by Raven Snow
Rowen was inclined to agree with the man. Neither he nor his sister really seemed like the sort to murder someone. She didn’t say that, though. Instead, she just listened.
“That’s not what the police think, is it?” Richard looked to be becoming more alarmed by the second. “I mean, it didn’t sound like I was on their suspect list when they questioned me. Why change their minds now? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was here last night. You can ask my wife and kids. That should be enough of an alibi, right?”
“I really can’t speak for the police.” Rowen didn’t want to tell him he was in the clear just because he wanted to hear that. Besides, she still had questions of her own. “You asked earlier if I spoke with Dimitri, and I said I had… Now, my problem here is about the part where Dimitri told me he was meeting with someone. Dimitri told me that he was there meeting with you.”
Richard opened his mouth. It looked like he was about to say something, but no words came out. He just sort of sat there, slack jawed. At last, he looked to the floor again, folding his hands in his lap and wringing them.
Rowen hadn’t expected a reaction like this. She was seeing a lot of that with this case. There was more going on here than anyone knew. She could sense it. It appeared that Dimitri had been telling her the truth despite his earlier words. “So you were there last night.”
“No,” Richard said, quickly and loudly. “I was here, at home. Like I said, you can ask anyone in this house. I didn’t leave until this morning. Hopefully… I dunno. Hopefully, forensics shows that Dimitri was killed well before then or something. I wasn’t meeting with Dimitri last night. I was supposed to meet with him this afternoon. We were going to meet up at the house then head to a restaurant.
“And why was that?” asked Rowen, already racking her brain for what that might mean.
“He wanted to buy the house.” Richard shrugged. “It’s on a lot of land for where it is. He thinks one of those grocery stores of his would be a nice fit there.”
Well, that raised about a dozen different questions for Rowen. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Did you tell the cops?”
Richard shook his head. “It didn’t seem all that important. It only happened very recently. It was after I talked with you even. Dimitri approached me about it. He said he knew how difficult putting a house on the market was in this day and age. He knew that I didn’t want to live in it and my sister didn’t either. It would be next to impossible to find someone who would be willing to pay what it was actually worth. He said he wanted to do me and mine this kindness. He said it’s what Mom would have wanted.”
“And is it?”
“She would have wanted one of us to move in there.” Richard motioned to the house all around them. “I have too much money sunk into this. I loved my mother, but she could be a bit impractical. The next best thing would be selling it to someone who cared about her.”
Rowen supposed he could always donate it to Lainswich’s historical society. Not that that would have been her first choice either. Everyone wanted money, and she wasn’t going to fault Richard for that. “Had Dimitri tried to get your mother to move before all of this happened?”
“She told me once that he wanted her to move to Tarricville and live with him. Of course, she wasn’t going to go. My mother was a stubborn woman.” Richard frowned. “You aren’t thinking Dimitri had anything to do with my mother’s death, are you? You don’t think he killed her? I mean, how could he? She died of natural causes.”
“That’s the official report as of right now,” Rowen agreed. There were some doubts in her mind. She tried not to focus on them too much right now. Better to try and get a little more out of Richard. “Is there any way he could have mixed up the times? Is there some reason you know of that would have made him go to your mother’s house early?”
“Not that I know of. We called to confirm our plans last night. They seemed pretty clear to me. Heck, he was the one who made them.”
“Did he reach out to just you or you and your sister?”
At that, Richard began to wring his hands again. “As far as I know, he only extended the invite to me. He figured I was the one who inherited the house and I confirmed it for him. He invited me out to dinner to talk about possibly selling it. I would have called Veronica as soon as we were done talking. I wasn’t keeping her away from this on purpose or anything. I would have asked her for her opinion on it. She always weighs in on my big decisions. I love my sister. I trust her.” That last part was said firmly. Rowen believed him. He really did love his sister. He wasn’t about to let anyone try and pin even part of this on her.
Rowen reached for her recorder. “Thanks for your time. Do you know when you’ll be free to reenter your mother’s home?”
“I don’t know,” Richard admitted. “As soon as the police tell me it’s all right, I guess. There’s still a lot of packing to be done.”
“Do you think you could give me a call the next time you head out there?” Rowen had an idea. “There’s something I want to check, and I might need your help with it.”
Richard hesitated then shrugged. “I guess that’s fine. Whatever I can do to help solve this thing.”
“I really appreciate it.” Rowen handed Richard one of the business cards she and Eric had made up for their investigative company. “Give me a call if anything unexpected happens,” she told him before standing.
“I’ll do that.” Richard led her to the stairs, heading up first.
Rowen expected to find Eric having coffee with Amy—something along those lines. She imagined that Amy probably had him engaged in some tangent that wasn’t particularly helpful. Instead, Rowen found her husband seated on the sofa. The lights were out and a slide show was going. He did indeed have a mug in his hands, but that was about where the similarities to what Rowen had expected to be happening ended.
Richard groaned quietly, like this sort of thing happened often. “You know, our guests probably need to be leaving.”
