A Reunion to Remember Page 8

  “I promised him I wouldn’t use it.”

  “Oh.” Rose’s face fell. She sighed deeply. “Well, fine. Did you find out anything that I can use?”

  “I found out Trish and Tilda might know something. Trish’s husband might know something too.”

  Rose raised an eyebrow at the mention of Trish’s husband. That had clearly given her some ideas. “And will your interviewing them give me anything I can use?”

  “I don’t know,” Rowen admitted. “But it might help solve this thing. It could help Ben.”

  “You just want to get my okay to sneak out of here, don’t you? You want to slip on out of here without interviewing anyone, and you don’t want to feel guilty about it.”

  “Pretty much.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “Go on.” She was making an obvious effort to sound annoyed, but there was still a good-natured smile on her face. “Finding a murderer takes precedence over keeping a small town blog up to date.”

  “Just a heads up… Margo might be trying to slip out of here with me.”

  Rose’s expression wasn’t so good-natured when she heard that. “Of course she is,” she grumbled. “I guess it was only a matter of time. Fine. If she’s set on not helping out here, it’s better to just let her help out in whatever capacity she’s willing to. Besides, it’s probably safer if you don’t go alone.”

  “For the record, I’m pretty sure I could take either of those women I just mentioned.”

  “All the more reason to send Margo with you. If either of them really is the murderer and they managed to kill you… Well, you’d never be able to show your face as a ghost around these parts. You’d be too ashamed.”

  Rowen didn’t dignify that with a response. She headed for the door. “I’ll send another interviewee in for you.”

  “You do that. And take care now. Don’t underestimate anyone. Seriously.”

  ***

  As much as Rowen wanted to think she was capable of taking care of herself, Rose did have a point. You never knew what another person was capable of, not really. Someone had murdered Teaghan. It could have been a woman who did it. Not that Rowen was sure a woman could get Teaghan all the way up those backstage stairs and into the balloon net. The more Rowen thought about the matter, the more she was glad to have Margo along.

  “You can drop me off at home,” said Margo from the passenger seat.

  “You’re coming with me to help. You offered to. You told Jasper to go home because you needed to concentrate on work.”

  “Yeah, but that was an excuse to get him to leave because he was annoying me. I didn’t actually want to work late.”

  At least she was being honest about it. “Sorry. I’m holding you to your offer. I need all the help I can get with this.”

  “Then why not call Eric?”

  That was a good question and one Rowen wasn’t quite sure how to best to answer. “It doesn’t feel right,” she said after some hesitation. “Eric makes everything a little more serious. It’s not like he works for the paper at all. He’s a private investigator. Besides, it seems more appropriate to keep this between former alumni, doesn’t it?”

  Margo raised her shoulders in a shrug. She didn’t seem to have strong feelings on the matter. At the very least, she didn’t have any strong feelings about actually seeing this through.

  ***

  Tilda’s house was nice. That was a disappointment. Rowen had hoped that she would have run into at least one high school bully that wasn’t well off by now. The home was two stories. It was white on the outside, the lawn vibrant green and uniform. Margo gave a judgmental little hum as they parked. Clearly she had been hoping for a less impressive home as well.

  Rowen parked in the spacious driveway. There were already three cars there. She parked to the right of all of them before heading to the door. She had called ahead. Over the phone, Tilda had sounded more than willing to have a chat with them. No surprise there. Rowen had yet to find anyone who wasn’t eager to talk about Teaghan.

  “How do I look?” asked Margo after Rowen had knocked.

  Rowen looked her cousin up and down. She looked about how she always did—overdressed, too thin, a full face of makeup. “Normal.”

  “Normal?” Margo repeated, frowning. “What does that mean? Does that mean I look bad?”

  “Who said you looked bad? I said you looked normal.”

  “Normal is bad!”

  “You look fine.”

  “Fine isn’t—” Margo was cut off when the front door opened.

