by Raven Snow
“I believe you,” said Eric, nodding. “You aren’t that protective of someone unless you love them quite a lot.”
Or you murdered their husband and don’t want them to have the chance to rat you out, Rowen thought but didn’t say out loud. Instead, she just smiled and nodded.
“He’s a good brother,” Edith agreed with a smile. “My whole family was really good to me. I can’t complain on that front.”
“This whole part of town seems like an all-around great place to live,” Eric said with an approving nod.
“Oh, yes. Everyone’s great.” Edith smiled. “I’ve lived here all my life. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“What about your husband?” asked Eric. Even Rowen wasn’t sure where he was going with that question at first.
“What?” asked Edith. “What about my husband?”
“Was he originally from here?” asked Eric.
“Oh.” Edith sounded relieved to hear that was all he was asking. “He’d lived here all his life, yes.” She nodded.
“Hmm.” Eric raised an eyebrow. “His family doesn’t seem to live here.”
“Oh, they used to,” said Edith. “They all moved away except for him.”
“And why was that?” asked Eric.
Edith looked up from where she’d been staring at the floor. She stared at Eric as if she wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Well, I suppose because he was married to me,” she said, finally.
Eric nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Did he love it here as much as you did?”
“Well, it was his home.” Edith shrugged her shoulders. “I assume he liked it some, otherwise he wouldn’t have stayed here when his parents left.”
“He never tried to convince you to move away with him?”
“Not that I can remember.” Again, Edith shrugged. “I mean, we had just bought this place. He wasn’t going to leave just because someone asked him to.”
“Who asked him to?”
Edith stared, not saying anything at first. “His family,” she said, finally. “I mean, obviously his family wanted us to come along with them. They were moving the entire Lucas clan out West. We were part of that family, so of course we were expected to go with them.
“But you didn’t want to go either.”
“Of course not. I love it here.”
“Did you and your husband usually agree about things?”
Rowen looked at her husband. She wasn’t completely sure where he was going with this line of questioning, but he was surely going somewhere. Rowen couldn’t help but feel even more sorry for poor Edith. It was obvious that she wanted them to leave. She just didn’t have the nerve to tell them so.
“What do you mean?” asked Edith, with the slow cadence of a woman who was stalling.
“Did you agree on things?” Eric repeated. “Did you have a lot in common when it came to your opinions?”
“Well, I didn’t agree with him on everything. I can’t imagine any wife does.” Edith offered a strained smile to Rowen and Rowen smiled back.
“Most things, though,” Eric rephrased. “Did you agree about most things?”
“I don’t know,” Edith said, reflexively. “I’m told I’m an agreeable person, so I suppose we did.”
“Was he an agreeable person?” It was obvious Eric was looking for something negative Edith had to say about her late husband. Rowen wasn’t entirely convinced that would do them any good, but she let him ask his questions anyway.
Edith seemed to be catching on to Eric’s plans as well. “What do you want me to say?” she asked. “I’m not going to bad mouth my dead husband. What would that even accomplish?”
“I’m just trying to get a better feel for what kind of a man your husband was,” Eric explained. “My wife here isn’t going to publish anything disparaging about you or your husband. No, we quite agree with you. That wouldn’t do anyone any good in the long run of things. I’m just trying to get a feel for where the community stands on all this. All the family members we’ve talked to seemed to dislike the Lucas family. Helen and Dennis were here just the other day attempting to steal things that didn’t belong to them.”
Edith sighed. “His family aren’t bad people any more than he was. They just… They can be difficult sometimes, I suppose. They get these ideas in their head, and there’s no changing their minds. It’s not like I wouldn’t have let them take what they wanted. Not that Tim left behind a whole bunch. He wasn’t really a man who valued things, you know?” She looked this way and that, scanning the room. “The things they mostly tried to take was stuff that wasn’t his to start with. I hate that.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Eric asked, right before his attention was drawn away by a loud sound outside. All three people in the room looked up. The sound seemed to be coming from the front lawn. For a second there, Rowen was sure that it was Timothy’s family again. They were back to try and steal away more things that didn’t belong to them.
