Deadly Desserts and Dark Secrets (Lainswich Witches Book 8)

by Raven Snow

  There had been an uproar about traffic safety right after that. Suddenly people were all for better enforcing traffic laws and coming down harder on people who broke them. Since then, they had mostly forgotten about all of it. The whole incident had become little more than a sad memory. Now that Jessica had changed her name, it was doubtful anyone would even recognize her for what she had done. Rowen certainly hadn’t and she had taken pictures of the woman for the paper!

  There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of personal information about either family. Both the Landis and the Nielson family were more or less a mystery. Rowen remembered neither family had really wanted to come forward with a comment. It had felt way too scummy to pressure the Nielson family into saying something at the time. Even Channel 2 had given them their space. Maybe they would be more open to interviews now. Rowen wasn’t sure people ever really got over the loss of a child, but she felt obligated to try. Honestly, she was more worried about how she was going to get the Landis family to talk.

  “What are you up to?” asked Eric, entering the room with their black lab, Chester. He was dressed for bed - or undressed, rather. He was only wearing a pair of boxer briefs. Geez, he was a good-looking man. Rowen had always thought he looked a bit like a Grecian god with that chiseled physique of his. He went to the gym. She needed to start going to the gym.

  “Sorry, what?” Rowen realized he had asked her a question.

  “That busy, huh?” Eric climbed into bed beside her. Chester jumped up on the foot of the bed and made himself comfortable there. He was an old dog. Most of what he did was sleep.

  “Sorry.” Rowen closed her laptop. It was getting late, and she wanted to get an early start tomorrow. “There’s a lot to do with the paper.”

  “That murder, I take it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  Rowen wished there was. She liked working together with Eric. They made a good team. “Not right now.”

  “Anything dangerous?”

  Rowen smiled. She knew Eric worried about her poking her nose in where it didn’t belong. She’d put herself and her family in danger in the past. It was never on purpose. It was more an inevitable side effect of mystery solving. “Everything is pretty straight forward right now. You’re in more danger handing out court summons.”

  Eric groaned. “Don’t remind me. I have to hand out three of those tomorrow.” He leaned back against the pillows and heaved a sigh. That got Rowen’s attention. It was a very loaded sigh. Something was wrong. “I’ve got some bad news.”

  Rowen looked over at her husband, her heart pounding faster than usual all of a sudden. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “David and I had lunch together today. Apparently, he hasn’t been handling the business all that well. My parents are thinking about selling it.”

  In all that had happened today, Rowen had completely forgotten about all of that. “Oh, right.”

  That was obviously not the reaction Eric had expected. “Oh, right?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow at her. “Did you know about this?”

  She winced and shrugged. “I guess? Yeah? Yeah, I did.” This probably looked bad. “Margo was acting weird, and so I cornered David and made him tell me what was going on.”

  “And you didn’t mention any of this to me?”

  “He asked me not to! He wanted to tell you himself. Besides, there’s so much going on that I totally forgot about it until now.” Rowen reached out and laid a hand on her husband’s arm. “I would have told you if he hadn’t… as soon as I remembered.”

  Eric stared at her a moment longer, but he couldn’t seem to stay mad. He smiled and rolled his eyes. “As long as you would have remembered and told me eventually, I guess.”

  “How are you doing?” Rowen couldn’t believe how thoroughly all of this had slipped her mind. “Do you need to go out of town or anything?” She didn’t want him to, but she would understand if he needed to take some time off to visit his parents and deal with everything.

  “I don’t think I need to go anywhere. I’m fine… Surprisingly fine, actually.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. I thought I would be more upset about them selling the company, more upset they hadn’t run it by me yet, but I’m not. It doesn’t bother me at all, really.”

  “It doesn’t?” Rowen wouldn’t have guessed that. “That’s good, I guess.” She reached for her laptop to see if she could do a little more research before bed. She paused. She couldn’t quite buy that all this nonsense didn’t bother Eric at all. “You’re really not mad? Not even a little?”

