by Raven Snow
“We’ll step outside,” Desmond said, swooping in when she stopped talking. He must have sensed her discomfort. “Thank you. We’re sorry about causing a scene.”
“Not at all,” said the employee, all smiles now that it appeared he had defused the situation.
Desmond wasn’t quite so cheerful. He paid the bill in a hurry. As soon as they stood from the table and stepped past the employee he motioned for Rowen to lead the way with an angry hand gesture and a frown. He didn’t even look at Coreen. It was like he already knew she was the one who had put her up to this.
“That was humiliating,” said Gaby once they were all outside. “I don’t believe I want to go back inside.”
“What is so important that you couldn’t leave us to eat lunch in peace?” Desmond asked. They had gone to stand near their respective cars. He leaned against the driver’s side door of his own. His arms were crossed and an outright scowl was on his face.
“Oh, I don’t know. A man is dead. That seems important.” Rowen watched Gaby as she spoke, looking for any change in her expression. There was, perhaps, the faintest of winces.
Desmond looked to Gaby, deferring to her. This was her comment to respond to. It was unlikely that he had known Kyle.
“I don’t see what any of that has to do with me,” Gaby muttered. “Or my lunch.”
“Really?” Rowen hadn’t expected that kind of response from Gaby. She had expected some disinterest, sure. Gaby hadn’t exactly rushed down to the police station when they called and told her the news. Still, Rowen had expected something from Gaby. She wasn’t sure what, but this certainly wasn’t it. “He worked for you, didn’t he?”
Gaby nodded. “He did. It’s a shame he’s gone, but… Really, I don’t know what I’m expected to do about it.”
“Cooperate with the police?” Rowen ventured. “Extend your sympathies to the family?”
“I am cooperating with the police.” Gaby shifted the designer purse on her shoulder, like suddenly she was very aware of its weight. “And I’ll extend my sympathies to the family when the time is right. I imagine they’re busy mourning right now. It seems prudent to… leave them to that for a while.”
That wasn’t really how extending your sympathies worked, but Rowen didn’t argue with her on that front. If she didn’t want to reach out, that was her business. “How long had Kyle worked for you?”
“What?” Gaby’s brow creased as her frown deepened. “Oh, who can say? A couple of years, I suppose. Maybe three years? I have more than one assistant, you know.”
“You do?”
“Of course! I’m a busy woman.” Gaby sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to call someone else down here now.”
Rowen fought the urge to say something smart in response to that. It sounded like Kyle’s death was more of an inconvenience than a tragedy to her. “Was he a good employee?” Rowen asked instead.
Gaby’s frown softened a bit. “Oh, sure.” She raised her shoulders in a faint shrug. “He was a good kid. He was loyal. I couldn’t complain. When I asked him to do something he got it done.”
“Did you bring him here to Lainswich because he knew the area?” asked Coreen.
“Well…” Gaby inclined her head. “That was something of a happy accident. I didn’t know he was from Lainswich before I decided to come here.”
“Not so much of a happy accident with him turning up dead,” Rowen pointed at.
“Yes, well, obviously.” The frown returned. “Is there a point to all this?”
“Do you have any idea why Kyle was at the library last night?” Rowen assumed that the police had already asked Gaby as much. She wanted to hear the answer for herself.
“That’s where his sister works, isn’t it?” Gaby didn’t wait for an answer. Clearly, this was something she had already confirmed for herself. “I would think that that probably had something to do with it. He was there to see his sister.”
“And do you have any idea as to what could have killed him?”
“Of course not.” Gaby was quick to answer that particular question. “Do the police even know yet? Do you? If anyone knows, they haven’t updated me.”
“Did he have any health problems that you were aware of?” asked Rowen.
“I wouldn’t know.” Gaby handed her purse to Desmond. Without missing a beat, he dutifully opened the car door and placed it in the passenger’s seat. “If he did, he didn’t share them with me,” Gaby continued. “Our relationship was professional. His health concerns weren’t any of my business. If he had any, they didn’t have an impact on his work.”