Rowen stood when her husband did, heading for the window. Already, her mind was jumping to other conclusions. Maybe Orville had come over already. That was what Eric had been hoping for. Rowen was nervous about what they could expect from him, but it was probably preferable to having to call the cops to Edith’s home again. As it turned out, both her fears were wrong. Eric parted the curtains to find at least half of Lichen Hallow out front. “What in the world?” Rowen asked aloud, not sure what she could even say about any of this. She recognized a lot of the people out there, but most of them were complete strangers to her. There had to be, at least, twenty men and woman standing out front forming a circle around Eric and Rowen’s vehicle.
Eric headed for the door but Rowen caught him by the arm. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, reluctant to let him go outside. She wasn’t sure what the people out front were planning, but she could feel the hostility coming off of them in waves. Whatever they were up to, it wasn’t good.
One of the people out front dropped down to one knee and fished something out of his back pocket. Without hesitation, he flicked the blade out and slashed the tire. He moved on to the tire in front in the same breath. Someone else kicked the door, hard.
Eric pulled his arm from Rowen’s grasp and ran out the front. Rowen heard the front door open and slam shut before she even had a chance to speed after him. She couldn’t let him go out there alone! Rowen ran after her husband as fast as her legs would carry her. “Eric!” she yelled, jumping off the front porch.
“Where do you think you’re going!” Eric yelled after the people fleeing the scene of their crime, like that wasn’t the best-case scenario right now.
“Eric!” Rowen yelled, getting to the car and calling him back to it. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
Eric stopped but turned on Rowen like she had lost her mind. “Didn’t you see what they did to our car?!”
“We’re outnumbered and a long way away from help!” Rowen hissed after him. “You’d better be glad that’s all they did.”
Eric glared at Rowen and then after the people still fleeing. It was with a heavy sigh that he finally returned to their car. “Now what are we supposed to do?” he groaned. “This thing is busted.”
Rowen hadn’t had a really good look at the car yet. It didn’t take a whole lot of looking to determine that her husband was right. Aside from some sizable dents, the tires were pretty thoroughly slashed. The tail lights and fender were in rough shape as well. It looked like someone had taken a bat to the whole thing. Even the windshield had a sizable crack in it. They might have done worse given more time. “We’ll need to call someone out here,” said Rowen, trying to keep her tone level so Eric didn’t flip out again. She really needed him to stay calm right now. “Until then, let’s go back to Edith’s house and explain the situation.”
“And if Orville shows up now?” asked Eric.
He had a good point there. That would present a whole new and exciting set of problems that would be even more difficult
to deal with. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Okay, but what if it does?”
“Then we run and just keep running? What do you want me to say? It was your idea to come here, remember? Don’t snap at me.” Rowen bit her tongue after she realized what she had just said. Here she was trying to keep Eric calm and, instead, she was picking fights.
“All right,” said Eric. “Fair enough.” He sagged a bit looking at his car. At least he seemed to be thinking rationally now.
“Come on. Let’s get back inside before they come back wielding pitchforks.” Rowen walked back to Edith’s front door. She knocked. She waited a few moments, didn’t hear any movement, and knocked again. “Edith?” she called. When it became clear that no one was answering the door, she tried opening it for herself. It was locked. Uh oh. Rowen looked back at Eric. He was a few feet away, chatting on his phone.
“It’s not really in drivable condition… Yeah… I’d appreciate that. Thanks.” Eric hung up and looked back to Rowen. “What?”
“We’re locked out.”
Eric swore. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it. Edith had every right to lock them out. It was surprising she had let them in a second time. After Eric’s line of questioning, she really had no reason to let them back in. “Well, let’s get off her front lawn, I guess.”
