by Raven Snow
“I’ll be there in a few,” she said, barely listening to Aunt Lydia as she explained what was going on.
The gist of it seemed to be that demand had outpaced their supply. They had a big shipment coming in today and were short on people to unpack it. Apparently, Tiffany had stayed out all night with a gentleman caller again.
Rowen threw on some clothes and headed out. She considered trying to call Peony again, but she supposed that could wait. Peony wasn’t going to let go of a grudge because she called her at eight in the morning after a redeye flight.
The shop was looking good. It was just opening up as Rowen got there. Aunt Lydia was signing for a sizable hand truck worth of packages. She smiled when she saw Rowen coming through the door. “Oh, Rowen! Thank you so much for coming! I can always depend on you.”
“Glad to help.” Rowen went ahead and took one of the boxes to start unpacking. It was heavy, probably candles. Those were selling very well. For all her grumbling, Rowen really didn’t mind helping her family. She was glad their little shop was doing so well. It kept them occupied and brought in some extra income. Even if it meant she was woken up by annoying calls every now and again, it still seemed worth it.
“I called your cousins just in case you didn’t show,” said Aunt Lydia.
Rowen rolled her eyes at that. “I thought you could always depend on me?”
“I can depend on most of you,” Aunt Lydia said with a shrug. “And I know you have that paper of yours to run. If all of you helped this morning, I figured you could get back to your office faster.”
“How thoughtful,” Rowen muttered, pulling candles from the box. “Well, I have a feeling that Peony isn’t going to show up.”
“She and Willow were both gone this morning,” Aunt Lydia complained. “I left them both messages.” She shook her head in faint disapproval. “All you kids growing up, wandering off and not telling me anything about it. It’s just terrible.”
“Willow wasn’t there either?” Rowen was surprised to hear that. “Did she say where she was going?”
“She left with her sister,” said Aunt Lydia. “It was awfully late. I didn’t ask too many questions. I think your Aunt Nadine was in a bad mood.”
That explained why Aunt Nadine wasn’t here. She had probably liked Peony running off with a relative stranger less than Rowen had, and she didn’t even know all the facts. Rowen imagined she would be beside herself with worry if she did. It was probably best not to tell her until all of it was sorted out. “Where do you think Willow is?” asked Rowen. She didn’t like that two of her cousins were missing.
Aunt Lydia looked relatively unconcerned. She took a box for herself and began to unpack it. “At that Tina girl’s home, if I had to guess. They like to have sleepovers there all the time.”
Rowen wasn’t sure it counted as a sleepover when you were an adult. It seemed more like just crashing with a friend. Either way, that sounded likely to Rowen.
As it turned out, Aunt Lydia was right. Willow showed up about half an hour later with Tina tagging along. Both looked tired. “Don’t you have a job?” Rowen asked Tina when they entered.
“Yes,” said Tina, raising an eyebrow at Rowen. “I’m getting to it. I just thought I’d swing by with my friend here and lend a hand. Is that a crime?”
Rowen was surprised that she was so on the defensive. She looked Tina up and down, trying to figure out what might be wrong. She and Willow both looked a bit disheveled, like they had slept in the clothes they were currently wearing.
“Not at all,” said Aunt Lydia, coming forward and offering her a box. “The more, the merrier. I appreciate the help.” She went into the back with a box cutter after that, likely to unload some of the surplus on shelves in the storage room. As soon as she had gone, Tina dropped the box on the floor and went to Rowen.
“We screwed up,” Tina said, keeping her voice low.
“Tina,” Willow hissed. If she had come here to tell Rowen something, this clearly wasn’t how she had planned on it. “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s not a huge problem, it’s just−”
“It’s a pretty huge problem,” said Tina.
“Calm down,” said Rowen. She glanced to the back, making sure Aunt Lydia wasn’t going to come barging in on their conversation. She could hear her humming in the storage room. Chances were good that she would be preoccupied for a few minutes at least. Rowen motioned her cousin and Tina over. “What did you do?” she asked, speaking firmly.
