by Raven Snow
Margo kept on staring at her phone. “It wasn’t my place to tell you.”
“Then why would you tell David not to tell us?” Rowen knew Margo was good at dodging responsibility, but she had apparently forgotten how much that annoyed her during her absence.
“Well, things have been sort of hectic. Everyone was so busy, and there’s so much going on. I didn’t want to throw a wrench into things.”
“Yeah, right. You could have told us before all of that. You could have told us before you showed up at the front door.”
“You were fighting from the second I got home!”
“Maybe you’ve just been away from home too long, but that’s sort of what we do!” Rowen hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but she found herself shouting to match Margo. It must have hurt her feelings, because her cousin suddenly turned toward the window to look at her phone. She didn’t have anything to say to that other than the silent treatment. The silence lasted all the way to the prison. So, this was sure to be one heck of a pleasant visit.
The waiting room was full of a lot more visitors than normal. Typically, there were only two or three others. A lot of days, it wasn’t surprising to find you were the only one visiting. Apparently, news that visitors were being allowed in again had spread. Rowen counted two family members coming in with them and two on their way out from a visit. She hoped they didn’t have to sit around in the waiting room. She didn’t think she could stand being forced to sit side by side with Margo much longer. She was already dreading the ride home.
“Greensmiths.” The correctional officer working the front window smiled when she saw them. “I thought I might see one of you today. Your grandmother’s been waiting.”
So at least there was that. Rowen followed a second officer down the hall into the room they met in. It was a little grim going into a room a woman had recently died in, but there wasn’t anything to do about it. The prison was a small one and didn’t really have another room they could use for these purposes. Rowen and Margo were, however, searched more thoroughly than ever before they were allowed inside. The room had a couple of families sitting in it and visiting already. Grammy was seated at their usual table in back.
Rowen and Margo both walked to the table. They didn’t sit yet, instead awaiting their customary hugs. Instead, Grammy just stared at them. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re fighting,” she said, disapprovingly. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“We’re not fighting,” Margo said quickly. Grammy just raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t the sort of person you could hide the truth from. Not that Margo was. It seemed like she was just trying to downplay it.
“It’s just a minor disagreement,” said Rowen, backing her up.
“You two have to talk to each other,” said Grammy, motioning for them to sit down. “Communicate with one another or you’ll regret it. Greensmiths need to stick together.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rowen and Margo said in unison. Though, Rowen was still more than a little annoyed with her cousin and imagined Margo felt much the same.
Grammy didn’t press the issue or demand an explanation. “So, what’s going on with this murder business?” she asked instead. “What are things like on your end?”
“Well, she was definitely poisoned,” Rowen answered, not sure how much Grammy had heard in here. “It was something in tinfoil on the dessert table. They haven’t said what it was exactly that poisoned her, but they think it was someone on the outside.”
“On the outside?” Grammy repeated. “Meaning it was someone not inside the prison? They’re sure of that?”
Rowen shrugged. “Not really, I guess. It’s the theory they’re working with right now. They think it might have been someone from the church.”
“Hmm.” Grammy sat up a little straighter, folding her hands on the table. “I suppose I could see that.”
“Why?” asked Rowen, getting the sense that Grammy had her own ideas.
Grammy leaned forward and lowered her voice so that only her granddaughters could hear her. “You know I get a certain sense about things.”
Rowen nodded. “That’s why we’re here, actually. We were wondering – well, I was wondering if you could point us in the right direction. Margo just came for a nice visit.”
“Yeah,” said Margo. “After our last one got cut short and all.”
Grammy reached across the table and gave Margo’s hand a squeeze. “It’s so nice having you back in town, Dear,” she told her with a smile. She looked at Rowen next, lowering her voice back to a whisper. “And I’m getting one of those feelings of mine from that woman over there.”
Margo looked. Rowen tried to be a bit more discreet when Grammy pointed out the lady sitting in the corner opposite them. She was there with a man and a couple of teenagers. The lady was middle aged with frizzy red hair and a paunchy frame. She looked like a grouchy mom. Rowen looked away from her and back to Grammy before she could accidentally make eye contact with her or something. “Who’s that?”
“Jessica Landis. I don’t know her that well. She hasn’t been here for all that long… well, maybe a month or two. Time just flies in here, you know?”
“What about her?” asked Rowen. “Do you think she’s the murderer?”
“I don’t know,” Grammy admitted, an odd set of words to hear from her in that particular order. “But I get the sense that she was involved.”
“Okay, but in what capacity?” Rowen couldn’t help but cast another glance back at Jessica Landis. She certainly looked unassuming enough. “And what is she in here for?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I’ve asked around, but no one can tell me. They can be tight-lipped about that sort of thing at times.” There was no missing the annoyance in Grammy’s tone. She was more like her daughters than she let on. She had a real hunger for gossip. Probably more so now that she had an abundance of free time behind bars. “I just feel pulled towards her when I think back on the murder. You two know how I feel.”
“I guess.” Margo seemed to be growing bored with all this vague talk about murder suspects, or not suspects, or whatever Jessica was, if anything.
