by Raven Snow
“Yeah,” Rowen interrupted without meaning to. “Yeah, of course. Is there…Did something bad happen?”
“Well, my uncle’s dead, so…” He trailed off, like that should say enough.
“No,” said Rowen, cringing. “I mean, you said your mother’s house was a crime scene. Was it murder?”
“It’s just a crime scene,” Ben replied, clearly reluctant to give too many details. Whether it was because he wasn’t allowed to or was just upset right now was unclear. “Rose isn’t in any trouble or anything. They just need her down here so they can ask some questions.”
“They?”
“Well, I can’t exactly do anything. It was my uncle and it’s my family. Look, do you think you can get her down here or not?”
“Yeah,” said Rowen, quickly. “Yes, of course I can. We’ll be down in a minute, okay?”
“Thanks,” he said, his tone curt, and hung up.
Rowen headed back to the guest bedroom. Rose looked up at her as she lingered in the doorway, uncertain of the best way to phrase what needed to be said. “So,” she began, feeling horribly awkward. “Turns out we have to go back to Ben’s mother’s house.”
Of all the things Rose might have expected her cousin to say, that did not appear to be one of them. “What?” she asked, staring, the remote still in her hand.
“We have to go back to Ben’s mother’s house,” Rowen repeated. “Turns out his uncle was murdered.”
“What!” Rose stood.
“What?” asked Eric at about the same time. He had come up behind Rowen holding an armful of pillows and blankets. He dropped most of it now, startled.
“Not murdered,” Rowen said quickly, rephrasing. “Well, maybe murdered,” she added. “They don’t know yet. Either way, it’s an active crime scene. We need to get Rose back so she can, you know, answer questions and stuff.”
Rose picked up her phone, messing with the screen as she hurried past Rowen and down the stairs. She was probably calling Ben. Rowen hoped she didn’t feel guilty for running off. She hadn’t done anything wrong as far as Rowen was concerned. Rose was a sweet girl and entitled to a grudge or two if she felt like holding one. Rowen doubted she would, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t.
“Are you taking her?” asked Eric.
“Of course I’m taking her,” said Rowen, hurrying down the stairs after her cousin.
“Should I come too?” Eric called after her.
“Of course you should come too!” Rowen rolled her eyes. “What? Did you forget how to be a supportive husband or something?”
“I’m used to you running off on your own during stuff like this,” Eric said in his defense.
Rowen slipped her shoes on at the door and hurried out. She caught Rose in the driveway. “Wait,” she said before Rose could get back into her car. “Eric will drive.”
“I will?”
“Eric will drive,” Rowen repeated.
They all piled into Eric’s car. He had to get directions from Rose, since he had no clue where Ben’s mother lived and Rowen couldn’t remember. As it turned out, it was in a subdivision not terribly far from where Rowen and her cousins worked at the Lainswich Inquirer.
The house was a nice one. It had three stories and a cute picket fence. There were shrubs and flowers out front. Tonight, there were also quite a few cops milling around the front lawn. The flashing lights made it easy to find, and Eric parked on the curb. Rose got out of the car before it had actually pulled to a complete stop with Rowen quickly following after her.
There was a cop that tried to stop them from rushing in the front door. Fortunately, Ben must have heard them pull up and waved the man away. “This is who we’ve been waiting for,” he said, just before pulling Rose into a hug.
“I’m so sorry,” Rose gushed. Rowen hated that she was the one apologizing here, but given the situation, it couldn’t really be helped. “I didn’t realize…If I’d known something like this had happened—”
“You couldn’t have known,” Ben interrupted, giving her a tight squeeze before letting her go. All in all, he seemed to be handling all of it rather well. It was hard to say whether he was keeping it together for the benefit of his coworkers and family or if he just hadn’t been all that close to his uncle.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” said Eric, shifting his weight from foot to foot and shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Me too,” said Rowen, very aware of how awkward it sounded.
Ben seemed to realize they were all just standing around on the front porch. “Come inside,” he said, opening the front door. “They already took the body away,” he assured them.
There were a couple of police speaking with one another in the hallway. They were keeping their distance from the family, who were all seated in the living room. Ben’s brothers, Dylan and Sammy, were seated on either side of their mother. They were both speaking softly, likely in an attempt to comfort her. Ben’s sister Caitlin was seated on a love seat. They looked up when Ben entered with new people. Caitlin offered up a strained smile.
Mrs. Williamson looked up as well. Her eyes were a bit puffy, like she had been crying. All the same, they focused in on her guests. She didn’t even try to hide a frown when she saw Rowen. The frown then shifted to Rose. She looked her up and down with obvious disdain. Poor Rose hadn’t thought to change out of Rowen’s pajamas. She had been in too much of a rush to get to Ben. It seemed like Mrs. Williamson thoroughly disapproved. Either that or she was still upset with Rose for storming off. It could easily be either. Rowen tried not to think poorly of her under the circumstances, but it was difficult.
