by Raven Snow
“So would I.” Ben gave her an appraising look. “So, why do you think it might be Jasper?”
“I don’t think that. Like I said, I just wanted to say something. You know, just in case.”
“You have a reason though.” It wasn’t a question. “You wouldn’t say something like that without a reason.”
Rowen took a deep breath. She hadn’t intended on saying any of this, but there didn’t seem to be a way around it. “I just thought… You know how Sutton and Margo have been, right?”
Ben’s expression morphed into one of realization. He sighed, sagging back into his seat. “Right. They’ve seemed awfully interested in one another as of late. You’re right.”
“I just thought… Well, maybe Jasper has noticed that too.”
“I suppose he would have to be blind or an idiot not to.”
Rowen inclined her head. “To be fair, he might be an idiot.”
“But he might also be a jealous, vengeful ex.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you’ve been thinking it.”
“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.” Rowen sighed. “But, yeah, that’s one of them.”
“Well, I can look into it on my end.”
“That might be a good idea.”
“You should probably let Margo know. It’s probably nothing, but if you’re doing all this just in case—”
Rowen nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’ve been putting it off, but… you’re right.”
Rowen did approach Margo after everything was said and done. Eric was getting some chips out of the vending machine while Margo and Rowen stood together at the other end of the waiting room. They had been figuring out the specifics of where they were going next for the last thirty minutes or so. Rose was still at the station. She was going to bring Rowen and Eric home with her. Margo would remain at the station until Sutton headed home. Rowen had offered to stay while she waited, but Margo had insisted she would be fine. Rowen wasn’t difficult to convince. She was exhausted and, if Margo was safe anywhere, it was at the police station.
“Don’t go back to the house and pack up my things tonight,” said Margo, taking a sip from her bottled water.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“It can wait until tomorrow. Make sure you don’t go alone.”
“You can come with me and do it yourself. How about that?”
“I kind of want to get some sleep. It’s been a very long night. It’s been a very long last few days.”
“Trust me, I know. We’ll find the time.” Rowen changed the subject before she agreed to doing a favor for Margo that she didn’t want to do. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Hmm?”
Rowen lowered her voice so that it was barely above a whisper. “I’ve been thinking about the person who’s after you and who that might be.”
Margo raised her eyebrows and focused on Rowen a bit more. She had been a little distracted before, but now all her focus was on Rowen. “You have a suspect in mind?”
“It’s just an idea I had. It’s probably not anything.” Rowen felt like she needed to make that clear. She got gut feelings about a lot of things, and they were often right. Her family listened to her about this sort of thing. “I don’t have any proof. And like I said, I’m probably wrong anyway, so—”
“Just spit it out.”
“This whole thing with you and Sutton—”
“I’m not—”
Rowen held up a hand to cut her off. “I’m not judging right now. It just has me thinking… Has Jasper seemed jealous at all?”
Margo’s eyes widened. “You think he’s the one trying to kill me?”
“Like I said, it’s ridiculous.”
“It is,” Margo agreed with a nod. “He wouldn’t do something like that. He’s not that kind of person. God, no. He’s definitely not that kind of person.”
“I figured. I just wanted to say something.”
“Well, that’s just stupid.” Margo crossed her arms over her chest, nearly spilling her bottled water in the process. She snapped her arms back to screw the top on. “I don’t know why you would even think something like that.”
“I don’t. I just thought you should be given a heads up. You know, just in case. Ben thought it was a good idea too.”
“You told Ben?!” Margo raised her voice and earned a few stares from officers a room over. Eric glanced back from the vending machine he was trying and failing to feed a dollar to. Margo must have noticed the looks she was getting because she was quick to lower her voice before continuing. “I can’t believe you told Ben something like that.”
“I felt like I had to. I mean, I know it’s unlikely, but if something happened and I hadn’t said anything I—”
“It’s not unlikely; it’s impossible. It’s irresponsible too. He’s going to waste his time looking at Jasper when he should be out there looking for the real criminal.”
“He didn’t seem too convinced either. He agrees with me that it’s probably just me thinking too much about it.” Rowen was trying to defuse the situation and felt like she was failing. “He’s not going to look into it that much. I just— You know what, never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have.”
“Is everything okay?” asked Eric, wandering over to the two of them slowly. Rowen had seen him out of the corner of her eye, had seen him hesitating to even approach. It would have been obvious he was trying to avoid them if he had remained next to the vending machine, alone and keeping his distance.
“Yes, everything is fine,” said Margo, her voice dripping with sarcastic ire. “Someone is trying to kill me, and Rowen thinks it’s funny to waste the police’s time.”
“I don’t think it’s funny. You know I don’t think it’s funny. I’m serious about this. I’m trying to help.” Rowen was sure Margo knew all of that, but it still bothered her.
“We’re all tired,” said Eric, trying to defuse the situation as well and doing a better job of it than his wife. “We can talk about this stuff tomorrow when we’ve all had some sleep. I’m sure everyone will have plenty of questions.”
Rowen groaned. Her aunts and cousins kept slipping her mind. Every time she remembered she would have to recount all of this to them the following day, she felt a surge of nausea. It was going to be a pain.