“I know what you mean.” Rowen had always respected the way her grandmother felt out those invisible connections that tied everything together. She found herself relying on them more and more as years went on. If she ever became half as good at it as Grammy, she would consider that a personal victory of monumental proportions. “Are you sure you don’t know what she had to do with all of this? You’re usually way more specific.” It had to be said.
Grammy frowned at her granddaughter. “I’m just off my game. Happens to the best of us.”
“It’s really gross in here,” said Margo with a shudder. “All these negative emotions. I couldn’t put up with it.”
Rowen elbowed her cousin, but she had a point. “I wish you didn’t have to stay here.” It probably didn’t need to be said but, she couldn’t help it. It was on her mind constantly.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ve put up with worse. This place isn’t so bad.” Grammy’s expression softened. “But I do miss being able to see my family any time I wanted. I miss that a lot.”
The ride home was nearly as awkward as the ride there. They were halfway home before Margo spoke up. “I’m sorry,” she blurted, so suddenly Rowen almost didn’t realize she had said anything at all.
“Huh?” Rowen glanced over to find Margo staring at her. When their eyes met, her cousin looked away.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered again. “For not saying anything to you sooner. I should have. I guess… I guess I was just embarrassed. You have such a good life with Eric. You’re doing so well for yourself. I thought it seemed like I had the same thing going for me, and I didn’t want to, you know, break the illusion or anything.”
Without meaning to, Rowen laughed. This earned her a glare from her cousin. She scrambled to issue an apology of her own. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I’m not laughing at you. Well, I mean
, I’m sort of laughing at you.”
“I noticed.”
“No, I mean, that’s just nonsense. You’re doing really well for yourself.”
That seemed to thaw Margo’s mood a bit, though she didn’t seem convinced. “Yeah right. How do you figure that?”
“You’ve already traveled the world!” Rowen had certainly never done that. Sure, she had lived in a city outside of Lainswich, but it wasn’t like she had ever left the country. “That’s a big deal. There aren’t many people who ever do that.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like I did it on my own.”
“What do you mean?”
Margo turned to look out the window. “I didn’t earn it. It’s not like I paid for the trip. It’s not like I was doing anything in all those different countries. I was just following David around. I don’t want to be the kind of girl who relies on a guy to get ahead in life. I don’t want to just use people up.”
Rowen didn’t always approve of Margo’s life choices, but she was willing to give her a little more credit than that. “I don’t think you’re just using David up. He obviously likes you a lot, and I assume you like him.”
Margo nodded.
“And there’s no shame in taking the advantages handed to you.”
“There’s a little shame.”
“Willow doesn’t seem to think so.”
Margo snorted. “Willow doesn’t think twice about most of the things she does. We’re lucky if she thinks once. Besides, if she was out there looking for a sugar daddy, Benji wouldn’t be it.”
Rowen couldn’t argue with her there. “So, what? Is the problem that David is too rich? Sounds like he might be out a family business soon. Maybe that will take care of itself.”
“Too soon.” Margo shot her a dirty look. “But no. I don’t think so, anyway. I guess the main problem is that I want to earn my own way. Like, if everything were to fall apart tomorrow, I’d like to be able to fend for myself. A lot of the people David was meeting with treated me like I was just arm candy. They’d ask what I did for a living and their eyes would just sort of glaze over when I tried to explain that I worked at a family newspaper, but right now I was traveling with David, and- Well, you get the idea. They had every reason to be bored by me. I haven’t really… done much. Does that make sense? I don’t feel like that made sense.”
“It makes sense.” Rowen was still smiling. She couldn’t help it. “It sounds like you’re growing some primitive form of work ethic.”
“Shut up.”
“Proto-work ethic.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Rowen reached out and ruffled Margo’s hair, which really annoyed her. She spent time on that carefully hairsprayed bob. “You’re always welcome back at the paper, you know.”
“I know,” Margo grumbled, batting her cousin’s hand away. “Though, I’m not sure how much you actually need me there. Seems like you’re getting along just fine without me.”
“Now you’re just complaining for the sake of complaining.” Rowen focused on the road, but her thoughts didn’t stray far from what Margo had said. She wanted to help her. She wasn’t sure how, but she wanted to.
First, she should probably focus a little more of her attention on this whole murder thing. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.
Chapter Seven
After reporting her findings back to Ben, Rowen headed to the Lainswich Inquirer office. She insisted on bringing Margo along with her. Margo had wanted to go back home, but she reminded her of what they had talked about in the car. “You said you wanted to start working harder, didn’t you?”
“That didn’t mean I wanted to start now!” In the end, she went anyway. Mostly because Rowen drove directly to the office and wouldn’t turn the car around despite her protests.
Rose and Willow were both there. “Peony is working in my office,” Rose said very carefully, when Rowen wondered aloud where her purple-haired cousin might have gone.
Willow rolled her eyes. “She’s being a –”
“Hush.” Rose cut her off. “Hey, Margo. You here to work or visit?”
Margo lingered near the door, making a low pitched, indecisive kind of whine. “She’s here to work,” Rowen answered for her.
