by Raven Snow
“Then why tell me?”
“Rose, remember? I figure she thought you would be looking for some sort of conspiracy angle already.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m not.” Rowen looked back at her family and the Stonewalls they were chatting with. “If medicine can’t explain why she died, I’m betting that magic can.”
Ben held up his hands. “That’s also out of my jurisdiction. You do what you need to do. Just don’t break any laws.”
“I never do. Thanks, Ben. I appreciate the info.” They parted ways and Rowen headed back to her husband. At least, she would have headed back to him had he been nearby. She scanned the area for him. Finally, she spotted him standing between the elderly Ferris and Diane. They looked to be deep in conversation, so deep Rowen almost felt awkward moving to join Eric.
“Ah, Rowen,” Ferris acknowledged Rowen as she joined the circle of conversation. “It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you again. Eric here tells us you’ve been doing well for yourself.”
Diane nodded in agreement. “We had heard about the paper. We even read it on occasion. The detective’s office was news, though. That sounds like fun.”
Rowen couldn’t be sure if they were patronizing her or not. “I’m not sure about fun,” she said, managing to crack a smile as she glanced at her husband for some back up. He didn’t seem to notice. “It’s a lot of hard work. Absolutely worth it, though. I mean, it certainly feels rewarding.”
“That’s good to hear,” said Ferris with a nod. “And your family has also opened up a little New Age shop?”
Rowen wondered if Eric had told them all of this or if the Stonewall family just kept tabs on the Greensmiths. “They did. It does well, and they enjoy running it.”
“I suppose it’s important to have something to do,” said Diane.
“It would be nice to know what that was like,” Ferris added with a laugh.
Diane nodded. “I’m afraid our work has us going all over the world.”
Ferris’ expression became somber. “I’m just glad that we happened to be here for this.”
Rowen wasn’t. The more she listened to these two, the more her skin crawled. They looked down on her and her family. She could just feel it. “Well, we’re glad you could be here,” she said anyway.
Back at the curb, a car had pulled in. It looked like someone from the funeral home arriving with flower arrangements. Rowen and her family had only brought what few flowers were already growing in the garden. They had brought them graveside themselves. These must be from the Stonewalls. “If you’ll excuse us…” Ferris and his wife headed toward the car, likely to double check that the arrangements were the ones they had paid for. They looked expensive. More than that, they looked insultingly expensive.
Rowen rolled her eyes at herself. She was being ridiculous. They had brought flowers. That was nice. The Stonewalls were just trying to be nice. Unless… Rowen recalled her conversation with Ben. What if they were just here to make themselves appear innocent? She scanned the Stonewalls assembled around her. She couldn’t trust these people. Not a single one of them, not really.
“Rowen.”
Eric speaking snapped Rowen from her distrustful daze. She looked back at her husband. “What’s up? Sorry about earlier. Ben had something important to tell me.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “What did he tell you?”
“The coroner’s report and Grammy’s last comprehensive physical don’t add up. There’s something going on there, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it involved magic from someone.” She cast a look around. “From someone very near to us now, in fact.”
“Seriously?” Eric looked around as well. “Who would have a motive?”
Rowen snorted. “Any of them! They all hate our family.”
“No, they don’t. Flint is still your friend… sort of. And Jasper is dating Margo now… I guess. I don’t know. It’s vague. I wouldn’t call it hatred, though.”
“It could have been any of them,” Rowen reiterated. She didn’t want to discuss this here. “Never mind that, though. What’s your thing?”
Eric’s face drained of color all of a sudden. His expression changed, his eyebrows drawing together as he cast an anxious look around. “Well, I was only partly sure at first, but now I can safely say that, um…”
“What?” Rowen prompted when he didn’t finish that thought.
“You know Ferris and Diane?”
That was a stupid question. “Of course I know them. They were just here.”
“Yeah, well.” He hesitated again and made a vague hand motion toward them. “They’re my great grandparents.”
Rowen stared at him. She let the words replay in her mind a few times. Even then, she couldn’t find the words to convey her shock.
Chapter Six
Rowen found her words as soon as she was back in the car. “What do you mean they’re your great grandparents?!” she demanded. There was no one around to hear them anymore. They were still parked at the graveyard. Everyone else had gone back home or to the Greensmiths’ for dinner. Rowen had stayed right where she was. She probably wasn’t fit to drive just yet anyway. She needed answers.
“I mean they’re my great grandparents,” Eric said again. He’d said as much a myriad of times already.
“But I already met your great grandfather,” Rowen pointed out. He was the man Grammy had been sent to jail for murdering, after all. He had been a horrid man she had only ever met in spirit form.
