Darcy Sweet Mystery Box 1

by K. J. Emrick

  Pain blossomed in her chest. She’d been shot. Wait. Disoriented, struggling to find reality, she realized that she wasn’t in the street. Hadn’t she just been there? No. She was in her bed. Smudge had jumped on her, landing on her chest. That was all it was. She tried to calm her breathing and pushed at the cat gently as she tried to relax her tense muscles. It had been a dream once again. Just another bad dream.

  Right?

  She hoped that was all it was. Two similar dreams about the same man trying to kill her two nights running made it a little harder to dismiss. She was seriously worried now that the dreams meant something but tried to push it away. She didn’t want them to mean anything at all but she feared that they did.

  Smudge mewled at her from where she had pushed him aside onto the mattress. Patting her cat, she said, “I’m sorry, Smudge. Thank you for waking me up. I was having another very bad dream. You wouldn’t believe it. I wonder who that man is that’s invading my dreams and trying to kill me. I hope it was just another stupid dream and not some premonition. What do you think?”

  She was in the habit of talking to Smudge as if he would answer her, as if he could understand her. He looked at her now with those wide eyes of his and shook his head, as if to say “how would I know?”

  “Well you’re a big help.” She laughed at herself and rolled over into a comfortable position where Smudge could crawl in between her feet where they were tangled in the comforter. “Goodnight good boy, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  It took a little while for her to fall asleep again. All Darcy could see when she closed her eyes was the dark figure. She wondered who he was and what it all meant. She’d like nothing more than to just ignore it all as a fantasy of her tired mind. But unfortunately, things rarely worked that way for Darcy. When she saw things, when she had dreams, she knew she had to pay attention to them.

  That thought rolled around in her tired brain before she finally drifted off to sleep again.

  The next morning Darcy was feeling a little on edge from her dream. It had repeated itself just before she had woken this morning. The same dark figure, the same menace, the same gesture of reaching inside of his coat for… something. Three dreams in twenty-four hours made it very difficult to ignore them. She was so agitated and couldn’t settle to anything so she decided to get ready and go to work early. Smudge just rolled over and yawned at her when she asked if he was ready to head into town with her. Apparently, he was still too tired to join her.

  Usually she enjoyed the walk into town but this morning her mind was once again filled with the images from her dreams. By the time she reached the town center she was totally out of sorts. Wondering what she could do to settle her nerves, she decided that maybe some coffee and perhaps something sweet would help. She headed towards the Bean There Bakery and Café, Misty Hollow’s one and only café-slash-bakery.

  Thoughts of her strange dreams buzzed in her head and kept her from paying attention as she made her way through the door of the bakery. She found herself bumping into someone on their way out.

  “Oh, sorry! Sorry,” she tried to apologize.

  “Darcy! Where is your head? You almost made me drop these coffees.” Darcy was embarrassed to hear the familiar female voice admonishing her. Her sister stood there now, scowling at her, the dark blue pantsuit she always wore for work pressed and perfect. Her long, dark hair pulled back in to a tidy pony tail.

  “Grace, what on earth are you doing here?” Darcy cringed as the words left her mouth. She realized how stupid that sounded.

  “Well, I don’t know Darcy. Maybe I was digging for gold or working on my car or something.” Grace tilted her head to one side. “What do you think I’m doing here? It’s a coffee shop. I’m getting coffee.” She lifted the Styrofoam coffee cups she held in a cardboard tray up to Darcy’s eye level.

  Darcy shrugged. What could she say? She bit her lip and wished she hadn’t decided to get breakfast this morning.

  “What’s up with you today?” Grace leaned closer to Darcy and continued, “Has it got anything to do with… you know?” Grace wiggled the fingers of her free hand, indicating that she was talking about Darcy’s tendency to get mixed up in weird stuff.

  Darcy looked at her sister for a beat, deciding whether or not to tell her about her strange dream. Grace knew more than anyone about the dark secrets of Darcy’s life, but not even her sister knew it all. And Darcy wanted to keep it that way.