  It was Tilda who greeted them. She was still wearing all black. It gave her a sleek, attractive silhouette. From the corner of her eye, Rowen saw Margo give her a disapproving once over. Tilda pushed a bleach blond lock of hair back behind her shoulder. “Glad to see you made it here without getting lost.” She stepped to one side so that they could come in. “I know that I’m sort of in the middle of nowhere out here.”

  Rowen wasn’t sure she would call where they were the middle of nowhere. It was a little out of the way, but that was just because it sat on a stretch of farm land. “You have a lovely house.”

  “Thank you,” said Tilda, shutting the door behind them. “My great, great grandfather owned this place. It was a farm back then. Not that anyone has used it for that sort of thing for the last couple of generations. It’s a good thing too. I wouldn’t know what to do with a farm.” She led the way to a sitting room. “Would either of you like anything to drink?”

  “No, thank you,” Rowen said at the same time that Margo said, “Coffee if you’ve got it, thanks.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Tilda said, still wearing a smile. “How do you take it?”

  “Black.” Margo smiled until Tilda had gone. Her expression fell then. She turned as if taking in their surroundings. They were nice. Rowen had already taken in that much herself. The room was large, spacious. The shelves were lined with vacation photos and pieces of statuary and the like. Rowen sat and found that the furniture looked nicer than it was comfortable. This was probably more of a nice-looking place to receive guests than it was an actual sitting area.

  Margo sat next to Rowen. “She inherited this,” she whispered. “It’s not like she earned it. She was born into money.”

  Rowen didn’t doubt that, but she shot Margo a warning look anyway. “That doesn’t matter. It’s not why we’re here.”

  Margo looked away with a huff. Maybe bringing her along had been a mistake. Maybe Rowen should have dropped her off at home after all. Oh well, it was too late to worry about that now.

  It wasn’t long before Tilda returned. She was carrying two steaming mugs. She handed one to Margo and kept the other for herself. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?” she asked Rowen.

  “I’m fine,” Rowen assured her. “I’ve had enough coffee for today. Do you mind if I record our interview?” Honestly, she was eager to just get it all over and done with.

  “Not at all.” Tilda sat on the sofa across from the both of them. “Dave gave me a call and told me what to expect.” Her expression became more serious then. “I want to help in whatever way I can. Teaghan was one of my best friends. I think Dave is taking this even harder than any of us are. I’m not sure he’ll ever be able to move past this if the murderer isn’t caught, you know?”

  “Well, we’re glad you’re so willing to meet with us.” Rowen finished setting up her recorder on the coffee table between them as she spoke. “I imagine you already spoke with the police.”

  Tilda nodded. “I’ve talked to them a couple of times now. I hate it, if I’m being honest. They seem mad every time I talk to them. It’s like they’re expecting me to be more helpful, but it’s not like I can tell them something I don’t know myself.” She leaned against the arm of the sofa she sat on. She tapped on it rhythmically as her gaze grew distant, thoughtful. “I hope I’m not a disappointment to you as well.”

  “I’m sure you won’t be,” said Rowen even though she doubted Tilda actually nee
ded to hear that. Rowen was feeling a certain degree of falseness from her, like she was fishing for pity. Given the way Margo shifted on the sofa beside her, Rowen was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one sensing that.

  “I miss her so much.” Tilda placed her coffee down on a coaster. “It’s just not going to be the same without Teaghan around. It feels like I was chatting on the phone with her just yesterday. I keep expecting her to call me, you know?”

  Rowen nodded, choosing not to point out that it basically had been just yesterday when she had last spoken to her. “Dave mentioned that you saw Teaghan last night with another man?”

  “Wow.” Tilda took a deep breath. “You’re getting right to the point, huh? I guess that’s fine. I mean, Dave warned me you would. Richie Masters… Please don’t say anything to Trish.”

  “I won’t,” Rowen assured her. “But the police might. I mean, if Teaghan was having an affair, that definitely seems worth looking into.”

  “I understand. I just hate the idea of Trish finding out we knew all along, that we were keeping things from her… I guess it can’t be helped.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” asked Margo.

