by K. J. Emrick
“No. You arrested my sister, Jon,” Robbie grated through clenched teeth. “My sister! You let her go now or I’ll bury you!”
Jon’s eyes narrowed and Darcy took a step back. “Now you listen to me,” Jon said, pointing a finger of his own. “You leave, now, or I’ll let you join your sister in the cells. You think that’s going to help her any?”
Robbie clenched and unclenched his fists. Then he turned on his heels without a word and walked out.
Darcy looked up at Jon. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that upset.”
“Yeah, well, he was getting under my skin. Bury me? Seriously? Who talks like that.” He stopped with his hand reaching for the door to go back into the station. He turned to Darcy. In that moment, she got it too.
“The person who writes the poems. That’s who.”
Jon nodded. “Exactly.”
Darcy couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before. “Robbie’s been helping Lily at the bakery. He would have picked up the same smell on him of herbs and baking.”
“Let’s go back and have a talk with Lily about this,” Jon suggested, nodding to the secretary to open the door again.
“Don’t we have to wait for her attorney?” Darcy asked him.
“Only if she’s a suspect. Right now, she’s just a witness for all I know.”
As they went back into the building, they heard a loud noise that sounded like a crash come from the cells. Jon and Darcy and the two other officers working at their desks rushed into the cell area. In the cell on the left, behind the floor-to-ceiling bars, they found Lily on the cement floor shaking, having some sort of fit.
“Damn it. One of you guys go get the keys,” Jon said to one of the two uniformed officers. The man ran off. Darcy put her hands to her mouth. The cell was brightly lit by the overhead lights and the sunlight slanting through the barred window at the back of the cell. “We need to get her to the hospital immediately. This doesn’t look good.”
“What could have happened?” Darcy asked.
The officer arrived back with the keys and when the door slid open to the side with a rattling clank, Jon rushed in. He felt for her pulse, checked for her breathing. “I don’t know what happened to her. She looks like she’s having some kind of seizure or something.” He knelt there with a puzzled look on his face. Then he picked up one of Lily’s hands.
“Look at this,” he said to them, showing the backside of Lily’s left hand. “There’s some kind of red welt here. Like a bee sting.”
Darcy couldn’t understand what was happening. She knew one thing. If she and Jon hadn’t brought Lily into the police station, she probably would still be fine.
She knew something else, too. They had to find Robbie. Fast.
Chapter 14
Darcy sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs while Jon paced the hospital waiting room waiting for news on Lily. Meadowood’s hospital was the closest and it had still taken them fifteen harrowing minutes at top speed in a patrol car to get there.
Jon took out his cell phone and tried again to contact Robbie. Every time he called, it went to voicemail. It was nearly an hour later when a doctor approached them.
“Detective,” the man said. He was an older man, balding, heavyset, with thick glasses. “Thanks for waiting. Miss Sutter received a toxic mixture injected directly to her bloodstream through that site you found on the back of her hand. The labwork finally came back on her blood. It appears to be a combination of a common prescription anti-anxiety medication and a couple of toxins. The injection caused the reaction, the uh, seizure that you saw.”
Jon nodded along like he understood all that. All Darcy got out of it was that Lily had been poisoned.
“Will she be all right?” Jon asked the Doctor.
“I believe so. It’s going to take some time, though. We’ve put her into a medically induced coma while we detoxify her system. We’ll know more in a few hours.”
“I understand, Doctor.” Jon looked like he might understand it, but he didn’t like it. “Look, I don’t have any jurisdiction here in Meadowood, but I’ve called and asked the local police to post two officers outside her room for her own protection. They should be here shortly. I’m going to leave you my cell number. If anything comes up or if her condition changes, I’d appreciate a call.”
The doctor took Jon’s card, then dipped his head to them before going back through the swinging doors under the sign marked “Emergency.”
“Now what?” Darcy asked Jon.
“I don’t know. We need more proof. I’m going to get a search warrant so that we can look for evidence at Lily’s place.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket again to make the call. “Then I’m going to try Robbie again.”
After Jon got the search warrant approved over the phone he and Darcy drove back to Misty Hollow and went to Lily’s place. The fog was thick and heavy now. Even though it was still the middle of the day, Jon had to turn on the headlights of his patrol car. Darcy shivered, knowing that it wasn’t a good sign.
Lily’s apartment was in one of several apartment buildings just down a side street from the center of town. Jon didn’t hesitate at all about bringing Darcy with him. She was his partner in this now, with Grace down and out. He still touched the side of his own head tentatively from time to time, but wouldn’t admit it still hurt.
When they entered Lily’s apartment, Darcy couldn’t get over how messy it was. There were clothes everywhere, scraps of paper, baking sheets piled high in the kitchen, clothing thrown around the floors, both Lily’s and what she guessed were Robbie’s clothes as well. The place looked like a bomb had hit it.
Jon set about looking for evidence. Lily’s room was one of two bedrooms opposite the bathroom down the hallway, just as messy as the rest of the place. It took some time to go through everything in the mess. There was little of interest. A note on Lily’s bedside turned out to be a to do list written in loopy cursive. A laptop next to the note was password protected and Jon told her they’d have to collect it for forensic analysis.
