by Raven Snow
Margo let go of her father and took a step back. “Hmm? Oh, sure. He’s unloading the car.”
Rowen peered past her relatives as Eric made his way around them and down the front steps. David did indeed seem to be fiddling about with something in the trunk of his car.
Margo stepped away from her father and turned to her aunts. She looked ready for more hugs. Instead, Aunt Nadine was staring distractedly off into the distance, and Aunt Lydia had begun to cry. “What?” Margo began, trailing off as she looked at her cousins.
“You came at a bit of an awkward time,” said Rowen.
Chapter Two
The popular opinion was that Aunts Nadine and Lydia were overreacting to their girls moving out. They were adults, after all. They couldn’t have expected them to all live in that house for the foreseeable future. Aunt Nadine, at least, was a thoughtful, considerate person. She got past the shock of the announcement that very night. She didn’t like the idea of Willow moving out with some boy after only a couple of months of having known each other. She did offer to help her move, though.
Peony wasn’t quite so forgiving. She took Willow’s moving out as if it were some sort of betrayal. Rowen would never say anything about it, but she did get the sense that Peony might be a bit jealous. She had never been as lucky in love as her sister, and they had always done most everything together. Willow moving away was a big branching off point in their lives. This was a big step for both of them, and Willow was treating it rather flippantly.
Rowen doubted Peony could hold a grudge for very long. She took after her mother in that she was the sweeter of the two. Besides, this would probably be good for them. They needed to go their own separate ways and carve out their own paths in life.
Aunt Lydia, meanwhile, wasn’t holding a grudge exactly. It was more like she was moping around the house, being very dramatic. Rowen didn’t think she was trying to manipulate Rose into staying. Lydia wasn’t conniving, she just felt this sort of thing deeply. The rest of the family assured Rose that she was making the right decision here.
“Don’t worry about your mother,” Norman told her. “I’m happy for you. This is a big step in your relationship.”
Nadine agreed, though she also pointed out that Norman was the lucky one right now. His daughter had just come home. Not that anyone knew how long she would be home for.
Margo hadn’t really explained herself as far as the unexpected visit went. She had loaded all her luggage into the trailer she had lived in before setting off on her world traveling adventure. So, she and Dave were living out on the Greensmith lawn without actually telling anyone how long they planned on staying there. When pressed, Margo would only say that they had needed a break from it all. Rowen wasn’t sure what Margo had been doing that was so strenuous she needed to take a break from it but didn’t press the matter.
All of the Greensmith differences were put aside that Saturday. Rowen’s visit with Grammy was coming up. Since Margo was back in town, Eric offered to let her go instead of him. Rowen would have argued, but she doubted that he really cared. He liked Grammy, but she wasn’t his immediate family or anything. Now that Dave was unexpectedly back in town, he would probably rather catch up with him anyway. Rowen let him duck out, and asked Margo if she wanted to join her.
Margo liked to shirk responsibility, but she was no slouch when it came to supporting her family. She jumped at the chance to visit Grammy. “I was going to try and visit her soon anyway. That would be perfect.”
On Saturday, Margo met Rowen at her house. She waited downstairs with her dog, Chester, while Rowen got ready. She didn’t do anything fancy, just threw on jeans and a t-shirt. It wasn’t a fancy affair, and she knew Grammy wouldn’t care. Grammy had always been a very practical woman.
“Your house is really great,” said Margo, looking up at the stairs as Rowen came down them. She was crouched on the floor, scratching Chester behind his black floppy ears. Eric had already left for a day of goofing off with his brother.
“Yeah,” Rowen agreed, looking around the place. “We really like it here. What about you, though? You’ve been globetrotting, huh? Must be nice, seeing all those new places.”
Margo looked back down at the dog and shrugged. “They sort of start to blur together after a while, and all that traveling gets so boring. It’s nice to be home for a little while, honestly.”
“Well, we’re glad to have you.” Rowen headed for the door. “You ready to go?”
