by K. J. Emrick
Darcy smiled at Lilly. “Thank you, Lilly.”
Lilly’s face turned pink and she went silent again. What she had said seemed to tip the scales for Izzy, and she visibly relaxed, like a weight had just been taken off her shoulders. “All right, Darcy. I’ll tell you the story.”
“I know some of it.” The clock on the wall chimed the hour. Darcy looked at it, surprised to find it was only two in the afternoon. “You went on the run with your daughter and went into hiding, right? That’s why you’ve kept yourself shut up in this house.”
Izzy nodded, staring down into her tea. “I couldn’t let them take Lilly away. If I’d turned myself in…”
Darcy knew the part that Izzy was leaving unsaid. She was wanted for the murder of her husband. Lilly’s father. If she’d been arrested, then her daughter would have been taken away and put in state custody or something. No mother would want that.
Looking down at her daughter with a sad smile, Izzy ruffled Lilly’s short hair. “I had to make Lilly dress like a boy and call herself Alex. I figured we’d be harder to find if we were travelling as a mother and her son.”
Lilly stuck her lower lip out. “I didn’t like it. Boys have stupid clothes.”
“Yes,” Darcy said with a laugh. “They really do.”
“My brave little girl,” Izzy said. “Her daddy and I were having a fight. Mommy saw him with another woman and it started a fight.”
Darcy nodded, understanding that Izzy didn’t want to say too much in front of Lilly. The girl was too young to hear that her father had been cheating on her mother, or that Izzy had caught him doing it.
“So her daddy and I went away for a weekend,” Izzy continued. “We were supposed to fix what was wrong, have time to talk and just figure things out. There’s a nice motel just outside of Cider Hill, where we lived. Private cabins set back in the woods. It was very nice. The first night we stayed there, well, Chip and I argued a little but we talked it out and things seemed to be going good. We went to bed, and I felt better.”
A single tear fell down Izzy’s cheek and she wiped it away quickly before Lilly could see. “The next morning I woke up, and Chip was gone. I don’t remember what happened. I slept like a rock, and when I woke up he was gone and there was all this…all this…”
Blood, Darcy knew she meant. There was all this blood. It had been enough for the police to assume Chip was dead, and that Izzy had killed him. Poor woman, Darcy thought.
Unless, of course, she really did kill her husband.
“So I ran,” Izzy said with a shrug. “I went back for Lilly and grabbed a few of our things and we haven’t stopped running since last year. I thought I could buy this house and hide out here.”
“You paid in cash?” Darcy asked. “That must have been a lot of money.”
“It was the only way I wouldn’t have to prove who I was,” Izzy explained. “Things had been bad between me and Chip for a long time. I had put a lot of money aside, just in case, and I managed to cash in my savings bonds before everyone in Cider Hill knew I was a fugitive. We’ve had enough to live on, but my money’s just about run out. The trip to the grocery store we just took almost broke me.”
“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through,” Darcy said to Izzy. She had begun twisting the ring on her finger, wondering how deep this mystery ran. “I want to help you, if I can.”
“How can you help?” Izzy was obviously frustrated. “I tried to hide us, keep us safe. I changed our looks and moved us here to the middle of nowhere and it didn’t do any good. He still found us.”
The man who had attacked them here in the house, Darcy realized. “Who was he, Izzy? Who was that man?”
Izzy froze, her hands tightening around her mug of tea. “I don’t know.”
Darcy waited for her to say more, but Izzy sat quietly and very still. There was a lot more being left unsaid but Darcy decided it wouldn’t do her any good to press the matter. No doubt that the man she had seen here in the house with the gun was the same dark man from her vision. There had to be a connection to what had happened to Izzy and who this man was. Maybe if she showed Izzy she really could help then she’d feel safe enough to—
A loud knocking on the door made all three of them jump. Lilly clung to her mother’s side. Darcy stood up from the table, ready to reach for the phone again or run them all upstairs or maybe even grab the nearest heavy object to defend them. The teakettle looked promising.