Tina and Willow came in closer. They both exchanged guilty looks and both seemed to be waiting for the other to explain.
“Well?” prompted Rowen, when no response was forthcoming.
“At first, we were happy for Peony,” said Willow.
Tina nodded. “Yeah, I mean, how could we not be? She’s been pining after this guy for, like, forever now.”
“They haven’t known each other for more than a couple of weeks,” Rowen pointed out, rolling her eyes. “Less than that, even.”
“Well, she deserves a nice guy in her life,” Willow snapped. She dialed back her anger a bit and sighed. “And we thought Liam was it.”
“Thought?” Rowen repeated, suddenly worried. “Why ‘thought?’ Did something happen?”
Willow shook her head quickly. “No. I mean, not that we know of.”
“It’s just what you said,” said Tina. “About him maybe being, like, a murderer or something? We’ve been thinking about that and about how maybe Peony running off with him all suddenly like that was sort of weird.”
“And dangerous,” added Willow.
“Right,” said Tina with a nod. “That too.”
Rowen looked from one girl to the other. They were right, but it seemed a little late on the uptake. It also didn’t match with what they had said earlier. “And how is this your fault?” she asked.
Willow took a step back. She clasped her hands together, looking uneasy. “Who said anything about it being our fault?” she asked.
“Tina did,” Rowen said flatly. “Just a little while ago.”
Tina looked at the floor sheepishly. “It was earlier this week,” she said.
“Tina!” snapped Willow, glaring at her friend.
Tina bit at her bottom lip, but Rowen gave her arm a nudge. “Go on, Tina,” she said.
Tina looked at Willow who was staring down at her feet. “Okay,” Tina began. “So, this was back when we were all still trying the whole running thing, right? We hadn’t totally given up yet. We were still tagging along sometimes. Peony wanted us to come along because she was spending time with Liam, and he was making her nervous, you know?”
Rowen could tell that she was stalling. “Get to the point,” she said.
“I am,” snapped Tina. “Anyway, you remember when we were talking about love potions?”
Rowen stared. “You didn’t,” she said. Somehow, Willow managed to look even more determinedly down at her own feet. It sounded like she had every reason to. She was the one who had to have made it after all.
If there had been any doubt, Tina went ahead and confirmed it. “Willow made it that night. I thought it was a bad idea.”
“She didn’t,” Willow interjected quickly.
“I don’t care who thought what,” Rowen interjected, putting a stop to any bickering before it began. “Just tell me what happened.”
“It started off as a joke,” Willow said, continuing in Tina’s stead. “Well, not a joke really, but we were just messing around. It’s not like I had ever made a successful love spell. You know those things don’t really work.”
“That depends on who you ask,” said Rowen. She knew it was something they had always been told not to mess with regardless.
“We told Peony to give it to Liam,” said Tina.
“We dared her to,” corrected Willow. “We were joking, but…I don’t know. It got a little out of hand.”
“How so?” asked Rowen.
“Well, we met Liam and Peony at the end of a run earlier t
his week,” said Willow with a resigned sigh. “I had the love potion in a water bottle. It’s what I made it in, so Peony knew what it was. I offered it to Liam, and she got cold feet about the whole thing, I guess.”
“She took it from him,” Tina explained. “She drank it instead…Which was kinda awkward at the time, honestly. I mean, she just snatched that drink right out of his hand.”
“It probably didn’t work,” said Willow. “I mean, again, these love potion things never work. I should know. I tried them more than once back in high school.”
“But now we’re afraid it did,” added Tina. “I mean she was really mad at you. I’ve never seen Peony that mad at someone. That isn’t like her.”
Willow had to nod at that. “It really isn’t like her to just run off with a guy either. Yeah, I was happy for her, but the more I think about it, the more it just seems wrong.”
