Marriages and Murders

by Raven Snow

  Eric and Rose were already seated at the table, eating. Apparently, Rose had decided to remain after all. Chester sat at her feet. He had his own paper plate with a hot dog on it, finely chopped up so that he wouldn’t choke. “I thought we agreed not to feed him people food.”

  “You told me not to feed him people food,” Eric corrected. “I maintain that it’s morally reprehensible not to feed him the occasional piece of human food. He’s a good boy, he’s old, and he doesn’t beg. He’s perfect, and perfect dogs get people food. Don’t they, Chester?” He adopted the sort of voice people reserved for babies and animals on that last part. Chester wagged his tail excitedly. Rowen just rolled her eyes and let it go. She took a seat next to Rose.

  “Did you call Ben?” Rose asked after only a moment’s worth of silence, like she couldn’t stand waiting even the slightest of time to find out.

  Rowen glanced up from spooning some sauerkraut onto her plate. “Yeah, he’s on his way here.”

  Rose nodded. “Okay. That’s fine.”

  “Good.” Rowen speared herself a couple of hot dogs next.

  “I was just curious is all,” said Rose.

  Rowen nodded. “Yeah, I mean that’s generally why people ask questions.”

  “I’m not avoiding him,” Rose added.

  “Okay.” Rowen reached for the ketchup. “It’s fine. You’re fine. Don’t stress yourself out.”

  “I’m not stressed out!” Rose swallowed and lowered her voice. “All right, maybe I’m a little stressed out.”

  “That’s fine.” Eric offered Rose a smile. He was good with smiles. They were always very kind, always reaching his eyes. “It happens to the best of us. I’m sure Ben feels the same way.”

  Rose actually scoffed a bit at that suggestion. “I doubt it.”

  Eric raised an eyebrow. “Why? It seems to me like he’d be feeling in some kind of a similar way.”

  Rose shook her head. “You don’t know him like I know him.” She turned to Rowen. “He was at work when you called him, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Rowen admitted.

  “See?” Rose prompted, as if that proved whatever point she was trying to make. “He compartmentalizes this stuff. He’s good at it.”

  “I don’t know.” Rowen wasn’t sure how much she should say, if anything. Ben hadn’t told her not to, but it felt odd to delve into their private conversations here. She tried to keep it vague. “I talked to Ben last night. He seemed pretty… upset about things. I mean, you know I dated him back in high school. I’d certainly never seen him like that before.”

  Rose raised her eyebrows. She trusted Rowen, after all. Rowen had no reason to lie to her. “What did—? What did he say?”

  “Just talk to each other.” Rowen took a bite of lunch expressly so she wouldn’t have to answer any more questions. Fortunately for everyone, it wasn’t long before Ben was knocking on the front door.

  Eric got up to answer it. Rowen was taking dishes into the kitchen and rinsing them off. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere,” she warned Rose. Her cousin was looking around like she was seriously considering slipping out the back door. “Don’t make this any weirder than it has to be. Come on.” Rowen walked to the den, making sure Rose was behind her. Sure enough, Ben was there. He’d stepped just inside but hadn’t gone any further than that. His hands were jammed into his pockets while he spoke to Eric. He turned when he noticed Rowen. Almost immediately, his eyes moved past her, focusing instead on Rose.

  “Hey.” That was all Ben said. He usually looked stiff, but today he seemed stiffer than usual. Rowen supposed that was to be expected. What was there for him to say in front of others? Rose hadn’t come home last night. That wasn’t something you just readily discussed in front of a crowd.

  “Hey,” Rose echoed, also stiff.

  “Sooo…” Eric rocked back on his heels, making an obvious effort to fill the silence with anything. “So, I hear this Marco kid is Dimitri’s son? What’s he like?”

  Ben shrugged. “Well, he’s not exactly a kid, for starters. I honestly couldn’t tell you much else. I haven’t spoken with him a whole lot. He agreed to meet with us at Dina Drew’s house today. That’s about the extent of what I know.”

  Rowen turned to Rose. “Do you want to come along?”

