Murder Before Marriage

by Raven Snow

  “Cousin,” Rose corrected.

  “Cousin. Right.” The receptionist offered Rose a forced smile. “Hang on just a second. Let me call back and let someone know you’re here.”

  Rowen exhaled slowly and rocked back onto her heels. Had she been here alone she would had just marched on into the back herself. It wasn’t so easy with Rose there. She felt obligated to do things by the book, even if it was all a kind of formality. Ben would wave them back in a minute or two. That was assuming a different officer didn’t spot them first. A different officer might try to turn them away. If that happened, Rowen really would have to force her way into the back.

  Fortunately, it was Ben who made his way to the front first. “Come on,” he said, inclining his head toward the back.

  “What happened?” Rose asked in a hushed voice.

  “We’ll talk about it in my office.”

  Ben’s office was a small, cramped room. It was a box shape with manila folders stacked halfway to the ceiling. Every flat surface was crowded with paperwork and the like. That included the chairs.

  “Didn’t I just help you organize all this?” asked Rose, Peony momentarily forgotten as she frowned at the mess.

  “I have a system,” Ben replied, as if that excused everything.

  “Well, I’m going to rearrange your system a little bit so we can actually sit down.” Rose was already moving some of the stacks from the chairs. She got a weak objection from Ben, but that was about it.

  “What’s going on?” Rowen asked, eager to get down to the reason for their being there. She didn’t feel like sitting down. She wasn’t sure she even could, given how restless she was feeling.

  Ben helped Rose move the folders from the chairs. “Let’s all have a seat.”

  “If it’s that bad, I don’t want to.” Rowen took a step back toward the door. “Where’s Peony?”

  “She and Tina are in an interview room. Don’t worry, they’re together. They’re being recorded, but they’re not being pressured. They’re both fine in there for now.” Ben motioned to the first cleared chair. “Come on, sit down. We’ll talk about this.”

  Rowen looked to Rose. Rose nodded. Of course she would. Ben was her husband. She trusted him explicitly. Rowen looked to Eric for backup but he nodded as well. “Let’s sit down,” he said, softly. Rowen sighed but supposed she didn’t have any reason not to do as they asked. She took a seat, not that it calmed her down any. Crossing her arms over her chest, she began to bounce her right leg restlessly.

  “How much have you heard?” Ben asked once they were all seated. The question was directed at Rowen. He knew how much Rose had heard already. He had relayed the news to her himself.

  “Just that… I don’t know. Peony and Tina found a body or something. Willow didn’t know a whole lot.” That reminded Rowen that she hadn’t seen her cousin since arriving. “Where is Willow?”

  “She’s in her own room.” Ben’s eyes darted to Rose while he spoke, like he was hoping she would back up his decision if Rowen took it poorly. “She kept trying to get in and talk to her sister. We can’t have that until we’re done with questioning.”

  “So you locked her up in a room?” Rowen was starting to stand up again but Eric’s hand shot out to rest atop hers.

  “We didn’t lock her up anywhere,” Ben said quickly. “That would be illegal. She’s not under arrest, and she’s not a suspect. I just pressed upon her that it was best for everyone involved if she stayed out of things for the next hour or two.”

  “She’s not a suspect,” Rowen repeated. “Does that mean Tina and Peony are suspects? Who was even murdered?”

  Ben raised a hand, indicating he wanted them to quiet down. “I’m getting to that. I’ll tell you everything I can.”

  Rowen swallowed the saliva that was in her mouth. She squirmed in her seat and was thankful for Eric’s hand that remained on her own. She didn’t handle suspense well. She liked having answers. She needed answers, and she needed them right then.

  “The deceased is Tina’s younger brother,” Ben began.

  Rose glanced from Ben to Rowen then back again. “I didn’t realize Tina had a brother. Do we know him? I mean… did we know him?” It was a small town. It was odd that they would have never met someone related to a person so close to their personal lives.

  “Kyle,” said Rowen, assuming. She hadn’t heard of another brother. “He moved away shortly after high school. He only just got back into town recently. That’s who it is, right? Kyle?”