  Eric had been reaching for the lamp and drew his hand back. “I’m mad David kept it from me for so long, I guess. I’m a little mad at your sister for egging him on to do that. The rest of it, though? I dunno. I guess I’m happy here. Things are good. I wouldn’t be upset if they stayed this way for the foreseeable future. I don’t miss my old job. I liked the business side of things, sure, but I get that here minus all the travel. I like Lainswich, and I love you. I’m happy here.”

  Rowen smiled at that. She leaned forward and gave her husband a kiss. “So, you’re just going to let them sell?”

  “I’m not going to take the business over on my own. If they decide to sell, they sell. If they decide to keep it going, I’ll help in some minor capacity. As it stands, it’s up to them.”

  “If that’s what you want. If you decide you need to visit them after all, I’m cool with that.”

  “Seriously? Leave now?” Eric reached over and got the lamp on his side of the bed. “Yeah right. Like I would miss all the excitement.”

  “I told you this all looked straight forward. I’m not sure how exciting things are going to get.”

  “Things will get exciting,” Eric assured her. “Around you, things always get exciting.”

  Things did get a bit exciting the next morning when Rowen managed to sleep through her alarm. She had told Margo she would meet her at the Greensmith house at nine. If they were going to publish the stuff about Jessica Landis today, they needed to get an early start. Eric was still asleep, so she made a point not to disturb him. He didn’t need to head into the office for a couple more hours. There was no reason to wake him up.

  She threw on something casual but presentable. She needed to make a good first impression. A green blouse and some dress pants looked like they might do the trick. Green always brought out the red in her hair. She liked to think it was her color.

  After that, she hastily applied a bit of makeup and grabbed a bagel for the road. The Greensmith house wasn’t far, at least. She got there in less than fifteen minutes. Margo had been staying in the trailer nearby, but by this hour she would almost certainly be in the house proper. Sure enough, Rowen found her eating breakfast with Aunt Lydia and her own mother.

  “So what was your favorite place?” asked Tiffany, sitting on the edge of her chair, gripping a coffee mug.

  Margo shrugged, tearing off the end of a piece of bacon and popping that into her mouth. “I don’t know.” She didn’t sound as into this conversation as Tiffany was. She sounded sleepy and annoyed, probably because Rowen was supposed to be here well before now. “Paris was nice, I guess.”

  “The City of Love,” Tiffany said, wistfully.

  Aunt Lydia took a sip of her coffee. “I thought that was Vegas?”

  Tiffany gave her sister a troubled look. “No, it is most certainly not Vegas.”

  Aunt Lydia just shrugged.

  “Hey,” Rowen called, announcing her arrival. She still had her own keys to the place, not that they kept the door locked half the time anyway. No one had heard her come in. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “It’s about time,” Margo grumbled, standing. “I’ve been waiting.”

  Rowen couldn’t imagine how early she must have woken up. Her outfit put Rowen’s to shame again. She was wearing a very sleek gray pantsuit. Her hair and makeup were immaculate. “Sorry. I slept in. My alarm didn�
�t go off.”

  “Do you want any breakfast?” asked Lydia.

  Tiffany’s face lit up at the idea of that. She patted the chair next to her. “Oh, you should absolutely stay for breakfast.”

  “I can’t. Lots to do today.”

  Tiffany’s eager expression fell. “Well, fine. You should swing by for lunch or dinner, though.”

  “If we can.” Rowen gave her aunt and mother a hug before grabbing a piece of bacon and rushing out the door.

  “I had to sit there and talk to them for ages,” Margo grumbled once they were outside.

  “You had to talk to your family over breakfast.” Rowen rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that was just traumatizing.

  “Don’t act like you don’t know how they can be. Aunt Lydia keeps complaining about how lonely she is without Rose, and your mother won’t stop drilling me with questions about my travels. It gets old.”

