Breaking News and Breaking Hearts: Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery (Lainswich Witches Book 7) Page 6

  “Apparently, that’s a normal sort of thing. If there’s no internal affairs, the whole thing is investigated by a nearby police station that has the resources.” Rose frowned down at her desk. It was obvious she wasn’t overly fond of any of the situation.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Rowen demanded.

  “Sorry.” Rose gave a shrug. “I didn’t like talking about it out loud, to be honest. I know I’m going to have to write an article about it soon. Otherwise, it’s going to look kinda bad when this breaks, isn’t it? I can’t run a paper and just have nothing to say on this. Though, I mean, what can I say? I’m losing my mind over it, to tell you the truth. I must have written, like, a dozen articles on it already. Seriously, at least a dozen.”

  “You can have Willow or Peony--” Rowen stopped herself. That wasn’t an option, and they both knew it. “I can write the article,” she offered instead. “You can read it over, and make sure it’s all right. You don’t have to write one yourself.”

  “You can write an article,” Rose said with a nod, as if it was only now occurring to her that that was a worthwhile idea. “That would be good. We should have more than one point of view on it. People around here know I’m dating him. It’ll seemed less biased if there are two articles out at the same time, right?”

  “Two articles?”

  “I can’t just not write an article.” Rose groaned. “Though, I don’t know. I’m afraid that might just make it worse. It’s not like I’m going to speak poorly of him. I can’t. I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s excellent at what he does.”

  “He is.”

  “You know how Lainswich is, though. They’re going to be out for blood, wielding pitchforks like they always do.” Rose knew this from experience as well as any Greensmith did. “I don’t know what will make this die down the fastest.”

  “Hard to say,” Rowen agreed. “But I’m happy to write an article, if you think that’ll help. How about I go ahead and write one for you to use. You don’t have to use it if you change your mind.”

  “Thanks.” Rose smiled at her cousin. The smile was a strained one, but it looked earnest. It fell after just a moment. “We’re sort of the problem, you know?”

  “How? We help with cases all the time.”

  “That’s part of it.” Rose chewed at the inside of her right cheek. “He hasn’t said it exactly, but I think that’s starting to reflect poorly on him as well. It’s definitely influencing how Lainswich views him, which is almost just as bad. Isn’t it?”

  “I guess.” Rowen could still remember a time when she had tried to distance herself from her family. The Greensmiths could be more than a little damning when it came to maintaining a positive public opinion. “I guess all of this is putting a strain on your relationship, huh?” Rowen hated to ask, but she could tell that Rose was at least a little worried about everything.

  “It’s not that bad,” said Rowen. “It’s not like he’s been really distant from me or anything. Honestly, I think he’s making a real effort not to make me feel like it’s my fault. I know it’s bothering him, though. I feel like his career would be a little better secured if he wasn’t dating me, and that kind of hurts, you know?”

  “I guess.” Rowen reached across the desk and placed one of her hands on Rose’s. “You can’t blame yourself for any of this, though. Obviously, he would rather be with you than not. That’s his choice to make.”

  “It doesn’t mean we always do what’s best for ourselves,” Rose mumbled, still looking torn. “But, point taken. Thanks.”

  “If he calls me and tells me I can look into this thing, I’m still going to,” Rowen said, just in case that wasn’t clear. “But I’ll try to keep my distance aside from that. At least until this all blows over.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “Yeah, fine. I wouldn’t expect any less from you, I guess.”

  Chapter Eight

  Rowen and Eric arrived at Odds & Ends around lunch time. They were meeting Seraphina. It felt like an odd place to meet, all things considered. They had a perfectly good office she could come to, but no. She insisted on meeting here.

  Maybe it was a good plan. If someone saw her at the office, it could start looking suspicious. Here, she was just another bored wife with too much free time and money on her hands. When Rowen asked Lydia where she was, she pointed her toward the back. “She’s getting a reading from your mother,” she explained, smiling at Eric as she spoke. “So good to see the two of you. You almost never come around anymore. It feels like ages since I saw you last. I hardly even recognize you.”