The bedroom next to Lily’s was obviously a man’s. “Robbie’s,” Darcy pointed out to Jon. “She said her brother was staying with her.” It stank of old socks and bad body spray. It turned up empty as well.
Back in the living room, they located a row of books on a shelf. “Hey Jon, look at this. There are heaps of poetry books here.”
“Any of it in Italian?” Jon asked with a snort. “Nevermind. It ties in. I was just hoping to find more, you know?”
“Then let’s keep looking,” Darcy offered, squeezing his arm in compassion. This must be so hard on him, to know this trouble that he thought had been behind him had come knocking on his door again.
They went back to looking through the apartment. After a few minutes Jon found a red sweatshirt with a college logo on it hanging on the backside of the bathroom door. He held it up for Darcy to see. “This is where I went to school.”
“Why would it be here?” Darcy wondered.
“It’s a man’s sweatshirt. So, it’s Robbie’s. Do you know anything about where he went to school?”
Darcy shook her head. “Lily never talked about it with me.”
“Well, if Robbie lived in Pequot Lakes, he could have known Emily, the original victim in the case, and maybe even Kyle. I don’t know why Robbie would have done it though, but it could definitely fit.”
“Well,” Darcy said as she thought it through. “Let me ask you this. How do you think Lily got attacked in her cell?”
“Simple,” he said, and it didn’t surprise her at all that he’d already figured this out. “Someone injected her with a needle through that cell window. I’ve been telling the Chief ever since I got here that we need to close that off. She must have put her hand up on the windowsill and then whoever came along attacked her.”
“But why would she look out the window. Who could have coaxed her to it?”
Light came on in Jon’s eyes. “Robbie. He was there
at the station, and I wouldn’t let him in. The little punk must have gone around behind the station where he knew we wouldn’t be watching, called his sister to the window to talk to her, and then jabbed her with a needle.”
“We need to find Robbie fast, before he tries to cover his tracks and hurt someone else,” Darcy said.
Darcy and Jon weren’t sure where to look for Robbie so they just started walking the streets. They tried to act casually, like they were just out for a leisurely stroll. They asked anyone that they saw if any of them had seen Robbie. No one had.
Darcy saw Aaron walking down the sidewalk toward them. He smiled and waved as he saw them. “Hi Darcy. What’s the news on Lily?”
“We don’t know yet,” Darcy answered truthfully. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen Robbie anywhere around, would you?”
Aaron nodded and pointed down the main street. Darcy could tell from the expression on his face that he knew something was up. “I just saw him head into the bakery a few minutes ago. What’s going on, Darcy?”
“Sorry Aaron, can’t stop to talk,” Jon stalled Aaron off. “Thanks for the info.”
The two of them raced off down the street back towards the bakery. Darcy reached the front door just a little before Jon and he grabbed her hand as she was about to open it.
Jon opened his mouth to speak but she knew what he was about to say and cut him off. “No, I will not stay outside while you go in.”
“This could get dangerous, Darcy. I want you to call the office and get more guys out here. I’m the cop. Let me do my job.”
“I don’t care. I’m not letting you go in there alone. Too many people have been hurt already, including you. Let’s just catch him, okay?”
Jon smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Okay, but stay behind me and do as I say.” She saluted him cheekily and she could see he was trying to suppress a grin.
All the same, he made that call to the police station before he turned to quietly open the door.
They stepped into the dimly lit bakery not knowing what to expect. It was dim inside as the lights hadn’t been turned on. They moved through the open eatery area stealthily. Darcy nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a loud bang come from the kitchen. It sounded like someone knocked a pan to the floor. From under his left arm, concealed under his suitcoat, Jon pulled his semi-automatic handgun. He raised a finger to his lips at Darcy, indicating he needed her to be quiet. She nodded an emphatic yes that she understood.
As they got closer to the kitchen Darcy could hear a muffled voice. The kitchen was divided from the front part of the business by a swinging door with a rectangular window in it. Both she and Jon squeezed in close and looked through. Robbie was in there, bent over the central counter where food was prepared, scribbling a note.
Jon looked at Darcy, his eyes serious. He mouthed the words: Three, two, one. Then he burst through the door, Darcy tight on his heels, yelling for Robbie to put his hands up. Robbie bolted in a panic for the back door. Jon chased after him.
Darcy looked at the note on the table that Robbie had been writing out. She knew she had to follow after Jon, but she took a quick glance before picking it up to bring with her.
You should have stayed away
Now you and your girlfriend will pay
Lo ti distruggero
A cold vice tightened her heart as she ran out after Jon.
As Darcy went out the back door she could see Robbie sprinting down the alleyway and it looked like he was going to get away from Jon.
Just as Robbie made the mouth of the alley and looked back with a smirking grin on his face, a black and white dash tangled up between his legs and Robbie tripped, falling hard to the ground on his hands and knees. His fall gave Jon the time he needed to pounce on him and lock his arms behind his back. He took out his handcuffs from their case on his belt and had Robbie’s hands secured in only a few seconds.
