by Raven Snow
“Then your family will be here for you,” Tiffany assured her.
“Except Peony,” Rowen pointed out. “Liam’s got her wrapped around his finger.”
“I don’t think you’re giving Peony enough credit,” Tiffany shot back. “She’s a Greensmith girl, and we Greensmiths stick together.”
“Not like the Woodwards,” Margo muttered, still picking through the jewelry.
“No, not like the Woodwards,” Tiffany agreed, her voice a bit sad. “I feel sorry for them. They were an old family like us. Grammy never liked them much, but they seemed awfully close. I wonder what happened.”
Rowen smiled at her mother. Her words were oddly comforting. As odd as their family was, at least they stuck together. Whatever had happened at this house, it was a real tragedy.
Eventually, everyone went home. Margo caught a ride with Tiffany and Roland. Tiffany took the folder with her, saying she was going to look it over more carefully, and Rowen let her. It wasn’t like looking at it was doing her any good.
Rowen crashed on the sofa with Chester. She turned on the television and tried to relax. It wasn’t easy. She couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen if this whole thing went unsolved. What if Peony never forgave her? What if they thought Rowen or another Greensmith had taken the money from beneath the floorboards? Rowen was beginning to regret ever moving into this house.
It was a pleasant surprise when Eric got in that night. She had fallen asleep on the sofa, and she woke up to him putting a blanket over her. “Oh,” she said with a yawn, rolling onto her back and smiling up at him. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” Eric said with a smirk.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss. “I took a redeye in. I didn’t want to wake you up. I figured it would just be a surprise in the morning.”
“Well, I’m awake now.” Rowen pulled him down onto the sofa with her and settled into his arms. “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” he said. “Is everything all right? You don’t usually fall asleep watching television unless something is bothering you…Or you’re binge watching a show. One of the two.”
“There’s nothing to binge watch,” Rowen said with a sigh. “Things aren’t going well on the whole mystery front.”
“What happened?” asked Eric.
Rowen tried to think of where she should even start. “I don’t really want to talk about it,” she said finally. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. If I go into detail tonight, I’ll never get back to sleep.”
“Fair enough,” said Eric, not pushing the matter.
Rowen glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just past four in the morning. “I wonder if Peony got in yet.”
“Was she coming in late, too?”
“She has to be getting in soon. That marathon of hers starts the day after tomorrow.”
Eric nodded. “Is she talking to you yet?”
Rowen curled up in the blanket he had covered her with. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said again.
“All right, all right. I’m not trying to pry.” Eric stood and offered a hand down to his wife. “Come on. Let’s go to bed, then.”
She relented and started to follow him. She was at the bottom of the stairs, Chester at her heels, when she turned back to go and grab her phone from the sofa’s end table. Seeing the screen flashing a message gave her pause. Apparently, her mother had called a couple of times.
Rowen checked the times. It had been hours ago. She hadn’t left a voice message, but Rowen did have a few texts. She checked those.
I found something! I told you I would!
I guess you’re in bed.
It’s important! Call me back!
Okay. Maybe it’s not important. Idk.
Okay. I’m going to bed.
Don’t call me until it’s a reasonable hour.
Seriously. I know you. Don’t do it.
I’m turning off my phone just in case.
Rowen tried calling her mother. It hadn’t been a bluff. Tiffany’s phone went straight to voicemail. Rowen swore under her breath. She would have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what that was all about, she supposed. She headed up the stairs, trying not to get her hopes up. It wasn’t hard.
Chapter Fifteen
The first phone call Rowen got the next morning was from Willow. Rowen had woken with a start and grabbed for the phone, disappointed to find it wasn’t her mother. She had questions that desperately needed answering.
“Peony got back,” said Willow.
Rowen was interested to hear about that too. “Is she all right?” “I guess so,” Willow said not sounding like she quite believed it.
“What’s wrong?” Rowen could tell that something was up. She seriously doubted that Willow had called her just to update her on where Peony was. “Did something happen?”
“She’s just acting weird,” said Willow. “She doesn’t want to go into work today. I think that she’s still mad at you for that stuff you said about Liam. I’m pretty sure the only reason she doesn’t want to go back into work is because you’re going to be there too.”
“Well, she can’t avoid me forever,” said Rowen. “She’s going to have to go back to work sometime.”
Willow made an uncertain sort of noise in her throat. “Technically, she can. When she talked to me, she was talking about quitting.”
“Quitting?” Rowen repeated, genuinely surprised. “Are you serious? You can’t be serious.”
“I’m serious,” said Willow. “Or she was. She sounded like she was, anyway.”
“She loved that job.” Rowen had always thought that she loved that job anyway. “Fine. Tell her I’m skipping work today.”
“Okay, I’ll tell her that.” Willow sounded relieved. The relief didn’t last long. “Wait. The marathon is tomorrow. We need you to help with our big stories about that.”
“Tell Peony to work on them,” said Rowen, still only really feeling sorry for Rose in this scenario. “She likes Liam so much she should enjoy finishing up that interview piece we did with him.” Rowen hung up before Willow could complain. She glanced at the clock. It was nine in the morning. Would her mother be awake yet? Maybe. She liked rising with the sun a lot of mornings so probably.
