by K. J. Emrick
***
Desperately in need of a break that afternoon Darcy headed to the Bean There Bakery and Café. She was looking forward to having a leisurely coffee by herself. She should have known better.
“Oh Darcy, my goodness, are you alright?” Helen was working at the bakery like she always did even though she was the owner. She had rushed over to Darcy as soon as she entered the shop. “I heard you were the one to find poor Anna. That must have been simply awful for you. I hope you’re okay.”
Helen pulled her in for a comforting, motherly hug that Darcy wanted nothing to do with but suffered through just the same. “Come on, dear,” Helen said to her, “sit down and I’ll get you a coffee.”
“Thanks, Helen. But I’m alright, really.” Helen made a tut-tut noise and pushed Darcy into one of the booths along the bakery walls. Darcy sunk down into the plush cushioned seat and sighed. Helen was loved by everyone in town. Sometimes, though, she was a bit overbearing. Why fight it, Darcy figured.
Helen came back with a steaming cup of dark, aromatic coffee and set it down in front of her. As Darcy went to pay for it Helen tapped Darcy’s hands with her fingers and said, “No it’s on the house.”
“Thanks Helen.” She was honestly appreciative, even if she’d had her fill of well-intentioned concern from her neighbors and friends.
Helen sat down on the other side of the booth and they chatted for a little while about this and that. About anything, really, other than Anna. Helen was always a font of information about the goings on in Misty Hollow. But eventually she got around to the subject that Darcy was trying to avoid. “Everyone who has come into the bakery today has been so upset and devastated by the death of Anna. Steve couldn’t sleep last night. He was so upset that he was pacing around…”
Before she could finish what she was saying Helen was interrupted by a customer coming into the shop. She hurried away to serve them and Darcy took the opportunity to go and put some milk into her coffee.
As she was standing at the little counter of sugar and milk and other condiments she could hear two women talking. She hadn’t realized that her friend Linda was sitting at one of the other tables on the other side of the shop. She was with one of her co-workers, Dianne Chamberlain, and they seemed to be having a good old gossip session. Darcy tried not to listen but when she heard Anna’s name she couldn’t help herself.
“I heard that her family is going to have the funeral in their home town in some state down south,” Dianne was saying to Linda. Linda made a scoffing noise and Dianne continued to talk. “That’s such a bad idea. What about all of her friends here? None of us will be able to attend.”
“Well I just can’t believe that anyone would hurt Anna.” Linda sounded perplexed. “She was so nice and led such a quiet life.”
“Well, it might not have been all that uneventful. I overheard Grace Wentworth and another police officer talking when I went to pay a parking ticket this morning.” Darcy was all ears now. What had her sister said? “Apparently the police found something suspicious in Anna’s house.”
Linda again. “Really? Do you know what they found?”
Dianne said, “No. No I don’t. They didn’t elaborate and by then my ticket was paid and I had to leave.”
Darcy was intrigued now. Grace hadn’t said anything to her about that. Linda and Dianne saw her then, and they smiled at her and waved and made very sure not to say anything else about Anna the whole time Darcy was finishing her coffee.
***
After she finished dinner that night Darcy settled down on her sofa with Smudge. She had begun feeling nostalgic and had brought out some old photos to look through. Her louse of an ex-husband had only taken the ones of him and his own family.
“Look Smudge. Here’s a photo of the first book club meeting we ever had. It was only five years ago but don’t we all look so much younger?” She laughed as she held the photo up for her cat to look. He yawned before going back to cleaning his paws, not interested in the photo at all.
Choosing not to notice her cat’s disinterest she flipped through a few more photos. “Aww, look. There’s Anna.” She ran her finger over Anna’s face in the picture and felt a chill run through her. A sensation crept over her skin and she pulled her finger away quickly. Smudge looked up at her curiously.
“Don’t look at me like that. What am I supposed to do?” Smudge continued to stare at her, until Darcy finally relented. She didn’t know if it had been her idea or Smudge’s, but either way it felt like the right thing to do. “Fine, I guess it won’t hurt to check.” Grabbing up the phone she dialled Grace’s number.
“Hey Darcy how are you?” her sister asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Everyone in town has asked me that today, Grace. There’s nothing to worry about. I just felt like talking to you. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” Grace sounded unconvinced. “Well. I’m glad you’re okay. After what happened last night you could be forgiven if you weren’t. One thing they teach us in the academy is that a shock like that can eat away at you if you don’t talk about it.”
Darcy smiled at her sisters concern. It was nice to know that her big sis was still there for her, even now. Pushing Grace’s worry away again, Darcy directed the conversation onto other topics until she could bring it back around to ask her question.
“So there’s been a lot of speculation around town today about why Anna was killed. Do you have any idea why yet?” Darcy spoke very casually, trying to make it sound like a simple question so she could find out what she needed to know without tipping Grace off.
She was disappointed by her sister’s answer. “No we don’t. I know what you’re doing Darcy and it won’t work. You know I shouldn’t be talking about this with you.”
“Aww, come on Grace. I heard that you found something suspicious in Anna’s house last night, can you at least tell me if that’s right?”