  Rose gave Rowen an incredulous look, like she’d betrayed her. “Why would I come along?” she asked. “I have work to get done.”

  “There’s probably a story there. You could get some shots for the Inquirer. I doubt they would mind. At this point, I’d like to think I’m pretty close to the family.”

  Rose scrambled for an excuse. “Peony and Willow have the camera. I don’t-”

  “You could still do a walkthrough,” Rowen urged. “You should, shouldn’t you? If you’re going to write about this stuff, you should at least see it. You could even call Peony or Willow. Tell whichever one has the camera to meet you there.”

  “I don’t think the family would mind,” said Ben, echoing Rowen’s sentiment. “You could always just send Willow or Peony to take the pictures for you. No reason for you to be there if you don’t want to be.” Ben added all that quickly. Rose had been put on the spot, and he was doing his best to take her off of it.

  Rose seemed to notice what he was doing. It must have helped her make up her mind. “I’ll go with you guys, I guess.” She pulled out her phone, likely to text either Willow or Peony.

  “I’d like to go too,” Eric added. “Should we take separate cars?”

  “I’ll take my own,” Rose said quickly, before she could be talked into riding alone with Ben. “I’ve got places I need to be right after this.”

  Ben nodded and stepped back out the door, leading the way to his cruiser. Rose left after him, eyes fixed on the ground. Rowen exchanged a look with her husband the moment their backs were to them. Were they doing more harm than good here or what?

  Eric just shrugged. What else could they do? Rowen did her best to push all that to the back of her mind. There were other things to take care of. Right now, what she needed to do most of all was find Dimitri. There was a reason he was sticking around, and it probably wasn’t for anything good. Either way, he needed to know he hadn’t gotten away with everything. Even if he was dead, the legacy he was leaving behind deserved to be irredeemably tarnished.

  ***

  There were a couple of cars in the driveway already. Rowen recognized Richard’s SUV. The other vehicle was one she hadn’t seen before. It looked nice. Its paint job was a glossy black. Rowen wasn’t too well versed with cars, but the silhouette of the thing certainly looked expensive. “That must be Marco,” Rowen guessed. “Why hang out where his father was killed?”

  “Couldn’t say.” Ben parked and got out. He had to go around to the back and let Eric out of the car like he was some kind of criminal.

  “I call shotgun next,” Eric said as he climbed out.

  “You’ll have to race me for it,” Rowen warned him. She waited as Rose pulled in just behind them.

  “Peony is on her way,” Rose said, once she’d parked and climbed out to join them. “I’m betting Willow comes along.” She rolled her eyes. “They treat this sort of thing like it’s a field trip.”

  “I told you that you need to be harder on them,” said Ben, conversationally. He spoke like they were having a normal conversation, one not preceded by an awkward, failed wedding. The way he seemed to bite the inside of his mouth after speaking said a lot.

  “Maybe,” Rose conceded, not looking at him. “But how about you run your people your way, and I’ll run mine my way.”

  Rowen sort of agreed with Ben here. She didn’t say that aloud. Instead, she just headed for the front door. She knocked and it was Richard who answered. He looked about the way Rowen felt. There were dark circles under his eyes. He was wearing the same clothes she had last seen him in, suggesting he likely hadn’t gotten any more sleep the night before. “Ah, Rowen, it’s good to see you again. I wasn’t- Is there som
ething you need?”

  “Sorry. Were you not expecting us?” Rowen motioned over her shoulder. “Ben said—”

  “Ah, Ben,” Richard interrupted with a nod. “Mr. Harris- That is, you know, Marco Harris said something about that.” His eyes focused beyond Rowen, taking in not only Ben but the others as well. “I didn’t expect so many people.”

  “Sorry,” Rowen said again. “I can send them on their way if it’s a bad time. That’s my cousin over there. She runs the Lainswich Inquirer. She was wondering if she could do a walkthrough of the house and maybe take a few pictures? You’re probably already aware that this house is kind of the talk of the town right now.”