Rose seemed to notice the looks she was getting. If Ben did, he didn’t say anything about it. “Rose, these officers over here need to speak with you. If you wouldn’t mind coming with me…Rowen, Eric, if you two could stay in here?”
Rowen didn’t much want to be left alone with Ben’s family. Right now, it didn’t seem like there was much avoiding it. She settled onto a plastic covered love seat. Eric sat down beside her, the plastic crinkling noisily beneath him.
“That’s not for sitting,” said Mrs. Williamson, sniffling a bit.
Rowen and Eric exchanged uncertain looks. At the same time, they began to realize she was talking about the sofa. Apparently, it was purely decorative and Mrs. Williamson’s comment had been a sarcastic one.
“It’s fine,” said Caitlin. She shot her mother a look. “Sitting on it for a few minutes isn’t going to hurt anything, is it?”
“I suppose not,” Mrs. Williamson muttered to herself, looking away.
Rowen and Eric stood anyway. “We had a long drive here,” she lied. “It’s fine. We’ll stand.”
“Do you want a drink or anything?” asked Caitlin. “You know, since it was a long drive.”
“We don’t want to be any trouble,” Eric said.
“No trouble,” Caitlin insisted, standing. “Come on. We have all sorts of drinks in the kitchen.”
Rowen followed, glad to leave the den. Eric was close behind her. If he hadn’t understood why she wasn’t a big fan of Ben’s family before, he undoubtedly understood now.
Caitlin, at least, had grown up to be a thoughtful person. It seemed it had been her aim to get Rowen out of her mother’s cross-hairs. “I’m sorry about her,” Caitlin said, speaking quietly once they made it to the kitchen. “She’s not having a great night.”
“That’s to be expected, I guess,” Rowen replied, and she meant it.
“What happened?” Eric asked. “If you don’t mind me asking. Do they really have reason to think this was murder?”
Rowen elbowed him. That was hardly the right thing to be asking right now, but Caitlin didn’t seem to mind. “Our aunt and uncle hardly ever visit,” she said. “We’re not really that close to them. This is a shock, but…I don’t know about murder.” She sighed. “We were all at the dinner table. One minute, we’re laughing and talking. The next minute, he was choking.” Caitlin’s gaze went d
istant, like she could still picture everything perfectly. Rowen imagined that must be incredibly upsetting, even if they weren’t close.
“Did he choke on something he ate?” Eric wondered.
Caitlin shook her head. “It didn’t seem like it, and the paramedics didn’t think so.”
“Did he have any food allergies?” Rowen asked.
Caitlin gave a shrug. “I wouldn’t know, honestly.” She moved to the fridge and opened it. “Here. We have soda, water, tea.”
“Water is fine,” said Rowen.
“Same here,” said Eric.
Caitlin took a couple of bottles from the fridge and handed them over. “I’m surprised Rose came back.”
Rowen wasn’t sure why Caitlin was surprised. “The police needed to talk to her, Ben said. Besides, she wanted to be here for him. She cares a lot about him.”
Caitlin nodded, like maybe those weren’t thoughts she shared, but she was hardly going to argue. “Mom was kind of tough on her. You know how our mom can be. She likes to get a feel for people when she first meets them.”
“I remember,” Rowen said, forcing a smile. She wasn’t sure ‘getting a feel for people’ was an apt description of what the woman did, but she let it slide under the circumstances.
Ben came into the kitchen, Rose following close behind him. “It’s getting late,” he said. “If you guys need to go home, feel free.”
Rowen looked to her cousin, then back to Ben. “You guys done already?”
Rose shrugged. “I couldn’t really answer much.”
“If they have any more questions, they can ask her down at the station tomorrow,” Ben said, putting an arm around his girlfriend.
Rowen nodded. That sounded good to her. The sooner they got out of here, the better. “You ready to leave?” Rowen asked Rose.
Rose, in turn, looked at Ben who nodded. “It’s fine,” he said, offering her a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He led them to the door. Ben’s siblings all said their goodbyes. Mrs. Williamson didn’t say anything, though she did give an audible little huff when Ben and Rose kissed near the door before parting.
Rowen didn’t say anything until they were back in Eric’s car. “Well, Ben’s mother is exactly like I remember her,” she blurted.
“Rowen,” Eric and Rose said together, admonishing her.
“What?” Rowen asked. “She’s not a nice lady. If her brother hadn’t just died, I’d bet you anything she still wouldn’t be a nice lady. By all accounts, she wasn’t.”
“She’ll come around,” Eric offered, speaking to Rose as he pulled the car away from the house and headed towards home. “Everyone likes you.”
“I hope so,” said Rose, looking out the window and back at the house, thoughtful. “Can I still spend the night back at your place? Now, I really don’t want to go home.”
“Of course,” said Rowen, though she was thinking they would skip the movie marathon. More than anything, she thought all of them just wanted some sleep.
