Hiding From Death

by K. J. Emrick

  Sue swept in just then. “Hi, Darcy! First sale of the day. She bought the first two books in the series and promised to come back for more if her daughter likes them.”

  “That’s great, Sue. I sure will miss you when you leave.”

  Sue’s smile turned a little sad. “Yes. Me too. Is everything all right? You seem a little down.”

  Darcy twisted the ring on her finger. “I’m upset over my new neighbor, actually. You heard that someone moved into Anna’s house?”

  “I heard the gossip around town,” Sue told her. “Have you met them?”

  “I did, just this morning. The mother’s name is Laura Lannis. She shut the door in my face.”

  “Oh no!” Sue said. “How terrible. Everyone in town is talking about how rude she is. I don’t know if she’ll be able to make much of a life for herself here if she keeps acting like that.”

  “See that’s what I thought, too,” Darcy said. She drummed her fingers on the desk. “I don’t know. I want to go and try to talk to her again but maybe I should just let her be. Maybe she has a good reason for being so private.”

  “Like what?” Sue wondered. “This is such a great town full of such nice people. I know I’ve made so many great friends here. Maybe she just needs to know how to meet people.”

  The bell over the door jingled as someone else came in the shop. Sue looked over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s Dawn Wagner. Probably looking for another Harlequin Romance.”

  “Are there any she hasn’t read yet?” Darcy joked.

  “Not many.” Sue answered. “I’ll help her find something good. Look, Darcy, I know you’re going to keep trying to make friends with your new neighbor. It’s the kind of person you are. You’ll think of something.” Then she went out into the store and left Darcy alone with her thoughts.

  The books on the shelf above her shifted suddenly and she looked up in time to see Great Aunt Millie’s journal slide forward off the edge and fall toward her. She caught it, smiling. “You think I should keep trying too, don’t you Millie?”

  She flipped through her aunt’s journal, looking for inspiration. It had helped her out any number of times before. She read a few of her aunt’s passages, talking about life in Misty Hollow, about friends she had known and things she had done. There were pictures, too. Several of them showed Millie in front of the bookstore or working the shelves. Millie had always loved books.

  A thought came to Darcy slowly. Books were a way to bring people together. Like Sue and that young girl earlier, both of whom loved books about fairies. People who had read the same book could always talk to each other, no matter how different they were. Maybe she could do something similar with Laura and her son.

  Feeling good about her idea, Darcy closed her aunt’s journal and set it back up on the shelf. “Thanks Millie,” she said, knowing her aunt was somewhere nearby to hear. “You always know the right thing to say.”

  Out in the bookshop she smiled at Sue and Dawn, perusing the romance section. That was actually one of their more popular sections in town, paperback books that got churned out by the industry every few weeks. Darcy had never gotten into the romance books. They always seemed a little too much the same to her. Like love was easy and real life didn’t matter so long as you had a man to hold you in his arms. She smirked. Jon was a real man, and he held her in his arms plenty, but he also made sure that real problems in their lives had real solutions.

  Walking through the children’s section, she picked out a short stack of books that she thought a young boy like Alex might like. She didn’t know him or what his interests were, but she remembered that his pajamas had sharks on them. She picked out a story about a shark who goes to school, and a National Geographic book all about sharks. From the front of the store she picked up the two locally-authored books on Misty Hollow to add to the group. There. That should do it.

  Sue finished ringing Dawn’s purchase up, two paperback books with strapping, shirtless men on the front. Dawn was a short woman well into her retirement years. She smiled sweetly up at Darcy and waved goodbye as she left the shop.

  “What are those?” Sue asked, pointing to the books in Darcy’s hands.

  “I figured I’d try a different kind of housewarming gift for Laura.”

  “Hey, that’s a great idea,” Sue agreed. “I knew you’d think of something.”

  “Hey,” Darcy said, “speaking of such things, did you look into our other idea yet?”