  Ben nodded. “Have you met him?”

  “Just once. It was yesterday, though. I guess that would… That couldn’t have been long before he died.” The idea spooked Rowen. She hadn’t liked the guy, but she hadn’t wished him dead. “What happened?”

  “We’re not sure yet. There’s going to be an autopsy. He’s down there now.” Ben went back to what she had said shortly before. “But you said you saw him yesterday. Where was that? What did he say?”

  “It was at the Inquirer.” Rowen ignored the surprised look she got from Rose as she continued, “It was about Tina. Tina stayed with me the night before last. She had been planning on staying with me for a while, at least while her brother was in town. I don’t think she likes her brother much—liked.” Rowen realized suddenly how that last bit could be taken the wrong way. “Not that I got the sense she wanted him dead! It seemed like typical dysfunctional family stuff for me.”

  “Don’t worry. This is all off the record right now. I’ll want a proper statement later, but this is just the two of us talking. And I know Tina. I’ve spent a lot of time around her this past year. I don’t believe she’s the murdering type either.” Ben motioned for Rowen to continue. “Please, go on.”

  “Well, she was staying with me because of a lie she told him and her family about flooding in her apartment. It was a stupid lie. I don’t think she really thought it through. Anyway, she asked to stay with me and Eric. I told her sure, but I don’t think Kyle bought it. He thought something was up when he visited me at the Inquirer. Not that he was on the right track or anything. He seemed to think Tina and I were seeing each other. He thought we were, you know, romantic with one another. Never mind that I have a husband… Or maybe that’s why he came right to me with that deduction of his. It seemed like he was trying to get some money out of me.”

  “You mean he was trying to blackmail you with the information?” asked Ben, a stony frown on his face.

  Rowen nodded. “That’s sure what it seemed like.” She lowered her voice. The door was closed and it was doubtful anyone in the police station cared about what she was about to say, yet she felt obligated to keep her voice down anyway. “You know Tina hasn’t told her folks about her and Peony dating yet.”

  “Peony hasn’t told your aunts or uncle either, has she?” asked Ben.

  “Because she knows Lydia wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut. As soon as Lydia knows, it’ll be all over town.” Rowen glanced to Rose. Lydia was her mother.

  “She’s not wrong,” said Rose, like Rowen’s statement even needed confirming.

  “It might get out after all this anyway.” Ben sighed after saying that. He clearly didn’t like it much either. “It’s not my intention to out her, but I suspect the nature of Tina’s relationship to Peony will be central to this case. That’s doubly true if Kyle was attempting to blackmail his sister. I’ll keep this all as close to the chest as I can, but… I can’t promise anything. You know how these things go around here.”

  Rowen did know, unfortunately. The Inquirer wouldn’t publish anything on the subject, but that didn’t mean Channel 2 would do the same. The local news would be looking for the whole story. Julia Martinez ran things there. She could be reasoned with but only to an extent. “We should get Margo down here.” Margo did their public relations work. “If anyone can figure out how best to go forward from here, it would be her.” She looked to Rose. “Have you called her yet?”

  “I haven’t called anyone.” Rose
didn’t budge. She wanted to hear what was going on as much as Rowen did. She wasn’t about to leave.

  “I’ll give her a call.” Eric slid his chair back and stood. “Just fill me in when I get back.”

  “Thanks, Dear.” Rowen reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. She knew he was worried as well, but she was thankful he also recognized the urgency in all of this. Margo had to be called before any of this got out.

  “So, what happened?” Rowen asked once the door had closed again. She had told Ben what she knew. Now she wanted some answers from him.

  “There’s only so much I can say,” Ben warned.

  “Tell me what you can say then,” Rowen snapped right back at him.

  Rose glared at Rowen and gave the leg of her chair a swift kick. “He’s only doing his job. Now, hush.”