Rowen wasn’t sure about leaving their car and hanging out on the street. “Who did you call?” she asked, walking out to the curb. She would have just as soon knocked on Edith’s door a few more times, but that probably wasn’t an appropriate thing to do.
“I called Rose. I wasn’t sure if the situation warranted calling Ben. I figured I’d leave it up to her, take the blame off of us if he gets mad about it.”
“I’m not sure how that would work, but good idea.” Whatever Rose chose, Rowen was sure it would be a good idea.
“I can’t believe this,” Eric groaned, taking a seat on the curb.
Rowen sat down beside him. “Seriously? Because I can. Ben warned us to be careful around here. We kind of pushed our luck, don’t you think?”
“Maybe a little bit,” Eric conceded. He heaved a big sigh and reached out, putting his arm around Rowen’s shoulders. “But I think we can both agree that, given all the times you’ve screwed up, I’m allowed to lead us into one or two bad situations. Heck, you even aided and abetted with this one!”
Rowen glared at her husband, but she couldn’t keep from smiling. “I don’t know about all that.” She kissed him on the cheek anyway. “So, did you get that proof you were looking for?”
“Not even kind of.” Eric sighed. “I’ll still stand behind my theory, though. And I’ll call the day a win if we can make it out of here before the angry horde comes back.”
“Fair enough.” Rowen leaned against Eric. She was settling in for the next hour of sitting there on the curb when she heard a voice.
“Pssst!” someone hissed, loudly. “C’mere! Can you hear me? Hey, come on!”
Rowen and Eric both turned back toward Edith’s house. She still wasn’t at the door. The sound in question appeared to be coming from a neighbor’s trailer. It was a ramshackle double-wide with a porch built onto it. On the porch stood a little old woman with rollers in her hair and a faded red robe pulled tight. Rowen and her husband exchanged uncertain looks.
“I’m just going to go back inside if you’re going to sit there gaping,” the old woman said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Yes, Ma’am?” Eric addressed the woman and stood, taking a few steps toward her. “What is it?”
“Do you folks want to come inside or wait out there for more folks to come and get mad at ya?” the old woman asked, not mincing any words about it.
Eric looked back at Rowen. She wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t been prepared for an offer like that. I don’t know, she mouthed.
Eric turned back to the old woman. “Thank you, Ma’am, but-”
Rowen stood. “We’ll come inside! Thanks for the offer!” Rowen headed for the trailer. “I think I’ve got a good feeling about it,” she said on her way past Eric. In truth, she didn’t have a good feeling about going inside with the old woman. It was more that she had a bad feeling about remaining outdoors. It was easier to say she felt good about their chances with the old woman than to explain she could sense Orville on the way and didn’t like their odds confronting that guy one bit anymore.
“Thank you,” said Eric, coming up the stairs right behind Rowen. “We already called for a ride. We shouldn’t be here too much longer.”
“It’s fine.” The old woman waved a hand at them and opened the front door. “It’s not like I’ve got me somethin’ to do around here anyway. You’re the best bit of excitement to come here in months. I’m Brenna by the way.”
“I’m Rowen, and this is my husband, Eric.” Again, she left out their last names just in case.
“I know who you are. You and all the other people involved in this mess are all the town’s been talking about for days. Would the two of you like anything to drink?”
“No thank you, Ma’am,” Rowen said, quickly. “We’re fine.” She would have let Eric answer for himself, but she didn’t want to risk it. This woman didn’t seem like she had any malicious intent coming off of her, but you could never be too careful. She would just as soon not get poisoned on top of everything else.
“Well, I’m going to go get myself something to drink.” Brenna headed for the kitchen. “You two can take a seat anywhere you like… Except the green chair. The green chair is mine.” With that she left the room, leaving Rowen and Eric alone in the den.
The interior of the trailer was stuffy and dark, lit only by the light streaming in through windows. The windows and shelves were lined with pictures. Dozens of different boys and girls and men and women all stared back at Rowen through picture frames. There was a paisley couch that looked like it had come right out of the 60s across from Brenna’s green chair. Rowen and Eric sat down on that.
