by Raven Snow
“And I still do. I said as much, didn’t I?” Lydia sighed. “I’m not sure what their relationship needs, but it needs something.”
Rowen thought she had a good idea what. “Maybe Ben needs to decide if his career is more important to him than Rose?”
Lydia raised her eyebrows. “That might be it.”
Rowen didn’t press the matter anymore. Lydia continued to surprise her by not commenting further herself. This really wasn’t a matter that either of them could do a whole lot about. It was up to Rose and Ben, mostly Ben. He loved his job, and Rowen could respect that. If only his job wasn’t constantly putting him at odds with the Greensmiths.
Chapter Eleven
There wasn’t really an opportunity to pull Rose aside after the wedding. Maybe it was for the best. Better to just let the day pass them by. Rose had managed to put on a smile. She was happy for Nadine. Ben’s smile looked much more forced, but Rowen didn’t care as much about that.
The picnic was winding down when the phone rang. Rowen pulled her phone from her purse. It was a number she didn’t immediately recognize. Motioning to her phone, she got up and headed a few steps into the woods before answering. “Hello?”
“Hello?” replied a woman’s voice. “Is this Rowen Greensmith?”
“This is she. Can I help you?”
“It’s Veronica.”
Rowen stood up straighter. She walked deeper into the woods and lowered her voice. “Hey, it’s good to hear from you. Is everything all right?”
Veronica took a deep breath. “Not really,” she said. That much had been obvious, but Rowen had had to ask anyway. “Do you… Do you think we could talk privately?”
“Privately?” Rowen repeated. The word made her a little nervous. She did suspect Veronica as a murderer after all. Rowen certainly wouldn’t stand a chance against her. “Do you mind if my husband comes along? You met him, remember?”
“I’d prefer it was just you,” Veronica insisted. It sounded like this was something she would remain adamant about. “You seem… You seem trustworthy. You seem like you’ll listen to me.”
Rowen didn't want to argue with her that Eric should be allowed to tag along. Veronica clearly had something on her mind, and Rowen wanted to know what that was. “Do you want me to come to your house?”
“Please.”
“What time?”
“As soon as possible. Can you do that?”
Rowen looked back at the Greensmiths all gathered on a series of quilts, laughing and talking now that the food had been finished. “Give me an hour or so to get there. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine. I’ll see you then.” Veronica hung up the phone with that.
***
Rowen didn’t break the news of Veronica’s call to Eric until they were both in the car. “So you know when I had to step away to take a call?”
Eric paused, his hand on the key in the ignition. “Yeah.” He looked at his wife.
“Yeah, well, that was Veronica.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? What did she want?”
“She wanted me to come and talk to her. She wants me to head straight there.”
“We should get going then.” He started the car. “I mean, unless you think we should tell Ben first.”
“I don’t think she wants to talk to the police. I think she wants to speak with me.” Rowen took a deep breath. “And only me. She made it pretty clear that she doesn’t want you tagging along.”
“No way,” Eric said immediately. He left the car parked, dropping his hand from the stick. “You suspect this woman murdered someone and you want to talk to her alone?”
“That’s the gist of it, yeah.” To be fair, Rowen thought it actually sounded a little more reasonable when said out loud. “It’s the only move we’ve got, isn’t it?”
“I don’t like this.” Eric said that firmly, like he wasn’t on the verge of giving in, even though Rowen knew all too well that he was. It wasn’t like he could keep his wife from pulling these sorts of stunts when she really put her mind to it. “I’ll at least wait in the driveway.”
Rowen shook her head. That wouldn’t work. “We’ll stop by home and I’ll get my car. I’ll drive to her place, and you wait down the street. If I don’t touch base in thirty minutes, you can come barging in looking for me.”
Eric was still wearing a frown, but he didn’t disagree with her anymore. He had to know that this offer was the best he was going to get. “Fine. Let’s get this over with, I guess.”
***
Rowen made sure that her husband wasn’t in her rearview mirror when she pulled up to Veronica Drew’s home. She wouldn’t put it past Eric. He worried and, aside from that, had those private investigator instincts. The invasion of privacy got on Rowen’s nerves sometimes, but she knew he meant well. Besides, it wasn’t like Rowen didn’t get herself into some questionable situations. The concern was, undoubtedly, warranted.
It didn’t take more than a couple of knocks on the door to get Veronica to open it this time. Rowen noted that she was still wearing the same pajamas. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair didn’t look like it had been brushed in days. She stepped to one side to allow Rowen in. “I’m glad you could make it. Sorry for the short notice.”
“That’s fine,” Rowen assured her, stepping inside. “I mean, I just showed up on your doorstep without any notice not all that long ago. I figure you’re being more than fair.”
Veronica’s home was smaller than her mother’s and much smaller than Richard’s. She was single and living alone, but from the look of it she probably could have still used the extra space. Gym equipment made the living room look awfully cramped. There was a rowing machine in one corner and a squat rack in another. Rowen didn’t doubt that there was more scattered in other rooms around the house. “Take a seat, please.” Veronica motioned to the sofa. “Can I get you anything?”
