by Raven Snow
“You’re not. As far as he’s concerned, this was all me.” If someone was going to get in trouble, Rowen figured that it might as well be her. What point was there in them both getting scolded?
***
When they got to the station it took some additional prodding to make Eric stay in the car. He could be a stubborn man when he needed to be. He was also quite a bit larger than Rowen was. It wasn’t like she could physically stop him from doing whatever it was that he wanted. “And how are you going to help by just being there?” Rowen asked him.
“I don’t know,” Eric admitted. “Moral support.”
“Don’t need it. Look, sit here and wait, please. I’ll be right back.”
Eric sank back into his seat with a huff. “Fine, but if you take too long, I’m coming in after you.”
“Fine.” Rowen figured that was the best she was going to get. She headed inside and to Ben’s office. She turned some heads as she went. The receptionist tried to call her back to wait in the waiting room, but Rowen had done this plenty of times. She knocked on Ben’s office door shortly before letting herself in.
Ben’s office was as cramped as always. There were stacks of papers and folders everywhere. Ben himself was behind a big, cluttered desk, doing something or another on his computer. He looked up when Rowen entered. “Take a seat,” he said, indicating one of the chairs before him. At least those were free of clutter.
“How long is this going to take?” Rowen wasn’t too keen on the idea of sitting. She didn’t want a lecture. She was too old for them.
“Just take a seat.”
Rowen, reluctantly, did as she was asked. “What is it?”
Ben leaned forward against the desk, folding his arms on it. “Is there anything you feel you should tell me?”
Rowen considered that question. She thought back to Veronica. Did she really want to throw her under the bus based on a suspicion alone? “I don’t have anything definite. You know how this works with me. It’s hard to be sure about something. I have to do the research before I can say for sure.
“Is there anything I should know?” Ben asked again.
“Not as far as I’m concerned.”
Ben frowned. He leaned back in his chair. He looked tired, like he was disappointed in her. “I got suspicious, so I gave Veronica a call. It sounds like you showed up on her doorstep too?”
Rowen winced. She hadn’t expected to be called out on that. “We didn’t even make it past the front door. She wouldn’t let us in.”
“But you still found something out.” It wasn’t a question. Ben seemed to just know that was the case.
“Like I keep saying, it’s hard to prove any sort of suspicion I have without doing some legwork for it. It requires some thought. Maybe, if you would let me see Dimitri’s body, then—”
“No,” said Ben.
“What?” Rowen hadn’t expected that. “What do you mean, ‘No?’ How is this any different from the way we’ve always worked together?”
“We haven’t always worked together,” Ben pointed out. “I was willing to give this a go for Rose’s sake, but it really isn’t working out. I can’t risk you trampling through potential crime scenes or blurting out facts to suspects. You’re more a liability than you are helpful. I can’t keep bringing you in for this sort of thing. It wouldn’t be responsible of me.”
“Responsible?” Rowen repeated, standing and knocking the chair back without meaning to. “My family and I solving crimes your police force couldn’t isn’t responsible? That’s idiotic.”
“Hey,” Ben warned. “Regardless of whether you agree with me or not, there are certain protocols that have to be followed. I don’t make the rules.”
“No,” Rowen agreed. “You just enforce them.”
Ben nodded at that. “As I should. I’m the Chief of Police here in Lainswich. It’s my job to set an example.”
“The example being that you’re willing to fire a soon-to-be family member the night before your wedding?”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with all of that.”
“Sure it does.” Rowen wasn’t trying to threaten him. It was a simple fact. The Greensmiths were going to be angry about this. You stood up for family, even if it meant breaking the rules. Rowen took a deep breath and tried to calm herself before continuing. “Doesn’t it matter more if you solve the crime? That’s the important part, right? We both know you wouldn’t be asking for my help if you and your men could figure all this out on your own.”
“It still doesn’t make it right.”