  Cowed, Rowen shut her mouth. She waited for Ben to tell her what it was he was allowed to say. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Kyle’s body was found in a parked vehicle outside of the Lainswich public library,” Ben explained. “He arrived near closing. I have a witness that works there. He said the young man was sitting in his car when he left to go home.”

  “And he was alive then?” asked Rose.

  “Yes.”

  “Was he waiting for Tina?” asked Rowen. “Was he trying to threaten her like he threatened me?”

  “That’s the thing.” Ben plucked a pen from a plain white mug on his desk. “No one had the chance to ask, at least not according to anyone who’s come forward. Tina never spoke to her brother yesterday. He would have been in the parking lot when Peony arrived, but she didn’t recognize Kyle.”

  “She wouldn’t have,” Rowen said as a matter of fact. “She’d never met him before. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d never even seen a picture of him. It wasn’t like Tina seemed to like him much or valued his opinion.” Rowen hated speaking ill of the dead, but it was true from her observations.

  Ben had started twirling his pen between his long, thin fingers. He paused in doing so to point the end of the pen at Rowen. “Right,” he said, taking a breath like he was going to say something more on the matter. “I’ll get back to that,” he said instead. “But, no, I don’t think they recognized each other when Peony arrived at the library. Peony arrived at seven and remained another hour, until closing. It was then that they exited together and then that they say they discovered the body.”

  “They say?” Rowen wasn’t sure she liked the way Ben had chosen his words.

  “They weren’t the one who reported the crime and we don’t have anything caught on security footage. There’s a gap between the body being called in and when Tina and your cousin happened upon it.”

  “So?” Rowen challenged. “All of us in this room know that Peony isn’t a murderer.”

  “We know,” Ben assured her. “That doesn’t change anything, unfortunately. Because of how directly involved I am with this case, I’m probably going to have to pass a lot of it off to Sutton.” Sutton was, more or less, Ben’s second in command. He also was no great fan of the Greensmith family. He had come to them from Tarricville and, because of this, wasn’t as used to the idea of witchcraft as the rest of Lainswich. Despite seeing many strange things during his time spent locally, Sutton was still very much the skeptic. “He’ll be treating this like anyone else would.”

  “By which, you mean he’ll be treating Peony and Tina like potential suspects?” asked Rose, sitting a bit straighter in her chair.

  “I wouldn’t know,” Ben replied. It was no doubt technically true. “He’ll follow protocol. Regardless of what he believes, Peony and Tina will be heavily involved in the questioning process. They can’t not be.”

  “Who was the person who found the body?” asked Rowen. “Are they here too?”

  “They’ve already been sent home.”

  “Why have they been sent home? Why aren’t they locked up here being questioned?” Rowen was being unfair to Ben. She didn’t have to look at Rose to know that. It wasn’t like she was trying to be unfair. Jumping to her family’s defense was reflexive.

  “Rowen,” said Rose, her voice low and warning. Ben was family too, after all. For Rose, he was an especially important part of her family.

  “Sorry.” Rowen didn’t need more than that to prompt her to apologize.

  Ben shook his head. “It’s all right. I know this is stressful for you. It’s stressful for me too.” He sounded like he meant that, and there was really no reason he wouldn’t. He cared a great deal about the Greensmiths, about the family he had married into. “Peony and Tina, potentially, have a lot more to tell us than the person who found the body.”

  “Who was it that found the body?” asked Rowen.

  “I can’t say.” Ben gave Rowen the slightest of frowns. She knew how all of this worked. If he could share something with her, he would. Usually, he shared more than he probably should have. This time, however? This time a Greensmith was more involved than usual. He had to be careful about what he let get out, especially to the Greensmiths themselves. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to break protocol then and there. “I’m sure Peony or Tina will fill you in on what I can’t as soon as they’re able.”

  “And when will that be?” Rowen still couldn’t keep all the nastiness from her voice.

  “We’re working on it. It’s hard to put a timer on these things.”

  “What can you tell us?” asked Rose, putting things back on topic.