“Good.” Rose pushed herself back from the desk she was seated at. She was using Rowen’s desk while Peony had her office hijacked. Rowen hoped this grudge of theirs didn’t last much longer. It was already getting old. “There’s a lot to write and even more to research,” continued Rose. “Which, by the way, what happened when you went to see Grammy? I heard Ben sent you there to see if she had any advice. Did she?”
“Jessica Landis,” said Rowen.
“Who’s that?”
“Dunno, but Grammy says she’s involved.”
Rose took a moment to jot the name down. “How so?”
Rowen shrugged. “Don’t know that either.
“Great, well, did you tell Ben about her?”
Rowen nodded. “Yeah, but the name didn’t ring any bells with him either. He said he would look into it. What kind of research did you need done?”
“Interviews.” Rose was looking at her computer as she spoke, probably doing a quick search for that name. “I want an interview done with that woman you spoke to at the prison. The one you identified to Ben.”
Rowen had to think back. “Beatrice, right? Was that her name? That got out already?”
“Beatrice McCarty. After they took her in for questioning this morning, it seems like word got around. I assume she mentioned something to someone she went to church with and things didn’t stay private once it looked like there might be a lot more to it.” Rose picked up her phone. “I’ll text you her address.” She started to punch that in then looked up, wearing a suddenly sheepish expression. “Is that all right? Do you have anything else you need to do?”
“It’s fine,” Rowen assured her. She needed to check in with Eric, but she doubted he would mind. The most he would need help with at this hour was paperwork. They didn’t have any clients that needed actual investigating done right this second. An interview sounded way more interesting than paperwork.
“Good.” Rose looked relieved. “I should warn you, though. Channel 2’ll be there.”
Rowen should have guessed that it wouldn’t be all that easy. “Of course they will. I haven’t been watching the news today; did they actually get an interview with her?”
“No, they’re just camped outside her front door.”
“Any ideas as to how I’m supposed to get inside?” Rowen doubted she would be able to get anywhere near Beatrice if Channel 2 was already camped out on her front lawn.
“You could take Willow and –” Rose stopped herself. “Just Willow or Peony right now, I guess. Unless they wanna make up real quick.” Willow had started shaking her head even before Rose had finished talking.
“I’ll go,” said Margo.
Rowen looked back at her. She had almost forgotten she was even there. “Are you sure?”
“What else am I going to do?” That was a good point. “Besides, I’m good with people. Better than Willow and Peony.”
“Hey.” Willow frowned at her, but her heart wasn’t really in arguing. She was lounging back in her desk chair, looking like she very much did not want to go anywhere.
“Sure.” Rowen’s phone pinged. She picked it up and looked at the address Rose had just sent her and plugged it into her GPS. It said Beatrice lived a fifteen-minute drive away. “Well, we’ll be back after we get that interview… or after we have some kind of street brawl over turf with Channel 2. One or the other.”
“Oh!” Willow perked up suddenly. “Channel 2 is there?” She had been tuning most of their conversation out, it seemed. “Oh, I wanna go.”
Rowen rolled her eyes. Probably better that she wasn’t going after all. “I’ll tell Benji hi for you.”
Channel 2 wasn’t a huge station. They were the local news and, while they had more resources than the
Lainswich Inquirer, it wasn’t by a huge margin. There was only the one truck pulled up on the curb. Rowen recognized Benji immediately. He was standing in the street, circling the house with his bulky camera. No one else was with him. That probably meant the rest of the crew was in the van.
Rowen pulled up nearby and parked next to the curb a few yards away from him. “Fancy seeing you here,” she said as she got out.
Benji shot a nervous look back at the news truck before lowering his camera. “Hey. What are you guys doing here?”
Rowen couldn’t help but laugh at that. “We have our own paper, remember? Not as hard hitting as Channel 2, sure, but remember? Your girlfriend works for it.”
“Oh, right.” Bless his heart. Benji was a sweet guy, but he was a little dim.
“Why are you out here alone?” asked Margo, looking past him to the van.
“We’re just waiting for her to leave the house. Julia says she has to leave some time. Until then, I’m getting B roll footage. That’s mostly what I do. I get establishing shots.” Benji raised his camera again and continued doing just that. “If you’re here for an interview, good luck. Try to be quiet on your way to the door, though. I don’t think Julia would appreciate seeing you here.”
“Like she has more of a right to be here than us,” Margo grumbled, beginning her march toward the front door.
Rowen scurried along to keep up with her. “Willow says hi,” she hissed at him on her way past. Benji smiled at that like he was still a love-struck teenager and didn’t already live with her.
Fortunately, the van door didn’t slide open as they approached the entrance to the house. Maybe Julia was taking a nap in there or something. Margo knocked on Beatrice’s door. There wasn’t an answer at first, and Rowen started to get worried that Beatrice was pointedly ignoring everyone at this point. She wouldn’t blame her for it. Margo knocked again.
This time, a voice emerged from inside. “I told you I’m not doing any interviews! Now go away or I’m calling the cops!”
