14 Christmas Spirit

by K. J. Emrick

  Jon looked at Darcy, and she saw what he was thinking. She tried to reassure him with her eyes that he would never lose her. Ever.

  His eyes held hers for just a moment before turning back to Joe. "So what's our first move here, Chief?"

  Joe folded his arms. "I'd like to hear what you think."

  Tapping the page in the folder again Jon answered without hesitation. "I'd like to take a couple of uniforms with me and go talk to the ex-boyfriend first. Get a look through his apartment and be sure Megan isn't there. Be sure he isn't hiding something else."

  The Chief nodded his approval. "Just what I would have done. I'll send Blake and Shane over there with you. If it develops into something more you have my permission to call some of the other guys in. Grace too, if you think you'll need her. Before we go, I'd like to see you in my office. Just you, if that's all right, Darcy?"

  Darcy was a little surprised at the Chief's request, but she told them that was fine. Jon was an officer here, after all, and there would always be times when the department needed just him and not the two of them together.

  She watched as they went back into the hallway that led to the interview rooms and Chief Daleson's small office. She tapped her feet. She checked her watch again. They'd only been here maybe half an hour. Now that they had a mystery to investigate, it seemed like time was speeding past her. She wanted to be up and doing something. Maybe she should have worn the My Little Pony watch that Izzy's daughter had given her as a gift. At least it was fun to watch the pony with the rainbow colored tail flying her way around on the second hand.

  It wasn't exactly something a grownup would wear, though. Darcy felt a lot more grown up than she ever had before, what with everything that had happened in her sleepy little town over the last year or two, and although she liked the watch she had decided to only wear it for special occasions.

  After watching the normal second hand on her normal watch spin around the dial a few times, Darcy decided to look through the case folder of Megan Bortchowski, missing person. It wasn't exactly police procedure to let civilians do that sort of thing, but Darcy wasn't your average citizen. Daleson had grudgingly begun to accept her help after several successful cases in which she had played a big role. Now, she was an honorary—if unofficial—member of the force.

  There wasn't a lot more information in the folder that she didn't already know. She kept coming back to Megan's parents. Why hadn't they reported her missing? What was the relationship there? Darcy and her mom hadn't been close for a lot of years, but she still would have been banging on the police station door if Darcy had gone missing.

  There was nothing in the report from Megan's parents. Just their names and address in Cider Hill. Darcy had to wonder what that might mean…

  "Ready?" Jon asked her, back from his private meeting. Joe wasn't with him.

  Darcy hadn't heard him coming. Looking up at him now, she saw tension around the corners of his eyes, saw the slight downturn of his mouth. He was thinking hard about something, and it didn't look very pleasant, whatever it was.

  "Jon? What's the matter?" she asked, standing up with him.

  He drew in a breath, then let it sigh out slowly through his nose as he shook his head. "I'll tell you later, okay? Not here."

  "Um, sure," she said, wondering what in the world the Chief could have told him to get him like this. "Sure. Neilson Daye first?"

  That brought at least a little bit of a smile back to his face. "Yes. Mystery first. Then I promise I'll tell you all about it."

  He went over to where Shane and Blake were still working at the computer and Darcy listened as he laid out for the two uniformed officers what they were going to do. They both nodded, asking a few questions as Jon gave them the details they needed.

  Beside her on Jon's desk, the phone rang.

  The black plastic phone had several buttons, each with a specific designation written next to them. The line that was ringing was an outside line.

  Jon looked over absently and she could see him deciding whether or not to answer it. This was his day off, after all, and he was about to go interview a possible suspect in a missing person case. Even so, there was a very good reason to answer the call.

  "It could be Blair Clinton," Darcy pointed out. "Or Megan's parents."

  He nodded, although he didn't look happy about it, and came back over to pick up the phone on its sixth ring, just before it would have switched through to his voicemail. "Detective Jon Tinker," he said into the receiver.

  He never spoke a word. He just held the phone to his ear for maybe half a minute, then handed the phone to Darcy. "She wants to talk to you."

