Murder Before Marriage

by Raven Snow

  “No,” Rowen said immediately. “I’ll call him myself. Then I’ll call you back about the job.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure. Hang on. I’ll call you right back.” Rowen hung up the phone and pulled up her father’s number. She noticed the odd look Rose was giving her while she dialed. “I’ll talk to you in your office.”

  Rose raised an eyebrow again but nodded. She picked up her mug and headed for her office in the back. Rowen heard her door close a few seconds later.

  The phone rang… and rang… and rang. Rowen tried dialing the number three times but had no luck with it. She got Desmond’s voicemail every single time. She finally left a message, but she didn’t like that. She didn’t like not being able to track down her mother. It wasn’t promising that Desmond wasn’t answering his phone. He might have been the last person to have seen her. She needed answers from him.

  Sure, Rowen found her mother annoying. That didn’t mean she wanted anything to happen to Tiffany. She loved her, in her own way. Tiffany loved her, after all. Maybe she had never been the best mother, but there was still love there.

  Rowen tried to push all that concern to the back of her mind as she headed toward Rose’s office. Tiffany was probably fine. Why was it that she was worrying now? Months or even years could go by without Rowen seeing or hearing from her mother. She was her own person, a free spirit. Not even family could tie her down. It was silly to worry now. She tried to ignore the part where she sometimes worried about things because of a gut feeling, some instinctive uneasiness that told her everything was not, in fact, all right. She didn’t want to think about that just then.

  Rowen gave the office door a light tap before opening it. Rose glanced up from her computer screen. “Come in, why don’t you?” she said with a roll of her eyes. She rocked back in her ergonomic desk chair.

  “You’re looking pretty today,” said Rowen, going to sit in one of the straight-backed, uncomfortable chairs in front of her desk.

  “I’m not Margo, you know,” Rose pointed out. “You don’t have to flatter me. It doesn’t make it any more likely for me to do you favors.”

  “It’s not flattery,” Rowen said quickly. “Well, it is, but it doesn’t have any ulterior motive. You really do look pretty.”

  Rose was wearing a sleeveless black dress. Her shiny black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. She looked fashionable. “Thanks. Ben and I are having a date night… I hope.”

  “You hope?”

  “As long as neither of us are busy. As long as nothing comes up.”

  “Ah.” Rowen understood. They were both busy people. Rose ran the paper and Ben was the Lainswich Chief of Police. By all accounts, the both of them liked their jobs. Still, they could use more time together. They were two of the hardest working people Rowen knew. They deserved some romantic alone time. “Maybe I can help make sure that happens.”

  “And how would you do that?”

  “I was thinking we could use some more help around here.”

  “Really?” Rose didn’t look quite so convinced of that. “Maybe when it’s a busy news week. Today is pretty slow.”

  “So, we could hire someone to be on call just in case. That could be useful, right? We would have an extra hand. They could help out when I can’t, when I’m busy helping Eric or the police or… you know.”

  “This is about your sister, isn’t it?”

  “She’s really lonely. She doesn’t know many people in town, and I’d like to kind of wean her off our dad. I’m hoping she’ll stay behind when he leaves.” Rowen hadn’t confided that secret hope with anyone yet. She wasn’t even sure she had completely admitted what she wanted to herself until just now. “She doesn’t have to come in every day, and we don’t have to pay her a ton. Heck, I’ll take a pay cut if it means we can bring her on.”

  Rose held up a hand as if to try and silence her cousin. “It’s okay,” she said quickly. “You don’t have to take a pay cut. If you want to hire her on, that’s your right. You’re the one who started this place.”

  “That was Eric, actually.”

  “Yeah, well, he started it up for you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the real boss here. Do what you think is right, Rowen. Seriously. I don’t mind. Not about something like this anyway.”

  Rowen wasn’t sure how she felt about that, about the idea that Rose still considered her the de facto boss of the place. “Are you sure?” she asked, even though she was reluctant to. “You haven’t really met Coreen yet, have you? We could go out for lunch today. You could make a decision then.”