Margo nodded and followed her out to her car. She was a little over dressed for this sort of thing in a nice, fitted blouse and a flower-print skirt that looked couture. That was just Margo, though. She had always been the most fashionable of the Greensmiths.
The drive to the prison was one filled with awkward pauses and stilted conversation. Margo would ask about the Lainswich Inquirer and the detective agency. How was that going? Rowen would say it was going just fine. How was David’s work going? Fine, she would say. She opened up about some of the places she had visited at least.
“It’s all so much more exciting than Lainswich,” Margo kept saying. “You can buy so many more things there and there’s so much to see and do. You and Eric are really well off, right? You should take some time off. Travel! See the world! You won’t regret it.”
“I like it here,” Rowen said with a shrug, leaving out the part where she wasn’t quite as well off as all that anymore. After sinking money into two businesses and buying a house, Rowen and Eric weren’t exactly rolling in it. “I used to live in the city. I liked it, but I think I forgot how much I also liked Lainswich, you know? It’s nice here. Quiet. It really feels like home.”
“I’m not talking about moving to London or anything. Just do some traveling.” Margo shrugged. “But I take your point. That’s why I’m here, I guess. For all my complaining, I sorta missed this place. It’ll be nice to see Grammy again.”
Rowen nodded. “You’ll have to tell her all about the places you’ve been since you saw her last.”
“She won’t be impressed,” Margo said with a laugh. “I’m not sure anything impresses Grammy.”
Rowen couldn’t help but smile at that. “She’ll still like to hear it from you. I know she misses getting to interact with the family in person on a daily basis.”
The prison’s parking lot was crowded. It was a small place and Rowen had to park near the edge. She headed inside with Margo where a correctional officer immediately recognized her. Lainswich shared this prison with the neighboring town of Terricville, but it still wasn’t heavily populated. It had managed to dodge overcrowding simply by virtue of being located in Lainswich. Lainswich had that uncanny ability to remain in its own sort of bubble. No one outside of the place ever really took notice of it.
The correctional officer, Sarah, had Rowen and Margo sign in. After that, she led them to the visitation room where the congregation of Sunshine Valley church was setting up. The older members were dressed in their Sunday best, but there were a lot of younger people wearing jeans and t-shirts like Rowen. They had several of the folding tables pushed together and lined with food. It all smelled really good, but since none of the prisoners were here yet, they would have to wait.
Rowen approached the reverend. He was a tall, thin, stern-faced man named Byers. He stood tall in the center of the room, hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed the proceedings. “Is there anything we can do to help set up?”
Reverend Byers looked over the rim of his glasses and down the bridge of his nose at her. She never could tell if he actually liked her family or not. The Greensmiths had never really been the church-going type. Grammy had held some prejudices from her childhood, when the local church had spearheaded a movement to run the Greensmiths out of town. These days, that sort of thing obviously didn’t happen, but the aversion to attending any sort of service had rubbed off on the rest of the family. Rowen’s run-ins with this particular church had been pleasant enough. She had interviewed them for articles and promoted their
charity events. They did a lot of good work in town. Even so, Reverend Byers had always seemed to look at her with the sort of critical eye that made her fidget. Rowen didn’t really have a large enough frame of reference to know if he was like that with everyone or not.
“We’ve got everything more or less taken care of here, thank you,” Byers said at last.
Rowen nodded and led Margo away to wait at Grammy’s favorite table to meet her. They sat down next to each other. “So, what’s the drill here?” asked Margo.
“I haven’t actually been to one of these,” Rowen admitted. “Nadine, Lydia, Norman, Rose, and my mom all went before me. Next month, it’ll be Willow and Peony’s turn.” She looked around the room, counting tables. “I guess they’ll send them in like they would at any other visiting time. If there are too many of them, they’ll send them in in shifts. I’m guessing, they’ll send Grammy in with the first group since they went ahead and let us in.” Rowen noticed that there were already a few families waiting around at tables. Some of them were speaking with the Sunshine Valley congregation like they knew them. A couple of people were already loading up plates.
