by K. J. Emrick
Driving along the streets of town, Darcy saw tendrils of mist hovering just above the snow. It crept out of the shadows, so faint that anyone else probably would have passed it by without a second thought. Darcy knew better. Misty Hollow got its name from the constant fog and mist that crept through the area. Darcy had come to understand the phenomenon was more paranormal than meteorological. Whenever troubles came to town, the mists appeared.
They drove away from Misty Hollow towards Oak Hollow. Aaron’s to-do list included several stores in there. There were no times listed next to the names, so no real telling which place Aaron would have gone to first, but it was as good a place to start as any.
In the middle of the list was an odd name that Darcy took to be a store, even though she’d never heard of a store called “The Bishop.” She wondered what they would find when they got there.
She hoped whatever it was got them closer to finding out what had happened to Aaron.
Chapter 7
It was late afternoon by the time they reached Aaron’s first errand marked on his list, the specialty grocery store in Oak Hollow called Nature’s Bounty. Oak Hollow was a small city, nearly one hundred miles away from Misty Hollow. Whatever Aaron had wanted here, he must have wanted it badly enough to drive over an hour one way to get it.
Darcy pulled into a parking space in front of the store. The one story building was made of gray stone walls and a wooden shingle roof. Cartoonish pictures of vegetables and fruits were posted up in the front windows. As soon as Darcy put the car into park, Grace was hopping out and marching up to the door.
She was gone before Darcy could stop her or even ask what their plan was. Grace wasn’t thinking clearly. Darcy just hoped she didn’t do something that got them thrown out of this place. Or worse, got the local police involved in a bad way.
She caught up to her sister as they went inside through the automatic sliding doors. Inside was a brightly lit space of metal shelves and tall glass-fronted coolers. An older man behind the front counter, with thinning black hair that he combed over the top of his skull like a bad toupee, smiled at them as they entered. He was wearing a green apron with a nametag on it that said, “Hi, my name is Paul.”
“What can I do for you two ladies today?” Paul asked them, flashing a smile that showed two missing front teeth.
“You can tell me,” Grace said, leaning across the counter to push her cell phone up into the man’s face, “why my husband came into your store yesterday.”
On the flat screen of Grace’s smart phone was a picture of Aaron. Grace kept shoving it toward Paul as he raised his hands and tried to mumble something. Darcy shook her head. The guy looked scared, his eyes wide and his brows lifted. He took a step back from Grace and Darcy figured if she didn’t step in, then they would lose any chance at all of having the man talk to them.
The store was dark and filled with shelves of expensive chocolates, bottles of olive oil, wine and various other expensive goods. Darcy filed away those quick impressions as she moved hastily towards her sister.
“Sir,” Darcy said in a much calmer voice, “my name is Darcy. This is my sister, Grace. We’re trying to find her husband. He’s missing. We think he was in your store yesterday. Would you mind looking at her photo to see if you recognize him?”
Grace glared at her, but then her face softened as she must have realized that Darcy was right. If she frightened the poor man into not wanting to say anything, that wouldn’t help Aaron.
After an appreciative glance at Darcy, Paul looked closer at Grace’s cell phone, squinting and rubbing his chin. “Yup. I do remember him, actually. I’d remember any man that excited about his wife.” He smiled at Grace and Darcy saw the tears pool in her eyes.
Paul tapped a finger against the polished wood countertop. “Your husband came into the store yesterday. He called earlier in the day to see if we had this certain vintage of wine from Spain. It’s something we specialize in, selling all natural products from small businesses. Your Aaron said he wanted to make a special dinner for Valentine’s Day. Uh,” Paul scrunched his face up with an apologetic smile, “hope I didn’t say too much there.”
“That’s fine,” Darcy assured him. “Do you remember what time that was?”
“Oh, tennish. Thereabouts.”
The tears slowly slid down Grace’s cheeks. “We went to Spain on our honeymoon. I kept going on about the wine there.” She took a moment to calm the tremor out of her voice. “Do you have any idea where Aaron went next? Did he say anything about that?”
The man shook his head. “No. I’m sorry I don’t. He paid for the wine and took it with him and that was the last I saw him. Had a line of customers come in after that. Didn’t have a lot of time to talk to him.” He shrugged and muttered, “sorry,” again.
They thanked Paul for talking to them and then left the store. “Do you believe him?” Grace asked Darcy as they got back in the car.
“Of course I believe him, Grace. He’s just a store owner that Aaron bought wine from. You need to calm down some, sis. We’ll find him. I promise. But we can’t charge in full tilt like everybody is a suspect.”
“Everybody is a suspect,” Grace said miserably, hunching down in her seat as she belted in.
“Grace…”
“No. Don’t.” Grace wiped angrily at more tears. “Just drive.”
The next two stops on the list were no help at all. No one remembered Aaron. Darcy didn’t lose hope, though. That could mean he hadn’t gotten to those places, or it could simply mean that the people at those stores just didn’t remember him. She figured it could go either way.