  “I think you’ll be okay.” Rowen didn’t mention that Margo had a point. She wouldn’t want to sit there and listen to all that complaining either. Margo probably knew all the same. Their family was great, but they could be a bit much. She got into the car and waited for Margo to do the same.

  “Where to first?” asked Margo. “It’s too early to do house calls, isn’t it?”

  “That’s why we’re not going to anyone’s house.” Rowen pulled out her phone and pulled up the GPS. “Mr. Landis is a mechanic. He owns his own garage downtown. They should be open by now.”

  “Have you talked to him yet?”

  “Not yet. I figured it would be best to just surprise him in person.” Rowen headed down the driveway and turned left, against the wishes of the GPS. Looking at the place on a map, she had a good idea of where it was without her phone’s help. “We’re going to be polite, though. I don’t want to make this guy mad. I have a feeling he’s going to be defensive.”

  “Don’t worry about me.” Margo didn’t look the least bit concerned. “You just worry about yourself. I’ve got this.”

  The garage was out of the way, tucked back behind a pawn shop and a pet store. Rowen had never taken her car to it or anything. She hadn’t even known it was here before she had looked it up. The place was small, and it didn’t look like they had many employees. Rowen bet it was a family-owned and run place. She parked in the small, mostly empty lot and headed inside with Margo.

  The little bell over the door rang. The office was a small one with bare concrete floors and a cluttered countertop. Rowen didn’t see anyone around. She did, however, see an open door that seemed to lead into the garage around back. There were loud car work type sounds coming from that, and Rowen ventured toward it.

  “Excuse me?” she called. She spotted a car to her right with a pair of legs sticking out from under it. “Excuse me!”

  Someone stepped out from around the car. It was a teenaged boy. He gave the legs beneath the car a kick. The loud sounds stopped for a moment. Another teenaged boy slid out from beneath the car. He took one look at Rowen and Margo and motioned the first boy on ahead before sliding beneath the car once more and getting back to work.

  The first boy looked a little annoyed, but he went to Rowen anyway. She moved to the other side of the counter before he came into the office. He closed the door behind himself. “Sorry about that,” he said, putting on a smile. “I didn’t hear you come in. We don’t get a whole lot of walk-ins.”

  “That’s okay,” Rowen assured him for politeness’ sake. “You’re sort of out of the way here, aren’t you?”

  The boy shrugged. “Most of our business is, like, repeat work and word of mouth. We do okay… Anyway, I’m Trevor. How can I help you?”

  “We were actually hoping to see the guy who owned this place. Tommy, right? Tommy Landis? Is he in?”

  Trevor’s smile fell. “Yeah, but I mean, I can help you. Just tell me what you need.”

  “We’re not actually customers.” Rowen earned herself an annoyed look from Margo with that one. She had probably wanted her to keep that to herself for a while longer. Coming clean now meant they might just be told to leave without seeing Tommy at all. Rowen wasn’t comfortable with that. Better to just be honest from the get go. “We’re from the Lainswich Inquirer.”

  Trevor actually frowned at that. “I thought you people were done with us.”

  “We’ve never spoken with you before.” Rowen wanted to make sure that much was known quickly. “We’re not here to harass you.”

  Margo stepped in. “We’re not here about what happened with Stephanie Nielson. That was a terrible, tragic accident, but it’s not why we’re here today.” That wasn’t entirely the truth, but Rowen didn’t contradict it. This day would be a total waste if they didn’t get to see Tommy at all.

  Trevor still seemed wary. He looked from Margo to Rowen then back again. His arms were folded over his chest. “What is it about then?”

  Rowen opened her mouth to say something, but Margo beat her to it. “It’s better we discuss that with your father.”

  “I wish you’d called ahead.”

  “Is he here?” Margo was awfully insistent, but her tone wasn’t actually mean. Even so, Rowen was fairly certain they were about to be asked to leave.”

  “He’s around back,” Trevor said, finally, looking uncertain. He obviously didn’t know how to deal with the situation. “He’s been busy all day with… I’ll, uh, I’ll go get him.” Trevor stepped out from around the counter and headed out the door they had come in through.