Margo shifted in her seat a bit, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “I don’t like this. It doesn’t feel right here.”
Rowen nodded. “That’s how it usually goes.” Almost all of their family was, at least, a touch empathic. Negative feelings did a number on them, and there certainly were a lot of those here. “Just try not to let it get to you.”
“I don’t see how Grammy puts up with this,” said Margo, shuddering. “Poor Grammy.”
“She’s strong,” Rowen assured her cousin. She wasn’t just trying to make her feel better either. She knew Grammy. Grammy was just about the strongest person she knew.
It wasn’t long before the doors opened and inmates entered. Most of them were older, very non-threatening women. They greeted their family with smiles and hugs before sitting down together. Correctional officers kept a watchful eye, but the overall mood was pretty lax. When Grammy took her sweet time hugging both of her granddaughters, they allowed it.
“Surprise!” Margo said when they separated. “I know you were looking forward to seeing your grandson-in-law, but I hope I’ll do.”
Grammy snorted, moving to sit down across from them at the table they had picked out. “As if anything surprises me. I knew you were coming for a visit.”
“Of course you did,” said Margo, smirking. It was difficult to tell whether Grammy actually meant that or not. She had a real knack for sensing when things were about to happen. More than likely, she really had known Margo was on her way.
“It’s great to see both of you.” Grammy turned to Rowen. “But send Eric my love. I don’t feel like I get to visit with that man nearly enough, and he is a Greensmith now, after all.”
Rowen nodded. “He wanted to visit with you, but we don’t know how long Margo is going to be in town. I figured we had better let her get a visit in.”
“Of course. It’s good to sit down and eat a meal with the both of you. It’s been a long time since I did any of that,” said Grammy. They all got up with the first group to go through the little buffet of sorts.
Margo was a picky eater. She passed most everything by, putting only green things on her plate. It was rather normal fare for this sort of thing. There was fried chicken and potato salad. There were peas and a green bean casserole. Rowen had never been a big fan of other people’s home cooking, but she found quite a few things to try all the same.
There was a table just for dessert. Rowen didn’t get any yet, but she took stock of what was there. It looked like chocolate cake, Jell-O, some pudding. There was something under aluminum foil. Rowen reached to pull up the corner and see what it was.
“That’s for an inmate with very particular allergies,” said an older lady with white hair pulled back in a bun. “That was made for her special.”
“Oh, sorry.” Rowen pulled her hand away with an apologetic smile and headed back to the table with her food.
“So, how are things going?” asked Grammy, digging right in. “You’re still with that David fellow, right? How are things with that?”
“Good,” Margo said immediately, pushing around the wilted salad on her plate. “No complaints there really. He’s a great guy.”
“How’s he doing with the family business?” asked Grammy. “I heard he wasn’t really passionate about it.”
“He is,” Margo said quickly in his defense.
Grammy raised her eyebrows at that. “From what I hear, he wasn’t passionate about it until he thought his own family was going to cut him out of the business. I’m not sure that counts, Dear.”
“It counts,” Margo muttered. “Anyway, he’s good at it.”
“Fair enough, fair enough.” It didn’t look like Grammy was going to press the matter. She held up her hands to show as much. “Do you know how long you’re going to be in town?”
Margo shrugged. “Long enough to unwind, I guess.”
“Like you have anything to unwind from,” Grammy muttered, rolling her eyes. “You better help out your cousins at that paper of theirs. You do some work while you’re here. Help out the family.”
“I do work. I--” Margo began, but Grammy fixed her with a stern look, and she just nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“We could use the help,” Rowen said with a nod. “Plus, you came just in time for Rose and Willow to move out. That should give you something to do.”
Margo groaned. “I obviously picked the wrong time to head back home.”
