Towhee Freshwater

Towhee Freshwater is a character in the Melisende Dulac Series.

Biography

Towhee is a nickname given to her by her brother Emile. Originally, he was the only person to use it, in a teasing but playful way. "Because she chirps and has crazy eyes like a spotted towhee." After the family annihilation she insisted everyone call her Towhee and refused to answer to her given name, Odelia.

Within her family, Towhee was especially close to Emile and her father. For Father's Day in 2008, she gave Clark a silicone watchband embossed with #I♥DADDY. Though it didn't really match, he wore it with his Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch.

When the watch and band were discovered with a decomposed body in a shallow grave at the Hensley Asylum for Infirm Ladies and Needful Girls cemetery, their presence helped with the preliminary identification of the body as Clark's.

Since the deaths of her family and the disappearance of her father, she has been fostered by Dearth and Virginia Newland.

Towhee is the beneficiary of a trust set up by the court after the murders. The trust owns the surviving Freshwater assets, which primarily consist of Freshwater Knoll, and funded by a life insurance policy on Dorothy. When she turns 21, the trust will revert to her. Until then, a child support stipend is paid by the trust to the Newlands. The trust also pays the property tax and insurance on the house.

There has been some talk of suing the trust for recovery of funds allegedly embezzled by Clark, but that has yet to move forward. Public sentiment is strongly against such a move, and there is some doubt as to the likelihood of the suit being successful unless Clark is apprehended, tried, and convicted of the crimes.

Towhee has publicly stated she doesn't want the house and intends to sell it as soon as she takes formal ownership.

Towhee drives a blue 1985 Ford F-250.

Description
In her first appearance, Melisende described her thus:

“She was about my height, five-nine, and broad shouldered with dark brown hair pulled back from her round face. Under her neon orange quilted jacket, she wore a black, shapeless turtleneck, white leggings, and grey boots polished to a mirror finish. Her large, wide-set russet eyes bounced around the lobby like a sparrow checking for a hawk.”

More generally, she wears her hair in different colors each week, green, blue, pink, or even all three. At times she ties it back in a prim bun, others she gels up into a sharp Mohawk. Her shoulders and chest are as broad as a weightlifter’s, tapering down to a narrow waist and slender legs.

Legal Problems

In the spring of 2018, during her junior year of high school, Towhee set fire to the high school computer room. In lieu of prosecution, she entered into a Formal Accountability Agreement that required her to pay restitution to the school and perform 500 hours of community service. Successful completion of the agreement would result in no prosecution or record.

For her community service, she joined the Hensley Asylum cemetery relocation project. Her wages from Bouton Funerary Service, where she worked performing landscaping and odd jobs, were garnisheed to pay the restitution, which amounted to $7,500.

Vital Statistics

Date of Birth: 12 October 2000
Foster Care: 2/21/2009 with Dearth and Virginia Newland
Date of Death: —

See Family Trees for family relationships.

Character Affiliations

• Clark Freshwater, father
• Dorothy Freshwater, mother
• Emile Freshwater, brother
• Virginia Newland, foster mother
• Dearth Newland, foster father
• Melisende Dulac, friend

Points of Interest

• Freshwater Knoll

Appearances

• Memory Garden (Work on this novel is on indefinite hold.)