By this time the sun was beginning to set and Grace was in a near panic. They weren’t any closer to finding out what had happened Aaron, even as they pieced together the steps he’d taken yesterday. Darcy had called Jon to let him know what they were doing, about finding the to-do list and following its clues. He’d been impressed, and told her to keep at it because unfortunately, he had nothing to report from his end.
Darcy didn’t know what to say to calm Grace down. She was also getting very worried about her brother-in-law.
The fourth name on the list was that shop Darcy had noted earlier, “The Bishop.” The address printed beside the name was for a lonely street on the edge of the city, where vacant lots sat under thin layers of snow. Grace exchanged a puzzled look with Darcy. “What would Aaron be doing here?”
“I don’t know,” Darcy answered. What else could she say?
As they pulled up in front of the non-descript building in the middle of the street, Darcy’s instincts started to scream at her. The place was a square building made of red bricks. There were no windows and only the one door in the front with no sign or anything other than the street number, Forty Seven. What on earth sort of business did Aaron have in a place like this?
“I don’t like the look of this place,” Darcy said to Grace. “Um. Maybe we should try the other places on the list first?”
“Are you kidding?” Grace’s voice was tight. “Some of those places are all the way back in Misty Hollow. We’re here now. I need to know everything Aaron did yesterday. His list says he came here next, and this is where we’re going.”
“I’m just saying, maybe we should call Jon and have him come with us.”
“Sis, I’m a police officer too, remember? And Aaron is still missing. I’m not going to wait here another two hours while Jon drives out to us. Now, come on.”
Darcy understood her sister’s urgency, but she still knew she’d feel better with Jon by her side. When Grace got out of the car and stalked towards the front door she had no choice but to follow.
The door creaked open on heavy rusty hinges and then closed with a solid thud behind them. Past that, they were stopped by a gate of wrought iron bars, decorative but locked. Darcy recognized the buzzer mechanism that allowed a store owner to open to customers or not as they pleased. It suddenly hit her what kind of store this was.
On the other
side of the bars were low display counters cased in glass and plastic to show off the merchandise artfully laid out to catch the light. Diamonds and emeralds and other precious stones shone in gold and silver settings. The place was an expensive, appointment-only jewelry shop. She’d only been in one of these places once before in her life. Everything was white and glittering and no doubt too expensive for Darcy to even be looking at.
A man in an expensive gray silk suit, with an upturned nose and bushy white eyebrows under a bald dome, leaned out over one of the counters to look at them through the bars. “Hello. My name is Richard Bishop, the owner of this fine establishment.” He took another moment to look at them doubtfully. “Do you ladies have an appointment?”
“No,” Grace explained to him. “We aren’t here to buy anything. We’re looking for my husband. We think he was here yesterday.”
The man’s eyebrows knitted together. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand.”
Grace held up her phone again with Aaron’s picture on it. She pushed the phone through the bars as Mister Bishop came closer to look. “This man. He’s, well, we don’t know where he is. We haven’t heard from him since yesterday and your shop was on his calendar yesterday. Can you please just tell me if he was here?”
Mister Bishop looked up when he caught the tremor in Grace’s voice, then his expression softened and he looked at the photo more closely. “No, my dear, I’m sorry. He doesn’t look at all familiar.”
Darcy could see the struggle Grace was having with herself not to break down in front of the man. She put a hand on her sister’s shoulder and took over the conversation. “Are you sure? His name is Aaron Wentworth. We know he was in the city visiting the local shops yesterday.”
At the mention of Aaron’s full name, Mister Bishop’s eyes lit up. “Ah. Now, his picture is definitely not familiar, but I did have an appointment scheduled with a man named Wentworth at four o’clock yesterday afternoon. He never showed up so I just assumed he had changed his mind. A shame, too.”
“Why do you say that, Mister Bishop?”
“Well, the man had corresponded with me by e-mail. He had shown me some sample pieces he’d found on the internet, along with some sketches of his own. He had said he wanted something for his wife because she was going to be a first time mother. Well, I told him we handle that sort of thing all the time, but the piece he was asking for would have been quite unique and I’m sure I would have had a great deal of fun creating it for him.”
Darcy smiled at Grace. She knew it. She knew Aaron would never just cut and run after finding out Grace was having a baby. Here was more proof of it, as if she or Grace needed it. A man wouldn’t ask a specialty jeweler to make something for his wife to celebrate the birth of their child if he didn’t want the baby. Not at the prices this place must ask.
“Um, Mister Bishop?” Grace said slowly. “May I see the pictures Aaron sent?”
Mister Bishop pursed his lips. “Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Should your husband return and want to commission the piece, I wouldn’t want to spoil his surprise. He might take his business elsewhere.”
Grace looked angry for a moment before it passed and she nodded. “The appointment he missed was for four, you said?”
“Correct. I’m so sorry you’re having trouble. Should I hear from him, I’ll be sure to tell him to call home.”
With that, the man stepped back, and Darcy understood that was all they were going to get from Mister Bishop. Which was fine, because it was obvious he didn’t know anything else.
“Thank you for your time,” Darcy said to the man as she gently pulled Grace back outside. At least now they had a time frame for when Aaron had gone missing. He had bought a bottle of wine at ten in the morning, and missed an appointment he had scheduled for four o’clock. Six hours.