  Sue beamed at Darcy. “I sure did. I’m going to write up everything for you so you can see what we’ll need to do. There’s going to be a little bit of an initial cost but we should make it back pretty quick, I think.”

  Darcy set her hand on Sue’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “I knew I could count on you. Why don’t you get started on it. I trust you. I want to bring this over to Laura now.”

  ***

  Darcy walked back out of town down the street that led to her house and before that, Laura Lannis’ house. She had the books in a tote from the store, the “Sweet Read Bookstore” logo on the front of the blue nylon bag. She disturbed tendrils of mist as she went, fog that the rising sun hadn’t burned away. Darcy knitted her brows together in thought, wondering what problem the town sensed now.

  Stepping up to the front door of Anna’s old house again she knocked without hesitation, an uncertain smile on her face. Just like before, the door opened almost immediately. It was like Laura had been watching outside to make sure no one was creeping up on the house.

  Laura Lannis stared hard at Darcy. Her dark black hair was pulled forward across part of her face. She was wearing the same purple robe as earlier. She crossed her arms and leaned in the doorway. “Why are you here again?”

  Darcy held out the bag. “I don’t remember if I told you earlier, but I operate a bookstore in town. I know I already brought you the cookies this morning but I thought maybe this would be a better way to welcome you. There’s some books in there for Alex that I thought a young boy might like. Even a couple about sharks. I also put in some books about our town, so you can learn the history of Misty Hollow. History is very important, don’t you think?”

  Laura stared at her, narrowing her eyes as if trying to decide if Darcy was for real. “I don’t need any books. Thank you. Now again, please, just leave us alone.”

  Darcy wouldn’t be put off that quickly. “Please. We’re a very friendly town here, if you take the time to get to know us.”

  She held the bag out, waiting for Laura to decide either to take the gift or slam the door in her face again. Laura shifted from foot to foot, looking inside the house, then back to Darcy. For just a moment it appeared she would shut the door without another word but then she sighed. “You people around here are certainly insistent.”

  Darcy smiled as Laura reached out to take the tote bag of books from her hand.

  When their fingers touched, it was like an electric shock zapped through her. Her vision blurred into bright white light. Sound buzzed in her ears, an incoherent rushing that she gradually recognized as her own intense breathing as she ran so hard that her lungs burned.

  Darcy didn’t know where she was. She only knew that she was running for her life and if she stopped she’d be a dead woman. A house. She was racing out the back door of a house that she knew was hers even though she didn’t recognize it at all. In her arms, she held a child, trembling in terror as they fled.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind she understood that this was a vision. She had been thrown into it so violently, though, that she hadn’t had time to prepare, and now everything the woman in her vision saw and experienced felt real, like it was happening to Darcy herself.

  Darcy turned around as she made it out the door. She had to know that she and her child were safe. She saw the inside of the house, dark now that the hall lamp had been smashed. A man was laying in the hall, holding his hand to his head like he’d been hurt. “You can’t run forever!” the man yelled after her. “I will find you!”

&nb
sp; She couldn’t make out much of the man. The woman in her vision knew him, knew his name and what he was doing in the house, but Darcy didn’t have the time to figure it out. She had to get away. He was a large man, with greasy dark hair. That was all she could see before she was out of the house and away from there.

  The man didn’t follow, but still Darcy ran. She had to keep running. The woman in the vision didn’t dare stop. She would never stop, because she believed the man’s threat.

  Darcy believed it, too.

  As she ran she passed a white church with a tall spiraling bell tower. There were houses, and then she was running past a store. The name of the store and the town’s name were printed on the window in stick-on letters. Darcy turned, trying to see the name better, to learn where she was at least.

  Her reflection stared back at her. She was Laura Lannis.

  The shock of what she just saw threw Darcy from the vision. She stumbled back from Laura, and the bag of books dropped to the porch with a thud.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Laura asked. It wasn’t concern in her voice. It was some of the same fear that Darcy had felt in her vision just now.