  “Maybe back off a little?” Rowen hissed to Margo once they were alone.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re not Channel 2. We’re not going to strong arm a story out of people.”

  “I didn’t strong arm anyone.” Margo looked offended she would say something like that. “I was perfectly civil.”

  “You were a little manipulative.”

  “I was not.”

  “You were too,” Rowen insisted. “You did the same thing with Beatrice, only this was a little worse. That was a kid.”

  “That was a teenager. Two totally different animals.” Margo seemed to deflate a bit, though she still wasn’t apologetic. “Look, if you don’t like my methods, you can leave me at home next time. But I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. You must have liked what I did with Beatrice at least a little bit. You asked me to come today.”

  Rowen had to give her that. She had asked her to come. She’d asked her to come because she seemed to get results. “Just tone it down a little,” she amended.

  “Fine,” Margo shot back, just in time for Tommy Neilson to come walking through the front door. That’s who it had to be. Rowen had seen pictures of him on what little information she had been able to dig up on this place online.

  “What do you want?” he demanded. Tommy Landis was a big man. He was bulky and bald and his hands and clothes were stained black with grease. His son stood just a few feet behind him.

  Rowen stepped forward before Margo could. She felt pretty confident about putting her best foot forward here. “Mr. Landis? Hi, I’m from the Lainswich Inquirer. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sitting down for a few quick –”

  “I don’t want to talk to any reporters.” Tommy cut her off. “And I don’t appreciate you hassling my sons either.”

  “We don’t want to cause any trouble. We just want to get the facts.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He stepped to one side of the door and pointed at it. “Please, I don’t want to have to get the cops involved here. Just get out.”

  “Have you already talked to the police once today?” Margo stepped in again. It was just as well she did. Rowen wasn’t sure she was going to be able to appeal to this man. Granted, he probably had every reason to be distrustful of her.

  Tommy didn’t say anything. His frown deepened, though. His overall expression really wasn’t that hard to read.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Margo made sure to offer him a sy
mpathetic smile as she spoke. She really was good with people. Rowen supposed she got that from her dad. He had always been quite the charmer. “That means it’s only a matter of time before Channel 2 gets wind of this. Those are the ones you need to watch out for. I imagine you remember them from before. It doesn’t seem like you remember us. That’s because we didn’t terrorize you.”

  Tommy folded his arms over his chest. He didn’t tell them to get out again, so that was a good sign. He didn’t look totally convinced either, unfortunately.

  Margo kept going. “We’re just trying to come out ahead of this. We’re on your side here. Someone tried to kill your wife, and that is not all right. She’s doing time for what happened. She’s not doing anything wrong. No one has the right to kill her.”

  Tommy’s expression softened. He glanced back at his son. “Get back to work.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Trevor, speaking quietly.

  “Go on.” Tommy turned back to Rowen and Margo. “Come on,” he said, leading them around behind the counter. He had a few chairs set up back there, one for himself and another two for his sons. Trevor moved past them all, back into the garage. Tommy closed the door after him, giving them all some privacy. “Take a seat.”

  Rowen and Margo both sat down. “We’re sorry to just show up unannounced like this.” Rowen reached into her bag and pulled out her recorder. “Mind if I record the audio from this?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Why not?”

  Rowen turned the recorder on. She offered him a smile since he still didn’t look all that receptive to sitting down for an interview with them. “So, I take it the police did pay you a visit this morning?”

  "They did.” Tommy nodded. “They think whoever killed that Rhonda woman was trying to murder my wife. They wanted to know if I had any idea who might want her dead.”

  “And do you?” asked Rowen.

  Tommy shook his head. “No one who comes to mind… except, well, everyone in town. I don’t think anyone would be upset if she died.” He winced after he had said that. “Please don’t quote me on that.”

  Rowen imagined that wouldn’t sound too good if Jessica happened to read it. “We won’t. Don’t worry.”