“Do you know of any friends he had?” Rowen figured that a guy like Kyle was bound to have friends. From what little she had seen of him, he struck her as a social creature. He had also played football in Tarricville. That sort of guy was likely to be outgoing.
“We had a professional relationship,” Gaby repeated. “You know, I really don’t see how any of this is your business. These are things I should and have been sharing with the police. I don’t see why—” She stopped as though realization had just struck her. “This isn’t for that paper of yours, is it?” She stood up a little straighter. “I don’t want you quoting any of what I just told you in there. “That would be wildly inappropriate. I must say, this whole thing feels terribly duplicitous.”
“It’s not for the paper,” Rowen assured Gaby quickly. “Working for the paper isn’t my only job in Lainswich.”
“She also works with her husband as a private investigator,” Coreen explained. “She mentioned it before, didn’t she? The police hire them sometimes to help out with cases. She’s really good at it. You should do a search online next time you’re at your computer. She always gets her man… or woman. Sometimes they’re women. She has a lot of solved cases under her belt, at any rate.”
Rowen fought back a smile. She could hear a note of pride in Coreen’s voice, and it stirred up some pride of her own. Had Coreen really taken the time to research her accomplishments? That was flattering. “I do okay,” she said with false modesty. Coreen was right. She did have a good track record.
“Did the police hire you on for this case?” asked Desmond, one of his dark eyebrows raising.
“Not yet,” Rowen admitted. “Not officially anyway.”
“Then you have no reason to be grilling poor Gaby like this. She just lost an assistant. Keep that in mind.”
Gaby nodded in agreement. “He was a good one too.”
It took a concentrated effort for Rowen not to roll her eyes. “I always work alongside the police as best I can. I’m not trying to hinder an investigation. Believe you me. Someone will let me know if I start doing that. What I’m trying to do is provide assistance where I can. I’m trying to find answers. You can understand that, right? I’m sure you want the same thing.”
Gaby didn’t say anything at first. She glanced at Desmond and then at the ground. She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure what else I can tell you, honestly. He was good at his job. He did as he was told and practiced discretion when the need arose. He didn’t ask personal questions and neither did I. I wish I could tell you more. If I can think of absolutely anything, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“And what about this new assistant you’ll be calling in? Did they know him?”
Gaby nodded. “It’ll probably be Miranda coming, so yes. She knew him reasonably well. I believe she knew him better than I did at any rate. I don’t expect her in until late tonight. I’ll have her contact you tomorrow.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Rowen made a point to attempt a warm smile in Gaby’s direction. Gaby returned the smile though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was still annoyed by this little confrontation between the four of them.
“Well, if that’s all…” Gaby trailed off and made a move toward the car door.
“Actually,” Rowen began. “I have a few more questions, if that’s all right.”
“Does she have a choice?” Desmond asked with a sigh.
“Of course she does,” Rowen shot right back at him. “But I’ll keep it brief.”
“What?” asked Gaby, her hand still on the car door.
“I was wondering what you had Kyle do for you last? When did you last see him or talk to him?”
“I had him picking up some cookies.”
“Cookies?” Rowen repeated, not sure she had heard her correctly.
“Cookies,” Gaby confirmed with a nod. “There’s this little vegan bakery in Tarricville that I absolutely adore. We found it on our drive in, didn’t we?” She smiled at Desmond.
Desmond returned the smile. “They did have good cookies,” he agreed, though he sounded fairly indifferent about the matter to Rowen.
“We talked on the phone a little after lunch when I was telling him what to buy. He was supposed to call once he finished up, but he never did. I didn’t find out what had happened until today.”
“You didn’t get worried when he didn’t show or answer his phone?”
“Honestly? Not really. It was just cookies. I forgot about them.”
“And you don’t have any idea what happened to him? No clue how he died?”