  Tilda frowned at Margo. “It really didn’t seem like it was my place. It wasn’t like I hadn’t warned her about that husband of hers before. I was never crazy about him. I mentioned it a few times and she always rebuffed me. After a while, I just didn’t bother anymore. That was before I realized he and Teaghan were having an affair. After that it was an entirely new kind of mess.”

  “What made you distrust Richie?” asked Rowen. “From the start, I mean.”

  “I didn’t distrust him from the start,” Tilda corrected. “I think… I think I only started distrusting him once I started frequenting the gym where he works. I saw how hands-on he was with a lot of his clients. They were all female too. It was shameful really.”

  “Did Teaghan know that you knew she was having an affair?” asked Margo.

  “Who can say? Surely she knew I wasn’t an idiot, but she never brought it up when it was just the two of us.”

  “Did you think less of her for it?” Margo asked, not backing off with the rapid fire questions.

  Tilda raised her eyebrows. “Of course I didn’t.” She must have realized that didn’t sound entirely truthful. She rephrased. “She was human. I’m certainly not holding any kind of grudge, if that’s what you mean. I don’t think Teaghan did anything to warrant what happened to her.”

  “When and how did you find out that Teaghan was having an affair?” asked Rowen.

  This looked to be a question Tilda had prepared for. “I started suspecting about a year ago,” she said immediately. “And I can’t say that I knew for certain that anything was going on… I just… You can sense these things, you know? I like to think of myself as a perceptive person. It was hard to miss.”

  “And you think Trish missed it?” asked Rowen. “She’s not a perceptive person?”

  “Apparently not. I don’t mean to speak poorly of her. I mean, I love her as much as I loved Teaghan. She’s just… She was always a little flighty, you know?”

  “You didn’t tell her?” asked Margo, raising an eyebrow.

  “Of course not!” Tilda looked somewhat scandalized. “Like I said, I tried to warn her when they first got engaged. She didn’t want to listen then. I wasn’t sure why she would listen years later.” Tilda said all this like it was no big deal, like not telling someone their husband was cheating on them was just something friends did.

  “Are you married?” asked Margo.

  “Of course!” Tilda smiled and nodded to the nearest shelf. There was a photo on it, one that featured Tilda on a toboggan standing next to a man who was also warmly dressed. There were snowy mountains behind them. “He’s off on business right now. There’s a shareholder meeting in China of all places. He couldn’t be further away. Can you believe it? At a time like this, too…”

  “Does he know what happened to Teaghan?” asked Rowen.

  “Of course. I video called him that night. He couldn’t get back in time for the funeral, but he’s still headed back as quick as he can. He’s a great guy. You would love him, I’m sure.”

  Somehow Rowen doubted that. She changed the subject. “Dave seems to think that you were one of the last people to see Teaghan alive.”

  That seemed to somber Tilda some. She looked down at the floor. “I hate to think that, but I may have been. Teaghan was with me. We were having fun. We’d probably drank a little too much. I had to go to the bathroom and, well, you know how it is. You hate to be the only one going. Teaghan came with me—or she was going to. We kind of ran into Richie on the way. He grabbed Teaghan by the arm which really ticked her off. You could tell that he had been drinking too. He was a little too rough with her, if you ask me. I was ready to tell him to take a hike, but Teaghan told me to go on. I headed to the bathroom on my own after that and, yeah, the last I saw they were still arguing when I got out. I could hear them down the hall.” Slowly, Tilda shook her head. “I should have gone to see if she was all right. Instead I thought it was better to give them their privacy.” She squeezed the arm of the sofa tighter. “I’m such an idiot,” she swore, her eyes fixed on the floor. “If I had gone after her, if I had done something, she might still be alive.”

  Rowen was about to say something to reassure her, but Margo spoke before she could get a single word out. “Were there any cameras? Security cameras, I mean. In the hallway?”

  Tilda looked up. She raised her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. I hope so. I’m not sure the police would tell me if there were. Why? Did they say anything to you?”