  Richard laughed at that, though it sounded forced. “Don’t I know it?” He stepped to one side and held the door open wide. “I turned down Channel 2, but… I guess a paper is fine, especially if it’s you. Maybe enough pictures will remove some of the mystery from this place. I had to chase off some kids on their way to school this morning. Can you believe it? I cornered one and he told me they were daring one another to go in; that the place was haunted.”

  This time it was Rowen’s turn to give an awkward laugh. “Yeah, well, you know kids.” Honestly, she hoped those kids were right. Please let this place be haunted.

  Inside, the house smelled like Chinese food. Well, Chinese food and flowers. There were still quite a few buds around clinging to life. A man who looked to be a little older than Rowen stepped out from the kitchen. He was a tall gentleman, wearing a button up shirt and wrinkled dress pants. “Hey there,” he said, putting on the sly smile of a guy who looked like he did a lot of schmoozing. “I hear one of you has some questions for me?”

  “I’m the one who called you.” Ben stepped forward. He motioned to Rowen. “She’s actually the one who has some questions. She consults with the Lainswich police force. This is Eric, a private investigator.”

  “Private investigator, huh?” Marco glanced back at Richard. “Not sure we need one of those, do we? No offense, but it’s kind of obvious what happened here.”

  Richard nodded and looked away. He likely didn’t want to talk about his sister and her role in what had happened. That had to still be a bit of a sore spot.

  “I’m very sorry for your loss,” said Rowen, not because she meant it but because it felt like the polite thing to say. No one else was speaking up.

  “It’s all right. I was never very close to him,” Marco admitted. “We weren’t really on speaking terms when he passed. To be honest, I was shocked to hear I was still in the will. He must not have had the chance to change it.” Marco spread his hands helplessly, like the whole thing was some big mystery. “You guys probably know as much about him as I did at this point.”

  Rowen nodded, not mentioning that she could perhaps argue that she knew more. Dimitri was, in all likelihood, a murderer. She doubted that Richard knew that. It was hardly appropriate to mention that now, though. It wasn’t as if she had her proof yet. “So, what are the two of you doing here?” Rowen asked. She knew it really wasn’t any of her business, but she couldn’t help but be a bit curious. It struck her as odd that the two men were sitting around, eating lunch in a house they had both lost a parent in.

  “I’m still packing up,” Richard explained.

  “And I thought I would meet him here so that we could chat over a nice meal,” added Marco. He looked around. “I know my father had plans to buy this place and tear it down. I’m trying to make my mind up on that. Richard and I have just been going over the specifics. Dad has all these advisers and accountants and junk that are blowing my phone up, trying to get me to sit down with them. You’d think they’d at least wait until my old man’s in the ground. I think they’re nervous about me meeting with Richard like this.”

  He gave Richard a punch on the arm that made the poor guy stumble. “Personally, I feel like it’s important to sit down with a guy like this, someone my dad spent his last days around. I wanna get a sense of what he was thinking, what his plans were. You know?”

  Rowen nodded even though she didn’t agree. He would probably be better off listening to all those advisers and experts. Rowen didn’t understand what he was doing here one bit. Richard didn’t seem to either. He looked terribly uncomfortable. Rowen wondered if he had given Marco the news that his father had been breaking into the house when he’d been killed by, of all people, Veronica. Behind her, Rose sneezed.

  “Bless you,” said half the room in only slightly staggered unison.

  “Allergies?” asked Richard.

  Rose nodded. “Probably.” She wiped at her eyes. They were quickly becoming red and puffy.

  “Probably the flowers,” said Ben. “She doesn’t do well around a lot of flowers.”

  Rowen was surprised Ben knew something like that. Even she hadn’t been aware of that little fact. Given all the gardening she had done with her cousin over the years, one would really think she’d pick up on that. Then again, Rose wasn’t really one to complain and most of their gardening had always been done on a schedule. Maybe she had just hidden it well with allergy pills and a stony resolve.

  Richard nodded in understanding. “My mom was the same way with certain flowers. I’m sure she has something around here that’ll help.”

  “I don’t want to impose,” sniffled Rose, fingers inches from her eyes like she was fighting the urge to rub them again.