  Darcy blinked at him, confused. Who would call Jon at the police station and then ask for her? Who would even think to do something like that, let alone have any reason to talk to her here? Well, Grace, sure, but from the look on Jon's face it was easy to tell it wasn't Darcy's sister on the phone.

  His look told her it was someone else.

  She took the handset at Jon's insistence and held it up to her ear. There had been a few ghosts who had contacted her by way of telephone. It was why she never carried a cell phone with her anymore. The spirits always seemed to get her new number no matter how many times she changed it out…

  "Hey there, Darcy. Long time. Miss me?"

  Not a ghost. She sort of wished it had been. That might have been less complicated than a phonecall from JoEllen Meyers, killer for hire.

  ***

  "I can not believe that woman is back in town," was Jon's immediate comment.

  Outside in his car with the doors closed and no one to hear them he was a lot more colorful about it. Waiting for Shane and Blake to load up their car, Darcy got to hear exactly what Jon thought about JoEllen and just how happy he wasn't to hear she had come to Misty Hollow.

  After a minute or two, gripping the steering wheel tightly, Jon stared straight ahead down Main Street. Darcy could tell he was waiting for her to say something. "She isn't going to be a problem, Jon."

  "Of course she's going to be a problem," he muttered. "The woman is nothing but trouble."

  "She's not our enemy, Jon."

  "She's a wanted fugitive."

  "Well, besides that."

  He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

  "You know what I mean," Darcy told him. "She helped us out before, if you remember. And we helped her. I thought we kind of left on friendly terms."

  He sighed heavily. "It's just bad timing, is all."

  "Well, sure. We've got this investigation going on now."

  "It's more than that."

  The black and white patrol car that Shane and Blake were driving came around the corner from the back of the police station before Darcy could ask what Jon meant by that. He put their car in gear to take the lead as they headed to Neilson Daye's address. He didn't say anything else for a while.

  Darcy let him stew, hoping whatever knot he was working through would work loose on its own. Neither of them could have foreseen JoEllen showing back up now, here in Misty Hollow. Darcy had figured they might never see the woman again after the events at Bear Ridge. Now she was here, with her son, and she wanted to meet with Darcy. There was something she needed Darcy's help with. Oh, and Jon's too, she had added, the twist in her words letting Darcy know she was smiling as she said it.

  She hadn't told Jon that part yet. She wasn't looking forward to his reaction. Police officers and hired killers didn't exactly run in the same circles.

  "You do remember how JoEllen told us she was getting out of the business, right?" Darcy asked Jon. "That she wasn't going to be a hired killer anymore?"

  "Well, good for her," Jon said, sarcastically. "I'm so happy that she's had the chance to walk away from all the lives she's ended and all the crimes she's committed."

  "She's trying to make up for all that. She's not a bad person, Jon. You know that as well as I do. She saved our lives."

  "I know, I know," he said, more gently. "But she is st
ill wanted and there are warrants attached to her name. Some are from agencies close enough that I'd have to honor them if anyone knew she was around. She's not going to just be able to walk away from what she's done with her life. I don't want her bringing that to Misty Hollow. Not now. Maybe after the start of the year."

  "What?" Darcy was confused. "What does that mean?"

  Jon took one final turn, the patrol car following them closely behind. The green street sign read Birch Lane. Neilson's street. "Look. I know JoEllen's not evil or anything, Darcy, and I know she's tried to turn her life around. I'm all for that and I'll be happy to help her. Just not now. That's Neilson's building. We're here."

  Darcy knew there was a lot more that he wasn't telling her but she also knew things were unfolding fast now with the mystery of Megan Bortchowski. One thing at a time. Smiling at Jon and leaning over to give him a quick kiss on his cheek, she nodded. "Okay. Let's focus on this for now. We can talk about everything else later."

  He managed to look honestly relieved. "Thanks. Remember, stay behind me, and don't trust this guy."