Rowen threw her hands up in the air. “Fine. Do what you want.” She wasn’t going to keep at it. What was the point in that? He seemed determined to be angry with her. That was his right, Rowen supposed. She headed for the door. It was her right to just waltz right on out of this place if she wanted.
The door burst open before Rowen could leave the office. Eric stood there, mouth opened as if he expected to launch right into an argument. When he saw Rowen, he paused. “It’s fine, dear,” Rowen assured him. “I was just leaving.”
Ben didn’t call after either of them as they walked from the station. “What was all that about?” asked Eric.
“The normal stuff Ben gets annoyed about.” Rowen shrugged like it was no big deal. Honestly, she still wasn’t sure if it was yet. “You know him. You know how he gets.”
“I take it we’re not on this case anymore?”
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault… Well. I guess it’s partly your fault.”
“He’ll cool down,” Rowen offered, because he usually did. “I’m thinking that maybe he’s just on edge because of the wedding. I mean, that would have anyone acting like that, wouldn’t it?”
“I couldn’t say. I didn’t get particularly nervous before our wedding.”
“Yeah, well, either way let’s keep this from Rose for now.” There wasn’t any point in telling her before her big day. She was already upset enough about everything. Why give her something else to worry about?
“So, I guess we’re not going to have access to the body like we were promised.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” Rowen cringed. “That really is my fault. I’m sorry.”
“Like you said, he seems on edge. Besides, I wouldn’t have gone along with your plans if I didn’t see merit to them.” Eric paused as he reached for the car door. “So, I take it we’re still going to be looking into this thing?”
Rowen snorted. Did it even need saying? “Of course we’re still looking into this thing.”
Chapter Ten
The day of the wedding was a disaster. Rowen was beginning to suspect that every wedding day everywhere was a disaster. Every single Greensmith was running back and forth and up and down stairs. There were about a million little things to finish and several big things that really should have been over and done with days ago. Literally everyone in the house was multitasking on something or another.
Rowen was in charge of fixing Rose’s hair and doing Willow’s makeup. She still wasn’t quite sure how she had gotten saddled with the latter. “I’m going to be in pictures and Margo refuses to do it. She said she’s too good at it. She said that I should ask you because it’s rude to stand out at a wedding if you’re not the bride.”
Rowen flicked blush down the length of Willow’s nose. “Well, fine. You can do it yourself then.”
“Hey!” Willow stood and hurried to the mirror. She tried her best to brush it off, blowing upward at her nose like that might help.
Meanwhile, Rose sat perfectly still. She hadn’t said anything in a while. She just stared straight ahead, past her own reflection in the mirror. With her long black hair curled around her head in braids, she looked absolutely lovely. Rowen was in the process of curling the tendrils of hair not in braids. It was shaping up to be a lovely hair-do, if Rowen did say so herself. Even so, Rose wasn’t paying much attention to it.
“Are you all right?” Rowen knew that her cousin
wasn’t, but she asked anyway.
“Hmm?” Rose blinked a few times. She looked up at Rowen’s reflection. “Oh, yeah. Sure… Are you okay, Willow? Your nose looks red. Are your allergies acting up?”
Willow made a disgruntled sound and reached for the foundation. She began caking it on over the red stripe. “She’s fine,” Rowen assured Rose. “You seem distracted, though.”
“Big day, isn’t it?” Rose smiled, but it looked strained. There was something on her mind. That much was clear. All of a sudden, it was like there was a question on her lips. “Rowen?” she began.
“Hmm?” Rowen set the hair curler aside.
“Did Ben take you off the Dina-Dimitri case last night?”
Rowen hadn’t said anything about that. It had seemed like a bad idea to do so right before the wedding. She definitely didn’t want to go into it now, not that it looked like she had much of a choice. She needed to choose her next words carefully. “It was our fault.” She hated to admit that, but it wasn’t incorrect. “Eric and I do plenty that could threaten Ben’s position. You know that.”