Amy looked up from the projector. “Oh, don’t be like that. Eric here asked to see our wedding pictures! And it’s so rare that I get any kind of company whatsoever. Maybe if we got to invite people over from time to time.”
Eric threw a strained smile back at his wife. “I didn’t even know people had slide shows anymore.”
“It’s all gone digital now,” Amy said with a nod. “There’s something just so nice and nostalgic about a slide show, though. Isn’t there?”
“Oh, definitely,” Rowen said quickly.
“Here’s where I threw the bouquet,” said Amy, pointing. “Oh! And here’s a big family picture. There’s Dina. We’re all going to miss her. There’s no doubt about that. Wasn’t she stunning?”
Rowen nodded in agreement. Dina had a pretty, blue dress on. Her silvery hair had been pulled back into a braid. “I take it that’s Veronica right there?” She pointed to the woman standing next to Richard.
“Hard to miss, isn’t she?” Amy didn’t sound like she meant any offense by that. Veronica was indeed difficult to miss. She was wearing a sleeveless pink dress. Her wide shoulders and muscular arms were on display. Granted, it was hard to miss the musculature of her in whatever she was wearing.
“She’s impressive,” Rowen agreed.
“I wish I had time to get in shape.” Amy sighed. “Having two kids doesn’t really allow for that, though. They’re such a handful.” As if on cue, the kids burst from their room. Both had laser guns this time. Both Richard and Amy looked a touch embarrassed by the sudden noise. They hurried to quiet their children together.
In the meantime, Rowen went up behind her husband and spoke quietly. “You don’t think Veronica could be responsible for Dimitri’s death, do you?”
Eric looked back at his wife. He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”
“Well, she certainly looks capable, doesn’t she?” Rowen nodded toward the screen. “I bet she could give you a run for your money. An old guy like Dimitri would never stand a
chance.”
“Did you see the body?” asked Eric. “Did he look like he’d taken a beating.”
“I didn’t hear about the cause of death or anything. I’m not really an expert on that sort of thing. I guess, maybe, he looked like he had been roughed up a bit.”
“It takes a lot of roughing up to actually kill someone, you know.”
“I know,” she assured him. “But it still seems worth going and asking her about it, doesn’t it?”
“Are you just doing this because you’re annoyed at Ben?”
Rowen rolled her eyes. “Come on. You know me better than that. I’d want to solve this thing regardless. You do, too. We solve mysteries. It’s our thing.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Eric got up. Around the time he did, Richard and Amy were returning from the kid’s bedroom. “Sorry to just skip out on you like this, but my wife and I really need to get going.” Eric motioned back to the slide show. “Great pictures, by the way.”
“I was almost done with them,” said Amy. “Showing you the rest would only take about five minutes.”
“We have a wedding of our own to go to tomorrow, actually,” said Rowen. “We should be getting things together for that now.”
Amy nodded like that was understandable. “Well, it was good meeting you! Come back any time!”
Richard waved as his visitors left. If anything, he seemed relieved to see them go. Rowen couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t having a good time of anything lately. After the answers Rowen had gotten from him, she had more questions than ever. She would need to go elsewhere for those answers.
Eric got into the car and waited for Rowen to do the same. “They seemed nice,” he offered. “Finding people who are friendly with Greensmiths in Lainswich is sort of a rarity, isn’t it?”
Rowen rolled her eyes. “That Amy woman was just interested in you.”
“I dunno about that. I don’t think you show your wedding slide show to guys you’re trying to woo.”
“I didn’t say she was trying to get you in bed. She’s just lonely.” Rowen woke her phone up and began poking around on it.
Eric changed the subject. “Do you even know where Veronica Drew lives?”
“Sure I do.” Rowen punched it into the GPS. With the internet, you could find just about anyone these days.
Eric rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure why I even asked. Fine. Let’s head that way.”
Chapter Nine
There was no guarantee that Veronica would even be at home. It was clear that she was an active woman. As such, it was likely she spent most of her time out and about. At least they wouldn’t be out a whole lot of time and effort if she wasn’t there. The drive wasn’t a particularly long one. Soon enough, Eric was pulling in the driveway of a tiny little house. There wasn’t a vehicle in it, but the garage door was closed. Someone could still be inside.
Rowen got right out and headed for the door. She heard Eric following behind her. She hadn’t called ahead of time, of course. Rowen much preferred getting spontaneous reactions. People were more honest when they didn’t have time to prepare answers. Maybe that was a mean thing to do, but it seemed more important in the long run that they actually catch murderers.
Rowen knocked. There wasn’t an answer at first. She worried that Veronica was indeed out and about. That would be just her luck. She knocked again. This time, a voice came from the other side of the door. “Who is it?”
“Rowen and Eric Greensmith,” called Rowen. “We’re here for Veronica. We’ve just got a few questions.” Her gaze was drawn to the left of the door as someone peaked through the blinds. This seemed unlike Veronica.
When the door opened, Veronica was standing there in a tank top and pajama pants. “What are the two of you doing here?” she asked, looking from Eric to Rowen.