  “I’ll trust you to make the decision.” Rose’s eyes went back to her computer screen. “If you think she’d do well here, I’m sure she will.”

  “I don’t know that she will. Like I said, I just… I want her to feel like she has family in Lainswich besides Desmond.”

  “She does,” Rose said simply. She leaned back again, giving up on whatever it was she was doing on the computer for a second time. “I get it, Rowen. It’s still fine. That doesn’t change anything. Peony and Willow can be pretty lousy at their jobs. I don’t fire them over it. Coreen can be a whole lot worse than them. I think it’s nice that you want her to get to know us. If you think she’s a good person, I’m sure she is.”

  “Thanks, Rose,” Rowen said, meaning it. “I really appreciate this. When can she start, do you think?”

  “Well, we’ll need to show her around the place. She’ll need to shadow someone, get a feel for how we do things around here.”

  “So, today?”

  “If she wants… I mean, I guess that would be all right. It’s probably best not to wait until we are slammed with work. Of course—” Rose stopped talking when Rowen stood, phone in hand. “You already told her she had the job, didn’t you?”

  “I told her I would ask.” Rowen waved her phone at Rose. “I’ll go give her a call now.”

  “I’d hate to know how that phone call might have gone if I’d said no.” Rose seemed to be saying this last part mostly to herself.

  Rowen walked from the room, dialing the phone as she went. Again, Coreen was quick to answer. “Well?” she said. It was hard to tell whether she was waiting for an update on her employment or their father.

  Rowen opened with the good news. “You’ve got the job,” she announced, keeping her tone jovial. “Feel like starting today?”

  “As long as you’re not expecting too much from me. I really don’t know the first thing about journalism.”

  “Sure you do. You’ve read a magazine before, haven’t you?”

  “I guess.”

  “Then you know something!” Rowen stopped in the kitchen for what little privacy it afforded her. “Don’t worry. No one will expect anything from you at first. We don’t technically need you either.”

  “Oh, well, that’s reassuring,” Coreen said, her sarcasm impossible to miss.

  “I don’t mean it like that! I just mean that you’re going to be backup for when we’re shorthanded. You didn’t want a full-time job anyway, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Well, this isn’t a full-time job. You should be happy. We do need to get you up to speed on how things work around here, though.”

  “Thanks, Rowen.” It sounded like she meant that. “Do you want me to head down there now?”

  Rowen hesitated. “I… Well… I was actually going to swing by the hotel first.”

  “The one Desmond and his fiancé are staying at?”

  “There’s only one hotel in Lainswich.”

  “Is he not answering the phone?”

  “Nope.” Rowen hated that she was as worried as she was. Everything was probably fine, she told herself. Not that her instincts were agreeing with her. Her instincts were insisting something was amiss. “I’m going to check in myself, I guess. I can’t think of anything else to do.”

  Coreen was silent for several long seconds. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “You don’t have
to.”

  “That’s part of why you’re calling though, isn’t it?” asked Coreen. “You wanted to see if I would go with you.”

  “That’s not—”

  “It’s fine. I’ll meet you there. You’re not allowed inside anyway.”

  “Not technically, no.” Rowen had been barred from the hotel when she had rushed there in the middle of the night to noisily rescue Eric from a ghost. He hadn’t been her husband then. He hadn’t even been her boyfriend. That had made things a little more awkward. “But sometimes I can sneak my way on in there anyway.”

  “I’ll go. That sounds a lot easier for everyone involved.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  “You’d better,” said Coreen, though her tone was jovial like she was only teasing. “It’s the least I can do. You just scored me a job, didn’t you?”

  Chapter Four

  Lainswich’s only hotel wasn’t anything special. It was located downtown, not far from the newspaper, so Rowen had to wait for Coreen to show up. The place didn’t have a parking lot, so she was forced to park on the street. Not that the hotel really needed a parking lot. Lainswich seldom saw tourists. Once there had been a supposed alien sighting that drummed up tourism, but that had petered out after a few weeks, something Rowen was thankful for. Lainswich just wasn’t built for tourists.