  Rowen rolled her eyes. “We were over for dinner just last week, and you know it.” She just hadn’t helped around the store since taking on a second job. She hugged her aunt anyway before continuing on into the back.

  Seraphina was seated at the table they used for readings, sitting across from Tiffany. Tiffany had a full spread laid out. She was flipping the last one now. “The Tower,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Well, I do believe your life is about to get very interesting. It looks like you’re in for some… hmm…very exciting changes.”

  Seraphina smiled. “That sounds about right.” She looked up when Rowen cleared her throat. “Well, speak of the Devil.” She turned back to Tiffany. “Were we done here?”

  “We can be.” Tiffany wasn’t going to finish the reading if she wasn’t really interested, and it certainly seemed liked Seraphina was just doing this to pass the time. She gathered up her cards and put them away. “She said she was waiting for you.”

  “She’s a client,” Rowen explained, giving her mother a sympathetic smile. “Sorry. Is it cool if we use this room for a second?”

  “They’re not exactly lined up outside for a reading today.” Still, Tiffany was wearing a frown as she stood. “Just don’t be too long, Sweetheart.” She walked past them all, shooting Eric a smile on her way out.

  Rowen went and took the chair across from Seraphina, realizing too late that there wasn’t another chair for Eric. He didn’t look thrilled about it but moved to stand against the wall. “And how are you doing today, Mrs. Hawthorne?” he asked.

  “Hopefully, not Mrs. Hawthorne for much longer.” Seraphina made a face at the name. “But I’m getting by.” She seemed to be doing a little better than getting by. She was wearing a full face of glamorous makeup, her silver hair was in waves, and her dark pantsuit looked like she’d bought it straight off the runway. She would turn heads anywhere. So much for being inconspicuous. “How are the two of you?”

  “We’re fine,” said Rowen. “We’ve been working on your case, but I’m afraid we don’t have a whole lot to report just yet.”

  “These things take time,” Eric interjected, sounding a bit uncomfortable with Rowen’s choice of words. She was their only client right now. Rowen knew he didn’t want to lose her.

  Mrs. Hawthorne raised her finely shaped eyebrows. “Well, I hoped you’ve worked on the case at least a bit. I don’t want this to take too long.”

  “I spoke with Darren,” Rowen offered. “We’ve set a meeting for some time later this week. I wanted to get a feel for the guy.”

  “And?” prompted Seraphina. “What do you think?”

  Rowen wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. “He seemed…” She trailed off.

  “Charming,” Seraphina finished for her. “He’s charming. Everyone loves him. He always makes the most fantastic first impressions. He certainly swept me off my feet when we first met in the Alps.” She rolled her eyes at the memory, like she was ashamed of the person she had been when she married Darren.

  “He seemed nice,” Rowen agreed.

  “Not that that changes anything,” Eric added. “If he’s cheating, we’ll get you the proof.”

  “I’m sure,” said Seraphina. She shifted in her chair, like she was ready to get down to business. “That’s not actually why I called you here today. I have something I want to give you in person.” She reached down and got her purse from beside her feet. She pul
led out a couple of embossed pieces of card stock and slid them across the table.

  “What are these?” Rowen took both cards. She handed one to Eric and looked the other over. “Admit One,” it said in fancy cursive. “Channel 2 Fund-raising Gala.”

  “They’re for next week,” Seraphina explained. “Every year, Darren’s station does a fund-raising event with this town’s well-to-do. Tickets are sold for a pretty penny, and then everyone parties it up at the station. All told, it’s a bit pathetic, but he goes every year… Obviously.”

  “Are you going to be there?” asked Eric.

  “I’ll fall conveniently ill,” said Seraphina. “He stays out all night if he has an excuse to do so. This will be a good opportunity for you to take pictures. You have a paper, don’t you? Pretend they’re for that. No one will think twice about you attending with a camera.”

  “They might wonder why we have tickets,” Rowen pointed out.

  “Sales are private and expensive,” Seraphina agreed. “But they’ll just think you know someone. You both provide Lainswich with breaking news, right? You must have friends in common.”