“Not a clue,” said Gaby. “I hope they figure it out for the sake of his family. It can’t be healthy for them, having all these news outlets and the police speculating. Sometimes these things just happen. Sometimes perfectly healthy people just drop dead. It’s sad, but it’s a fact of life.”
“Well, typically, there’s some kind of underlying medical cause,” said Coreen.
“Yes, well, I hope they figure out whatever that was.” Gaby wasn’t going to be delayed any longer. A group of guests had just walked out of the country club and were looking in their direction. Rather than be stared at, she opened the passenger side door and climbed inside.
Desmond closed the door behind her. He frowned at his daughters. “Did you two get all the answers you needed?”
Not even close, but it would have to do for now. “We did,” said Rowen, forcing a smile. “Thanks for taking some time out for us. We really do appreciate it.”
“Next time warn me when you’re about to ambush us.” Desmond headed toward the driver’s side of the car.
“If we did that, it wouldn’t be an ambush.” Rowen couldn’t help but point that out. She smiled when Desmond shot a warning look back at her.
“He didn’t like that,” said Coreen, stating the obvious as their father’s car pulled out of its parking spot.
“I don’t really care what he likes as long as we solve this thing.”
“That’s part of your problem.”
“What do you mean?”
Coreen turned to her sister, her thumbs hooked into the shallow pockets of her skinny jeans. “You want what you want. You want something done and you set your mind to it. You charge at it like a bull. Our father needs a little more finessing than that.”
“That’s what I have you for.”
“He’s going to start distrusting me if I keep tagging along with you.” Coreen sighed and stared out at the long drive leading away from the country club. Desmond’s car was only then pulling up to the gate. “That’s assuming he doesn’t distrust me already.”
“Point taken. I’m sorry I put you in this position.”
Coreen was quick to shake her head. “It’s fine. It has to be done… We’ll just have to figure out something different in the future.”
“Hopefully, this is the last murder mystery our father will be involved with.”
“Do you really think he’s involved in this one?”
That gave Rowen reason to pause. She considered the facts. “No,” she said at last. “I don’t get the impression that he has much to do with it—if anything. I think Gaby might be involved, though.”
“How can she not be?” asked Coreen. “The dead guy worked for her.”
“Right. And that makes me think there’s something she can tell us that might help.”
“You think she hasn’t told us everything?”
“People seldom tell you everything.” In Rowen’s experience people directly involved with a murder like the one they were investigating were apt to divulge the bare minimum of information they could get by with. “What we have to figure out is whether she knows she hasn’t told us everything.”
“So, you don’t think she’s the murderer?” Coreen was just a little too eager to ask questions. For all her hesitance in coming along, she really did seem to be enjoying her role as amateur detective.
“I’m not ruling her out or anything. I just don’t see why she would kill her own employee.”
“Why would anyone murder Kyle?”
Rowen snorted at that. “I can see you never met the guy.” She led the way toward her car. “Come on. We should probably get going before an employee comes out here to get us to leave.”
“Is there a dress code for the parking lot?”
“Better we don’t stay to find out.”
Chapter Ten
Rowen was shocked when she found out the Lainswich Inquirer had been invited into the home of Tina’s parents. Peony had come into work with the news. It wasn’t long after Rowen had returned from the country club with Coreen that Peony had shown up with Willow in tow. There were dark circles under both of their eyes. It was doubtful that either of them had managed to get much sleep. Peony was likely still wound up from the events of the previous night. Willow had been shadowing her sister for nearly as long, looking out for her in a way that couldn’t have afforded her much sleep either.
“And Tina is sure we’re welcome there?” asked Rowen. It wasn’t that she thought Peony was lying. She just wanted to make sure she was hearing her correctly. It wasn’t often that they were invited into someone’s home so soon—if they were even invited at all.
“Yeah.” Peony rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she nodded. “That’s what she said anyway. They want to have some control over what gets released to the press, I think.”
