The Missing Librarian: Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery (Lainswich Witches Book 4) Read online

  Aunt Lydia’s face lit up. Rowen really should have seen that coming. She had been on edge about incoming “good news” for weeks. “He finally proposed!” She clapped her hands together and looked right at Eric, grinning. “Oh, thank goodness! We’d been waiting!”

  “Well, at least it finally happened,” Willow said.

  Peony and Margo were exchanging uncertain looks. Aunt Nadine looked equally hesitant to react one way or the other. Either they didn’t approve or accurately guessed Aunt Lydia had jumped the gun— as Aunt Lydia was known to do.

  “Well, let’s see it,” said Aunt Lydia, leaning forward in her chair. She motioned for Rowen’s hand. “Let’s see the ring. He’s been hiding it long enough.”

  “Eric hasn’t proposed yet,” snapped Rowen, mortified. She looked up at Eric. His face was red and his hand was back in his pocket, fidgeting with the box.

  “The news was that David’s coming back into town,” said Eric, clearing his throat.

  Margo raised her eyebrows. “Oh,” she said. A smile tugged at her mouth.

  “Oh,” said Aunt Lydia—who definitely wasn’t smiling.

  The group lapsed into awkward silence. “Kinda hot out here, isn’t it?” Eric asked even though it wasn’t. “I’m heading inside. I’ll see you guys at dinner.”

  Rowen watched him go then turned to glare at her Aunt. “Seriously?”

  Aunt Lydia spread her hands in an apologetic gesture. “Sorry, Dear.”

  “David’s coming back?” asked Margo.

  “Not now.” Rowen headed inside, pursuing Eric.

  Eric had gone up to their room in the attic. Rowen found him seated on the edge of their bed still fidgeting with the ring box. It was in his hand this time, small and black. Rowen tried to ignore it.

  “I’m sorry about Aunt Lydia,” she said. “You know how she can be.”

  “You knew I was going to propose?” asked Eric, not looking at her.

  “Huh?” Rowen tried to sound clueless but didn’t think it worked. It didn’t.

  “You said I hadn’t proposed yet,” Eric pointed out. “And no one seemed surprised. I guess I should have known the whole family would know I was planning something. The Greensmiths read people, right? That’s part of what you do.”

  Rowen sighed. She saw no point in lying to him. “We didn’t talk about it,” she said, “but I think we all knew you had a ring and planned on proposing soon, yeah.”

  “Not soon, necessarily,” said Eric, frowning down at the box. “I just… I saw the ring and thought of you, and I bought it. I was just sort of entertaining the idea of proposing to you. It wasn’t a definite thing, I just…”

  Rowen went to him. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You don’t have to rush into anything unless you want to.”

  “I bought a ring, didn’t I?” Eric looked up at her with a weary sort of smile. “And we can always change our minds during the engagement—though I don’t think I’m going to. I love you, Rowen.”

  “I love you, too,” Rowen said without hesitation. Her gaze was drawn to the box. “Can I see it?” Now that the reality of the proposal was out there, the curiosity was unbearable.

  Eric looked down at the ring, like he had forgotten he was even holding it. He laughed. “I dunno. Isn’t that…bad luck or something? It seems anti-climactic, at the very least.

  “You’re probably right,” Rowen agreed. Still, she couldn’t look away from the box. “I want to see it anyway.”

  Eric handed her the box.

  Rowen reached to open it and hesitated. She really shouldn’t be opening this right now. It would be weird to open it. Despite those feelings, she did so anyway. “Oh,” she said, unable to say much else. The ring was dazzling. It was green like her eyes. An emerald, maybe? Around it were sparkled diamonds—those she could identify. There weren’t too many diamonds inlaid. They blended in with the white gold band. It looked antique; like it had a history.

  “I bought it at an auction,” Eric said, confirming Rowen’s suspicions. “Some wealthy estate that belonged to a client of my parents,” he explained. “That’s not creepy, is it?”

  Rowen shook her head. She took the ring from its box, still transfixed by it. This ring had a history. Happy or sad, it had been part of a marriage. That carried a certain kind of weight. She slipped the ring on her finger without thinking. “It fits.”

  “I got your ring size a while back,” Eric explained. “You know, I’m not sure you’re supposed to try it on before the proposal.” He held out his hand to get the ring back.

  Rowen looked from the ring on her finger to Eric’s outstretched hand. She was loathe to give it back. “I want it.”

  Eric raised an eyebrow. “Meaning…?”

  “Meaning will you marry me?” Rowen looked back at the ring. “I love this thing.”

  Eric laughed at that. “I’m not sure that’s a good basis for a marriage.”

  “No, but it’s a start, right?” Rowen bit her bottom lip, considering. Making up her mind, she took a knee in front of Eric. “I love this ring, but I love you more. Will you marry me?”

  Eric was still smiling, eyebrows raised in amusement at the absurdity of the situation. When Rowen didn’t rise up or crack a joke, the smile grew a little more sincere. “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind for a proposal,” he said. “But there’s a lot I didn’t expect dating you.”