“Yes, but Ben knows that too.” Rose frowned at her reflection in the mirror. “We’ve talked about it multiple times, at length. Obviously, you’re a risk. Even I’m a risk. A private investigator and a newspaper and blog. He’s directly associated with both through us and it doesn’t get riskier than that. He was the one who decided solving the crime was more important. The ends justify the means within reason, and he’d decided that the Greensmith family was within reason. We don’t act maliciously or for personal gain. We’re just trying to do the right thing. You’re trying to do the right thing.”
“We can talk about it later,” Rowen offered. “It’s not like this is the first time something like this has happened. Ben has told us to stay away plenty of times in the past. This is our fault, Rose. Honest. Don’t let it ruin your big day.”
Rose stared again at her own reflection, meeting her own stony gaze in the mirror. Her big day was ruined now, if it hadn’t been from the start. “I don’t want to live my life with me and my family being a thorn in my husband’s side.”
It was the day of the wedding. Rowen knew she should probably argue here, but what could she possibly say? Rose wasn’t wrong. It was a terrible time for her to figure all these things out for herself, but figure them out she had. Granted, she could very well change her mind on the whole thing a few minutes later. “Do you want me to get Ben?” she asked. “Or your mom? We can still call this part of the wedding off.”
Rose winced. “I can’t do that to Aunt Nadine.”
“As if Aunt Nadine will mind.”
Even Willow looked up from her own personal ordeal. “Mom wouldn’t be mad at you,” she said, like that should be obvious. “She’d want you to be happy.”
“I don’t want to ruin her wedding.”
“I think she’d rather you upset the wedding a little bit than ruin your life,” Rowen pointed out.
“Yeah,” Willow chimed in. “I mean, I guess you can always get the whole thing annulled, but that’ll just, like… Make it more awkward in hindsight.”
Rose sighed and looked down at the floor. There was a lot on her mind. “I do love Ben,” she said, and Rowen believed that. They made a good couple. It just seemed that they still had things that needed to be worked through. “I do want to marry him.”
“Just not today?” Rowen ventured.
“What if we’re not compatible?” asked Rose. “If this isn’t something we can see eye to eye on, I’m not sure how we’ll ever function as a couple. This isn’t something I can just let slide. I mean, I love the Lainswich Inquirer and, more than that, I love my family.”
Rowen hugged her cousin from behind. Even Willow joined in. That sort of crowded things and messed up all the hard work on Rose’s hair a bit, but the intentions were pure. “We love you too,” Rowen assured her. “And we’ll love you no matter what you choose. I don’t think this is going to drive a wedge between us either way. We won’t let it. You just do whatever it is you feel is the right thing.”
“Like dumping Ben,” added Willow.
Rowen glared at her. “Or marrying him. Whatever makes you happy.”
“Yeah,” Willow agreed. “Whatever makes you happy.”
The door to the bedroom burst open and Uncle Norman stepped in. He had a suit on, which was probably the most flattering thing you could say. It was of a relaxed fit and was hardly buttoned up all the way, like he was planning on picking up a woman at this wedding or something. “You guys ready to go? It’s about that time. We’ve gotta get this show on the—What’s wrong?” Norman studied each of his nieces. There was obviously something emotional transpiring.
Rowen waved her uncle away. “It’s fine,” she lied. It wasn’t like there was anything that he could do about it. “We’ll be down in a minute. If you guys want to leave without us, that’s fine. I can drive Rose and Willow.”
Norman didn’t look convinced that everything was fine. He raised an eyebrow but finally stepped backward out of the room. There was likely already enough drama going on in the household. Rowen would be shocked if Aunt Lydia wasn’t on a rampage already. It was no small miracle that she wasn’t currently fussing over her daughter.
