by Raven Snow
Eric made a face and looked back at Rowen. “I don’t think they like us. Why don’t they like us?”
“Well, you did just spend a couple of minutes making certain your car door was locked,” Rowen said back to him, keeping her own voice down. “People don’t tend to be overly fond of you when you assume they’re a criminal on sight.”
“Point taken.” Eric looked around the lot. It was big. There had to be at least twenty trailers on it. “What now?”
“I guess I go this way, and you go that way. His number was unlisted. The best we can hope for is just old fashioned canvassing.” Rowen gave Eric a smile when he groaned. “Start knocking on doors. Make sure that you’re on your best behavior. Don’t offend anyone else, all right?”
Eric didn’t walk away just yet. “What’s the point of me coming with you if we’re just going to split up?”
“How far away am I going to get?” Rowen asked, indicating the lot around them. “We’ll be in and out. I’m not alone.” Rowen nodded to Rose, who was standing there a bit bleary-eyed.
Eric still didn’t start walking. “You know, it’s not too late to go home and let the police do their job.”
“Yeah, right.” Rowen snorted at that. She liked Ben and all. He was good at his job, but… come on. “They don’t have the manpower to devote too much time to this. They’ve got enough to worry about with a murderer running around.”
“I’m sure they’ll manage,” Eric insisted. “They’ll take this guy in, like, tomorrow at the latest- If they haven’t already.”
That was a fair point. Rowen hadn’t considered that the police might get here before she did. That seemed unlikely, though. “We’ll be in and out,” she promised him. “This will make a great story for the Inquirer later regardless of what happens here.”
“And if you find him first and he takes another shot at you?” prompted Eric.
“No knocking on doors then. I’ll just snoop around some windows.”
“This just keeps getting worse.” Eric rubbed at his temples. “Just go. If you find anything, yell. I’ll come running.”
Rowen headed off to the nearest trailer, walking around back where she could already see some blinds left open. She thought of Eric as she walked. These trailers reminded her of the one they shared. It was nice sharing a place with him. It wasn’t anything she had ever done before, and she really liked the feel of it. It made her feel more like a responsible adult than anything ever had before. The novelty would, undoubtedly, wear off eventually.
The rest of the family, of course, was just waiting on the other shoe to drop. Greensmith relationships never lasted, after all. Eventually, she and Eric would go their separate ways. Even Margo had cautioned her against letting this thing go too far - and she wasn’t really one who had room to talk. She had married Terry fresh out of high school, after all.
Rowen didn’t have her mind on marriage yet. She did find herself picking apart everything, though. Like just now. He had seemed so exasperated with her. There wasn’t any blaming him for that, of course. Rowen knew all too well how frustrating she could be. Was it only a matter of time until he got tired of dealing with her? When this vacation of his was up, would he even come back? Maybe they shouldn’t get a more permanent house together after all.
This relationship had gone on for longer than Rowen had expected. Even now, he gave her some looks on occasion. The witchy stuff never sat quite right with him. That was to be expected. He had a good head on his shoulders. Most people with a good head on their shoulders tended to be a tad skeptical.
“You could use a pendulum,” Rose said suddenly. It seemed she had woken up fully while Rowen was daydreaming. “I know Grammy always insisted on carrying a pendulum. I don’t have one because they never work for me, but if you have one, it would probably be a good idea to utilize it right now.”
Speaking of witchy things… Rowen pulled a pendulum from her pocket. She had forgotten that she even had it in there. It was force of habit to grab one whenever she left the house. Grammy had drilled that into her. She put it in her pocket like some people grabbed their wallet every day. “Good idea,” she told her cousin. That could very well come in handy. Rowen took a deep breath and held the pendulum high. She cleared her mind and did her best to think of Roland. He was easy enough to picture in her mind’s eye.
The pendulum began to swing in small circles. It swayed as she walked but, gradually, it began to favor one direction over all others. It was taking her toward the back corner of the lot. Rowen went along with it.
The trailer it was steering her toward had all the hallmarks of a place where Roland Davies might live. There was an American flag out front made entirely of unevenly spray-painted beer cans. Some sports pennants fluttered to either side of it. This was a man who lived simply and alone.
“This has to be the place,” said Rose. “I’m not sure we needed the pendulum to tell us that. This place reeks of that jerk.”
Rowen wrinkled her nose and moved toward the front. Already, the cell phone was in her hand. She felt fairly certain that this was the right place, she just needed to confirm it before she called Eric off from the hunt.
Rowen heard the struggle before she saw it. There was a shout and a crash. Through the slats of the blinds, Rowen saw a blur of movement followed by what looked to be wrestling about on the floor. There was another scream, another crash.
Rowen looked back at Rose to see if she had heard the same thing. She had. Rowen motioned for her to wait where she was and ran for the front door. She pressed the call button but didn’t really have time to explain the situation. Hopefully, it would send Eric running anyway.
