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
Her hair is a different color each week, green, blue, pink, or even all three. (Left alone, her hair is dark brown.) Sometimes 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 spindly legs. She has russet eyes, another reason Emile called her Towhee.

Legal Problems

In the spring of 2018, during her junior year of high school, Towhee set fire to the high school computer room. In exchange for a guilty plea, she was placed in a diversion program that required she pay restitution to the school, plus a fine and court costs. Successful completion of the diversion program, which included completing five hundred hours of community service and full restitution to the school, will result in suspension of the fine. If she stays out of further trouble, her record will be expunged on her eighteenth birthday.

For her community service, she was assigned on 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.

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, father father
• Melisende Dulac, friend

Points of Interest

• Freshwater Knoll

Appearances

• Memory Garden