“Darcy?” a voice said through the door. “It’s me.”
Jon. It was Jon. Darcy felt a wave of relief wash over her. Izzy hugged Lilly to her still and glared daggers at the door. “It’s all right,” Darcy said to her. It’s my boyfriend. Remember I told you about him? He can help us.”
“He’s the police,” Izzy said, unconvinced. “He’ll turn me in.”
Darcy knew the spot she had put everyone in when she’d called Jon but she really hadn’t had any other choice. “I’ll tell him what you told me,” she said to Izzy. “Jon is a good man. He won’t let anything happen to you or your daughter.”
Izzy still looked unconvinced but she allowed Darcy to go and open the door. Jon rushed through, pulling Darcy into a tight embrace. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Jon. Thanks for getting here.”
“I would have been quicker but this case with the stolen cars has us all running in circles.” He looked past her then and saw Izzy sitting at the kitchen table with her little daughter. “Isabelle McIntosh, I presume?”
The woman frowned at him. “I suppose you should just call me Izzy, now that you know. Everyone else calls me that.”
There was a moment of awkward silence then, and in that silence Darcy could almost hear the gears turning in Jon’s head. He closed the door behind him, careful to lock it again, and whispered to Darcy. “Can I talk to you in the living room?”
She told Izzy they would be right back. Izzy didn’t look happy about it, and Darcy worried that the woman would bolt with her daughter through the front door as soon as she and Jon stepped around the corner. On second thought, she realized that probably wouldn’t happen. Izzy had told Darcy about how she was almost out of money. Not to mention that she had changed her name and her looks and moved several towns over and none of it had kept her out of danger. Right now, this was the safest place for Izzy and Lilly. Darcy hoped the woman could see that.
In the living room, Jon folded his arms across his chest and made sure to keep his voice down low. “Darcy, you know I have to turn her in. I can’t hide this anymore.”
“Jon,” Darcy said in a whisper that matched his, “I think there’s more going on here than what it looks like.”
“What are you saying? You don’t think she killed her husband?”
Darcy told Jon everything that Izzy had told her, not leaving anything out. “Now, I know the State Police have a warrant out for her arrest, but something doesn’t add up. Where is Chip’s body? Why would some guy be after her? He broke in here with a gun and was going to shoot her, Jon. What does that mean?”
He lowered his head in thought. “I admit there’s a lot going on with her case. More than the State Police are aware of, obviously. That doesn’t mean we can just ignore the fact that there’s a warrant for her arrest.”
Darcy put a hand to his chest. She could feel his heart beating. “Please, Jon. Don’t turn her in. Not yet. There has to be something we can do for her. I don’t think she did this thing. I can feel it. Have I ever steered you wrong before?”
He blinked at her. “Uh, yes. I’m pretty sure I arrested Helen Nelson, future mayor of Misty Hollow, because you were positive she was a murderer. And let’s not forget how we arrested your own brother-in-law in that same caper. Or how about the time—”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Darcy was annoyed that he could bring up all of those different mistakes of hers by memory. “I’m not perfect, Jon, but don’t forget that my gift has helped you solve cases before, too. Right?”
He shift
ed from foot to foot. “Yes it has. I don’t understand it, not completely, but I can’t deny how it’s helped us in the past.” He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “You really think she’s innocent?”
“I don’t know yet. Yes. I think so, but I need to do a few things first. What’s more important right now, I think, is that she’s in danger. We need to help her.”
“Help her how?” Jon asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
This was the part that she was worried about. If Jon said no… “We need to bring Izzy and Lilly over to our house. Kind of protective custody for them.”
“Are you insane?” The words burst out of him and he suddenly realized how loud his voice had gotten. He shot a look back toward the kitchen, then took them a few steps further into the living room, lowering his voice back to a whisper. “Darcy, I can’t harbor a fugitive in my home! I’ll lose my job!”