  Eric looked at Rowen and gave her a shrug. “Sounds like a decent idea to me.”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” Rowen agreed.

  “It could, actually,” said Seraphina, folding her hands on the table.

  “What do you mean?” asked Rowen, growing a bit wary all of a sudden.

  “I want more than a few pictures,” said Seraphina. “My husband has a work computer.”

  “We’re not really--” Eric began, but Seraphina held up a hand to silence him.

  “It’s a laptop I purchased. It’s even registered in my name,” she explained. “Technically, it’s mine as far as I or the police are concerned, but I can’t get to it. He’s with me any time I go to his office, and he would be suspicious if I was at the building without him there. He might catch on to what I’m trying to do. This divorce is a long time coming. I can’t imagine he is entirely clueless.”

  This still sounded a little shady to Rowen. She imagined Eric felt the same. “What do you want us to do?” she asked.

  “I need you to find a moment to sneak into his office. That should be easy enough. He’ll be busy for most of the night. Everyone will be on the sound stage. That’s where they always hold the event. There will be live music and lots of socializing. If you time it right, I doubt anyone will see you sneak out. I assume you know the way to his office?”

  Rowen nodded. She had only been there once, but she felt confident that she could find her way back to it.

  “Good,” said Seraphina. “The door is always unlocked. He keeps the laptop in his desk. The password should be Piddles.”

  “Piddles?” Eric repeated, having a hard time keeping a straight face as he said the word.

  Seraphina nodded. “It was the name of a dear labradoodle we owned together. It’s always his password.” She frowned, growing thoughtful for a moment. “Well, it might be Piddles1.”

  “What do we do after expertly hacking this laptop of his?” asked Rowen, morbidly fascinated to see where this was headed. This was certainly not something they had ever been tasked with before. “Is there something specific you’re looking for?”

  “I believe he’s been corresponding with the woman or women he’s having an affair with,” Seraphina explained. “I’m not sure what e-mail he’s using for these correspondences, but I’m sure you could find it in the history of that computer.”

  “So, what?” asked Eric, sounding more than a little dubious. “You want us to forward them to you?”

  “Of course not.” Seraphina gave a big sigh, like she was annoyed she had to deal with so many stupid questions. “I want you to install a program. Something that will back up the files and send them to a cloud I can access.”

  Eric inclined his head. He was considering her request. (Or demands, rather.) Rowen could tell. Installing a program to spy on Darren was completely out of left field. He had helped a husband install one on his family computer once. They had caught his wife sending some pretty damning messages to one of her coworkers that way. “You know, we usually just do our own thing here,” he said. “The client isn’t typically this involved.”

  “Well, I’ll pay you extra.” Seraphina sounded unconcerned. “I have friends who have done this sort of thing in the past. I don’t want to miss anything. I’ve seen their lives fall apart, and the same thing isn’t going to happen to me. I’m going to get what I’m owed.”

  “We haven’t screwed up a case yet,” Eric assured her. “If you’re nervous--”

  “You haven’t worked on anything this big before,” Seraphina said with total confidence. “This is a lot of money we’re talking about here. This isn’t Joe the department store manager cheating on Marcy the doting soccer mom. This is serious.”

  “Whoever Marcy the soccer mom is, I’m sure she felt like her husband cheating on her was a pretty big deal too,” said Rowen, earning herself a nasty look from Seraphina.

  “We’ll do it,” Eric said before Seraphina could say anything. “Or we’ll give it a shot, anyway. Thanks for the tip and the tickets. We’ll see what the atmosphere is like at the party. If it’s something we can get done, we will.”

  “I don’t need any ‘ifs.’ I just need it done.” Seraphina took her purse and stood. “I’d threaten to replace you, but I’ve been calling trying to find a replacement for you for weeks now, and no one has answered the call.”

  “How flattering.” Rowen appreciated Seraphina’s honesty, at least. She had that going for her.

  “You’re my only shot here. Don’t let me down.” With that, she headed for the door.