“I’m fine,” Rowen assured her. She went and sat on the sofa, making sure to give Veronica a smile as she went. She didn’t want her feeling awkward around her if she could help it. There had to be some reason she had called her here alone. Rowen suspected it was because she was about to confess something.
Veronica nodded. She paced the room from side to side a couple of times before stopping in front of Rowen. She took a seat on the edge of her sturdy, wooden coffee table. “I have something I want to tell you.”
Rowen nodded. “I guessed as much. Why else would you invite me over here?”
“You’re right.” Veronica smiled, though it looked strained. “I called you here because I thought… It’s stupid, but I hoped maybe you wouldn’t tell the police immediately.”
Now they were getting to the heart of the matter. “Why would you think that?”
“Some police came by. They seemed angry when I mentioned that you had already shown up and asked me some questions. They assured me you were off the case, so… since you’re not working with the police anymore, I was hoping you would be able to help me.”
“Well, I guess it depends on what you tell me.” Rowen wasn’t willing to commit to anything. Maybe she should have just lied and told Veronica what she wanted to hear, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that.
Veronica took a deep breath, like she had expected that kind of answer. She clasped her hands on her knees and looked down at the floor. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice. I need to tell someone.”
“Go ahead,” Rowen urged. Now more than ever she felt safe with Veronica. She didn’t get the sense that she was a bad person. It was more complicated than that. Something she had done was weighing heavily on her. She was utterly lost.
Veronica sat up straighter. She closed her eyes and seemed to steel herself for what came next. “I killed Dimitri Harris,” she finally blurted.
A cold chill ran down Rowen’s arms. She had suspected as much, but it was still strange to hear it admitted outright like that. “Why didn’t you tell the police?” she as
ked.
“I panicked.” Veronica shook her head, grimacing like the memory pained her. “I just ran back home. I expected someone with the police to eventually just show up and arrest me, but they never did.”
“Why did you kill him?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Veronica said quickly. “I was at Mother’s house, getting together some things. I go by there on my runs and just kinda stopped by on a whim. We need to get things packed quick according to Richard. I hadn’t brought my key, so I used the hider key and let myself in.”
“You used the hider key?”
Veronica nodded. “I don’t bring all my keys along when I run. I can’t stand the sound of them rattling. I just keep my house key handy and that’s it.”
“So you were there late?”
Again, Veronica nodded. “It was very late, but I didn’t have anything planned the next day, and it needed to get done. I can be kind of a night owl sometimes. I’m really not sure how long I stayed. I was in the back bedroom boxing things up when I heard someone break in.”
“Break in?” Rowen hadn’t expected that.
“Maybe ‘break in’ is the wrong term.” Veronica hesitated then rephrased. “The place is really old. The windows don’t lock or anything. I heard someone sliding one open. I didn’t know what it was at first, but then I got there and… sure enough.”
“Dimitri broke in?”
“I didn’t know it was Dimitri,” Veronica insisted. “If I had, I never would have been so rough! I thought it was one of those opportunists you hear about, the kind who read the obituaries and then go out to rob their house in the middle of the night. You’ve heard about those kinds of people.”
Rowen nodded. She had certainly heard about that sort of thing when she lived out in the city. It wasn’t exactly something you heard a whole lot about in Lainswich. “So, Dimitri climbed through the window and you attacked him?”
“I tried to subdue him,” Veronica corrected quickly. “He must have hit his head. I didn’t realize who it was, like I said. I didn’t realize it was someone so old. He just kind of crumpled when I attacked him. It all happened so fast. I’ve never had to do that sort of thing before.”
“Why was he crawling through the window?”
“I don’t know! He couldn’t have known I was there. My car wasn’t anywhere nearby, and I only had the lights on in the back of the house, where I was working. If he’d only knocked, I would have let him in. I always liked Mr. Harris just fine.”
“But it raises questions if he was breaking in.”
Veronica nodded in agreement. “I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t. I almost called the cops, but I just couldn’t bring myself to. I’ve never been in any kind of trouble. I panicked and ran home and now it’s too late to say something without making things even worse for myself.” Veronica sank her face into her hands. She gave a miserable sounding groan. Rowen really couldn’t blame her. It was a bad position she found herself in.
“You definitely should have called the police,” Rowen agreed. “But that’s in the past now,” she added quickly. “Don’t keep beating yourself up over it. Let’s see if we can turn this around.”
Veronica looked up, eyebrows raised, expression hopeful. “Is there something I can do?”
“You can help me solve this thing.” Sure, it would probably be a better idea to convince Veronica to turn herself in ASAP. The most responsible thing for Rowen to do would be to walk her to the police station herself. Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling all that responsible right now. She wanted to solve this case. Not that she wouldn’t make Veronica fess up within the next couple of days. She wasn’t that reckless. Rowen just needed a little bit of time first.
“Solve what?” asked Veronica. “I just told you that I was the one who murdered Dimitri. What else is there to solve?”
Recent events had reawakened old suspicions. “I hate giving you new things to worry about, but… I’m feeling more certain than ever that your mother was murdered.”