As Jon pulled Robbie to his feet, Darcy felt something rub up against her legs and looked down to find Smudge at her feet. He meowed, a self-satisfied cat smile on his face. She bent down and scratched between his ears. Smudge purred as he leaned into her attentions. “Good job, Smudge,” she told him.
After all, it wasn’t every day her cat caught the bad guy.
Chapter 15
Back at the police station, Darcy, Jon, and Grace were sitting around Jon’s desk while he filled Grace in on what had happened. Grace had heard the call for backup come in across the police scanner, and she just knew her sister would be at the heart of it all. Turned out, she was right.
“Robbie gave a full confession for both murders after we brought him in,” Jon was explaining. Darcy knew how relieved he was, even if he was trying not to show it. He’d been proven right after all this time. His friend Kyle hadn’t overdosed. It had been a homicide after all, meant to cover up the first murder of Emily Ayers.
He smiled over at Darcy before continuing as if he could hear her thoughts. “Robbie had been dating Emily in college and when she broke up with him he got so mad that he ended up killing her in his rage.”
Darcy wondered at the matter-of-fact way he could say that. For a police officer, this must all seem routine. For her, it was a tragic thing that a woman should lose her life because she didn’t want to be with a man anymore and he couldn’t deal with it.
“So,” Grace said, trying to understand the story Jon had laid out for once already, “Robbie found out that your friend Kyle was investigating him for Emily’s murder, so he decided to put an end to Kyle’s investigation.”
“Exactly,” Jon said. “He wanted to throw off suspicion so he thought of a way to get rid of Kyle by making his death look like a suicide. He’d been using his sister’s anti-anxiety meds already anyway, so it was a small thing for him to break up some of the pills into a powder. He said he went over to Kyle’s place under the pretence of confessing. That was what Kyle meant when he said he had something to show me. He thought he’d have the whole thing wrapped up for me. Instead, Robbie put the powdered medication into a drink and Kyle overdosed on the stuff without even knowing what was happening.”
Anger had seeped into his voice. His friend had lost his life trying to do him a favor. That was a lot to bear.
“So why did he try to kill Lily?” Grace asked.
“He was afraid of what she might say,” Jon answered. “He figured his sister wasn’t stupid, and she’d put together that he had access to her medications as soon as I asked her. Not to mention it would only be a matter of time before Emily Ayers’ name rang a bell with her. Her brother’s girlfriend. Lily would have figured it out.”
“She might not have said anything,” Darcy pointed out. “She was in no hurry to cooperate with us.”
Jon shook his head. “Robbie couldn’t take that chance. So, he ground up more of the medication into a solution of water and household cleaners, and put it into a syringe. He only wanted to see Lily so badly because he needed to get the shot to her.” He grimaced. “Our back window allowed him to do it anyway. The Chief is already hiring someone to block those windows up.”
“And,” Darcy chipped in the final piece, “when he knew we were getting close to figuring out it was him, he attacked you, Grace, and left us a note trying to scare us off.”
“Right,” Jon agreed. “And when that didn’t work, he got desperate enough to attack me, thinking he could either kill me or incapacitate me, and sidetrack the whole investigation that way. He let his emotions get the better of him on that one, though. Broad daylight, in front of a police station.” He snorted. “As soon as he hit me he saw half a dozen people out on the streets. He got scared and took off, waiting for another chance that never came.”
There was a moment of silence, all three of them reflecting on the insanity that had unfolded in their sleepy little town. Then Grace stood up, stretching, rubbing at the back of her neck subconsciously. “Well, I for one am very happy you two figured it out. I’m glad to hear Lily came out of the coma, too. T
hat’s a bit of good news.”
“Yes,” Darcy said, her voice quiet and thoughtful. “I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive us, though.”
“You guys saved her life, sis,” Grace said. “That’s something to be proud of. Anyway, I’m going to go…do some stuff. I’ll be back in a half hour or so.”
She winked as she said it, and Darcy’s cheeks reddened to think her sister was intentionally giving her and Jon some alone time.
After she’d left, Jon got up to put the file away in the cabinet. When he came back to the desk Darcy stood and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her tightly. She laid her head on his chest and sighed. “I’m so glad this is all over with. Do you think we’ll ever be just a normal couple?”
“Well, I don’t have any more secrets in my past. So there’s that. But normal?” He thought it over for a moment and then shook his head. “No. You’re too special to be normal. But that’s okay. I don’t care what happens as long as I get to be with you. I do think that we need a holiday though.” He grinned at her before lowering his head to hers. Their lips met in a kiss that warmed her blood and turned her thoughts…hot.
She was happy he was hers, too.
-The End-
Volume Three
BOOK THREE – From the Ashes
First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, December 2013. Copyright K.J. Emrick (2012-2017)
Description
When Darcy Sweet's friend asks her for help in finding out more about a young woman's mother she thinks that it will just be a routine communication with the other side. But when she is unable to establish any contact with the woman she is confused. There seemed to be only one reason for it but it didn't make any sense.