“You should get going,” said Margo, pointedly looking anywhere but at Rowen.
Rowen rolled her eyes but tried not to take it too personally. Ben was right, they were all tired and tensions were high. “I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I guess,” sniffed Margo.
“I’ll go find Rose… Be safe, okay?”
Margo did glance over at that last part. “You too.”
“We will.” Rowen went in for a hug after that. Margo allowed it, but only a brief one.
Chapter Eleven
Fortunately, Rose and Ben had a pull-out couch. Unfortunately, they didn’t get to spend very long on it. Rose had gotten them some sheets and pillows when they got home. They had all crashed immediately. Rowen wasn’t sure if Eric had any trouble falling asleep with his arm all bandaged up like it was. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. It felt like mere seconds later that she was waking up to pounding on the front door.
Rowen opened her eyes and peered sleepily at the blurry figure of Rose walking by. “It’s probably mom and Nadine,” Rose explained, tying her plush red robe around her waist. “She called a little while ago.”
“You didn’t wake us up?” yawned Rowen.
“I figured you would rather sleep while you could.”
Rose was right about that. “Thanks,” said Rowen sitting up and noticing for the first time how lumpy the mattress was. She could feel a painful indent in her back where she had been sleeping on a spring. Beside her Eric was stirring as well.
Rose opened the door and Aunt Lydia swept past her. “I can’t believe yo
u didn’t call us last night!” Lydia rushed into the middle of the den and wheeled around, like she couldn’t decide who to go to first.
“You really should have called us,” Aunt Nadine said, slightly calmer as she entered behind her sister. “We had to find out from Peony.”
That came as a surprise to Rowen. “How did Peony find out?” She didn’t recall calling her other cousins last night either.
“I gave them a call,” explained Rose. “Otherwise they would have been heading into work today and wouldn’t know why we were all late.”
That made sense. Rowen was surprised the whole family hadn’t descended on them by now. “Does Uncle Norm know?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “That was my first thought as well. I called him immediately, of course.”
“He already knew,” said Nadine.
“He already knew! Apparently, he was worth calling and telling.”
“That was probably Margo,” reasoned Rose. “She probably wanted to talk to her dad.”
“But he didn’t think to call us!” Lydia probably wasn’t going to let this one go for a while. Personally, Rowen was grateful Norm had kept the information to himself. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all.
“What time is it?” asked Rowen. She recalled that her phone was on the side table and reached for it.
“Almost lunch time,” said Lydia, sounding more scandalized still.
“Almost lunch time” meant it wasn’t even eleven yet. Rowen frowned at the face of her phone. She would have happily slept past noon.
“We should probably be getting to the office,” Rose said.
“What?” Lydia looked to her daughter with a start. “You’re still going to work? After a day like yesterday?”
Rose nodded. “There’s still things we need to do. If nothing else, we should talk to Margo.”
“She’s not here?!” Lydia went from outraged to scandalized. In her rush, she must not have noticed Margo’s car wasn’t even out front. “Where is she?”
“She’s staying with Sutton,” said Rose, going and taking a seat on the edge of the pull-out. From this distance, Rowen could see that there were dark bags under her eyes. She probably could have used more sleep herself.
“Sutton?” repeated Lydia.
“Detective Sutton,” said Rose. “He works with—”
“Right.” Lydia cut her off with a nod. “I remember him. Why is she there? Why not here?”
“She doesn’t want us all in one place after what happened.” Rowen couldn’t think of a way to word it that wouldn’t make Lydia worry.
“She doesn’t want to put her family in any undue danger.” Lydia placed a hand over her heart. “What a thoughtful girl.”
“Is she safe, though?” asked Nadine. “Can we depend on Detective Sutton to keep her safe?”
“Yes,” said Rose. “I think so. Sutton is good at what he does. After what happened last night, everyone is taking this a lot more seriously. Not that they weren’t taking it seriously before, but now that a second attack happened— Well, Eric got shot and everyone is very aware that it could have been much worse.”
“What?” Lydia spun towards Eric. “You got shot?!”
Eric scrubbed at his eyes with the heel of one hand. He was obviously still trying to wake up. Out of all of them in the house, he had had the least amount of sleep. He was wearing a cotton t-shirt. There were bandages visible peeking out from beneath one of the sleeves. “I’m fine. It was basically just a scratch.”
That didn’t keep Lydia and Nadine from both rushing over to him. Eric sat up a little straighter in bed, swinging his legs around to the side. “You got shot,” said Lydia, like he didn’t know. She wasn’t going to let him downplay the injury. “It might be a scratch, but it was a scratch with a bullet. Did you go to the hospital? Of course you went to the hospital. What did they say?”
Wisely, Eric didn’t correct them and say that he had not, in fact, been to the hospital. “It’s a superficial wound. Seriously.”
“Make sure you keep it clean,” said Nadine. “Peony got grazed by a bullet once. The doctor told her that it was important to keep it clean.”
“I know. They sent me home with extra bandages and everything. I’ve got this handled.”