  They went up the crumbling cement steps of the building and through the front door into a hallway that smelled of stale beer. Most of the lights in the ceiling weren't working and everything was dark. To their right, a stairway led up, cluttered with crumpled newspaper pages and discarded pieces of clothing.

  "Nice place," Shane remarked.

  "It's not the Waldorf Astoria, that's for sure," Jon said. "We want apartment 2F. Second floor. Shane, Blake, I'll do the knocking. As soon as he answers, we're going in. Got it?"

  "We got a search warrant, Detective?" Blake asked, with that slurred accent of his.

  "Nope," Jon said. "We're winging it."

  "What if he says no?"

  Jon stopped at the bottom of the stairway. Blake was a young officer, only a year or so into his career, and Darcy didn't know all that much about him. He wasn't from Misty Hollow originally, she knew that. He was stocky and his arms and chest stretched his uniform shirt tight. Blonde hair that was trimmed down short to his head gave him the look of a military drill sergeant, but Darcy could read the uncertainty in his eyes. He was looking for direction every step of the way.

  "Look, Officer Cipes," Jon said to Blake in a polite but strained way. "I don't have time to give you an explanation for every little thing I ask you to do. We're going to go up to the apartment and knock. We're going to go into the apartment. There are exigent circumstances here that will allow our entry. After that, just follow my lead, okay?"

  Blake still looked uncertain, and his jaw tightened, but he nodded and didn't make any further comment.

  Jon had always been a leader at the police department. In the short time that he'd been there the other officers had learned to look up to him and ask him for advice. He actually had experience from other police departments, a long career where he'd seen a lot. Most of his worst cases had been right here in Misty Hollow, but still. Darcy had always admired the way he could take charge and encourage the other men and women police officers to do their jobs better.

  He turned to her now, and winked, and then they were headed up the stairs to the second floor and apartment 2F.

  Chapter Four

  The second floor wasn't any nicer than the first. A window at the far end let in the daylight from outside, highlighting a faded brown carpet stained in several spots and wallpaper that was peeling at the seams. The apartments all had black and white stick-on decals to show their numbers. 2A, 2B, all the way up to 2F at the far end away from the stairs.

  "Are there elevators?" Shane asked. His last name suddenly popped into Darcy's mind. Shane Wagner. He was a cousin to one of the members of Darcy's book club. He was slimmer than Blake and he cut an attractive figure in that uniform. Kind of a young Christian Slater.

  "No elevators," Jon answered him. "The stairs are the only way up or down unless our guy wants to drop out of a two-story window. I doubt he'll try for that. Once we've got him in the apartment there's nowhere for him to go."

  "Got it," Shane said, positioning himself to one side of apartment 2F's door and reaching out to knock. Jon and Blake stood on this side, and Darcy stood behind them a little further.

  This was cop stuff. She knew to stay out of the way until the boys were done with their fun.

  Shane had to knock a second time, harder, before a man's voice called out from inside the apartment. "Hold on! Just hold on!"

  Jon nodded to Shane, and Darcy saw all three men tense. As soon as the knob turned Shane pushed hard against the door with his shoulder and forced it open wide. A small metallic sound might have been a cheap security chain breaking. Then Jon and Blake were through the door too, and Darcy could hear the commotion from out in the hallway.

  "What do you think you're doing?" the same man said, his voice now strained and angry.

  "Are you Neilson Daye?" Jon's voice.

  "Of course I am! Who else would be in my apartment!"

  "That's what we're here to find out. My name is Detective Jon Tinker. We need to ask you some questions about your ex-girlfriend Megan Bortchowski."

  Since there wasn't any sounds of furniture crashing or people being thrown into walls, Darcy figured it was safe to go in now. She stepped into the dinky apartment's cramped living room to find Shane, Blake, and Jon standing in a semi-circle around Neilson Daye.

  He was tall and too thin, his flesh sunken in at his cheeks and around his eyes. His greasy black hair stuck out from his scalp at odd angles. Three earrings pierced his right ear, four in his left, and one small silver ring was stuck into the corner of his lower lip. The gray jogging pants and white t-shirt he wore were both dirty and Darcy got the impression that Neilson had been wearing them for days on end.