The front door was unlocked. “I called the police!” Rowen shouted as she pushed it open. She didn’t just rush in. If it was a couple of men fighting, she wasn’t terribly confident that she would be much of a match for them. She hoped she could scare then down before any sort of lasting damage was done.
Another shout came from inside. This one had a genuinely frightened quality to it. Whoever was making the sound was afraid. Rowen couldn’t wait for Eric.
“What are you doing?” Rose hissed as Rowen took a hesitant step inside.
Rowen shushed her cousin and motioned again for her to stay where she was. She barged in, grabbing for an umbrella near the door. She might as well be armed.
There was a blur of movement as Rowen rounded the corner into the den. The back door banged open. Someone was making a run for it. Meanwhile, there was a body on the floor. It was Roland, Rowen realized. He was on his back bleeding and battered but still breathing. Rowen quickly stepped over him and headed for the back door.
The attacker was already vanishing into the surrounding woods, but Rowen got a glimpse of him. She saw the back of a gray jacket with the hood up. His build was large and wide. It was difficult to gauge from a distance but he looked to be rather tall. This was a capable individual, probably heavily muscled. Roland wasn’t a small guy, and he had been thoroughly overpowered. This guy was strong, and it seemed like he had done this before.
With the murderer on the loose right now, Rowen wondered if this man could be the murderer?
Rowen looked around to see if Eric was anywhere even close yet. She didn’t see him and swore under her breath. If that was the murderer, what little she had seen wasn’t a whole lot to go on. Pursuing him was a dangerous move, but then so was having a murderer on the loose.
Rowen launched herself out the back door and down the stairs. She broke into a sprint. After watching him run into the woods, she knew about how fast he was. Rowen was confident she was faster. She fumbled with her phone as she moved, switching on the camera.
“Rowen!” Rose shouted from behind her.
Rowen ignored her. She had to catch up with the murderer before he could make it to whatever getaway vehicle he had stashed on the other side of these woods.
She made it to the edge of the woods in record time. Her high school track coach would have been pro
ud. Granted, once she was there, the anxiety set in. She didn’t hear him. She didn’t see him. Honestly, she hadn’t planned this far. There hadn’t been time.
Rowen raised her phone, scanning it ahead of her in search of some sign of life. A very cowardly part of her hoped that she didn’t run into him. He could always turn on her. That was a distinct possibility. She stayed light on her feet, ready to run if she needed to. Of course, if he had a gun, that was another story.
Rowen’s legs felt shaky beneath her. As unlikely as it was that he could sneak up on her without her noticing, she felt like she was in the middle of a horror movie. Any minute now, he could just appear behind her. She listened closely. It seemed like she should hear some sign of him. Either he should be making his way through the woods or she should hear some sort of getaway vehicle. Was he just lying low?
With her free hand, Rowen reached into her pocket and retrieved her pendulum. She held it up, though it was difficult to keep still. Her arm was shaking badly, but she managed to ignore it for the most part. Immediately, the pendulum began to pull her in one direction. Phone raised, Rowen crept toward it.
The pendulum was swinging in the direction of a bush. It was a large one - thick, dense. It would be a good place for even a large man to hide. Rowen moved ever closer, poised to run. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe he wasn’t even over there.
“Rowen!”
Rowen jumped and spun, not placing her cousin’s voice for a moment.
Rose stood there wide-eyed and short of breath. When Rowen faced her, she screamed.
Rowen saw that Rose’s eyes were focused on a spot behind her. Rowen spun just as a hand connected with her sternum. The breath was knocked from her as she was shoved to the ground. The phone tumbled from her hands.
Rose gave a second scream, and Rowen looked to check on her cousin. She was on her knees, staring after someone. Rowen looked just in time to see the large man she had followed disappear further into the woods.
Just then, Eric burst from the trees. This got yet another scream out of Rose. “That way!” Rowen blurted, pointing in the direction the man had gone. “He went that way!”
Eric seemed more concerned with Rowen and Rose. He knelt down beside them both. “Are you all right?”
“He’s getting away!” Rowen urged. She began to get to her feet to pursue him again, but Eric planted a hand on her shoulder. He shoved her back down. “Eric!”
Eric shook his head. He looked pale and a bit shaken himself. With his free hand, he pulled out his phone and dialed. “Yeah… Yes, I’m not really sure what kind of emergency I have here, but I think I have one.”
Chapter Seven
The pendulum wasn’t picking anyone up anymore. Rowen tried it again and again, but it was just no use. The man who had done this was long gone. That didn’t stop the police from canvassing the woods, of course. Rowen didn’t fault them for that and hoped they would find something. Meanwhile, she was stuck with Rose and Eric answering the same questions again and again.
“I didn’t see his face,” said Rose. “I mean… I did, but I don’t really remember it. It was kind of a blur. I think he had dark hair, maybe?”
They all stood outside of Roland’s trailer near a police cruiser. An ambulance was flashing nearby. The EMTs were inside seeing to Roland’s injuries. None of them were sure how serious they were yet.