  The frown left Ben’s mouth, replaced by a tired smile that he aimed at his wife. He was thankful to have her there during that conversation. “The person who found the body called the police. They stayed there until police arrived. Tina and Peony were discovered on the scene. They were sitting in Tina’s car. She seemed very shaken. Peony was attempting to console her. At that point in time, an ambulance had shown up. One of the EMTs looked Tina over. It was a shock to her. She’s shaken, but she’s physically all right aside from an elevated heart rate. I should add that she’s here voluntarily. She hasn’t been accused of anything, hasn’t been formally charged with anything.”

  “Why would she be formally charged?” Rowen shook her head and posed a new question instead of waiting for that one to be answered. “Does she know she has a choice in all of this? And does she really have a choice? I mean, it would make her look guilty to just up and leave, wouldn’t it? Even if she feels like she can leave, she would be hesitant to. What would people think?”

  “I’m not sure. People are hard to predict. You should know that better than most by now.” Ben twirled the pen in his fingers. “All I can—” He fell silent as a commotion kicked up outside.

  Someone, a woman’s voice, was wailing. Rowen couldn’t make out the words exactly. There was a masculine voice alongside it, though the words from it were equally unintelligible.

  “One moment.” Ben rose from his chair and moved toward the door. He inched it open, letting some of the ruckus from outside in.

  “Where’s my daughter?” boomed a man’s voice. It took Rowen only a few seconds to connect the dots. That had to be Tina’s father. She stood, moving to stand behind Ben so that she could get a better look. “You can’t just do this! You can’t keep her from me!” The man shouting was quite large. It would be more accurate to call him sturdy rather than fat. He had the look of an old retired linebacker. His face was red, his ears the reddest of all while he raged.

  “Where is she?” asked the tearful woman at his side. That could only be Tina’s mother. She was far smaller than her husband. Petite but plump, she barely came up to his chest. Of all things, she was dressed in a silky nightgown. With her graying hair and the white material swirling around her bare ankles, she looked oddly ethereal standing in the middle of the police station.

  Ben pushed the door the rest of the way open. Rowen could see Sutton stepping out of a door himself. He was making a beeline for the noisy couple, but Ben cut him off. “Excuse me,” he said, loudly, like it was for the ben
efit of everyone who wasn’t the deceased’s parents. He raised a hand, waving his men away. The staff in the building stood down, but things remained oddly quiet. The normal hum of work only returned when Ben started conversing with Tina’s parents. Rowen could see their mouths moving. It seemed he had gotten them to calm down at least enough to use their indoor voices.

  “What are you two doing here?” asked Sutton. He had been steered away from Tina’s parents, so he had gone to Rowen and Rose instead. He was as cheerful as always, arms crossed over his chest while he wore that perpetual scowl of his.

  “Well, Peony is my cousin and Rose here is married to your boss.” Rowen motioned toward Rose as she said her name. “I don’t know if you forgot.”

  Sutton’s scowl deepened. “We don’t need any of this ending up in the paper right now.”

  “Is that what you’re worried about?” Rowen snorted. “Don’t worry, I think we all plan on keeping this out of the paper for as long as possible. What? Do you think we want to endanger a case our family is a part of?”

  “I don’t know.” Sutton’s eyes traveled over Rowen like he was really taking her in, considering her. “I never can tell with you lot. Most of the time you’re poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. You think you can solve cases better than the professionals can.”

  Rowen shrugged even though she knew it would annoy Sutton. “Sometimes we can.”

  Rose’s elbow connected with Rowen’s ribs. “We’re not trying to step on any toes,” she said quickly. “We’re just trying to look out for our cousin.”

  “By leeching as much information from Ben over there as you can manage?”

  It was Rose’s turn to be angry. “We’re here as concerned family. If it was your family, I’m sure you would do the same.”

  Sutton raised his eyebrows like that was ludicrous. “No, I wouldn’t.” It sounded like he meant that. Maybe Sutton didn’t have much in the way of a caring family. That would explain some things. Not that Rowen was going to ask him to explain any of it then and there. She wouldn’t have had a chance to.