“He’s not a murderer, right?” asked Tina.
“I don’t know,” snapped Rowen. “That’s what I was trying to figure out.” Her family never seemed to listen to her. Rowen wasn’t sure why she even bothered. “Either way, he’s probably not going to murder her within the next couple of days. As far as I know, he’s not a serial killer.” Rowen knew she was saying these things like she hadn’t just been panicking over it the night before.
Willow and Tina exchanged uncertain looks. It was obvious they still felt guilty but wanted to believe what Rowen was saying. “We’re sorry,” said Willow finally.
Rowen couldn’t do much with apologies. Besides, it wasn’t her they should be apologizing to. “If you’re really sorry, do me a favor and try to get in touch with Peony. Obviously, she’s not answering my calls right now. Keep in touch with her. Make sure everything is okay.”
Willow nodded. “Yeah, sure,” she said.
“And start unpacking this stuff,” Rowen added, shoving a box in her direction. She pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?” asked Willow, looking uneasy.
“Not calling Peony, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said. “I’m making plans for later.” If Rowen wanted to solve this thing fast, she needed to do some investigating.
Chapter Twelve
Rowen did Eric the courtesy of calling him before she wandered off to poke her nose into things she shouldn’t be poking her nose into. He must have known he couldn’t stop her. The only thing he insisted on was that she take someone along. He suggested his brother, but Rowen had no intention of bringing David. He had been shoving copies of his new book on everyone. Rowen still hadn’t read hers and didn’t feel like being quizzed on it.
As a sort of compromise, Rowen opted to take Margo along instead. Margo was up for it, of course. Going out to investigate meant she didn’t have to sit around at the office and work. Shirking actual work seemed to be just about her favorite thing to do.
“You’re so lucky,” Margo said as soon as she had climbed into the passenger seat. She had skipped out on helping at the store. Instead, Rowen had met her at the office.
When Margo didn’t expand on her statement, Rowen sighed. “Why am I so lucky?” she asked as she drove. She knew Margo was just getting ready to complain.
“Eric is off on business, right?” asked Margo. She didn’t wait for an answer. “I wish I had some time alone sometimes.”
“Time alone from David?” asked Rowen. Margo still lived in the Greensmith family house. She wasn’t sure how she could expect any genuine alone time there.
“He’s so needy,” Margo complained. “It’s because he doesn’t have a real job, I think.”
“I thought his book stuff was going well,” said Rowen. She wasn’t really surprised to hear any of this. Everyone knew that Margo and David were constantly getting together and breaking up again. Margo grew bored faster than any person Rowen knew. She just hoped Margo didn’t tank her relationship with David over something as silly as him being a little annoying over a new book.
“It’s going fine,” said Margo dismissively, like she didn’t really care to discuss the subject.
“And how’s his new book going?” Rowen asked, mostly just to tease her cousin.
Margo groaned. “Annoying right now,” she said. “He’s not making any progress with it. Lately, he’s mostly just complaining about his brother.”
Rowen was surprised to hear that. She knew Eric and David teased each other sometimes, but they always seemed to be on good terms. “Oh?” she asked.
“He thinks something is going on.” Margo rolled her eyes. “I keep telling him he’s being silly. Eric goes out of town all the time. It doesn’t mean there’s something weird going on.”
“Oh,” said Rowen. She wished she hadn’t asked now. She couldn’t exactly tell her about the recent news she had gotten from Eric.
“Why?” Margo gave Rowen a critical look up and down. “Is there something going on?” If she hadn’t thought there was before, it sounded like now she had her doubts.
Rowen stared determinedly at the road. Margo kept right on watching her, though. Really, that was all it took. Rowen was horrible at keeping secrets from her own family. They always knew when she was hiding something. “If I tell you, you have to keep it to yourself,” she said.
“Well, now you have to tell me,” said Margo, beginning to look concerned.