“And you have to go back to the hospital if you see any signs of infection,” continued Nadine. “Is it warm to the touch right now? That could mean infection.”
“It’s fine,” said Eric, stifling a yawn. “Here. How about I go to the bathroom and check it.” He stood.
“Do you want us to go with you?” asked Lydia.
“No, no. I’m fine. I’ll call if I need help.” With that, he escaped out of the den and to the bathroom. Lucky man.
Rowen thought about getting up and going to the next room to get ready for the day. Lydia and Nadine were already sitting on the bed, though. Leaving them alone with Rose when they clearly wanted to talk to the both of them would have been awkward. “I hope you and Eric don’t intend to go back to your house,” said Lydia. “It’s a crime scene now. You don’t know if that maniac is coming back.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about that. We’re going to stay here for a while—as long as we’re welcome, that is.”
“You’re welcome here whenever,” Rose said immediately. “In fact, I insist you stay until Ben finds the culprit.”
“Is he here?” Rowen looked around. She hadn’t seen him this morning, and she hadn’t been awake long enough the night before to see if he had come home.
“Hmm?” It took Rose a moment to realize what Rowen had just asked. She seemed very tired. “Oh, no. He slept at the office last night. He does that sometimes. He’s got a cot. I don’t really like it, but I don’t want him on the road exhausted. Plus, he had a lot to do last night. He called me this morning and let me know he was fine. He got some sleep and used the shower at the station and stuff. He’s got a few changes of clothes there. He’s at your house right now, I think. I would have woken you up and told you, but I figured you’d rather sleep.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Has he found anything?” Nadine asked Rose.
Rose raised her shoulders in a shrug. “If he did, he hasn’t told me. I mean, he wouldn’t really. Not unless it was something major that directly impacted us.”
“All of this impacts us,” Lydia said solemnly. She lowered her voice to a more serious tone. “Do you need our help for anything?”
“Like what?” Rowen wasn’t really following. She definitely didn’t want to go stay with them. They had a pretty full house at the moment. She would sooner sleep on a pull-out sofa for a few weeks.
“Should we get together and do some sort of spell? See if we can’t oust whoever it is that’s doing this?”
That hadn’t actually occurred to Rowen yet. “A spell?” She considered it. “What sort of spell would we do?” She couldn’t think of one that would help them out. She didn’t even know where to start.
Nadine frowned, considering the question herself. “I’m sure we have something that could help,” she reasoned. “I’ll look through some of my books back at home.”
“If you can think of something, I’d be happy to try it.” Rowen definitely wasn’t against using magic to get an edge on whoever it was that was after Margo. Heck, if she had thought of a spell that could work, she would have turned to it before now.
“We’ll come by tonight,” said Lydia, and Rowen knew they would. Even if they hadn’t thought of something, they would be by tonight with an armful of candles and ritual tools.
“That sounds good,” said Rose. “I’ll make sure we’re here around seven or so if you want to do it then.” She looked to Rowen. “But right now, we should probably be getting ready to go.”
Rowen nodded. She was probably right. “First I’m going to need some coffee, though.”
Rose had plenty of coffee on hand, but no one felt like waiting for it to brew. They went to the coffee shop near the office
instead and bought steaming cups of overpriced bean water. It was shaping up to be a long week. Rowen didn’t have any qualms about treating herself.
Eric parted ways with them early on. He needed to go to the house to pack some of their things and grab some dog food and toys for Chester. He was on an improvised run in the backyard. Rowen hated leaving him out there, but she couldn’t exactly insist that her cousin give her dog free run of their house, especially while they were all away.
Rowen called Margo on the drive to the office. She was relieved when she picked up after a couple of rings. Part of her had suspected Margo would have turned her phone off during the night. “What?” It wasn’t the warmest greeting, but it was nice that she had answered at all.
“Hey, we’re on our way to the office. Do you think you could meet us there?”
“Really?” Margo asked, nonplussed. “After everything that happened last night, you’re going to ask me to come into work?”
“I’m going,” Rowen pointed out. “And you don’t have to do any work if you don’t feel up to it.” At this rate Margo was never going to work a day in her life again. “I just figured you would want to be there. Between us writing about this stuff and trying to solve it. I mean, it sort of involves you. It’s not like you plan on staying at Sutton’s place all day anyway, right? How are you doing there, by the way?”
“It’s small,” said Margo. That would be the first thing she noticed about a place she was staying. Never mind that she lived in a trailer herself. “But it’s all right. I feel safe here.”
“That’s important.”
“He said I could go to the station with him.” She sighed. “But I suppose I can come down to the office if I really need to.”
“We would appreciate it.” Rowen didn’t point out the obvious, that Margo would almost certainly prefer to spend a day at the Inquirer rather than in the break room of the police station.
“He’s about to go to work. I’ll have him drop me off.”
“I’ll see you then.”
Peony and Willow were already at the office. Rowen could see their cars parked out front. She also saw a car she didn’t recognize. It was only when she saw the decal on one of the windows that she realized who it must be. Colorful Cow Creamery. The words were lost inside the multicolored bovine shape. It was a pretty bad design, impossible to read from more than ten feet away.