  “It’s no imposition at all,” Richard assured her. “You wanted a tour of the house anyway, right?” He looked at the others and nodded to the dining room. “The rest of you can talk in there if you like. There’s plenty of Chinese food to go around if you’re hungry.”

  “I know I’m still a bit peckish.” Marco headed into the dining room. The others followed. The room itself was open to the kitchen. The cozy little dining room table was covered with brown bags and paper plates. Cartons of meat and rice and noodles sat open. “This is the weirdest thing. It’s so surreal.” Marco sat down in front of a paper plate that still had some food on it. He reached out for a carton of fried rice and emptied some out with a used pair of chopsticks as he spoke. “A couple of days ago I was in Vegas, short on cash. Today? Today…” He shook his head and gave a low whistle. “It’s so weird how your whole life can change just like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  Rowen, Eric, and Ben all sat down around the table. None of them reached for food. They all just sat there and watched Marco. He didn’t look at all torn up about his father’s death, Rowen noted. She had already made that observation, but it was becoming clearer to her by the second. This was a man excited by the prospect of fortune coming his way. He was trying not to appear too excited and doing a very poor job of it. “So you’re going to carry on his legacy?” asked Rowen.

  Marco looked up, some of the rice spilling from his chopsticks. “Hmm?”

  “The grocery store,” said Rowen. “You’re going to buy this place and put a grocery store on it, right? That’s what your father wanted to do.”

  “Ah.” He took a bite of rice. “Right, yeah. I’m thinking about that. I mean… I wasn’t at first, but I can’t seem to get the idea out of my head, you know? I had a dream about it last night. It’s crazy. I don’t even remember my dreams half the time. This stuff is weighing down on me more than it should.”

  “What kind of dream?” Rowen asked so quickly her words almost overlapped his. In her experience, spirits could often infiltrate dreams a lot more easily than they could manifest physically.

  Marco raised an eyebrow. It was an odd question to ask, but he answered it anyway. “Just dreams about my dad, I guess. I’m out doing my own thing, and he’s following me around, yelling at me to build up this health food empire of his.” Marco smirked. “Like he’s a king and I’m a prince who needs to take up the crown, preserve his empire. It’s ridiculous.”

  It wasn’t. Rowen scanned the room, straining to feel some kind of spiritual energy. Dimitri was around here somewhere. He had to be. This meant a lot to him. This grocery
store and his reputation as the generous founder of it were all the legacy he had in life. He hadn’t been a family man or even a particularly good person. Rowen would be surprised if he had left behind so much as a close friend. He wanted his business as a legacy and, as little as he seemed to think of his son, he needed him to preserve it.

  “What were you up to in Vegas?” asked Eric. He reached for a bag of crab rangoon and pulled one out for himself.

  Marco beamed and launched into a description of the hotel he had been staying in. “They had one of those pools on the roof, the kind where the deep end goes off the edge of the roof and has a glass bottom. It was insane, absolutely insane.”

  “I stayed at a place that had one of those once.” Eric tore a corner of the crab rangoon off and popped it into his mouth as the two continued their chit chat back and forth over mundane things.

  Rowen was thankful. She knew her husband had engaged Marco in conversation for her. He could tell she needed to remove herself from the conversation and really concentrate. She needed to find Dimitri. He was around here somewhere. He had to be. She took a deep breath and let the conversation going on around her fade away. Dimitri, she called, keeping it all in her mind. That generally didn’t work quite as well as just speaking aloud, but saying something right now seemed like it would be exceptionally awkward. Rowen kept it all in her own head. Dimitri Harris, she called again. I know you’re here. That was a lie. She didn’t know he was here. She tried to keep that bit from her thoughts. Better if he was under the impression that he couldn’t hide anything from her.

  After several moments of silence Rowen was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, she had been mistaken. Maybe Dimitri really wasn’t here. Maybe he had stayed back at his son’s hotel room. Maybe he had already moved on altogether. That last thought was troubling.

  Just as Rowen’s pessimism was beginning to get the better of her, someone else’s thoughts filtered through her brain. What are you doing here?