  “I just had a couple of strange dreams, that’s all. It’s probably nothing.” She left it at that. At least she hoped the dreams had been nothing.

  Grace looked at her watch. “Okay then. If you say so. Are you getting a coffee?” Darcy nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you. You can come and meet my new partner. He just started at the police department a few days ago.”

  Darcy knew that the police department had recently gotten a new detective. She didn’t know much about the man. Grace’s old partner had recently left Misty Hollow to marry a girl from another state.

  Darcy knew she had no choice now. Not that she minded spending time with Grace. She just wanted to get to the book store and spend some time quietly thinking on those dreams. She needed to figure it out or put it out of her mind. She went up to the counter and placed her order, chatting with Helen Nelson, the owner of the bakery, while she waited for her coffee and Danish. Helen was the Mayor’s wife, and always full of news.

  As she and Grace walked toward the black and white patrol car that was parked just down the street, Darcy saw the tall, dark haired, very good looking man slouched against the driver’s door.

  He had his arms folded across a muscular chest and he oozed indifference to the world around him. His suit was a similar color to Grace’s, and just as stiff-looking. As they moved closer to him he turned to them with a shadow of a smile and Darcy’s breath caught in her throat. She was mesmerized by the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes she’d ever seen.

  Grace handed the coffees to him then held a hand out towards Darcy. “Jon, this is my sister, Darcy Sweet.”

  He inclined his head ever so slightly in her direction and she felt her face heat. It was an intense something that rose up in her with each breath as his eyes pinned her. She hadn’t had a reaction like that to a man since she couldn’t remember when. Probably never. For his part, he looked her up, and down, and if she’d been standing there naked in front of him she couldn’t have felt more exposed. She bit her lip and told herself to just breathe.

  “Darcy,” Grace continued, “this is my new partner, Jon Tinker.”

  She felt Grace nudge her as she stood there, still mute. Gathering herself she placed her cup and pastry bag onto the car roof and held out her hand to him. “Hi, um… Jon. How are you?”

  She figured it was her day to put her foot in her mouth.

  He took hold of her offered hand and little electric currents ran along her fingers and then up her arm. The tingling settled in her spine, and she knew she was in trouble.

  He looked at her like he’d just found something distasteful on the bottom of his shoe. Then he dropped her hand like he’d just found out she was infectious and turned away from her to take a coffee from the tray where he’d set it on the roof of the car. He thanked Grace in single syllable words and then took a sip of the hot drink. Darcy was a bit let down by his curt attitude but decided to try again. Sometimes she couldn’t help being a woman.

  “So Jon,” she said to him, determined to make a better second first impression, “what do you think of our town? How are you handling all of the mist?”

  “The town’s okay,” he said, and then added with a twist of sarcasm, “And all this mist doesn’t bother me at all.” He turned away from her and took another sip of his coffee.

  Her mouth hung open. What a rude man! Had she really been attracted to this jerk? Angry at herself, she twisted the ring around her finger over and over. “Well, I guess that’s great then that you love the mist so much. I’ll see you later Grace, I’ve got t
o get to the book shop.”

  She grabbed her coffee and pastry and wondered as she stalked off if it had been her. Something she said? Then she realized that unless Jon was the type of guy to be insulted by someone saying hi, then the problem wasn’t her. It was him.

  God help her sister if that was her new partner.

  “I think it will be great fun. I simply can’t wait.” Sue Fisher, Darcy’s only employee at the book store, was chatting excitedly about Misty Hollow’s anniversary festival that was going to be held the next day. “This is the biggest thing to happen here for ages. I can’t wait for the fireworks.” She was swinging her blonde head from side to side as she twirled on her stool in her excitement making Darcy feel a little seasick.

  Darcy couldn’t help but grin. Sue was just twenty, working at the book store while on a break from college for a year while she decided whether she wanted to get that law degree or not. That kind of energy could only belong to someone so young.

