up, sounding uncertain. Julia had been Hawthorne’s mistress. Well, she’d been one of them at any rate. It was hard to tell how she actually felt about him. Had she been doing it just to get ahead in the business or had it been love? Maybe both. Maybe Julia had been with Hawthorne for the sake of her career and then gotten attached to him. The way her eyes were red-rimmed and her makeup was a little streaked gave Rowen the impression that might be the case.

  Julia looked at the Greensmith girls before her for a moment then finally gave a nod. She reached down for her big, briefcase-sized bag of what looked to be work type stuff. She flipped through the paper with shaky hands, finally cursing.

  “Hey.” Rose closed the distance between herself and Julia. “What are you looking for? Some kind of legal document? We’re not going to spread what’s going on like it’s gossip. We tell the truth, but we’re not going to put anything out there that’s the kind of personal stuff Mr. Hawthorne would rather keep quiet. These last few months we’ve worked together, I’d like to think you would know that by now.”

  Julia stared at Rose with narrowed eyes. “All right,” she said slowly. “But if you leak anything inappropriate, our business relationship is over.”

  “Fair enough.” Rose frowned a bit at being doubted, but she wasn’t the sort to say anything about it. Besides, given Julia’s personality, this was probably about the best even her best friend could have expected. Not that Rose was her best friend. Rowen took a moment to think about the people she knew in Julia’s life. Maybe Rose was her best friend. That would be an interesting development.

  “So, what’s going on?” asked Rose.

  Julia looked to the double doors that led off into the hospital. A hand flew to her mouth, her fingers hovering anxiously over her lips. “I’m not entirely sure,” she admitted. That looked like it frightened her. Julia was so used to having a handle on everything that things didn’t shake her. She was a professional. She took a deep breath and suddenly looked a bit more like her usual self. Her expression relaxed. “He came in the office between ten and eleven today. I was busy. I saw him pass by in the hallway and he just kept going. Normally, he looks in on me and says hello or something. Today he just marched right on by. After a moment, I got up and went to his office. I poked my head in to say hi and found him on the floor, collapsed.”

  “So, he didn’t even make it to his chair?” Rowen asked.

  “It seems he was going to his safe. The door to it was open, and he was st
retched out in front of it.”

  “What was in the safe?” It was the next question that came to Rowen’s mind. It probably wasn’t entirely appropriate, but she was used to being candid with Julia.

  “I don’t know.” She glared at Rowen like she had just asked her something terribly offensive.

  “Any word on how he’s doing now?” Rose asked quickly, likely in an attempt to defuse the situation.

  It worked. Julia sank back down into her chair. “It’s hard to say. I’ve heard very little. Obviously, I’m not his emergency contact. I’m not sure who is. I haven’t seen anyone else in here. Granted, I did have to leave for a while to speak with Channel 2 about what just happened. I get terrible reception in here. Almost none of my texts are going through even now.”

  “Is Channel 2 doing a story on what happened?” asked Rose.

  Julia gave a small shrug. “I told them to go ahead and do that sappy thing where we mention he’s in the hospital and that our thoughts and prayers are with him. You know, that sort of thing. I feel odd about doing a story on it. It feels inappropriate.”

  “That’s why you wanted us here.”

  Julia nodded. “You’re the only other news source I trust with this.”

  “We’re the only other news source who would even report on this,” Rowen said flatly. Julia was talking like she held them in high regard, like she hadn’t flat out terrorized the Greensmith family until recently.

  Rose stepped in before Julia could respond. “We’ll do a tasteful story on this, of course.”

  Julia’s attention was drawn back to Rose. “I’m sure you will, and I appreciate that. I have already recorded a statement. You should be able to glean a story from that.”

  “And what’s your motive here?” asked Rowen. She didn’t mean it judgmentally. It was common sense. Obviously, Julia had a motive.

  “Well, I want the story out there.” At least it didn’t sound like she was offended. “I want to drum up some sympathy if that has any chance of helping his case. Darren always agreed that attempting to sway public opinion of him even a little bit was a prudent idea. I know he would agree about this.”