“Oh, hush.” Grammy waved a hand at Margo. “So, those two are moving out with their boyfriends, hmm? Lydia mentioned that to me over the phone.” She paused, considering the news. “Ben seems like a good fellow. I’m happy for Rose. Willow, though? Well, I suppose Willow is just doing the sort of thing I’d expect from her. Not quite sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing yet, but it should be--”
A crash cut Grammy off. Rowen looked to a table in the corner where someone had crumbled to the floor. A man sitting across from her moved from his chair to quickly kneel beside the woman. “Rhonda?” He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a little shake.
Two of the correctional officers moved forward. One dropped down beside the woman as well. The other brought her radio to her mouth, calling for someone from medical. Rowen stood as did several other people, but the correctional officer on the radio waved them all away. “Back up,” she said, firmly. “Everyone sit down. Stay right where you are.”
Everyone did as they were told, but no one stayed quiet. It wasn’t loud per se, but everyone was murmuring. “It feels like she’s dying,” Margo whispered, and Grammy nodded gravely.
“Do you know that woman?” Rowen asked her grandmother.
Again, Grammy nodded. “We sat together at lunch a few times. We talked a bit. I wouldn’t call us close, but… well, it’s hard not to know just about everyone in here.”
A couple of people rushed in wearing scrubs and carrying bags. They, too, knelt beside Rhonda. The correctional officer and man kneeling beside her were both told to back off so that they could do their jobs. Not that there was much point now. Rowen could feel it. She was sure that Grammy and Margo could feel it, too. That woman was long gone.
Chapter Three
It didn’t take long for all of the prisoners to be led back to their cells. Grammy didn’t really have time for goodbyes. “Come visit me again before you leave,” she told Margo. “I imagine I’ll be seeing you again very soon,” she said to Rowen, sighing as she indicated the body on the floor.
With the prisoners all taken off and accounted for, everyone else in the room was allowed to leave. It was all done in a very orderly fashion, though the congregation from Sunshine Valley was just about hysterical. A lot of the older members were beyond scandalized. They wanted to call their families and go home, but no one could leave yet. The police needed to be called in. Statements needed to be taken. No one actual
ly mentioned it, but there was a real chance some wrongdoing had just happened. If that was the case, then one of the people in that room was a suspect in a murder. Rowen wasn’t sure anyone else had realized that just yet. Maybe she was just used to it.
“I did not miss the murders,” Margo muttered as they all waited in the large sitting area. It was a bland room with stark white walls and a bunch of uncomfortable metal chairs.
“It’s not ideal,” Rowen agreed, wishing she had her phone right about now. She would call Rose and give her a head’s up. This was going in the paper for sure. A lot of people were complaining for their phones, which had been confiscated earlier. Rowen didn’t want to add her voice to the disquiet. Instead, she just waited.
Eventually, they all heard sirens, and everyone crowded toward the windows to see what was going on. Reverend Byers told his congregation to remain orderly and be cooperative. Mostly, they seemed to be listening, but tensions were still running high.
There was an ambulance pulling up to the curb. Its lights weren’t on. There was no hurry, after all. The person they were here for was already dead. The police cars did have their sirens on, and Rowen recognized one as Ben’s. She watched as he climbed from his car and exchanged some words with his men. Rowen was glad he was here. She had expected he would be, what with being the Chief of Police and all. Still, it was a relief to actually see him.
It took a few minutes for the police to actually get to the room. Everyone forced to wait around was starting to get vocally impatient. Finally, the door opened and Ben stepped inside, flanked by a couple of other police officers. About a dozen people started asking questions all at once, but Ben held up a hand to silence them. “I understand this is difficult for all of you. I understand you want to get home, and we’re going to help you do that. I just need –” Ben scanned the room as he spoke. He paused when his eyes landed on Rowen and Margo. He gave a sigh at the sight of them, took a deep breath, and continued. “I have a couple of officers here who are going to help me take down your information. If you saw anything you feel you should share with us, please step to one side. Otherwise, we will be taking statements from you either later in the day or tomorrow.”
