Darcy Sweet Mystery Box 1

by K. J. Emrick

  “No,” Sarah said in a clipped voice. “It’s not.”

  “Tell us about the manor fire, Angelica,” Grace said to get the interview back on track again.

  “I set it, of course.” She said it so matter-of-factly that Darcy wasn’t sure she’d heard it correctly at first. She looked at each of the women in turn, reading their shocked expressions correctly. “It was the only way I saw out of the situation. I was going to disappear with Milton. It was a Monday evening, I remember, and I had the whole house to myself. I picked up Milton, we went there together, and I packed only the things that meant the most to me. While I did that, Milton messed with the electrical box and then stuffed it full of old rags. A few sparks later, the place was on fire.”

  “But I was in there!” Sarah shouted, standing up from the table, her hands fisted at her sides as she yelled out her frustrations. “Dad was in there! You nearly killed us both!”

  Tears started in Angelica’s eyes again. “I’m sorry. Oh, honey I’m so sorry. You weren’t supposed to be home. When I left, Louis said he was going to take you to his mother’s for the night to visit. I couldn’t have known he didn’t go. We were sleeping in separate bedrooms at that point and you were in his room. For all I know he heard me in the house and just didn’t say anything because we were fighting all the time. If I had known, oh Sarah if I’d only known, I never would have put you in danger.”

  “Really?” her daughter quipped. “You didn’t have any trouble abandoning me.”

  Angelica wiped at her tears, smearing makeup as she did. “That’s where you’re wrong. I never stopped thinking about you. I never stopped regretting leaving you. I walked away from your father, not you. I just didn’t see how I could take you with me. With the money I had stolen,” she glanced at Grace as she said that, “Milton and I set up new lives. New identities, new names. I even had some plastic surgery done. But I kept coming back. I couldn’t help it. I kept coming back to the house to check up on you.”

  The break-ins, Darcy realized. The break-ins had been Angelica coming back to check on her daughter. That was why there was never anything reported stolen. If Angelca had taken a photograph or two from Louis’ house, he would never report it. She probably could have robbed him blind, and he wouldn’t have reported it, for that matter. He just told Sarah that he had to keep her from knowing. Which meant…

  “Louis knew you were still alive, didn’t he?” Darcy asked. Grace smiled quickly at her sister, pleased with that bit of deductive reasoning.

  Sarah held her breath until her mother answered. “I think so. Well. I know so, even if I can’t prove it. He saw me in the window of the manor house the night of the fire. I made sure of it. It was supposed to be part of the act so everyone would think that I perished in the flames.”

  She looked again at her daughter, who turned away in disgust. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Sarah tried to answer but her voice was too choked up. Shaking her head, she rushed from the room.

  Chapter 17

  Jon arrived at the station a few minutes later. The interview was over and Grace was already typing up the reports. Darcy sat with Jon to fill him in.

  “When I first saw the photograph that Sarah showed me of her mom I thought there was something familiar about her. Something about her eyes. It turns out I was remembering what Henrietta’s eyes looked like.”

  “You mean Angelica, right?” Jon clarified.

  “Right. I know, it’s hard to believe. She paid for facial reconstruction, dyed her hair white, walked with a cane. She did everything she could to keep people from recognizing her, all so she could be in town once a year to catch a glimpse of her daughter.”

  “Hard to hate her when she did all that, I guess.”

  “Well. Sarah isn’t about to forgive her anytime soon. She’s been here in town with her daughter for years, keeping away from everyone. Sarah never went up to Henrietta’s stand before so there was no way she could have known her mom was right there. That’s a lot of hurt to get past. She thought her mother was dead all these years.”

  “Don’t forget,” Jon said. “Her father’s been lying to her all this time, too. So now she has reason to hate them both. She’s going to need a good friend to help her through this.”

  He looked at her in that way he had and Darcy knew what he meant. “I plan on checking up on her tomorrow. And Sue and Linda said they’d do the same. Between the three of us, she’ll always have someone to talk to.”