Rowen pocketed her pendulum. “I already told the last officer what I saw,” she said when she was prompted for a description of the attacker.
Eric frowned at her. He had done a lot of frowning in the last half hour. Rowen could tell that he was angry at her, and that they would have a talk about this later.
“I’ll take it from here,” said Ben.
That got Rowen’s attention. She put her pendulum back in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone instead. She had been waiting for him to show up.
“This is why I asked you not to go off questioning people on your own,” said Ben, giving Eric a sympathetic look.
Eric frowned at Rowen again, but she ignored him. There was more to worry about right now besides an undeserved, ‘I told you so.’ “You know that Roland would have been dead by now if not for me,” she pointed out. “I’m betting he would be very glad that I came to check on him… Or maybe not. He’s sort of a jerk.”
“You don’t know that,” said Ben.
Rowen just raised an eyebrow at him. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew better than that. Chances were that the guy who had run away was the killer they were after. Roland definitely would have been dead by now if not for their intervention. She changed the subject before anyone else could argue with her. “I got some video,” she said, pulling it up on her phone.
That drew Ben’s interest. “Did you show it to anyone before now?” he asked.
“Just Eric and Rose. I was waiting for you to get here.” She pressed the play button. “There’s not much on it,” she warned. “I didn’t get a very good look at him.”
“You should have shown this to my men before now,” said Ben, taking the phone from her. “It could have helped them catch the guy.”
“He’s long gone,” Rowen said, feeling at the lump in her pocket where the pendulum was. By the time the police had arrived, he had been further away than any of them could do anything about. “Just watch it.”
Ben watched the video in silence. Eric looked away, trying to occupy his attention somewhere else. He hadn’t much liked the video the first time he had watched it. Seeing a probable serial murderer run right into Rowen had, understandably, made him a bit uncomfortable.
“This is good,” said Ben, once the video had ended.
“Is it?” asked Rowen, skeptical of that.
“I said it was good, not great.” Ben motioned a cop over to them. “It’s better than not having anything to go on, that’s for sure.”
Rowen reached out for her phone, but Ben handed it to the cop instead of giving it back to her.
“We’ll have to take this in as evidence,” said Ben.
Rowen really should have seen that coming. “Well, just copy it and give it back to me soon, will ya? That’s the second phone I’ve been through in as many days.” The first one had gone missing the day she was shot at.
“It could take awhile,” said Ben, refusing to promise her anything. “I appreciate it, though. Really. This could help a lot with the investigation.”
“Don’t encourage her,” said Eric.
Ben offered him a sympathetic smile. “Ideally, you would have left this to us,” he said to Rowen. “Though, I’m sure Mr. Davies over there would say otherwise.”
Rowen looked up. Roland was being taken from the house in a stretcher. There didn’t seemed to be much of a rush about it. He was sitting up, a scowl on his face as they took him toward the ambulance. Ben went in that direction, and Rowen followed.
“How is he?” asked Ben.
“He’ll be fine,” said a paramedic. “He took a beating, but he should recover. I mean, a proper doctor will need to look him over, but… He’s okay. He’s lucky that knife in there didn’t get used on him.”
“Knife?” repeated Rowen.
“On the floor,” said Ben, speaking back to Rowen, quickly. “Looks like it got knocked aside in the struggle. We’re hopeful there will be some prints on it.” Ben looked back to Roland, addressing him directly now. “Hi, Mr. Davies. If you’re feeling up to it, would you mind giving us a statement at the hospital in just a bit?”
Roland’s gaze wandered past Ben and to Rowen. He looked away, quickly. “Ask me anything you want,” he said. “You folks need to get it in gear and catch this guy.”
Ben nodded. “That’s the plan.” He stepped back, letting the paramedics get on with their job.
“I didn’t hear a thank you,” Rose muttered.
Ben laughed at that. “Give it a minute,” he said. “The guy had a full day.”
“Well, maybe he won’t camp out in front of our office with a sign anymore,” Rose
reasoned, sounding hopeful.
“I have to go look the crime scene over myself now,” said Ben, shifting the conversation away from more casual talk. “You guys have already given your statements. We’re good here. I’ll probably call you in soon, but if you had somewhere else to be…”
“Thanks,” said Eric. “We’ll get out of your way.”
Rowen didn’t appreciate Eric answering for her, but she supposed they did need to get a move on. Peony and Willow might have news by now. “Will you let us know if you find out anything that could help?” asked Rowen.
Ben shook his head. “Let us take care of this for once, will you?” he asked, but in a way that suggested he would fill her in anyway.
Eric led the way back to the car. Rose followed. Rowen did the same, albeit a tad reluctantly. A fight was incoming. She knew it and wasn’t in the mood for it. “I don’t have my phone,” she said, once they were in the car. “Mind if I borrow yours?” She was talking to Eric, but Rose handed over her phone first. “Thanks.”