  “Don’t worry!” Eric called after her. “We’ve got this under control.” He looked at Rowen once she had gone. “She’s just nervous.”

  “She’s a jerk is what she is,” said Rowen. “Are you seriously going to sneak in and mess with her husband’s computer?”

  Eric nodded, smiling a bit at the thought of it. “I guess. It does sound sort of exciting, doesn’t it?”

  Rowen couldn’t help but laugh. “When did you get so adventurous, huh?”

  “When you wouldn’t stop solving mysteries.” He gave her a wink. “This is entirely your fault.”

  Rowen gave her husband a playful punch in the arm and left the back room. Seraphina had already gone. Tiffany and Aunt Lydia were standing at the front desk, frowning and speaking to one another quietly. “Not a fan of our newest client?” Rowen guessed.

  “Horrible woman,” Tiffany said.

  “I liked her all right,” Aunt Lydia said. “She seemed to like the store.”

  Tiffany snorted. “She viewed it as a curiosity. We were just a novelty to her.”

  Aunt Lydia propped her head on her hand and raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Honey, if you don’t think that’s how most of this town sees us, you’re in serious denial.”

  “Even so…” It didn’t seem like Tiffany was going to let this one go.

  “Well, I don’t think she’ll be having any more meetings here with us, if that makes you feel any better,” Rowen offered. “She’s super secretive about this stuff.”

  Aunt Lydia nodded. “Her husband is Darren Hawthorne, isn’t he? I can hardly blame her for--”

  Rowen’s cell phone rang, making Lydia fall silent. Rowen held up a finger and stepped aside to answer it. The screen said it was Ben calling. She definitely needed to take it. “Hey, Ben. How’s it going?”

  “We’ve been looking for that potential video evidence you mentioned,” said Ben, getting right down to business. “We’re about to go take another look at the apartment now. We’ve looked around it once. I’m not confident we’ll find anything new. If you think you can help, I’d like you to come along.”

  “I think it’s worth a shot,” said Rowen, standing up a little straighter. She had been hoping for this. “I won’t write about any of this unless I get the okay from you,” she assured him, in case th
at needed to be stated. “And I won’t make a scene or anything. I’ll follow your lead.”

  Ben was silent for a moment. “I appreciate that,” he said finally. There was some suspicion in his voice. He had to assume that Rose had talked to him. “You can meet me at the station or in the parking lot there. I’ll give you the address. Just park a couple of buildings over and wait in the car if you get there first.”

  Rowen got the directions and hung up. She smiled at Eric. “Ben is bringing us in on the case.”

  Eric didn’t look at all surprised. “It was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? Well, let’s go, I guess.”

  The apartment complex Jerry had lived at was in the center of town. It looked like an inexpensive place to live. The walls were a bit dull and in desperate need of a new paint job. The grass was a little overgrown. “I wonder if Craig is home right now,” Rowen mused aloud after Eric had parked.

  “Why?” asked Eric. “Did you want to talk to him again?”

  Rowen nodded. “I feel like he might know something.”

  “I thought you said you were going to follow Ben’s lead,” Eric reminded her. She had, of course, told him everything Rose had told her. She knew he wasn’t going to go gossiping about it. He, more or less, liked Ben.

  “You’re right.” Rowen supposed she couldn’t exactly interrogate Craig while she was there for Ben. Maybe, if any questions came to mind, she could just pass those on to him. “There he is.” Rowen went ahead and got out of the car. She and Eric walked out across the parking lot, meeting Ben halfway.

  Ben looked more tired than usual. He was frowning, looking at Eric as he did so. “You didn’t mention you were bringing Eric along.”

  Rowen cringed. “Did I not? I didn’t think about it. I just assumed… I’m sorry! He can wait in the car.”

  “I can?” Eric raised an eyebrow at Rowen.

  Ben shook his head. “It’s not a huge deal, just… Come on. I need you to sign a couple of things before we head in.”

  Rowen followed him back to his car. “So, why did you have us park out of sight?” she asked. “Is Craig here? Are you trying to catch him off guard? Is he a suspect?”