Chapter Twelve
It took some convincing to get Veronica to let Eric help. “He’s my husband,” she had assured her. “I tell him everything. I trust him.” That was stretching the truth a bit. She had a tendency to keep things from him from time to time. She definitely would have told him about this regardless. She tried to communicate as much to Veronica.
Veronica relented, especially when Rowen admitted that her husband was just down the street. “He was waiting around in case I needed help,” Rowen explained. “No offense.”
“I guess it was logical for you to think I was the murderer.” Veronica looked miserable about that. “I wonder how long it’ll take for the police to press charges.”
“We’ll fix this. Don’t you worry.” Rowen wasn’t sure she could promise that, but she was sure as heck going to try.
***
Eric met up with them in the parking lot of the nearest shopping center. His expression was guarded as Rowen explained to him what was going on. “It was an accident. Veronica didn’t mean to kill Dimitri. He was breaking in through a window. He must not have known Veronica was there. She was acting in self-defense.”
“I’m not sure you could call it self-defense,” Veronica muttered, her miserable gaze fixed on the ground. Rowen had convinced her to put on some real clothes, but her tank top and leggings didn’t really suit her as well as they normally did. There was none of that usual pep to her actions. “He didn’t have time to do or say anything. I restrained him and he just… It was an accident.”
Eric nodded, brows drawn together in sympathy. It was obvious that he believed her. It was hard not to. She had made a mistake and now she was paying for it, her future uncertain. “We’ll work this out. Just hang in there. I assume my wife has a plan? I assume it’s not going to the police— that is the obvious thing we should be doing.”
“We’ll go to the police,” Rowen promised, a statement that made Veronica flinch. “But first I want to check something out. First we need to head to Dina Drew’s home.”
“Isn’t it still a crime scene?” asked Veronica, looking up.
Eric snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not like that’s stopped my wife before.”
“We’ll make sure that no one is watching it and be in and out really quick,” Rowen promised. “The Lainswich police are always understaffed. I doubt they have anyone at the scene.”
Veronica looked from Rowen to Eric, like she was hoping he might object. “Is this going to get me into more trouble?”
“Possibly,” Eric admitted. “But Rowen has a pretty good track record with this sort of stuff. If you want to find out the truth, if you want to know what really happened to your mother, well… I hate to say it out loud where she can hear me, but Rowen is your best bet.”
Rowen smiled. It was rare to hear her husband praise her recklessness. “Thank you, dear.”
“I still don’t like it,” he grumbled before turning his gaze to Veronica. “Do you want to find out what really happened?”
Veronica hesitated. Her eyes locked with his and her expression grew stonier, more resolute. She nodded.
“All right, that settles it.” Eric motioned to his car. “Let’s get going. The both of you can ride with me.”
***
Rowen had Eric wait in the car for them. It wouldn’t do to have everyone go inside. “Come on, someone has to keep watch, right?”
Eric rolled his eyes but hadn’t argued. Someone did need to keep an eye on things from a safe distance. Leaving Veronica to do it wasn’t an option and this whole thing was Rowen’s idea. “Be careful,” he warned. “I’ll give you a call if I see anyone.”
“Got it.” Rowen hurried across the street with Veronica. The front door was covered in yellow police tape. They weren’t getting in through there. “You said the windows don’t lock?” she asked Veronica.
“They don’t.” Veronica frowned at the idea of sneaking in. She led Rowen around the hous
e regardless. Through the window, Rowen could see Dina’s old bedroom. It was full of boxes now. A bed and dresser remained. A drawer was open. That must have been what Veronica was packing up when Dimitri broke in. Veronica eased the window open. “Need a boost?” she asked Rowen.
Rowen bristled at that comment. She might be short, but she felt pretty confident she could manage climbing through a ground floor window. It took a few hopping starts before Rowen realized her arms didn’t quite have the strength to pull her up from so low. “Yes, please. I might need a boost, just a little one.”
Rowen made it into the bedroom as ungracefully as possible. She stumbled out onto the carpet. The house was so still and quiet, crashing about noisily made her terribly uncomfortable. She turned to see if Veronica was getting in all right, but she looked to be having a very easy time of it. “Now what?” asked Veronica.
“Now I want to look at the flowers.” Rowen headed for the living room. She could practically feel Veronica staring at her, baffled.
“Flowers?” Veronica repeated, following. “What about the flowers.”
“Dimitri sent your mother a lot of them, didn’t he?”
“I guess so.” Veronica stopped in the living room and looked around. Flowers were still on every surface. A lot of them were beginning to wilt. They would need to be thrown out soon. “I mean, obviously.”
“Did your mother like flowers?” asked Rowen.
Veronica shrugged. “Not really, but you know how guys can be. If they don’t know what to buy a woman, they just go with something obvious like chocolate or flowers. I think he assumed she liked them, and she was just too polite to say otherwise. That would be like her.”
Rowen bit her bottom lip as she turned a slow circle, taking in the room around her. She didn’t know enough about flowers to really be able to tell what it was she was searching for. “And was she deathly allergic to any kind of flower?”
“Can someone be deathly allergic to flowers?” Veronica raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.