Chapter Two
The story of Ben’s uncle was a tricky one. It was breaking news. Not much happened in Lainswich, so a sudden death in the family of their chief of police was a big deal. Julia Martinez would be covering it, without a doubt. Rowen tried to use that fact to reason with her cousin.
“Mrs. Williamson loves Julia Martinez, right? She told you so herself,” said Rowen, sitting on the edge of Rose’s desk. “She’ll probably sensationalize it, play up the whole possible murder angle.”
“We don’t know it was murder,” Rose said quickly. “It was probably just an allergic reaction and, I don’t know, a bad heart or something. It probably wasn’t murder.”
“Right,” said Rowen. “Which is why we’re going to give just the facts. We don’t have to mention that any of us were there if you’re not comfortable with that.” Honestly, though, Rowen wished she could work that in there. An eye witness account would probably add to their credibility. “We’ll give just the facts and then, later, we’ll do a piece on the sort of person Ben’s uncle was. We’ll write something nice about him. How does that sound to you?”
“I don’t know,” said Rose, her hands clasped in her lap. “I guess I could call Ben and ask him.”
“I’m sure he won’t care,” said Rowen. She meant that too. Ben wasn’t going to tell them not to do their job. Surely he trusted them not to write anything terrible involving his family. “You do what you think you need to do though.”
Rose picked up her phone and went to step outside. “I’ll be right back,” she said. Rowen watched her go and headed back to her office. She got the article ready to post on the blog. She had spent some time on this one. The sooner they got it out, the better.
Peony and Willow came into the office. Peony kept glancing back, as if to check and see where Rose was. Willow got right to it. “We got scooped by Julia Martinez,” she said.
“That’s not a surprise,” said Rowen with a sigh.
“It’s not fair,” insisted Willow. “You and Rose were there and everything.”
“It’s complicated,” said Rowen, even though she more or less agreed with her cousins here. “You guys know how it is when the story is a personal one.”
“I think you and Rose should write about your experience there,” said Willow.
Again, Rowen agreed with her. “It’ll be fine,” she said instead. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not huge news. It’s a random tragedy. People are going to stop talking about this in, like, a week. Save this kind of enthusiasm for when a big story breaks.”
“But—” began Willow.
Peony nudged her sister in the arm. The front door had opened, and Rose was headed back in. “Come on,” said Peony. “Let’s go get some pictures of the new shopping center they’re building.”
Willow followed Peony, albeit reluctantly, and gave a smile to Rose as she passed her on the way out of Rowen’s office. Rose came up to Rowen’s desk after Willow had left. “He said it was fine to report everything.”
“See?” Rowen leaned back in her chair, feeling vindicated. “I told you he wouldn’t mind.” When Rose didn’t respond, Rowen frowned. Something seemed a little off about Rose. Her gaze was a bit distant, like she was deep in thought about something or another. “What’s wrong?” Rowen asked.
“Well,” Rose began. She took a seat across from Rowen, nearly missing it as she dropped down into the chair. “They, um, did an autopsy and, you know, a toxicology report and stuff.”
“Oh, yeah?” asked Rowen, her interest piqued.
“Yeah,” said Rose. She focused in on Rowen. “Ben says that it seems like he was poisoned. White baneberry, so it wasn’t just something in the food he was allergic to.”
“Oh, wow.” Rowen was genuinely surprised to hear that. “So it really was murder?” Maybe this was going to be a big story after all.
Rose nodded. “It certainly seems that way.” She shook her head. “This wasn’t how I’d envisioned meeting his family for the first time.”
Rowen tried not to smile. This really was bad luck and not at all a laughing matter. She reached across her desk and took Rose’s hand in her own. “I’m sorry. I really am. How’s Ben taking it?”
“Okay, I guess?” Rose sounded uncertain. “He seems annoyed he’s not in a position where he can really help with the case. Some people are coming from out of town to look into it. I don’t think he likes that much.”
Rowen couldn’t imagine that she would either. If this was her family, she would want to look into it herself. Of course, this had a lot to do with his position. It couldn’t really be helped. Speaking of jobs… “Julia Martinez put something out about all of this.”
Rose withdrew her hand from her cousin’s. “About the murder?” she asked.
“About the death,” Rowen corrected. “She doesn’t know that it was murder. We’re the first news source that knows that, I think.” She looked at her cousin, trying to gauge her reaction.
Rose didn’t seem to understand
what Rowen was getting at at first. She stared, frowning. Realization dawned on her all of a sudden. “No, Rowen,” she said, speaking firmly. “No, absolutely not. We can’t publish that.”
“Why not?” asked Rowen.
“We can’t take advantage of the situation,” said Rose.
“We’re not,” Rowen insisted. “We’re just doing our jobs. Ben told you that you could do your job, didn’t he?”
“I guess.” Rose didn’t seem convinced. “It doesn’t seem right.”
“Why not?” Rowen felt like there was something more here. If Ben didn’t want them doing anything with the story, he would have said as much. He had to know Rose would tell Rowen and that Rowen would want it in the papers as soon as possible.