Rowen hadn’t gotten a promise not to say anything out of her, but she supposed she could trust Margo. She had always been good at keeping secrets when it was important to the family. She might be a gossip, but family business stayed family business. Hopefully, David wasn’t quite at that level yet and she didn’t feel obligated to tell him. “David and Eric’s parents are retiring.”
“Retiring?” Margo repeated. Her forehead creased as she took a moment to consider what she was being told and why it was big news. “Wait, so who gets the business?” Her expression fell. “Oh, no. It’s Eric, isn’t it?”
“Well, David did sort of drop out of the family business,” Rowen pointed out. “I think the plan was that they split it, initially, but now it seems like his parents just want Eric to take care of things.”
Margo sank back in her seat with a groan. “Poor David.”
“Poor David?” Rowen couldn’t help but give a snort at that. She wasn’t sure it was within her power to feel sorry for David, even if he wasn’t inheriting the family business. Regardless of what happened next, he still lived an exceptionally privileged life.
“It’s not about the money,” said Margo. “I mean, it wouldn’t be for me, anyway. I’d be more hurt that my family went over my head like that.”
Rowen had to give it to her there. It didn’t sound great when she put it like that. “Eric hasn’t agreed to anything yet,” Rowen assured her. “He didn’t seem to think it sounded quite right either. He wants to talk to David about it before he agrees to anything.”
Margo gave a sigh. “Well, there’s that at least. That’ll probably help.”
“Which is why I don’t want you to say anything,” Rowen added. “Please. It’ll be better coming from his brother.”
Margo hesitated but nodded. “Fine,” she said. She had a great poker face. If she meant to keep something from someone, she could. She looked out the window. “Where are we going anyway?”
Rowen had to laugh at that. It was like Margo to agree to do something that meant getting out of work before she even knew what it was. “We’re going to see the woman who sold me the house,” she said. “She has an office downtown.”
“That woman you said was so bad at her job?” asked Margo. “Why?”
“It’s a long story.” Luckily, they had about a fifteen-minute drive ahead of them, so she used that to catch Margo up on what was going on. She spared no details. Whether it made her sound like she was onto something or absolutely insane, she would let Margo decide. She ended up losing her when she got to the part about Peony.
“What?” Margo looked like she was ready to make Rowen pull the car over. “Are you serious right now
? Why aren’t we hopping on a flight to Florida right this second?”
“She’s coming home soon,” Rowen assured her. She had told Margo the same thing she had told Willow and Tina; it was the same thing Eric had told her. Worst case scenario, Liam wasn’t a serial killer or anything. Peony would be fine.
“I’m going to kill her when she does get home,” Margo grumbled, mostly to herself.
So, Peony would be all right until she got home and Margo killed her. “The best thing we can do right now is find evidence that something is actually going on.”
“Or we can turn this car around and go find Willow and Tina. I’m going to kill them too.” Margo still looked ready to make her pull the car over if she wouldn’t cooperate.
“We’ll deal with them later,” Rowen assured her. She was fairly certain that Margo had dabbled with love potions plenty of times in the past and had absolutely no room to talk on this front. She didn’t point that out though. “Look, this is the place here. Let’s go ahead and get it out of the way.”
Margo relented. She frowned at the strip mall in front of them. “This is her office?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. It was rather unimpressive and looked more than a little shady. Rowen hadn’t thought much of it the first time she had come here.
“Several people work out of it,” she explained, parking the car out front.
“Did you really need backup for this?” Margo asked as they exited the car together. “Did Eric really think a lazy realtor was going to attack you?””
“You can never really judge a person,” said Rowen, leading the way inside.
The office was cramped with a sleepy-looking receptionist at the front desk. She was a young woman with frizzy black hair. There was a box fan on a table adjacent to her desk. She was sitting in its breeze, her head propped on her hand.
“Excuse me,” said Rowen.
The receptionist jumped, her eyes snapping open. “Yes?” she said.