“Only if someone finds out,” Darcy argued. “Plus, if you solve the larger case here, who would say anything?”
“The Chief would, that’s who.” He paced back and forth, quick and short steps that led him back to her. “No. We have to turn her in.”
“Jon, we can’t turn an innocent woman over to be arrested for something she didn’t do.”
He pushed his hands back through his jet black hair as he clenched his jaw. Darcy knew she’d asked a lot of him in the past, and this was more than she’d ever asked, but she felt very strongly about this. Helping Izzy and her daughter was the right thing to do.
She took his hands in his and waited for him to look at her again. “What if I can prove her husband is still alive?”
His expression didn’t change, but the lines around his eyes softened. “Then that would give me something to go to the State Police with, at least. Darcy…I love you and I trust you. But I can’t just ignore my duty.”
“Does anyone know you’re here?” Darcy asked. “Do they know who Izzy is?”
“No, they don’t. You called my cell phone when you scared that guy off and I didn’t want to tell anyone where I was going, because…well, you know why.”
“Okay,” she said, “then that gives us a little time. Just let me try something, all right?” She pushed up on her toes and kissed him gently on his forehead. “Just keep an open mind.”
She could tell he was worried, both about his job and about what they were getting themselves into. He didn’t say a word as they went back into the kitchen. Darcy sat down across from Izzy, her tea now cold and forgotten. “I need to try something, Izzy. I told you that I have a gift. I can see things, and I can communicate with people,” she hesitated, looking over at Lilly’s wide eyes. “People who aren’t with us anymore,” she decided to say.
From the corner of her eye she saw Jon’s eyebrows shoot up. She hadn’t told him about her letting Izzy in on her secret.
Izzy shook her head. Her eyes hadn’t left Jon and they were full of mistrust. “I don’t trust psychics. I don’t need my fortune read.”
“It’s not like that. Look, I don’t need you to believe, but Jon here has seen me do it. He knows.”
She looked over at Jon for confirmation. He pressed his lips together, but nodded his head.
Izzy didn’t know what to say. She stuttered and stopped and then blew out a breath. “Fine. At this point, I’ll try anything. What is it you want to do?”
“It’s very simple,” Darcy said. “I want to contact Chip.”
Chapter 7
Jon agreed to get the things that she needed. She kept her supplies in the downstairs closet now so that she had the candles and matches and incense altogether in one place. When it had been just her in the house, then it hadn’t mattered where she put her things. With Jon’s stuff mixing in with her own she had to be more organized.
Now she sat in the middle of Izzy’s living room floor, cross legged, in a circle of five thick, white candles. Their flames flickered and raised small tendrils of smoke. Outside of the circle, a stick of incense burned in its holder, lending a nutty, earthy smell to the room.
In her hands Darcy held a set of keys. They had been Chip’s set, the set he’d used to drive him and Izzy to their motel room where he was killed. Izzy had taken them to get out of there, had kept them with her even though they didn’t do her any good now. Attached to the ring was a little tag with a pro football team’s logo on it. Darcy didn’t know enough about football to know what team it was. It didn’t matter, though. All that mattered was that it was important to Chip.
Darcy cleared her mind, breathing slowly and deeply, blocking out the room around her.
Lilly’s whispering broke her concentration. “Mommy, what’s she doing?”
With a smile, Darcy went back to what she was doing. Breathe in, breathe out. Clearing her mind, she pictured the mist, the same mist that slinked through the town. It billowed and swirled in her mind and gave her the blank screen she needed to project her thoughts onto. Concentrating on the feel of the keys in her hand, on the person who had owned them, she cast outward, looking to talk to the soul of Charles McIntosh.
When nothing happened, she centered herself and tried again. This wasn’t anything unusual. Sometimes the spirit of the person she was calling on didn’t want to be contacted. Sometimes she almost had to force the departed person to have a conversation with her.
Breathe in, breathe out.