Darcy heard Grace sigh on the other end of the line and knew that she’d hooked her. “Okay, fine. Just let me get in the other room. Aaron’s taking a nap.” There was the faint sound of a door closing and then Grace said in a whisper, “You didn’t hear it from me, alright Sis?”
“You got it.” Darcy scratched behind Smudge’s ears and waited impatiently on the edge of the couch.
“We found an envelope,” Grace confided, “with seven thousand dollars in it, all in twenties, on Anna’s kitchen table.”
Darcy was stunned. “Wow.”
“Exactly. Now look, Sis, I’m not saying any more. I’ve said too much already. I have to get going. I’ll talk to you tomorrow okay?”
“Sure. Goodnight, Grace.” Darcy hung up the phone, still unsure what to make of this little fact. She didn’t think that Anna even had that much money. Especially not to just leave it lying around on her kitchen table.
Maybe this really was a murder. And maybe there was a lot more going on here than anyone knew about.
Chapter Six
The next day Darcy and Sue were busy rearranging some books when the handsome Detective Jon Tinker stopped by. Darcy felt a funny little flutter in the pit of her stomach when she saw him coming through the door. Not her normal something’s-wrong-flutter. This was a very intimate sensation and she was hard pressed to call it anything other than what it was. Attraction.
Her fingers immediately went to twirl the ring anxiously but she stopped them when she realized what she was doing. She was finding herself playing with the ring more and more recently.
Jon was holding a cup of coffee and as he walked toward the counter the thought came to her that he always looked like he could have just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Today he had on a different dark blue suit with a lighter blue shirt underneath and a gray tie. She licked her suddenly dry lips. His blue eyes were stormy and his lids narrowed while he studied her. Her fingers itched with a sudden desire to feel along the outlines of his muscles in his chest and arms and instead went to her ring as a substitute. She mentally shrugged. She would
break herself of the habit another day.
When he reached the counter Darcy became aware that Sue had gone suspiciously quiet. Looking at the younger woman Darcy found her standing, just staring at Jon. For some reason her reaction annoyed Darcy.
Jon smiled at them and then said to Sue, “I wonder if I might speak to Darcy alone for a few minutes.” He placed the cup of coffee he was holding down onto the counter and rubbed his hands together. Darcy thought he looked a little nervous.
Sue smiled back at him. “Sure, I can go for a walk. Um. Yeah.”
Darcy was sure she saw Sue’s cheeks turn red as she nodded and quickly left the shop. Jon waited for the bell to ring and the door to close before turning back to Darcy. His gaze was intense. She felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny.
“Look, Darcy, I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you the other night. I was rude to you when you had been through a very rough ordeal.”
This was what he came here for? Seriously? “Thank you, Jon. I appreciate it but you don’t need to apologize.”
He nodded like he didn’t believe her. “So how are you anyway? Are you okay now?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She just wanted one day when someone didn’t ask her that.
“It must have been so hard for you to find Anna’s body the way you did. You know, sometimes we can think we’re okay and then all of a sudden things catch up to us. Before you know it you’re an emotional mess.” He was still smiling but Darcy caught the hint of something behind his words. What was he up to?
Darcy tilted her head up at him and narrowed her eyes. It finally sunk in what he is up to. He was on a fishing expedition. He was trying to subtly question her for information. Bastard.
“Get out!” She was satisfied to see his startled look. Did he think she was stupid? Without trying to justify himself Jon turned and started to walk away from her.
Six feet away from her his cup of coffee lifted off the counter and flew across the room, hitting him squarely in the back of the head. Brown coffee splattered all over him.
Jon spun around to spear Darcy with an angry glare. “What the hell did you do that for? I was already leaving!” He sputtered and swiped coffee from the backs of his shoulders, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he turned towards the door and stalked out of the shop.
Darcy grabbed a handful of paper towels to clean up the coffee spill. She hadn’t thrown it, of course, but he never would have believed her if she’d told him that Great-Aunt Millie had taken a dislike to him. With a little smirk she watched out the window as Jon stalked down the street. He was very angry with her right now. Good.
As she bent down to clean up the mess she wondered what it was that Millie was trying to tell her. She wondered if perhaps Jon was the dark figure from her dream. Could he be the one who killed Anna? Why would he have killed her?
Deciding that she couldn’t let this go, couldn’t just wait for the police and her sister and that cold hard fish Jon to figure out this mystery, Darcy made her decision. She needed to find out who murdered Anna herself.
Chapter Seven
Sue came back twenty minutes later.
“I need to step out for an hour or so,” Darcy said to her. “Can you take care of things for a while?”
“Sure Darcy. No problem.”
Darcy headed straight for the police station. The desk sergeant let her through with a nod and a wave. She found Grace sitting at her desk engrossed in paperwork. “Hey,” she said by way of greeting.
“Oh. Hi Darcy, I didn’t see you there.” She pushed her paperwork aside and leaned back in her chair with a smile.
“Interesting reading?” Darcy pointed to the report.
Grace picked it up and shoved it in her desk drawer. “Nope. Not really. What can I do for you, Sis?”
Darcy looked all around the room. “I was hoping that we could talk. Away from here. Maybe go for a walk?”