  “Mom?” a small voice said. Disoriented, Darcy looked down to see Alex clinging to Laura’s leg. The child she had seen in her vision. It had been Alex.

  Laura gently pushed Alex back. “I home school him,” she explained even though Darcy hadn’t asked. “Besides, it’s winter break. Now, you’ve given us your gifts and I’m going to ask you to leave. Goodbye.”

  She shut the door before Darcy could say anything more, leaving her nothing else to do but turn and walk away. Feeling dizzy, she went up the path to her house. She replayed her vision in her mind as she went.

  In the store window of her vision, Laura had looked differently than she had now. Her hair had been blonde, and she had been pretty without so much makeup. Her eyes had held the same fear they did now. Each time Darcy had come to Laura’s door she’d seen that look, like she was being hunted.

  She went into her own house, closing the door tightly behind her. Smudge came running immediately, meowing happily that Darcy had come home so early.

  “I’m not here for long, Smudge,” she said. “I just need to catch my breath and, uh, orient myself.”

  “Meow?” Smudge asked her.

  Laughing, she bent down to pick the big black and white tomcat up. “It’s okay if you don’t understand. Cats shouldn’t have to worry about things like this.”

  She scratched between his ears. People shouldn’t have to worry about things like what she saw in her vision, either. Who had Laura been running from? What was she hiding from? Was that why she’d come to Misty Hollow and why she was hiding out in Anna Louis’ old house?

  Darcy didn’t know. She only knew she had to find out. Giving Smudge one last good ear scratching she set him down and got her coat back on again. She had to tell Jon what she’d learned.

  Chapter Four

  Darcy checked in with Sue at the bookstore before heading over to the police station. She was online checking on their new project, and promised that she could keep an eye on the store until Darcy got back. She went straight from there to the police station.

  Jon and Grace were both at their desks. Everyone else was out on patrol except for the desk sergeant who had let her in. Darcy hadn’t seen Grace since getting back from vacation the past weekend. They’d called each other, though, and Grace had told Darcy about how bad her morning sickness had gotten. Her sister waved to Darcy from her desk where she’d been put on light duty.

  Darcy smiled to see how grumpy her sister was. Desk duty wasn’t Grace’s idea of police work, but she and her husband Aaron had just lived through a nasty experience when Aaron had gotten into the middle of a botched robbery. They were being a little overcautious with the baby now, maybe, but Darcy understood how they felt. There was only so much tragedy anyone could handle in their life.

  Grace ran her hands back through her short black hair and leaned back in her chair. “I am so bored, sis. Please tell me you came to take me to lunch or something.”

  Darcy leaned over Jon’s desk to trade kisses with him. “Yes,” he said, “please take her to lunch. She’d driving me nuts.”

  Grace stuck her tongue out at him. “Whatever. Next time Aaron gets to have the baby.”

  “Just think, sis,” Darcy said to her as she sat down in the chair in front of Jon’s desk, “you’ll be the first one in the family to have a baby of their own.”

  Jon shifted in his chair. Darcy noticed but didn’t say anything. They had never finished their discussion on whether it was time for them to start their own family yet. She was really curious how he felt about it, but now was not the time.

  “Well,” Darcy said, “it’s a little early for lunch but I do have something that might keep you busy. You too, Jon. I went to see Laura Lannis again this morning.”

  Jon rolled his eyes at her. “I knew you would. She already turned you away once, didn’t she?”

  “Yes, but I think she may have had a reason.” Darcy described the vision she had when Laura’s hand touched hers. She put in as many of the details that she could remember. The dark man, the house, the church with the spiral bell tower. She mentioned holding the child in her arms and then how Laura had looked in the reflection in the window. “It was obviously her, but without the dyed black hair and heavy makeup.”