  Sue stopped swinging around and looked through her lashes at Darcy. “Randy’s coming into town tomorrow to go to the festival with me.” She had a little flush on her cheeks as she spoke. Randy was her on again, off again boyfriend that she had met at college. “I’m so excited to see him, it’s been ages.”

  Darcy sighed, such was young love. She admitted to herself that she was a little envious of Sue’s relationship with Randy, even if it wasn’t perfect, what relationship was? That melancholy mood threatened to settle over Darcy once again.

  Changing the subject before it could Darcy said, “What about the Mayor’s speech? I suppose you can’t wait for that either.”

  Sue screwed up her face and shuddered. “Oh, God no. Once Steve Nelson gets started nothing can shut him up.”

  Darcy laughed and silently agreed with Sue. Sue started to go on about what she was going to wear to the festival and Darcy completely zoned her out. She and Sue were very different but they still got along well. Sue was a bit of an airhead and was mad about fashion. She loved wearing the latest cute dresses, at least the ones she could afford. She talked endlessly about clothes and shoes and makeup and, well, everything to do with fashion. That stuff bored Darcy to no end. Darcy was happy to wear a comfortable pair of jeans with her worn sneakers and a nice T-shirt. No fancy dresses or high heel shoes for her.

  Darcy shivered as a sudden cold draft blew over her. She knew what to expect when this happened. It was her special talent coming in tune with something out of sorts with the world around her. She looked around to see where the draft may have come from. It had to be nearby…

  A very faint image of her great-aunt Millie stood by one of the book shelves. The apparition’s shading was at odds with the soft lighting cast by the hanging lights. Darcy wasn’t alarmed at the sight. It wasn’t Millie’s first time visiting. The book store used to belong to Millie, after all, and she would appear at odd times. Often to cause mischief.

  Keeping an eye on Millie as she pretended to listen to Sue she could see that Millie was floating towards one particular book shelf. Sue couldn’t see Darcy’s Great-Aunt standing there, of course. No one else would be able to. Darcy watched intently as the flickering ghostly image put out an ethereal hand to knock a book to the floor before quickly disappearing.

  Sue jumped and turned her stool in the direction of the sound. Darcy let her go over and pick the book off the floor, acting like she hadn’t even noticed. Her gift had led her to many wonderful discoveries. It had also made her the object of ridicule on more than one occasion. Sometimes the play-acting made things easier.

  “How odd.” Sue turned the book over in her hands. “Say isn’t this the book you were reading in the book club?” She held the book out for Darcy to see. It was, indeed, a copy of “And Then There Were None.” Darcy couldn’t hold back another shiver. Definitely odd. Was Millie being playful… or was there a message here?

  “What made this book fall to the floor I wonder?” Sue said as she looked all around her before shoving the book back into its slot on the shelf. “Oh well. Gravity’s working, I guess.” She shrugged, then came back over to where Darcy was without giving the book another thought and went back to gushing on about the festival.

  Maybe that story deserved a closer look.

  Chapter 4

  The next afternoon Darcy walked into town to attend the anniversary festival that was being held in the town square. She was looking forward to getting out and mingling with the other townsfolk. The weather was mainly fine with the sun warm on her shoulders as she walked. The mist still clung to the shadows and the tops of the trees but even that couldn’t dampen Darcy’s enjoyment of the day.

  As she walked along Main Street she admired the myriad colorful streamers that were hanging between the buildings in decoration. The townsfolk had gone all out to make this the most spectacular, colorful anniversary festival the town had ever experienced.

  She hadn’t gotten around to perusing the book Great-Aunt Millie had practically tossed at her feet. There hadn’t been a good time while Sue was there and then it was time to go home and, well, time got away from her as it all too often did. There had been no dreams last night, either. For now, everything in her life was normal. She was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.

  Darcy spotted her sister Grace just up ahead and hurried to catch up with her. “Hi Sis. Doesn’t the town look great?”

  Grace smiled at her. “Yes, they really outdid themselves this year. How are you feeling? You, uh, kind of snapped at Jon yesterday. Still having bad dreams?”