  This man certainly didn't look like a threat, but could he have been Megan's kidnapper?

  Maybe even her killer?

  She could see from Jon's expression that he had made the same conclusion. "Mister Daye," he said, "we're looking for Megan, as you know. My Chief tried to have a conversation with you about this and you hung up on him."

  "So?" Neilson protested, folding his arms across his chest. "No law says I have to talk to you pigs."

  Shane shifted his weight subtly, his expression tightening. Jon didn't show any reaction to the insult. He waited a beat, and then went on talking as if Neilson hadn't said anything. "Have you seen her?"

  "Seen who?" Neilson barked.

  "Have you seen Megan," Jon clarified.

  "No. I haven't." The answer was a little too quick, in Darcy's judgment, and he looked down at the floor as he said it.

  "Are you sure?" Jon asked, looking around the room now.

  "I already told your Chief that I haven't seen her," Neilson said in a huff. "I don't want to, either. That witch left me. You know who she left me for?"

  "A woman," Jon said calmly, his eyes on an open door at the far corner of the room. "That must have stung. Your girlfriend leaves you for someone, and it's not even another guy?"

  "Well, how would you feel, man?" Neilson demanded. "Far as I'm concerned Megan can stay buried under whatever rock she crawled under."

  That brought Jon's gaze back to him. Darcy suppressed a gasp. Had Neilson just confessed?

  "That's an interesting way of putting it," Jon told him. "Do you think that's what happened to her?"

  Neilson shifted his weight to his other foot. "I…don't know what you mean. Megan just took a vacation or something. She'll be back. Maybe next Spring. Why don't you guys come back and ask me your questions then?"

  Blake took a step closer to Neilson, his hand on the grip of his gun. "Don't be a smart guy! The Detective asked you a question."

  "Blake," Jon said, his voice warning the younger officer to keep quiet. "I'm sure Mister Daye here is just confused. It's a scary thing, having the police swarm into your apartment like this, isn't it?"

  "Yeah," Neilson said weakly. Then he cleared his throat and stood up straighter and glared at Jon. "
Yes, it is! I want you guys out. You hear me? I want you out of my apartment!"

  "Then show us around," Jon told him.

  That stopped Neilson cold. "What?"

  "Show us around," Jon repeated. "If you don't want us to keep coming here and asking you questions, then show us your apartment and prove that Megan wasn't here. That way we don't have to come back here again. We won't have to go to your neighbors and ask them a lot of questions. I won't even have to go to your landlord and let them know that you're being investigated as part of a missing person case."

  "But I didn't do anything!" Neilson protested, his hands flying wildly, making Shane and Blake step back defensively. "I don't have any idea where Megan is!"

  "Good." Instead of stepping back, Jon took the last step in and stood face to face with Neilson. "Then show us around your apartment."

  That stopped Neilson cold. Blinking, wide-eyed, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could speak. "What?"

  "Are you saying we can't look around the place?"

  "I…no, uh, I mean…"

  It wasn't exactly a yes, but Jon didn't wait for Neilson to say more. "Blake, search the bedroom back there. Shane, go through the kitchen and the bathroom. Neilson, we're going to stay right where we are. Right here."

  There was a command in his voice that Neilson didn't dare contradict. Once again Darcy marveled at the way he could take control of a situation with just his presence and his voice. She smiled, as Blake and Shane began going through the few places in the apartment that could hide a person. She loved Jon more every day. In ways that continued to surprise her, he showed her what a good man he was.

  Darcy and Jon knew that Megan was dead, but they couldn't very well tell Blake and Shane to look for a dead body because Megan's ghost had dropped in on them during movie night. For now, Shane and Blake would have to treat this as just a missing person case.

  Besides, it was still more than possible that Neilson had something to do with Megan's death. He certainly had something to hide. That much was obvious from the way his eyes kept flicking back and forth apprehensively while Shane and Blake made short work of their search.