  Jon leaned his elbows on his desk. “It definitely sounds like she’s trying to hide something. Definitely explains why she won’t talk to anyone in town. She’s scared.”

  Neither of them argued that Darcy was wrong or mistaken in what she’d seen. They both knew about her abilities, so they knew that what Darcy was describing was real in some way, even if they didn’t fully understand what Darcy could do. Jon had watched Darcy contact spirits before, and her abilities had helped solve more than one of his cases.

  “So the question is,” Jon was saying, “what do we do now? If she doesn’t want to come forward with this problem there isn’t much we can do as police officers.”

  “We can still look into it, though,” Grace argued. “And I think we should. I mean, if she’s on the run from some guy, it could affect the whole town. Plus, she’ll need help whether she’s willing to ask for it or not. You know, Darcy, that church that you described in your vision sounds very familiar to me.”

  “I know, right?” Darcy said. “I thought the same thing. I’ve been trying to place it but I just can’t put my finger on it. I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere before, though.”

  “You think it’s a place in one of the towns around here?” Jon asked. He had moved to Misty Hollow not even a year ago, just before he and Darcy had started dating, so he wasn’t as familiar with the area as Darcy and Grace were. They’d lived here most of their lives.

  “It might be,” Darcy admitted, “but I just don’t know.”

  “I tell you what,” Grace said. “I’ll look into that. I’ll also try to find any reports of missing women that might match Laura’s case.”

  “Women with a son,” Jon reminded her. “That should definitely narrow it down.”

  “Are you sure you have the time?” Darcy asked her sister.

  Grace made a little snorting sound. “It sure beats checking other officer’s paperwork or whatever other job they can think to give me. I hate light duty.”

  Jon laughed at her. “Well, like you said, next time Aaron can be the one to get pregnant.”

  Darcy had a good feeling about this. All they had to do was find that church, and maybe they could find out what kind of trouble Laura was in. Then they could help her. If she’d let them.

  ***

  Jon came home late that night, but with no good news. Grace had spent hours trying to track down any active missing persons reports, and had checked with every police agency in the state just in case. As near as Grace and Jon could determine there were no reports of a missing mother and son to be had.

  After a restless nigh
t’s sleep Darcy allowed Jon to drive her into work again. She didn’t want to be alone, didn’t want to pass by Anna’s house knowing there was something weird and dangerous going on there. He kissed her goodbye and held her hand at the door to the bookstore, knowing how upset she was.

  It was more than just the intensity of the vision. More than the fact that this woman was now living in Anna’s house. It was the incredible sense of fear that she had felt through Laura in the vision. Whatever she was running from with her son had her terrified.

  In the bookstore Darcy kept herself busy all morning by rearranging the shelves, clearing out a space near the front. That led to her clearing off several shelves, dusting them down, and then restocking them.

  Sue had the morning off. She had several last minute things to take care of before she went back to school again, and it was almost her last day of work already. Darcy began to wonder if she should throw some kind of party for Sue. A going away party. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Yes. A party with all of Sue’s friends here in Misty Hollow. They could hold it right here in the store.

  Darcy drew her hand back, a tingling cold sensation jittering across her fingers. Several books fell to the floor at her feet. When they did, the strange sensation disappeared.

  She stared at her fingers, and then at the mess of books down at her feet. She sighed. “Millie, I’m not in the mood for jokes.” Her aunt was always playing jokes like this. She’d lost track of how many people had been in the shop when books had gone flying across the room or fallen on their toes. Today just wasn’t the day for it.

  She put the books back on the shelf one at a time, stacking them left to right. Until the tingling crept into her fingers again. She didn’t pull away this time. Instead, she pulled that particular book back off the shelf and looked at it closer. It was a picture book, one of several books Darcy carried in the shop that featured the local history. There were a few that dealt with haunted places near Misty Hollow, some that were real and some that she’d found to be fake. There were half a dozen about the role Misty Hollow and Meadowood had played in the war.