Grace frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Darcy shook her head. “Not here.”
They walked in silence for a bit until they were away from the center of town, on a side street that had a few houses on it and no people around to hear them. “Okay,” Grace said to her then. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Darcy took a deep breath. “You have to help me, Grace.”
“That doesn’t sound too good. What’s happened? Are you in trouble? Has it got anything to do with Anna’s murder?”
Darcy put a hand up to stop the questions. “Nothing’s happened, yet. Well, nothing tangible anyway.” She paused for a moment. “I’m getting signs from my sixth sense that I need to solve Anna’s death.”
“Really? That’s what you need my help with? No way. Look sis. I don’t understand everything that happens to you or what you can do. But I do know that you’ve gotten into trouble too many times before playing around with…whatever it is you play around with. You should just stay out of it this time.”
Darcy should have known that she would get this reaction from Grace. Her sister had buried her head in the sand more often than not when it came to matters of the supernatural.
They stopped, and Grace put a finger up to accentuate her point. “And if you do find out anything that relates to Anna’s death, with your sixth sense of your sense of style or whatever, then you need to tell me. Got it?”
Darcy watched as her sister stalked away back towards the town center. Darcy knew she wouldn’t get any more help from Grace. She’d have to take matters into her own hands.
***
Darcy walked slowly back to her store with her mind on what she would need to do. She needed the information that the police obviously had. Her sister had never been a good liar. She knew something. And it would be in that report she had seen on Grace’s desk.
She needed to break into the police department. That much was obvious. So what would she need? Time. She’d need to be there when hardly anyone else was. Most importantly, she would need Grace’s keys, but how to get them?
The day got darker as she saw Jeff coming towards her down the street. She wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation with him today. Or ever. It just seemed that they couldn’t even look at each other these days without it turning into a fight.
“Darcy.” Jeff’s voice was clipped as he stopped in front of her. What had she done to get up his nose this time? “I know you’re probably riding high on all of the attention you’re getting right now for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again. But that doesn’t give you the right to steal what’s mine.”
Irritated, she crossed her arms under her breasts and stared him down. “For Pete’s sake Jeff, what are you talking about now?”
“Photos. I’m talking about photos. The ones you stole from me. The ones from in the box you gave me the other day. Some of the photos are missing. Where are they?”
“Seriously? That’s what’s got you so upset? I have no idea where they are, Jeff. Why would I want your lousy photos?” She’d had enough. Sidestepping him she stormed past without looking back.
“This isn’t over Darcy!” he called after her. She rolled her eyes as she kept walking.
When she got back to the shop Sue met her with a wink and a half-smile.
“Where did you go to?” Sue asked her. “Were you off talking to Jon?”
“No. Of course not.” Darcy sat down at one of the three reading tables in the store and rubbed her temple where a small headache was forming.
“I think that he’s cute,” Sue went on about Jon. “Everyone thinks so. It’s really nice to have a new guy around this town. I mean, he’s a little old for me, and I do have Randy, but he’d be perfect for you. Don’t you think he’s cute?”
“No, I don’t.” Just then Smudge jumped up onto the table and meowed loudly in her face. She hadn’t realized that her cat was in the store. She shook her head at him and said, “What? I do not think he’s cute.”
Sue chuckled nervously when Darcy spoke to Smudge. Darcy
was well aware of how Sue thought it was kind of odd the way she talked to him. She laughed, trying to put Sue at ease. They got back to work and Darcy went back to making her plans for getting into the police station.
Chapter Eight
That night Darcy went over to Grace’s house. She was nervous knowing that she was about to lie to Grace. It was for a good cause, she kept telling herself, and her sister would understand. Eventually. Grace lived in a very nice upmarket apartment in Seelander Court which was close to the center of town with her husband Aaron. Darcy timed her visit for just after dinner time. Timing was crucial to her plan.
“Uh, hi Darcy. What are you doing here?” Grace said at the door with an uncertain smile.
Oh no, that hadn’t been too friendly. Darcy smiled and said something about just wanting to visit with her sister and then stood there uncertain what to do next. When she hesitated Grace said, “Are you coming in or not?”
She turned away from the door and walked back into her apartment. Darcy quickly stepped inside and shut the door.
She followed Grace into the dining room. Grace’s husband was clearing dinner dishes away. “Hi Darcy.” Aaron smiled at her over his shoulder as he balanced plates and bowls in one hand. They had just finished dinner. Perfect timing.
“Hi Aaron.” She looked from one to the other of them. “Sorry, is this a bad time?” Grace speared her with a narrow-eyed look and then went back to wiping the table clean. Aaron picked up the last of the plates and carried the stack of them into the kitchen leaving Darcy and Grace alone. Grace was very quiet and Darcy felt a bit awkward.
“Um,” she started. “I wanted to say, about this morning, I’m sorry I pushed you. I understand that you’re bound by law and can’t share information with me.”
“Thank you,” Grace said slowly, while eyeing Darcy a little suspiciously. With a sigh she finally came around the table to pull her into a hug. “It’s alright Sis. You are who you are. I know that you can’t stop yourself from wanting to help.”