  His hand found hers across his desk. “You’re a good person, Darcy Sweet. Very few people I know would put this much effort into helping someone out that they hardly knew.”

  Darcy shrugged, a little embarrassed by his compliment. “So is Angelica in a lot of trouble?”

  “Yes. She may have thought she had reasons for what she did, but she still broke the law and put a lot of people in danger, including her own daughter. That boyfriend of hers, too, that Milton guy.”

  “Right. Too bad he died.”

  Angelica had further explained that after being together with Milton for nearly eight years, he had died of an undiagnosed heart condition. That had left her all alone and it was right around that time when she started showing up in town as Henrietta, kindly old woman. She had missed her family so much but that was the only way she could think of to see them again. That, and breaking into Louis’ house.

  It had been Milton that Sarah saw the night of the fire in the window with her mother. Just four years old, she couldn’t describe him or even explain fully what she had seen. It had been Milton who the ghost of Officer Grant Peterson had told her about seeing as he tried to save Angelica from the fire, not realizing that she didn’t need saving.

  All of it fit together nicely, now that they had Angelica’s confession. She had even shed a little more light on the checks that Sarah had gotten all of her life. That was money from a trust fund account Angelica had set up for her daughter with part of the money she had taken with her when she’d disappeared. It matured at different rates based on the stock market, and that was why the amount was always different. It really had eaten at her, leaving her daughter behind. So she gave what she could to make sure her daughter would never want for anything.

  Angelica just hadn’t realized her daughter only really wanted one thing. She had only wanted her mother back.

  “Now that she has her mom in her life again,” Jon said, coming around the desk to Darcy, “maybe the two of them can find some way to reconcile.”

  She stood up with him and folded herself into his arms. “Maybe. I hope so, anyway.”

  “Let me talk to Grace for a minute and then I’ll drive you home,” he told her. “No sense both of us being up until dawn.”

  Darcy looked at him, waiting.

  “What?” he finally asked her.

  “I’m waiting for you to say something about how it would be easier if you moved in with me and then you wouldn’t have to go home to your lonely apartment when you get done.”

  He laughed and took her hand in his. “I could still do it if you want me to. Seriously, though, I think I’ve said enough on that subject for now. You know what feels right for you. I’ll go along with whatever you decide. As long as I have you.”

  Darcy leaned her head against his shoulder. She loved this man so much. “You’ll always have me, Jon.”

  He pulled her into a deep kiss, and didn’t let her go until the room spun around her. “I love you, Sweet Baby.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Chapter 18

  Later that week Darcy was at Grace and Aaron’s saying goodbye to their mother. Darcy knew there was something her mother was still not telling her. She was determined to find out what was going on before she left.

  “Okay Mom, what gives?” Darcy crossed her arms and held her mother’s gaze. “All visit long you’ve been acting strange.”

  “She’s right, Mom,” Grace said in agreement. “We know something is up. Might as well tell us. You
can’t hide it from a couple of ace detectives like me and Darcy.”

  “Mmm…” Eileen looked thoughtfully at Darcy and then at Grace. Finally she sighed loudly and threw her hands in the air. “Okay. You’re right. There is something going on. I just didn’t know how to tell you girls.”

  “You’re not sick are you?” Grace asked. “I remember you had that scare at your last checkup.”

  Eileen shook her head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s a good thing, actually.” She paused and looked intently at the two of them again with a wide smile. “I’m getting married again.”

  “Married!” Darcy and Grace exclaimed together.

  Eileen laughed then. “Yes, married. You make it sound like it would never happen for me again. You have your wonderful Aaron, Grace. Darcy, your Jon seems like a wonderful man. Is there some reason that I shouldn’t be happy, too?”

  “We didn’t mean it that way, Mom,” Darcy said to her while Grace asked who the person was and if it was anyone they knew and when could they meet him and so on until Eileen finally held a hand up to ask her to wait.