***
Rowen wasn’t sold on how much of a difference the real flowers had made, but she did have to concede that they looked lovely. Margo had arranged her bouquets on some of the rocks of the waterfall, near where the lady officiating stood. Extra flowers had been woven around limbs or scattered into petals on the ground. Aunt Nadine was no less pretty. Her dress wasn’t anything too fancy. Lydia had voted for more embellishments in the dress design but, in the end, Nadine had opted for something that was more herself. Her flowing white gown dragged along the ground. The idea that it might get stained didn’t look to bother her a bit. She was like a creature of the forest, some kind of mystical nymph or dryad you saw in old, Romantic paintings.
Peter, in his fine suit, was all smiles as she came down the little makeshift aisle. Neither of them had written their own vows. They weren’t the sort for that kind of thing. They looked happy instead to just be experiencing this moment together. The way they looked into each other’s eyes, Rowen could tell they had something special. There was a connection there. Maybe relationships didn’t last long in the Greensmith family, but Rowen hoped that they had broken the trend with this marriage. Nadine deserved some happiness.
The only problem with the wedding was the shadow Rose cast. She stood toward the back of the small gathering, a coat over her own white dress despite the heat. She kept looking up and making an effort to smile, but her gaze kept straying to the ground.
Ben stood across the makeshift aisle. He was wearing a nice suit, though Rowen could swear it was one she had seen him at work in. He too had his gaze mostly on the ground, like he was deep in thought. Had Rose already talked to him? If she had changed her mind, that seemed likely. It would only be more awkward if it came time for them to marry and Rose called it off right then and there.
Rowen was so distracted by Rose that she nearly missed the kiss. There was a round of applause and much cheering. Peony and Willow cheered the loudest. They may have had their own doubts about Peter, but in the end, they just liked seeing their mother happy.
Nadine was all smiles as she walked back to the end of the “aisle” with her now-husband. The woman officiating scanned the people before her. “And I hear there’s another happy couple that’s getting married today?”
“They’re putting it off,” Aunt Lydia said, almost before the woman had finished her question. The lady frowned but nodded. She was likely getting paid for her time either way.
Looks were exchanged between just about everyone but Rose. Rowen was surprised at how smoothly everything had gone. With the wedding out of the way, everyone was going to sit up near the top of a waterfall where a picnic was planned. Seeing that no one had approached Lydia, Rowen sidled up to the woman. “Hey,
” she hissed, slowing her pace so that she fell behind the crowd heading uphill.
Lydia slowed her pace as well. “Lovely wedding, wasn’t it?” She nodded at her sister, still arm in arm with Peter. “Her late husband would approve. I’m sure of that.”
“It was pretty,” Rowen agreed. “About Rose, though… When did she—”
“She came to me right before the wedding.” The smile fell from Lydia’s face. “I didn’t ask any questions. I trust she has her reasons.”
Rowen was surprised. That was unusual for Lydia. Her silence and expression must have communicated that she thought as much.
“It wasn’t the time to make her feel even worse about the whole thing. I’m sure she’s been struggling with this.” Lydia lowered her voice. “Though, since you seem to know already, what did happen?”
Rowen bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure it was her place to really get into this. “It’s a long story,” she said. “A lot of stuff came up and… They just need some time.”
Lydia nodded. She looked disappointed but she nodded. “I suppose they do. I still like Ben. I think he’s a fine choice for her, but-”
“But?” Rowen prompted.
“I’m not sure how Ben feels about us Greensmiths.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, look around you. His family didn’t even show up.”
“I think it’s more likely that Rose mentioned something to him beforehand.” Rowen knew Ben’s family still had their reservations about the Greensmiths, but they probably would have shown up to their son’s wedding. The two families had more or less made their peace over a case not so long ago. “Ben probably told them not to come at the last minute after that.”
Lydia waved a hand like that particular example didn’t matter. “You know what I mean. There’s always been something distant about Ben, even back when you were dating him.”
Rowen winced. “That was all the way back in high school. Besides, you said you liked him then.”
“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.”