“And Tina knows us personally.” Rose nodded in approval, as if that all made sense now. “It makes sense that they would come to us. They have more control over what we print than they would with Channel 2. I mean, obviously we aren’t going to publish anything that Tina disapproves of.”
That got a smile from Peony. “Thanks, guys.”
“What?” challenged Rowen. “Did you think we’d write something scandalous?”
Peony spread her hands helplessly. “I dunno. I don’t really know what to expect from anyone right now. It’s hard enough just following what’s going on from minute to minute, you know?”
“You should go home and get some sleep,” said Rose with authority. She didn’t use authority in her tone often. When she did, however, she made good use of it. It was nearly impossible to ignore. When Rose told you what to do, there was good reason to do it. “You look like you’re about ready to drop.”
Peony shook her head immediately. Not even she was going to cave to Rose this time. “No way. Tina will be there. I need to be there too. She’ll want me there.”
No one could really argue with that. No doubt Rose was thinking about Ben. Rowen knew she was thinking of Eric. It only made sense that you would want your significant other beside you at such a crucial time.
“I guess I’m going too then.” Willow sounded more resigned to the fact than insistent. Wherever her sister was going, she was going.
“No.” Again, Rose was resolute. She sounded even more insistent this time. “We don’t need two sleep deprived people at the interview.”
“But—”
“It would be disrespectful.” Rose interrupted Willow. “We’ll look out for Peony. Don’t you worry about that.”
Willow was frowning, but she didn’t raise any more objections. The idea of sleep must have been awfully tempting to her. Rowen found the idea of sleep tempting, and she hadn’t been up nearly as long as Peony or Willow.
***
The Stenson family lived in a part of Lainswich reserv
ed for the upper middle class. Rowen didn’t spend much time traveling those particular streets. She had to use her GPS to find the particular three-story, white Victorian they lived in.
There were a few cars already parked out front but not so many that Rowen was worried they might be interrupting something. She did note that they were about fifteen minutes early. “Should I drive around the block a few more times?”
“No need for that,” said Peony, her eyelids fluttering open. She had been leaning against the passenger side door. It looked like she had been about to fall asleep before Rowen spoke. “She just kinda gave me a ballpark time. I don’t think it really matters all that much if we’re a little early.”
“If you say so.” Rowen parked the car in the driveway. She did her best to keep to one side so that she wasn’t blocking anyone in.
“Is Tina here?” asked Rose from the backseat.
“Yeah. I think so. That’s her car over there.” Peony pointed to an offensively bright, purple sedan. “I think it’s just her and her parents.”
Rowen finished parking and got out of the car. Peony led the way to the front door, and she was the one to knock. It took a few tries for someone to actually come to the door.
It was the father who greeted them. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and a little soft through the middle. His blue sweater vest was wrinkled, and his eyes and nose were terribly red. “Hi there… You… You must be with the Inquirer.”
Peony was the first to nod. “Yes, Sir.”
“Sorry we’re early,” Rowen added. It felt like something that needed to be said, even if Peony insisted it wasn’t a big deal.
“That’s not a problem.” The man stepped to one side and opened the door a little wider. “I’m Ernie Stenson. I’m sure you know my daughter. She’s in the den with my wife, Kitty.”
“Thank you,” Rowen said with a smile as she stepped by him.
“You have a lovely home,” said Rose. It was the truth. The interior was as antique as the exterior. It looked like a place out of time, furnished in all sorts of expensive-looking, Victorian decor.
“Thank you,” Ernie Stenson said back to her, reflexively. It didn’t sound like his heart was really in it. He led the way to the living room. There, Kitty and Tina sat side by side on the sofa. Kitty looked a great deal like an older, pudgier version of Tina. Where Tina’s hair was dyed a deep red, Kitty’s was curly and brown. Ernie introduced Peony, Rose, and Tina as they entered the room.