  “He is a perfectly nice man. His name is James Bollinger. You’ve never met him. He’s a retired businessman. What else do you want to know?”

  “Everything,” Darcy told her. “You wait until you’re leaving to drop this on us?”

  They laughed together, and Darcy couldn’t remember the last time they had been this happy to be together. Eileen went on to tell them all about how they had met on a cruise last year. Darcy and Grace asked her questions until they had no more questions to ask. Then all too soon, it was time to say goodbye.

  Darcy noticed that the hugs between them weren’t so awkward this time.

  A few days later Darcy was in her kitchen washing dishes, Smudge winding his way between her legs, when a car horn blasted out front of her house. Confused, she looked up at the clock. It was just after six thirty. Who would be visiting now, and why would they beep the horn instead of coming to the door?

  She went outside to find Jon, sitting in his car, smiling at her. He honked the horn once more and then got out of the car, running over to her to pick her up and swing her around until she squealed.

  “I have a surprise for you,” he said when he put her back down. “How about we go back to the cabin this weekend to celebrate?”

  “Celebrate? Celebrate what?”

  “Us. You. Me. Everything. You reunited a mother and a daughter. Us solving a case no one even knew was there to be solved. Your mother’s getting married. Pick one.”

  Darcy laughed. “That sounds amazing. When are we leaving?”

  “Friday. I took the day off, we can leave in the morning and get a head start on the weekend.”

  Her heart leaping in her chest, she took him by the hand and pulled him toward the house. “Why don’t we go upstairs and get a head start on the weekend right now.”

  He didn’t argue. Smudge saw them as they walked through the kitchen, his eyes narrowed. He sneezed once, shaking his head, and Darcy got the message.

  If Smudge had to share her with someone, he was glad it was someone who loved Darcy as much as Jon did.

  -The End-

  Volume Four

  BOOK FOUR – The Ghost of Christmas

  First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, December 2013. Copyright K.J. Emrick (2012-2017)

  Description

  Darcy Sweet loves the Christmas season with its snow and Christmas trees and colorful decorations. She also loves the Christmas pageant that her town puts on every year. However this year things don't go as smoothly as hoped when an unexpected visitor shows up: The ghost of a murdered man who was a former pageant Santa. The ghost needs Darcy to find out who his killer is so he may finally rest in peace.

  However, things are complicated further when there is an attempt on Darcy and her boyfriend's life, while he is wearing the ghost's Santa costume. Will they find the ghost's killer in time when every attempt Darcy makes is being impeded by forces unknown? Will they make it to Christmas in one piece or will the Santa suit claim another victim?

  Chapter 1

  Darcy Sweet shivered as the cool air in the room penetrated the thick blankets that covered her bed. She snuggled up closer to her cop boyfriend, Jon Tinker, snoring softly beside her. She was wide awake watching the shadows flitting across her bedroom wall as the moonlight played between clouds. Jon mumbled in his sleep as he threw his arm around her pulling her even closer to him. Darcy grinned. She loved the feel of his body against hers.

  She couldn’t blame him, it was freezing in her room. She wriggled her feet and could feel Smudge, her black and white cat, lying at the bottom of the bed. After a few months of her and Jon being together, the big tomcat was starting to like Jon more. Enough to be in the same room as him anyway.

  She sighed, not sure what was causing her sleeplessness. Perhaps it was the fact that Jon had brought up the subject of them living together again. Not just spending their nights together, but actually living together. He’d been quiet about it for several weeks but he had slipped it into the conversation once again last night at dinner. Darcy wasn’t sure why she couldn’t just say yes. They spent most of their free time together these days anyway. It seemed the logical thing to do. But still she couldn’t give him that commitment.

  Outside her window, the clouds gathered. The moon all but disappeared and there was a different feel to the air. Instinctively, she knew what it meant.