  Coreen’s car pulled up beside Rowen’s and shut off its engine. “Hope you weren’t waiting long,” said Coreen as she popped her door open and stepped out onto the pavement.

  “Nope,” Rowen assured her. It was true. She hadn’t had to wait more than ten minutes. “Thanks for getting here so quickly. I hope you didn’t break any laws to do it.”

  Coreen shrugged. “I was already dressed for the day.” She motioned to her ensemble, a smart but stylish pantsuit. It was a shade of red that complemented her dark hair. The belt at the waist showed off her willowy frame. “I didn’t break sixty.”

  “The speed limit is thirty-five through here.”

  “The fact remains… I didn’t break sixty.”

  Rowen shot her half-sister what she hoped was a meaningful look. “You have to be careful around here. You’re related to me and people around here don’t much like me. They don’t like Greensmiths. We’re not going to ask Ben to risk his job and—”

  “Relax. I’m kidding.” It was difficult to tell if she really was or if she just wanted Rowen to stop lecturing her. She reached out and gave Rowen a squeeze on the shoulder that settled the matter. “I’ve been on my best behavior and I will continue to do so until further notice. Now, do you want me to go in there and get our dad or not?”

  “I’m actually more concerned about my mother.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” Coreen offered her a smile before disappearing into the building.

  There wasn’t much to see through the windows of the hotel. She couldn’t see the front desk from where she stood next to her own car. She didn’t risk walking onto the sidewalk to get a better look. If the grumpy old couple that ran the place was working, she didn’t want them glimpsing her through the window and deciding not to help Coreen. For all Rowen’s warnings that Coreen needed to be careful given her relation to the Greensmiths, she was still very much an unknown entity in Lainswich. She probably wouldn’t be immediately distrusted.

  It took a few minutes for Coreen to reappear at the door. Following her was a woman, but it wasn’t Tiffany. Rowen saw Gaby following Coreen out onto the sidewalk. It didn’t look like she had prepared herself for the day ahead of them all just yet. Her bleached blond hair was down in neat waves, but around her body she clutched a fur-trimmed robe. It was gauzy and pink and she held it shut with one hand. The other hand was holding a cigarette.

  Rowen walked up onto the sidewalk and offered Gaby a smile. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” Gaby echoed with a tired smile of her own. She released her robe long enough to remove a lighter from its pocket. Beneath the robe she was wearing a silky nightgown. “Sorry. I’m not much of a morning person. I have to have a cigarette before I’m myself. They don’t have any rooms that permit smoking here, if you can believe that. I tried doing it near an open window yesterday, but that got me a lecture from the staff. A maid must have smelled the smoke when she was cleaning the room. This town is cute and all, but I am just about ready to leave.”

  “Is Desmond coming down?” Rowen asked, looking from Gaby to Coreen.

  Gaby exhaled smoke, angling it above their heads. Rowen made an effort not to cough. Smoking had never been her vice. She’d smoked before but never developed a liking for it. “Desmond never came back last night,” said Gaby, her lips tightening into a line.

  “He never came back?” Rowen repeated, trying to process that. “I thought you were all going back to the hotel together.”

  “We were,” Gaby said with a nod. “But then Desmond and Tiffany wanted a chance to talk. Who am I to deny them that? I’m not Desmond’s keeper. If he wants to talk to his ex, that’s his business. I can’t say I’m thrilled about it, but it is what it is. I suppose they lost track of the time. At least, that’s what I hope happened. I’m not going to involve the police yet. I’ll give it a few more hours before I start worrying.”

  “So they headed out together last night?” Rowen asked, making sure she was understanding correctly.

  “I was invited but opted not to go. I called him this morning, but he isn’t answering his phone.” Gaby shook her head. “I’ll be giving him a piece of my mind when he shows up. I’ll give you a call once I have. I hope you’ll do the same if you see your mother.”