Rowen left the room so Eric could get some more sleep. Chester followed her as she went downstairs and dialed her mother.
“There you are!” Tiffany answered on the second ring. “I was going to call you myself at nine-thirty. I know that’s when you set your alarm on work days.”
“Sorry,” said Rowen. “I guess I crashed pretty quick after you guys left. I tried calling you back.”
“I knew you would. That’s why I turned off my phone. I know this is important, but I need my beauty sleep.”
Rowen rolled her eyes. “What did you find out?” she asked. Tiffany had hyped this up a bit too much, so Rowen was already bracing herself for disappointment.
“You remember my doctor friend, right?” asked Tiffany. “Caitlin?”
“Sure,” said Rowen, her interest suddenly piqued.
“Well, I called her up last night,” Tiffany continued. “I asked her out for dinner. She was busy, though—what with being a doctor and all. So, anyway, I told her I would come to her.”
Rowen cringed. She could only imagine how thrilled Caitlin had been with that. “And?”
“And we’d been meaning to catch up. She kept putting it off, but then I had that stuff of yours I wanted her to take a look at. So, I thought there was no time like the present,” said Tiffany.
“What did you find out, Mom?” Rowen urged.
“She said the Woodwards had a difficult medical history,” Tiffany started. “They both had similar conditions. Something about the materials they used in those businesses they started back in the day. Anyway, it seems that Mr. Woodward’s health was declining faster than Mrs. Woodward’s. They received a lot of in-home medical care—hence the record-keeping.”
“And?” Rowen prompted when her mother paused as if for effect.
“And Caitlin says there are some odd gaps in it,” said Tiffany. “Plus, the records just stop, like, a year or two before they moved.”
“Maybe they hadn’t had a chance to put them up in the attic,” suggested Rowen. That seemed like a reasonable explanation to her.
“That’s what I thought at first too,” Tiffany replied, sounding a little too pleased with herself as she continued to explain. “But there were gaps earlier. The record keeping was very meticulous, so it seems odd that there would be any gaps at all. Unless, someone was trying to hide something.”
Rowen was silent for a moment. “Why?” she asked, already considering that question for herself. Maybe she had been right. Maybe someone had come in and taken the evidence that incriminated them.
“Well, you said they weren’t dead, right?” said Tiffany. “What if the person who was caring for them at their home sabotaged their health?”
“Both of them at the same time?” asked Rowen. “That would be suspicious.”
“Not if their family was in on it too,” Tiffany countered.
Rowen fell silent. The pieces were falling into place. “Oh, man. That’s really sad.”
Tiffany sounded a bit disappointed. “Well, yes, but you’re supposed to be happy I figured it out.”
“I can’t. I’m too busy being sad.” She headed upstairs to throw on some clothes. From the look of it, she had a full schedule ahead of her today.
“Do you need any more help?” Tiffany asked.
“Yes, but it’s some very specific help I’ll have to get from other people.” Rowen was already reviewing in her head who she needed to get involved. “I need the papers back, but that’s about it. You’ve been a huge help, though. Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. You should have involved me in this from the beginning.”
“I guess so,” Rowen agreed, smiling to herself. Her mom was a pain, but she did love her. Rowen wasn’t sure the Woodwards could say the same. She said her goodbyes and filled Eric in.
Eric was still half-asleep as she explained, but he did his best to follow. “So, what’s the plan?” he asked.
“First, I have to go get those papers,” she replied. She had been giving this some thought. “Then I need to go see Ben.”
“And then?” He was already getting out of bed, ready to tag along and offer any support he could.
“And then, I don’t know.” Rowen had some ideas, but it was too soon to say for sure. “I guess I’ll see what Ben says.” She motioned for Eric to hold up on getting ready. “I’ll call you if I need you, but I think I’ve got this.”
Eric looked surprised to hear that. “Are you sure?”
Rowen nodded. “You should go talk to your brother about what’s going on with your parents.”
“It can wait,” said Eric. “This seems more pressing.”
Rowen shook her head and said pressing matters had her thinking an awful lot about family lately. “No, this thing with your brother is important too. You should go talk to him. Seriously, I’ll call you if I need you. I promise.”
He relented. He went to Rowen and gave her a kiss. “You better,” he said. “Don’t go getting into any trouble.”
She scoffed at that. “Do I ever?”
The police station was bustling. There hadn’t been a sudden surge of crime. Everyone was just getting ready for the marathon fundraising. Just about everyone was manning phones, and the whole place smelled oddly of barbecue.
Ben was on the phone when Rowen stepped into his office. He looked surprised to see Rowen and held up a finger. She took a seat in front of his desk while he finished up on the phone. There were about a dozen scented candles burning in his office.
“This is a surprise,” he said once he’d hung up.
“And this seems like a fire hazard,” she said, pointing out all the candles near loose documents and folders piled about.
“Then the fire department can do their jobs for once,” Ben said, glaring at the phone. “They’re supposed to supply half of the food for the cookout tomorrow, and they’re not even close. I don’t even like barbecue. I’m a vegetarian.”