  She reached over and shook Jon. He stirred and mumbled something that sounded like, “Leave me alone.” She couldn’t be sure. She shook him again, more forcefully.

  He snapped awake and sat up quickly, looking all around. “What? What is it?” he demanded in a sleepy voice.

  She smirked and dragged him back down with her, wrapping her arms around him. Jon rubbed a hand over his face and checked the time. He groaned and turned to look at her. “What is it?”

  She realized she must have alarmed him. Who could blame him, she thought, after the last few months full of murder and mystery. “Everything is fine.” She put a hand on his arm. “In fact, something wonderful is about to happen. We have to get out of bed right now though, or we’ll miss it.” She jumped up and dragged on her winter coat and boots. “Come on, get all bundled up so we can go.”

  Jon hadn’t moved. He sat there shaking his head and staring at her like she was mad. “Go? Go where? It’s the middle of the night for goodness sake.”

  Darcy just smiled at him. “Come on. You’ll like it, I promise.”

  He shook his head again but reluctantly got out of bed. “Why do I need to bundle up, exactly?” He shivered, his naked chest exposed to the air in the room. “It’s chilly enough in here as it is.”

  “We’re just going to the front yard. Now come on.” She raced out of the room ahead of him, her pajamas thin comfort against the cold air until she pulled on her heavy red winter jacket.

  A few minutes later they were standing in her front yard. “Yup, I was right,” Jon mumbled behind her as he rubbed his hands together. “Colder out here. You’re a goofball. You know that, right?”

  Darcy just smiled at him. Jon grumbled but didn’t turn to go back in. That was true love right there, she said to herself.

  “So what are we…?” Jon trailed off when the first flakes of snow fell to the ground.

  Darcy was grinning like a fool. “Oh, I love this time of year don’t you?” Winter was her favorite season. She was so happy that it was snowing. Only a few more days until Christmas and the whole town of Misty Hollow had been talking about how it was going to be a green Christmas this year. Now there was a chance there would be thick, fluffy layers of snow after all.

  “Yeah, well it is kind of pretty I guess,” Jon said with a little frown. “But it’s still damn cold. Can we please go back inside to the nice warm bed?”

  Darcy’s smile widened even more. She leaned up to kiss him. “Thank you,” she whispered. This was going to be the best C
hristmas ever now that she had him.

  Darcy took a sip of her coffee as she slid a sideways glance at Jon. He was thoughtfully chewing his toast and she could almost hear the wheels in his brain working.

  She slowly placed her cup down on the table in front of her and took in a breath, knowing something was wrong but not understanding what. She was about to ask him when he suddenly sat forward and looked directly at her. “How did you know it was going to snow last night? Did it have anything to do with…you know?” He wiggled his fingers in front of his face as he said it and she knew he was referring to her psychic abilities.

  Darcy laughed and shook her head. “No, silly. There’s no paranormal weather vane. Well. Not that I know of. I could just feel it in the air.”

  Jon looked relieved as he sat back in his chair. Darcy’s smile turned into a frown. All the time they had spent together, all the things he had seen her do, and still he was uncomfortable with her abilities. It made her a little sad.

  “Do you wish that I didn’t have them?” she asked suddenly. She realized it wasn’t all that suddenly. The question had been nagging her at the edge of her mind for a while, she just hadn’t had the nerve to ask. She held her breath waiting for his answer.

  “Well…honestly, yes, I do.” He couldn’t quite look her in the eyes anymore. Darcy felt hurt by his admission, even though she had kind of been expecting it. He had never actually come out and admitted it before though. He had always covered it up with a quick comment on how he loved every part of her or whatever.

  She let the matter drop. Was he having doubts about their relationship? If he was, did she really want to know?

  They finished up their breakfast in silence. Darcy sensed that something had shifted a little between them and it made her very uncomfortable. She quickly packed her dishes into the sink to do later and ran upstairs to finish getting ready for work.