What had happened in those six hours?
Chapter 8
Darcy drove them home in thoughtful silence. Full night had come on, and the car’s headlights illuminated the road ahead. Grace looked wiped out. Darcy had never seen her sister like this. Ever. Once or twice she tried making small talk, but Grace just kept staring out the window at the night. Finally they pulled into the parking lot of Grace and Aaron’s apartment building.
“What are you doing?” Grace nearly snapped at her.
“Grace, you’re exhausted. You should get some rest.”
But her sister shook her head. “No. I can’t rest. I want to check in at the police station.”
“Grace…”
“Darcy, I’ll walk myself there if I have to.”
“Okay, okay. Fine, sis, I’ll drive you. Just promise me you’ll get some sleep after that.”
Grace gave her a non-committal nod that didn’t promise anything. With a heavy sigh, Darcy pulled the car back onto the street and drove over to the police station. The night shift should have been on duty, which meant two patrol cars at most, but the parking lot was full.
As they entered the office they walked into a buzz of activity. Officers packed the back room, working at their desks or moving back and forth, papers in hand, phones to their ears. They saw Jon at his desk, discussing something with four other officers, all of whom nodded in turn and walked away to different corners of the room.
The officers around them greeted Grace with short nods or a few words. Now Darcy understood why the parking lot had been full. Every officer in the Misty Hollow Police Department, and some from the Meadowood Police Department that Darcy recognized also, had come into work. Fifteen able bodied men and women and they all wanted to help Grace find Aaron.
Grace barely spoke to anyone. Darcy could see the tremble in her lip. Her big, tough sister was going to cry if she opened her mouth to speak. Darcy was happy to see how everyone had come together for her.
When Jon saw them he waved them over. He stood up and hugged Darcy first, and then Grace. “I’ve got news. Aaron’s car was found in a parking lot in Oak Hollow.”
“That’s the same town that the jewelry store is in,” Darcy said. “We were just there!”
She quickly filled him in on what they had discovered, the time frame they had pieced together by visiting the shops in Oak Hollow. They’d stopped in to the rest of them after leaving Mister Bishop’s shop. The florist remembered Aaron, sort of, but only that he had been there in the morning. Not what time specifically. No one else could remember him. That left them with knowing for sure he was seen at ten in the morning and was missing by four o’clock.
“Okay,” Jon said as he raised his voice and turned to the room. “Listen up, everyone. We’ve got a definite time frame now of ten in the morning to four in the afternoon. Work your contacts, contact everyone you know. Davison, how are we with surveillance footage?”
Davison, a younger officer with unruly red hair and freckles, was sitting at a computer across the room. “It would help if I knew a route of travel. And a lot of the places in Oak Hollow don’t have exterior cameras, just ones inside.”
“Okay,” Jon nodded. “Darcy, I’ll need you to give Davison a list of the stores from Aaron’s calendar. We’ll have the Oak Hollow Police follow up and get video surveillance from each one. Hopefully we can find Aaron on there in one or more of the stores, and narrow down the time frame more.”
Darcy was impressed to see Jon taking control like this. She knew he’d come from a bigger police department before coming here to live in Misty Hollow, and that experience was serving him well now.
“I’ll give him the names,” Grace said, obviously happy to be able to do something. “You have someone going to check the car?”
“The Oak Hollow PD already secured it. Their guys will go through it and let us know,” Jon told her.
With a nod and a determined look in her eyes, Grace took out Aaron’s day planner and went over to Davison.
“How’s she holding up?” Jon asked Darcy after Grace was out of ear shot.
Darcy folded herself into his embrace. “About as well as you’d expect
. If you ever went missing like this…”
“I know,” he said. “I’d be the same if it was you.”
“You think the surveillance footage from the stores will show anything?”
“I do. Everything gets recorded nowadays. You did good work today, Darcy.”
His compliment warmed her, even as a growing cold feeling spread in her stomach. It had been a whole day with no word from Aaron. She could almost feel the clock on the wall ticking away the seconds, the minutes, the hours. They had to find Aaron.
They had to.
Chapter 9
“You should stay in bed, Grace.”
After spending another hour at the police station, Darcy had finally convinced Grace to go home to get some rest. She would need it if she was going to help Aaron, Darcy told her. Her sister had only agreed to it if Darcy stayed with her again. Jon decided to stay also after going home to get a change of clothes for each of them for the next day.
This morning, Grace had woken up looking green around her face and had raced for the bathroom. Morning sickness had finally caught up to her. The retching passed in a few minutes, and then her sister had laid back down on the bed, curled up into the fetal position around her belly.
“I should,” Grace agreed, “but I can’t. He needs me.”
Darcy didn’t need to ask who “he” was. “I know you want to help, Grace, but Jon and I will go and investigate. You need to take care of yourself and the baby. That’s what you need to do for Aaron.”
“But…”
“No Grace, I insist that you get back into that bed. Jon and I will take care of it. We’ll find him for you and bring him home.”
Grace closed her eyes tightly and whispered, “You promise?”