“Seriously?” Rowen shook her head. There were more pressing matters. “So, I think I figured out my evil shed problem.”
“Evil shed problem?” Ben repeated, raising an eyebrow.
Rowen slid the papers across to him. She filled him in on everything in detail. There was a lot to go over, but Ben sat and listened with patience asking only the occasional question.
“So?” Rowen prompted, once she had said everything she needed to say. “What do you think?”
“I think this’ll take a little while to look into,” said Ben, picking up the papers and flipping through them.
“But you’ll look into it?” asked Rowen.
Ben nodded. “It’ll take a little time to coordinate something in Florida. We’ll need to check in on the Woodwards.”
“How soon can you do that?” asked Rowen.
“It probably won’t be until after the marathon. These things take time.”
“That’s too much time,” Rowen insisted. “That Liam creep is dating Peony.”
Ben frowned at that. “We might not be able to prove anything based just on this. It depends on how well they covered their tracks.”
“But−” she began.
“Sorry. I’m going to look into it, but I’m just trying to be honest with you here. There’s not a ton to go on.”
“But Peony−”
“Is a smart kid,” interrupted Ben, finishing that thought for her. “She’ll come around. Just hold tight. I’m going to try to help with this one, okay?”
Rowen nodded and stood to leave. She was getting the impression that, maybe, Ben didn’t still quite believe her which was beyond disappointing.
Ben seemed to sense that she was upset. “I’m sorry, Rowen. I’ll try.”
She nodded again. That was all she could expect from Ben. He had a lot on his plate these days. He couldn’t follow one of her crazy leads just because they were friends. “I know,” she told him. “I appreciate it.”
Rowen left the station, not feeling like she had made nearly as much progress as she had expected to. She knew where she had to go next. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move, but she felt like it was something that needed to be done for Peony’s sake.
Rowen headed to the building where Liam worked. With the marathon tomorrow, he would almost certainly be at his office today. Rowen headed in, resolute. She needed to confront him. Danny had been scared off. Maybe the same could happen with Liam. If he ran away, maybe that would incriminate him. The more time he spent with Peony, the more of a chance there was that all of this was going to devastate her emotionally. Best to try and put an end to it now. What was the worst that could happen?
Maybe Rowen should have involved Eric after all. She had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t thinking this all the way through. Just the same, she found Liam’s office and knocked.
“Come in,” called Liam through the door. It was too late to back out now, so she stepped inside. The office was small, little more than a closet. Liam was seated at a desk wedged in the corner. He seemed startled to see Rowen. “Well, this is a nice surprise.” He motioned her in.
Rowen squeezed in past a filing cabinet. “Did you have a nice trip with my cousin?”
Liam raised an eyebrow at that. Her tone had been a bit harsh. “Yes, we did, actually.” He hesitated, as if mulling over something for a second. “I know it was forward of me to invite her. I’m sorry about that. I really care about your cousin.”
“Let’s cut the crap,” she said, unable to stand there and make small talk. She knew she was right. All the pieces had fallen together for her. They fit together too perfectly for her to feel uncertain. “I know what you did to your parents.”
Liam stared at her like she’d just grown an extra head. “I’m sorry?�
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“Well, not you,” said Rowen. “I think it was Samantha Brown. She’s a nurse practitioner, right? I think she was seeing your parents at their home. I think the two of you were working together.”
Liam continued to stare, saying nothing. It was difficult to read his expression.
“You took the money from the attic,” she continued. “You funneled it through something or another and paid your brother off to keep him quiet. You sold the house and, I don’t know, once your parents finally kicked it, maybe you were going to say I found the money. You seem to be really good at fooling people.”
Liam looked shaken. Rowen was good at reading people, and she could read Liam loud and clear now that she had said the bulk of what she came to say. She felt a wave of vindication. She had been right—or, at least, close enough to right that Liam was scared.
“I don’t know what happened in that shed,” said Rowen. “But I don’t think it matters. I have the police looking into this as we speak. As soon as they have enough evidence, you’re in some serious hot water. So, stay away from Peony. Do you understand me?”
Liam’s expression shifted, and he seemed to relax a bit. Rowen realized she had made a mistake. She had shown too much of her hand. Now, Liam knew she didn’t have any solid proof. If he had covered his tracks as well as she was afraid he had, he had nothing to fear. “I’d like it if you left,” he said.
“I’m serious. Stay away from Peony.”
“Get out,” Liam said again, firmly this time. “This is a government building. If I have to call security, this is going to get ugly.”
Reluctantly, Rowen left. By the time she had gotten back to her car, she wasn’t quite sure whether she had made things better or worse. Rowen headed for the Lainswich Inquirer office next. Unfortunately, Peony spotted her before she had even made it through the front door.
Rose and Willow were both in the office already. They looked up at Rowen from their desks, looking uncertain. “I think I heard her lock herself in the storage closet,” Rose offered.
“Thanks.” Rowen headed to the storage closet. It was, indeed, locked. Why in the world did they have a storage closet you could lock from the inside? “Peony? Can I come in?”