It wasn’t long before Brenna returned with a clinking glass of tea and ice. She sank down in her chair with a sigh and took a long sip of her beverage. After setting it aside, she put her hands in her lap and began to rock the recliner back and forth. What had to have been a full minute of awkward silence followed.
“Thank you for inviting us inside.” Rowen spoke up just to break the silence. “That was really nice of you.”
Eric nodded in agreement. “It was.”
Brenna shrugged. “Things get dull out here. I was peeking out the window at you for a while. Made more sense just to go ahead and invite y’all in. That way I didn’t have to strain my neck.”
Rowen felt a smile tug at her lips. “Well, I’m glad we could entertain you.”
“I can’t imagine why you’d come back here,” Brenna continued. “You must have figured you weren’t welcome before now, didn’t ya?”
“It kind of goes with the job,” said Rowen.
“Right.” Brenna nodded. “Reporters or some such, isn’t it?”
“The Lainswich Inquirer,” said Eric, leaving out the part where he was a private investigator and didn’t have a whole lot to do with the Inquirer himself.
Brenna nodded. “I don’t read that one. I don’t think anyone does out here. We’re not fans of thralls of Satan, you see.”
“Oh.” Rowen wasn’t sure how else to respond to that. She cleared her throat and tried to pick her next words carefully. “Well, I don’t know much about Satan worship. I am a Greensmith, though, if that’s what you mean.”
“Same difference,” Brenna said without pause. She seemed to notice how uncomfortable her statements had made Rowen then. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. I’m a good Christian woman. I figure it’s my duty to be nice to everyone equally. I don’t approve of a lot of that nonsense my neighbors get into. Trashing someone’s car like that is just no good.”
Eric leaned forward, his expression hopeful. “Does that mean you’d be w
illing to give a statement to the police? Maybe you could help us identify some of the people who did it?”
“I said I was a Christian, not a rat,” Brenna snapped. “I’m not going to turn in my neighbors. That’s their own business. They need to do what’s right all on their own.”
Rowen wasn’t sure quite how Christian like that was of her, but she wasn’t going to argue. “Well, we appreciate you letting us stay here while we wait anyway.”
Brenna nodded. “It reminds me of the old days.” A small smile came to the old woman’s lips. “I helped out another one of you Greensmiths… Lena, I think her name was?”
Rowen perked up at that. “Lydia?” she asked.
“That could be it. It was a long time ago.” Brenna took a sip of her tea. “I remember she had a wreck not all that far from here.”
“She mentioned that to me,” Rowen said with a nod. “She said some of the people here put down a spike strip.”
“I doubt it was anything all that sophisticated, but that sounds about right.” Brenna took another sip of her tea before sitting it back down. “We chatted for a while after she phoned for help. Helped keep her mind off of a broken leg. Interesting lady. Shame she’ll spend eternity in Hell.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “You have a very pragmatic attitude, Ma’am,” he said. Rowen could tell he was trying not to laugh.
“People out here can be a little backwards,” said Brenna. “It has its pros and its cons. A little stretch of land tucked away in a little town. Communities don’t get much closer knit than this.”
“I take it you’ve lived here all your life?” asked Rowen.
Brenna motioned to the pictures on the walls. “Sure have. Same with my mother and my mother’s mother before her. Just about everyone here stretches back generations.”
Rowen leaned back a bit on the sofa, making herself comfortable. She still wasn’t sensing any malice from this woman. “People don’t ever move away?”
“Not usually.”
“The Lucas family moved away though, right? Was that unusual.”
“It doesn’t happen often, but no one was very surprised. There aren’t any secrets between people out here in Lichen. If people don’t like you, they make it known.” Brenna chuckled. “You know that yourself now, don’t ya?” She motioned over her shoulder, toward their car.