  Rowen’s heart was pounding in her chest. “Is that a yes?”

  Eric grinned. He nodded. “Yes,” he said.

  Rowen stood and threw her arms around Eric. All the anxiety she had been feeling had suddenly given way to excitement. There would be time for second thoughts later. Right now, she was riding a wave of euphoria. “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Eric admitted. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  Chapter Two

  Initially, Rowen planned to keep the marriage from her family. Aunt Lydia had blurted out something when she shouldn’t have. Let her think it had left an awkward rift between Eric and Rowen. Maybe that would make her think before she spoke in the future.

  Rowen shouldn’t have been at all surprised that wasn’t the way things worked out. Aunt Lydia was far too observant for that. She saw the ring the moment they had all sat down for dinner. “What is that?” she demanded, her arm shooting out across the table, taking Rowen’s hand in her own before she had time to react.

  What followed was a lot of happy shrieking and hugging. Aunt Lydia was the only genuinely happy one. Everyone else seemed skeptical. They had cause to be. Greensmiths really didn’t have the best track record when it came to relationships. Tiffany was flat-out crying. She swore she was happy, but Rowen had her doubts.

  No one could take the moment from Rowen. Not yet. She was still too happy, constantly looking down at the ring on her finger.

  “I can’t wait to plan the wedding,” Aunt Lydia declared. “It’ll be here, of course. The rose trellis would be a lovely place to get married… Oh, they’re a little overgrown, though. I’ll have to work on them tomorrow.”

  “We haven’t set a date or anything,” Eric said quickly. “We haven’t really made plans.”

  Rowen laid a hand on Eric’s arm. “Don’t fight her,” she whispered. It was easier just to let Aunt Lydia do her thing. They would need to get married sooner rather than later. It was impossible to calm Aunt Lydia down when it came to planning events. As much as she loved to be the center of attention, she loved working to set someone else as the center of attention even more. Maybe she was overbearing, but Rowen couldn’t have asked for a more attentive wedding planner—even if she was certain she would very much like a less attentive one.

  Rose was the only one not present. She gave them a call just as they were finishing dinner. Rowen thought it unlikely that she hadn’t heard already, but apparently, no one had texted her with the news yet.

  “I’m running behind,” Rose blurted before Rowen could relay what had just ha
ppened. “I might need some help here, after all.”

  “How much help?” asked Rowen. She hated to go now that it was getting dark out. It wasn’t like she could really fault Rose for it since did so much work. It wouldn’t be fair to expect her to keep up that pace all the time. So she had overestimated what she could do in one night. So what?

  “All of it?” Rose said, slowly. “I got…um…I got sidetracked.”

  “All of it?” Rowen repeated, surprised. “Oh… okay. I’ll, uh… I’ll come that way. I’ll bring some help. Don’t worry about it.” She hung up the phone and looked to the dining room table.

  Margo had already retreated up the stairs. No surprise there. Willow looked like she wanted to do the same, but Peony was holding her by the arm. “We’ll come with you,” said Peony, giving her sister a stern look.

  “I appreciate it.” Rowen was just thankful everyone wasn’t trying to dodge out on her.

  “I’ll come, too,” said Eric.

  “You don’t have to,” Rowen told him. “I’m not sure there’s anything you can help out with.”

  Eric leaned down to Rowen’s ear and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Your aunt is getting old wedding magazines from the attic, and your mother hasn’t stopped staring at me and crying. I would rather be just about anywhere but here right now.”

  Rowen laughed. “Fair enough.”

  Most of the shops on their street had closed by the time Rowen parked at their office building. The door was unlocked, and Rose was waiting for them at their desk. She looked a bit frazzled. Her dark hair was unkempt, and the way she moved this way and that was much more frantic than her usual calm, patient nature.

  “What’s up?” asked Rowen.

  Rose jumped like she hadn’t heard them come in. She laid the papers she was holding on her desk. “Oh, hey. Sorry, the day just got away from me.”

  “That’s fine,” Rowen assured her. “We’ll get this sorted.”

  “Did Aunt Lydia call you with the happy news?” asked Willow, looking eager for gossip.

  Rose raised her eyebrows. “What news?”

  Rowen was surprised Aunt Lydia hadn’t called the whole neighborhood by now. “Eric proposed.” Rowen crossed the room to Rose and held out her hand.

  Rose looked down at the ring. Her eyes widened. “Oh, my goodness!” She grinned and looked up at Eric. “Seriously? I had no idea! Congratulations!”

  Rowen found herself more surprised than Rose was—her surprise stemming from the fact that Rose really did seem surprised. She had been certain that she had known. Sure, Rose wasn’t a Greensmith by blood. Aunt Lydia had adopted her—a fact that was readily apparent given that she was Asian and the rest of the Greensmith family was Caucasian. So she didn’t have the innate abilities the rest of the family had, but she wasn’t an idiot. Surely, she had noticed.

  “I’m so happy for you.” Rose gave Rowen a hug.