  “Yeah…” Rowen trailed off distracted. “I mean, yes. Yes, of course I will. Are you all right here by yourself?” She asked that last part because it felt like the right thing to ask.

  “I’ll have to be, won’t I?” Gaby took another long drag on her cigarette. “I’ll watch some television and see if I can’t get a bit of work done. It won’t do me any good to sit around and worry.”

  Logically, Rowen knew that it wouldn’t do her any good either. That didn’t help a whole lot, though. It didn’t keep her from worrying. “I don’t suppose they said where it was they were going?”

  Gaby raised her shoulders in a vague, disinterested gesture. “If they did, I wasn’t paying attention. It was somewhere they went when they were younger. I think I heard them say something like that.”

  “You don’t remember where, though?”

  “If I did, I would tell you.” Gaby arched an eyebrow at Rowen, like she was getting annoyed with her. “I’m not thrilled about this either, you know.”

  “Did the divorce papers get signed?” asked Coreen.

  Gaby inclined her head like she was hesitant to even respond to that question. “Some of them did,” she said after a moment.

  “Some of them?” Coreen repeated.

  Gaby had been taking another drag. She released the smoke in a loud sigh, rolling her eyes at the same time. It was hard to tell if she was annoyed with the line of questioning or the signing of the divorce papers. It might have been a little of both. “I was checking them this morning, and she missed a few.” Another drag. “I don’t really blame anyone for it. There’s a lot to sign off on and initial and what not. You know how paperwork can be.”

  Rowen didn’t, actually. She had never been divorced before. She nodded anyway. “I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose.”

  “I didn’t say she did.” Gaby turned a frown on Rowen.

  “I was just saying.” Rowen spoke quickly, wishing she could take her words back. “My mother has seen a lot of men since Desmond. She even came back here claiming she had remarried once. I’m sure she’s not dragging all this out on purpose. I’m sure she can tell how eager Desmond is to marry again.”

  Gaby nodded. “She seems like a smart woman, a nice woman. I don’t have anything against her.”

  Rowen glanced at Coreen. She bit at some dead skin on her bottom lip. Without Desmond around, she felt obligated to
try and warn Gaby a second time. “Look, I know you don’t want to hear it, but—”

  “You’re right.” Gaby interrupted Rowen. “I don’t want to hear you warn me away from your father again. I’m assuming that’s what you were getting to.” Gaby tapped ash onto the sidewalk. She turned a tight-lipped smile to Rowen. “I care about your father, and he cares about me. I know how you must feel, but this marriage is going to happen.”

  Rowen fought the urge to argue. There was anger tightening around her heart, but she pushed that down. Gaby wasn’t going to listen to the truth, not if she didn’t want to. “I hope you’re going to at least make him sign a pre-nup. You have a good lawyer, right?”

  Gaby didn’t answer that question. Her eyes had instead focused somewhere behind Rowen’s head. “Well, speak of the devil.” She dropped her cigarette and ground out the half that was left with the toe of her shoe. No one dove in to throw it away this time.

  Rowen turned and saw a car pulling up next to her own. Desmond was behind the wheel. Rowen saw his eyes widen when he noticed his daughters and fiancé all gathered on the sidewalk in front of him. “Sorry,” he said, voice audible before the car door even opened. “Tiff and I lost track of the time.”

  “I figured.” Gaby’s voice was flat and her arms were folded over her chest. Desmond was going to be in for it as soon as they had a moment alone.

  “Where is she?” asked Rowen, still looking at the car. She didn’t see her mother inside.

  “I dropped her off at your aunt’s house,” said Desmond, coming up between his daughters. He patted them both on their shoulders.

  Rowen took a step away. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have that kind of relationship with her father. She didn’t like him putting his hand on her like they were familiar, like they were two people who hugged on the regular. “You were out all night.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Like I said, we lost track of the time. We fell asleep, so it’s not like we did it on purpose.”

  “You fell asleep?” Gaby raised an eyebrow. Rowen noticed that it had been filled in. She hadn’t bothered dressing for the day, but she had put on makeup already.