  Darcy smiled back at her and shrugged. Grace thought she’d been rude to Jon? Had she not been listening to the man at all? “No, no more dreams,” she said, leaving it at that.

  Grace nodded. She was dressed down today, taking a rare day off from her job. Jeans and a dark red blousy top. Darcy was wearing jeans, too, but somehow Grace’s backside always looked better in jeans than Darcy’s did. It wasn’t fair.

  As they walked along together weaving in and out of revellers they waved and said hello to several people. Many of the shopkeepers had stalls out in front of their shops along Main Street, displaying their wares for all to see.

  Darcy had a couple of high school girls working the book store’s stall so that she was free to attend the festival. She didn’t think it would be very busy there. Business had slacked off with the growing popularity of e-readers. She didn’t want to tell Grace, but it was getting harder and harder to make ends meet with the store’s dwindling revenue. There might come a time when she’d have to consider selling the shop. She didn’t know what Great-Aunt Millie would think of that.

  Darcy and Grace walked around and looked at all of the stalls and the afternoon passed fairly swiftly. “My feet are killing me,” Grace said. “Why don’t we go and sit in the Gazebo for a while?”

  “Okay, I could do with a rest,” Darcy said with a laugh. But before they could make it to their destination they came upon the Mayor and his wife as they walked, and stopped to say hello. “Hi Steve, Helen, how are you both today?” Darcy thought that Steve looked a little tense. Of course, she thought, his speech that he had to give.

  He pulled a crisp white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his forehead with it. She noticed his hand wasn’t quite steady. “Well Darcy I have to say I am doing quite well. Unless you count a bad case of stage fright.”

  “Oh now dear, just calm yourself,” Helen patted his arm. “What do you have to be worried about? You give this same speech all the time. Darcy and Grace don’t want to hear your woes.” Just then Roland Baskin, the town grump, demanded the Mayor’s attention, probably to complain about the festival as he always did when something was being held in the town. That gave Darcy and Grace the perfect opportunity to move on.

  “Oh there’s Jon.” Grace turned to face Darcy as her partner spotted them and raised a hand in greeting. She laid a hand on Darcy’s arm to get her to stop walking. “I don’t understand what the problem was between you two the other day. He’
s a very kind and nice man.”

  “And good looking,” Darcy had to admit, even though she was miffed at Grace laying the blame for the encounter on her.

  “Well. He is easy on the eyes,” Grace agreed with a lopsided smile.

  “Grace! You’re a married woman. What about Aaron?” Darcy said with a hint of humor in her voice.

  “I may be married, but I’m not dead. I can appreciate a good looking guy. I can look but not touch.” Grace smiled. “Aaron knows he has nothing to worry about. He knows he’s the only one for me.” Grace paused for a moment looking over in Jon’s direction. “I’ll admit I was a bit worried about getting a new partner when Jimmy left to marry his girlfriend. We’d been working together so long that we almost knew each other’s thoughts but I didn’t need to worry. Jon’s a great guy and a great cop. We get along well.”

  “It’s fine, Grace. He doesn’t have to be nice to me as long as he’s okay for you to work with.” Darcy tried to ignore the way her heart sped up as she looked at Jon. She sighed. She could still appreciate his looks even if he was a jerk, couldn’t she?

  “Will you excuse me for a moment?” Grace asked her. “There’s something I need to talk to him about.”

  “Sure go ahead. I’ll just wander around here for a bit.” Darcy watched as her sister hurried away through the crowd. She wandered along the sidewalk going from stall to stall, just taking her time and catching up with people she saw.

  “Darcy! Darcy!” she suddenly heard. “Oh thank goodness I found you.”

  Darcy turned to find her neighbor Anna frantically weaving her way through the crowd, waving her hand in the air to catch Darcy’s attention. As Anna reached her she grabbed her arm and held on tight.

  “Anna, what’s the matter?” She tried to guide the older woman away from the busy sidewalk to one of the park benches so that they could talk more privately. The whole time Anna was shaking her head. Her face was very pale. Whatever had upset her must be bad.