  Rowen hugged her back. She knew she didn’t totally mean that. Rose was as skeptical about all of this as the rest of the family. “Yeah, yeah.” Rowen pushed her off with a smile. “There will be time to celebrate later. Let’s finish this up.”

  There was a lot of writing and proofreading to be done. Rose hadn’t been kidding when she had said that she had gotten behind. To say that the day had gotten away from her was putting it lightly. It was like she hadn’t done a thing since Rowen had left for lunch. That wasn’t like her.

  Rowen didn’t ask any questions. Rose had told them what had happened. If time had gotten away from her, time had gotten away from her. Rowen wasn’t going to bug her for a more complex answer.

  With five of them there, work got done reasonably fast. Even Eric helped with the proofreading. Granted, they had to go over it again once he was finished since he was pretty horrible at catching mistakes. Even so, it was nice that he tried.

  It was looking like they would get to go home within the hour. It was getting late, but it wasn’t quite past midnight or anything. Rowen had already planned on staying up later than that looking over any articles Rose had sent her. Maybe this way, she would get a decent night’s sleep. She noticed that it had started to rain. The storm rumbling outside made Rowen long to curl up in bed with Eric. She could practically feel the cushiness of their mattress, but any chance of getting home soon was dashed when someone banged on the office door.

  Rowen and Rose both jumped. Eric gave a startled yelp.

  “What was that?” called Peony from Rowen’s office.

  At first, Rowen thought it might have been the storm. It was difficult to see out the window with the storm raging as they didn’t have any lights out front or anything. There was usually no need for them. They weren’t exactly open to the public.

  The knocking came again. This time, Rowen saw the fist that did it. Tina Stenson’s face wasn’t far behind it. She pressed it up to the window, looking like a drowned show dog with her soaked curls and faux fur coat.

  Tina Stenson had been no fan of the Greensmiths in most of the intervening years between now and high school. In recent months, she had warmed up to them—well, to Peony and Willow, at least. Tina had been a target of Tiffany’s ex, and Peony had taken a bullet intended for her. Granted, it had only just grazed Peony’s shoulder when she pushed Tina out of the way, but the way Tina fawned over her, you’d think it had been much more dramatic.

  Rowen hurried to the door. She unlocked it and opened it wide. “What are you doing here?” Maybe it was a cold way to greet someone, but Tina being here in the middle of the night was absolutely bizarre.

  “I ran here from work.” Tina stood a few feet from the door, shaking. “I−I didn’t know where else to go.”

  Tina worked at the local library. It wasn’t too far from the Lainswich Inquirer building. Still, three blocks was a long way to walk in this storm.

  “Why did you do that?” asked Peony, leaving Rowen’s office with her sister.

  Upon seeing Peony, Tina launched herself at her and began to sob. Peony awkwardly put her arms around Tina. She cast an uncertain look at her sister then Rowen.

  “What happened?” asked Rowen. She knew Tina could be a bit of a drama queen, but this was extreme even for her.

  “She’s dead!” Tina blurted.

  That certainly got everyone’s attention. “Who’s dead?” Rowen demanded, crossing the room to Peony.

  “Jeana,” Tina sobbed.

  “The librarian?” Rose asked. The name must have been familiar to her. Either that or she had average deduction skills. Tina had just come here from work, after all.

  “Hold on. Hold on.” Rowen tried to pry Tina from Peony. “You found a dead body?”

  Tina nodded, her head against Peony’s shoulder.

  “Did you call the police?” Rowen asked, assuming she had.

  Rowen had assumed wrong. Tina shook her head. “I came straight here. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Calling the police would have been a good place to start!” Rowen went for the phone, but Rose was already dialing. Rowen looked back to Tina. “And you’re sure she was dead?”

  Tina nodded wordlessly.

  “Did you check her pulse?” Rowen asked, making sure. Tina seemed more than a little hysterical.

  Tina shook her head. “No, I came straight here!”

  Rowen swore and headed for the door. She grabbed her coat as she went.

  “Where are you going?” Tina called after her.

  “To make sure there’s not some poor woman dying on the floor of the public library.” Rowen looked back to Eric as she opened the door.

  He nodded and moved to grab his own jacket. He seemed to be on the same page as she was.

  Rowen took a page from Tina’s book. She pulled up her hood and jogged the distance. It was faster to make a straight line for the library. Otherwise, there would be a lot of turns. Plus it was raining so hard, it would have been difficult to see out the window.

  Rowen got to the front door of the library, soaked to the bone. Th
e front was locked, of course, so she went around to the back. That was locked too.

  “We should have asked Tina for the key,” Eric complained as he followed her, shoulders slumped against the downpour and hands jammed in his pockets.

  Rowen looked for another door. She found a third one, but it was locked too. She was in the process of trying to peer through some of the windows to see if she could spot anyone when Tina came up behind them.

  “The police are coming,” said Tina. She was flanked by Willow and Peony. Peony seemed quite alarmed. Willow looked to be a bit caught up in the excitement.