She called out to him in her mind. Chip? Are you there? Searching, waiting, she concentrated harder on the mist. In a corner of her mind the billowing shapes darkened and almost formed into something but then they folded in and around themselves and spilled away.
Nothing.
Breathe in, breathe out.
After a long time, she gasped and opened her eyes. Her mouth was dry and pasty. Her muscles ached. With an effort, she unfolded one leg and held it out straight to work out a cramp that had settled into it. “I couldn’t do it,” she said to Jon and Izzy. “I couldn’t contact Chip.”
Jon held his hand down to her and helped her up. “Doesn’t that mean…?”
Darcy nodded as she settled her weight onto that one foot. “He’s not dead.”
“He’s not…?” Izzy looked like she was about to faint. “What do you mean? Of course he’s dead. I saw his blood.”
“Momma?” Lilly asked, unshed tears in her voice.
“Shh, baby,” Izzy said to her daughter. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. But Darcy, I saw it. I know what happened.”
“But you don’t, do you? Can you remember anything from that night?”
Izzy shook her head miserably. “I’ve tried to remember. I’ve tried and tried. All I can remember is waking up with him gone and covered in his blood.”
“The State Police forensics team checked the blood on the bed, too,” Jon said to Darcy. “It was definitely his.”
Frowning, licking her lips to get some moisture back in them, Darcy frowned. “I don’t understand it, either, but I can tell you without a doubt that Chip is not dead. Izzy, can I get a glass of water, please?”
Jon was still looking at her in that conflicted, sort of angry way. “I believe you, Darcy. I want you to know that. But I can’t just not do my job because you had a vision.”
“Jon, it’s more than that. She’s an innocent woman. Isn’t part of your job to protect the innocent?”
“Darcy you know it’s not that simple. She’s wanted for murder.”
“A murder she didn’t commit.”
From over by the sink, Izzy cleared her throat. She held out the glass of water to Darcy. “If you two could stop arguing for a minute, maybe you could ask me what I want to do?”
Jon shook his head as Darcy took the water. “I’m sorry Izzy. I know we’re not making this any easier on you. I don’t think you get a say in it, though.”
Darcy looked at him sharply. He shrugged, and then sighed. “I tell you what. Let’s get them over to our house, and then we can talk more. You haven’t told us anything that can really help you
.”
“She said Chip isn’t dead,” Izzy said, pointing to Darcy. “If you believe her then why would you want to turn me in?”
“How did you wake up with blood on you?” Jon asked. “Where is Chip? What happened in the cabin? Can you answer any of that?”
Izzy folded her arms around herself. “No. I can’t. You think I don’t want to?”
“But there is something you’re keeping from us, isn’t there?” Darcy said to her. “I can feel it.”
When Izzy didn’t answer Darcy touched Jon lightly on his shoulder. “Let’s get her over to our house, before whoever that was comes looking for her again. Okay? Then maybe we can all talk more.”
Absolutely no one looked happy with that idea. So Darcy figured it must be the right thing to do.
Over on her own porch, Darcy pulled out the keys and unlocked the front door. The smoky tendrils of mist had thickened in the late afternoon sun. It swirled around the front steps, disturbed by their footsteps.
“Let’s get inside quick,” Jon said, scanning all around them. “We don’t know if that guy is still out here.”
Darcy pushed the door open and let Izzy and Lilly go in first. Reaching around for the light switch she turned it on and stepped in after them, Jon coming in close behind her. “The living room is through there,” she said. “Why don’t you and Lilly sit down and get comfortable?”
She dropped her keys on the table and was taking off her coat when the lights went out again.
Behind her Jon grunted loudly. A loud thump scared her just before something large and heavy bumped into her and knocked her down. She was on the floor, looking up at everything from an angle. In the weak daylight coming through the windows Darcy saw a large man in a dark coat rush into the living room.
“Where is the money? Where did he hide it?” The man was yelling. Darcy knew it was the same man who had attacked Izzy before. He’d followed them to her house.