“Yeah, well, most people have four sets of great grandparents.” To his credit, Eric was trying to be forthcoming about all of this. He wasn’t enjoying himself either. He had carried on this entire conversation with his elbow on the arm rest and his head against his hand.
“And you didn’t know this before now?” Rowen demanded.
“I barely knew my grandparents on that side. I know I’ve told you about that before. I hardly spent any time with them at all.”
Rowen supposed that not all families could be as close as hers were. Still, the Stonewalls were close, weren’t they? “A Stonewall never contacted you in all that time?”
“I think I heard the name before,” Eric admitted, and Rowen did recall that maybe he had mentioned that to her once. She had dismissed it as a joke in bad taste at the time. “It’s a pretty common last name, isn’t it? You couldn’t expect me to think I was related to those Stonewalls.”
“You should have checked!”
“Seriously?” Eric gave his wife a deadpan look. “Would it have made a difference? What? Would you not have married me if you knew I was distantly related to the Stonewalls?”
Rowen felt the anger eek out of her a little at that. “No,” she admitted, deflating with a sigh. “Though, it might have dragged things out for a while. God, what am I going to tell my family? Mom probably won’t mind, but my aunts are going to be scandalized.”
“You might not have to tell them. I think the Stonewalls were going to the Greensmiths’ for dinner. They mentioned something about that while I was talking to them. The subject of us might come up.”
That sent a cold shiver down Rowen’s spine. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to rush there or stay very far away. “Had you ever met them before?” she asked instead.
Eric shrugged. “Enough for them to recognize me, I guess. I recognized them from pictures we have up in my family’s office buildings. I wasn’t even close to my grandparents, so I guess I just had no reason to even wonder about my great grandparents.”
“This is so weird.”
“It can’t be that weird. You were engaged to a Stonewall once, right? I’m less than half the Stonewall he is. I’m, like, barely one at all.”
“It’s still there.” Rowen hesitated as something occurred to her. “I wonder if you can use magic.”
Eric laughed, like she was joking. “That would be something, wouldn’t it? Suddenly, it turns out that I’m a witch too.”
“I’m serious! You could be!
I mean, it’s in your blood.” Rowen was fascinated by the possibility. She wasn’t sure if she cared one way or another, but it felt like it was worth investigating. “Have you ever felt like you had any magical potential?”
That got a laugh from Eric. “Magical potential? No, I can’t say that I have.”
“Be real for a second here.” Rowen didn’t like the way he seemed to think she was joking. “You might have some innate potential. That could be why your family is so successful and wealthy. Maybe you’re pushing your will onto people without even realizing it. Do you notice that people have a tendency to do as you want them to? Do they tend to like you? I mean, most people seem to, right?”
“Great.” Eric’s tone was sarcastic, though he was still smiling. “So, people only like me because I’m magical. And here I thought it was because I had a winning personality.”
Rowen gave up for the sake of her own sanity. “Never mind.” She started the car.
“Hang on.” Eric put a hand to Rowen’s arm, gently. “I’m sorry. I just… that’s a lot to ask someone to believe. I don’t think I have any magical powers… I never thought I would have to say something like that out loud, but I definitely don’t feel magical. Maybe my parents or grandparents have it in them, but I don’t think I do.”
“That could be why Ferris and Diane weren’t really in your life. They wouldn’t have tried to pull you into the family proper if you didn’t have potential.”
“That seems cold hearted.”
“They’re an evil bunch.”
“I’m still not sure of that.” Eric spoke slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. “They don’t seem quite as evil as you try to make them out to be.”
Rowen didn’t want to argue right now so she changed the subject instead. “We should do some tests.”
“Tests?”
“Yeah, tests. We should see if we can stir up any magical ability in you.”
Eric threw his hands up with a laugh. “Yeah, sure. Why the heck not? I’m going to need something from you, though.”
“What’s that?” Rowen asked, wary.
“I’m going to need you to give this whole murder investigation thing a rest. Sleep on it for a couple of days. See how you feel when your emotions aren’t running quite as high.”
Rowen could see the reasoning in that. It made sense, but she was still reluctant to do it. What if the trail went cold? “Fine,” she said, after several long seconds. It wasn’t like she had a trail she was following right now anyway.
***
Before any magical testing could be done, there was the dinner at the Greensmith house to attend. As she had expected, the Stonewalls were there. It made for a uniquely tense scene. Rowen’s aunts watched the Stonewalls like hawks, like they expected them to leave the main floor and go off snooping in the rest of the house. That wasn’t the case, however. For the most part, the Stonewalls behaved themselves. They had even brought several meals worth of food that looked tasty.
There was chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, fruits, desserts. It was a good spread. Of course, Aunt Lydia eyed it like it was poison, so someone else had to thank them. “It all looks delicious,” said Nadine. “Thank you so much.”