  “Not yet.” Rowen made sure to smile at Tilda. She could see that Tilda was trying to be endearing, trying to be as helpful as possible. It was likely because she was hoping for some sort of exchange here. She wanted information from Rowen much in the same way they were getting information from her. That wasn’t going to happen, but she didn’t need to know that. “Hopefully, we’ll know more soon.”

  Tilda nodded in agreement. “Hopefully. Gosh, I hope they have some kind of lead to follow. I don’t want this to go cold.”

  “The police have had a pretty good track record ever since we got a new Chief of Police,” said Margo, her tone guarded. It was like she had taken Tilda’s words as a slight against the local police. Maybe they had been.

  “That’s right. He’s in your family now, isn’t he?” Tilda put on a smile, but it rang false. It was like she was insinuating something unfair, but Rowen had no idea what. “Well, you let him know that we’re all counting on him.”

  “We’ll do that,” Margo assured her.

  ***

  The conversation progressed rather uneventfully. Tilda lost her train of thought a lot. She would get distracted and go off on a tangent. It would take a minute or two to get her back on track. Rowen could see it getting dark through the blinds by the time they were finishing up. “We should get going,” she said when Tilda was starting in on a story about Aspen. “Thank you for your time.”

  Tilda raised her eyebrows, like she was surprised to see them leaving already. “It’s not a problem.” She stood as her guests did, ready to lead them back to the door. “You give me a call if you need to talk again. Don’t hesitate. I just want this thing solved, you know?” Her expression became a touch more serious. There was no smile on her face anymore. Her mouth was a grim line. “I loved Teaghan like a sister. I want justice, and I want to help in whatever way I can.”

  “We’ll give you a call if we need you,” said Margo, turning toward the door. Her tone was a little cool, but there wasn’t a whole lot Rowen could do about that.

  “Thanks again,” said Rowen, fixing Tilda with an earnest smile before heading out the door herself. “What was that all about?” she hissed to Margo once they were out of earshot.

  Margo shrugged. “I don’t like her,” she said, like that should be as plain as day. “I kept telling you I didn’t lik
e her. I still don’t like her.”

  “What? You don’t think she wants Teaghan’s murderer found?”

  “I don’t think she’s all that torn up about it. You heard the way she kept talking about other things.”

  “It’s not like there’s a wrong way to grieve,” Rowen reminded her. “Give the poor woman a break.”

  “Poor,” Margo scoffed. “Yeah, sure. That’s what she is. Poor.”

  “You know what I mean.” Rowen swatted Margo on her way past her to the car. She was about to get in when she noticed someone standing on the passenger’s side. It gave her pause at first. Her heart beat a little faster in her chest, startled until she realized who it was she was looking at. “What are you doing here?” she asked Detective Sutton. If she had been mildly annoyed before, she was very annoyed now. This guy seemed to have that effect on people.

  Sutton raised one thick eyebrow. “That seems like a question I should be asking you,” he pointed out, his gaze moving from Rowen to Margo.

  “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.” Margo wasn’t one to back down. If anything, she was more confrontational than Rowen.

  Sutton inclined his head. He regarded Margo with an icy look, his eyes traveling the whole of her in an appraising sort of way. “I’m a police detective.”

  That didn’t look like it meant a whole lot to Margo. “Congratulations. I work for the Lainswich Inquirer. Officially, I’m their PR person. Unofficially, I do a little bit of everything. So glad we could get these introductions out of the way.”

  “We’re not breaking any laws,” Rowen added, in case that needed pointing out. “Tilda can talk to whoever she wants to. As for yourself if you think we’re… I don’t know what you think is going on, honestly. Do you think we’re harassing her or something?”

  “Or something,” said Sutton, those narrowed eyes of his moving from Margo to Rowen. There was obvious distrust there. “I don’t care what Ben says. I respect him as Chief of Police, but the longer I’m here, the more certain I am that he gives you a lot too much freedom to do as you please. You just stomp across potential crime scenes and make your way through witnesses like you’re not meddling with police business. He won’t crack down on you, so I feel like I need to.”