“Like I said, we just want to talk.” Rowen tried to put on a smile and make it sound like it was no big deal. She wasn’t sure quite how successful she was with that. “We’re looking into all that nasty business with Dimitri. We checked out the crime scene and just got finished talking to your brother. We figured we would try to speak with you next.”
“With me? Why?”
“Because it seemed like the obvious thing to do,” Rowen ventured. That at least seemed like a given as far as she was concerned. Her suspicions were only strengthening at this point. Veronica was acting rather strange.
“Did Richard say anything?”
“Just some generic stuff,” Rowen wasn’t sure about passing on the information that Richard had been chatting with Dimitri. That might be something the police would want to keep to themselves. “It’s pretty standard.”
“Is there anything standard about a guy dying in the same place your mother died a few nights prior?” asked Veronica, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head at the ground.
“I guess not,” Rowen admitted. “If it is a coincidence, it seems like a huge one. That’s why we’re trying to cover our bases. My two cents really don’t matter, but it didn’t look like an outright murder to me. It looked more like an accident.”
“When was the last time you saw Dimitri Harris?” asked Eric before Veronica could respond to Rowen. “Just so we have an idea of where he’s been recently. We talked to him not so long ago. It had sounded like he wasn’t coming up to the funeral until the last minute.”
“I don’t know where I saw him last,” Veronica said, still speaking just a little too fast. “Maybe it was the last time I was up at his store. I haven’t really been thinking about it. Everything has been so busy lately, I lost track of a lot.”
Eric went for a new question. “When was the last time you were packing up things at the house then?”
“I really don’t have time for this,” said Veronica instead of answering. She took a step back into her house and made a move like she was about to close her door. This wasn’t the same Veronica that Rowen had met not all that long ago. This Veronica was on edge. Her eyes were red and puffy. She looked like she was trying to come to terms with something that had happened to her, something bad.
“What’s wrong?” asked Rowen, dropping the investigative persona for a more personable one. She found herself concerned about Veronica. She wanted her to be all right.
“Well, my mother just passed, if that’s what you mean,” Veronica said, flatly.
“Of course, I mean, is there something else that--”
“I just want some time to myself before the funeral. Is that too much to ask for?” She closed the door in their faces.
Rowen looked at her husband. He shrugged and headed back to the car. “Well, that didn’t take long,” said Eric.
Rowen nodded in agreement. “Weird, though. Wasn’t it?”
“Something like that.”
“She seemed like such a nice lady the last time we met. What do you think her problem was?”
“Well.” Eric took one long look back at her house before pulling onto the road. “Given recent events, I’m sure she has plenty of problems. But, I’m thinking the problem you want her to have is guilt. She feels guilty that she killed Dimitri.”
“You got the same feeling from her too though, right? It wasn’t just me.”
“It wasn’t just you.” Eric sighed. “This is getting complicated. We should probably let Ben know.”
Rowen groaned. “Do we have to? I’m so tired of him lately.”
“It seems like the right thing to do.”
It wasn’t like Eric needed to say it. It was obvious. Rowen was just stalling. She picked up her phone and went into the contact list. She started to select Ben’s name when the phone rang. It was Ben. “Well, speak of the devil.” She answered the phone. “Hey, Ben, what’s up? I was just about to call you.”
“You should have called me by now,” said Ben. His voice was tense. It was easy to tell that he was mad about something already. Rowen had a feeling she knew what. “You shouldn’t have even had to call me for that matter. You should have told me from the be
ginning.”
“Is this about the Richard thing?” asked Rowen, trying to keep her voice calm. Maybe if she played it cool, he wouldn’t make a huge deal out of all of this.”
“When I work with you and Eric on a case, I expect a certain level of professionalism. I expect you to report all your information to me. I expect us to be working together. This isn’t a race, Rowen.”
“It kind of felt like a race when you were in a hurry to get that body out of there,” Rowen muttered.
“What?” asked Ben, his tone short and curt in tone. Even Eric shot Rowen a warning look.
“I’m sorry. Like I said, I was just about to call and tell you. I just wanted to check it out for myself first. Spirits don’t always tell the truth, you know? I didn’t want you heading over there with a bunch of police if there was no reason to. You told me yourself when we started working together that you wanted my side of things secret when it needed to be. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“I’m not sure that phrase applies here.”
“Are you sure? I think it can mean lots of things now. Like, I don’t tell you when we do something legally questionable, and you don’t ask any questions. It’s the same way with Rose, isn’t it?”
“Just leave her out of this.” Ben had lowered his voice. “Come down to the precinct. We need to talk in private.”
Rowen started to object, but she could feel Eric’s eyes on her. He kept glancing in her direction, questions on his lips. She couldn’t just refuse Ben. She didn’t want to jeopardize Eric’s job. He didn’t deserve that. He loved this gig. “Fine. I’m headed that way now.” Rowen hung up and looked to her husband. “To the precinct,” she instructed. “I need to go talk to Ben. I need to talk to him alone.”
“I’m coming in with you,” Eric insisted.