Eric got distracted by his relatives again. It wasn’t long before they had him trapped in a corner. There was a lot to talk about with those three, Rowen imagined. That gave her time enough to go back on a promise. “Hey, Flint.” She got his attention and pulled him into an adjacent room. She wasn’t proud of it, but it was important that she at least take this step.
Flint followed Rowen into the kitchen without complaining. “You know the rest of my family wouldn’t have come to this thing if they hadn’t found out I’d been invited.” Flint held up his hands to indicate innocence. “It’s not my fault they showed up.”
“I’m kind of glad they decided to crash this thing.” Rowen felt like a funeral almost no one attended would have been more upsetting than the one they’d had. “Anyway, that’s not what I want to talk about.”
“Oh, right. You want me to be your man on the inside.” Flint glanced back in the direction of his family. “Well, let’s see. My parents are upset that my grandparents are back in town. Jasper won’t stop whining about Margo to me. Amber is about as self-sufficient as she always is. And, that’s pretty much it. Exciting stuff, I know.”
“Why are your parents mad about your grandparents?” That was the first thing that had caught Rowen’s attention.
Flint shrugged. “Oh, who can say? I think it’s because they’re judgmental. My parents are still like kids to them and, well, my parents obviously don’t much appreciate being treated like kids.”
“When did they get into town?”
Flint hesitated before answering this question. “It was about a week before your grandmother died,” he said, slowly. “But I don’t think they had anything to do with it. They might have sensed her death coming up, but that’s normal. I’d be surprised if someone in your family didn’t do the same.”
“My mother did.” Rowen remembered Tiffany saying that something had drawn her back. Who was to say that it hadn’t been the same for Flint’s grandparents? Rowen liked to think they had respect for Grammy, regardless of their rivalry.
“Well, there you go.” Flint took a step toward the door. “Are we done now?”
“Not yet.” Rowen still had more questions that she needed answered. “What about Jasper? You said he kept whining at you about Margo?” This probably didn’t actually have anything to do with Grammy, but she still wanted to know.
“Yeah, I think he’s more serious about this whole thing than she is.” Flint shook his head like he disapproved. “He keeps asking my advice since I’m the only one in our family who’s ever dated a Greensmith.”
Rowen couldn’t help but laugh at that. “He definitely shouldn’t be going to you for advice then.”
“What? I don’t think I made a terrible boyfriend.” It sounded like Flint was mostly kidding on that front. “Besides, my family knew about it, and I’m in their good graces again, aren’t I?”
“You don’t live here,” Rowen pointed out. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“So, you think he’s serious about Margo?”
“I think he would be serious about any woman he’s sleeping with. He tries to hide it, but he’s a softy.” Flint shrugged. “But yeah.”
Rowen wasn’t sure she cared if he was serious or not. She didn’t like the idea of Margo cheating on her boyfriend. She didn’t like the idea of a guy who would be party to that either. Oh, well. The past was the past. “How did they even meet?”
Again, Flint hesitated. That alerted Rowen. It meant that this was another little factoid he was worried she could use against his family. “He was at the prison when Margo was visiting your grandmother. They recognized each other. According to him, a storm picked up outside. They were both waiting for it to let up so they could leave. Apparently, they really hit it off.”
“Why was he at the prison?”
“For some of the same reasons Amber was there.” Flint shrugged like it was no big deal. “He must have gotten the idea to do a bit of volunteer work there from her. You know a lot of my family does that sort of thing. We’re not like you Greensmiths. Our last name isn’t widely despised or anything. My family does a lot of volunteer work even here in Lainswich.”
Rowen supposed that made sense. After all, their name was even on the hospital here. “How often is he at the prison?”
“Not as often as Amber.”
“Why does Amber go to that prison and not the one in Tarricville?”
“She goes to the prison there, too.” Flint leaned back against the counter. “You shouldn’t be so hard on us Stonewalls. We’re not all evil.”
“Says a guy who has betrayed me at least twice in my lifetime.”
“Yeah, well, I still think you’re reaching.”
“Maybe.” That didn’t mean sh
e was willing to just let it go. “Hey, did you know that Eric is a distant relative of yours?”
Flint raised his eyebrows at that. “No kidding?”
“He’s Ferris and Diane’s great grandson.”
“Huh.” Flint looked down at the floor, considering that. “I thought I got an odd vibe off of him. Does he have any sort of magical ability?”
“Not that I’ve seen so far. I’m going to run a few tests of my own, though. Just to be sure, you know?”
That got a smile from Flint. “Oh, I definitely want to be there for that.”
“I don’t think he’d much appreciate an audience.”
