A Darcy Sweet Mystery Box Set Six

by K. J. Emrick

  “Uh-huh. How about from now on you get your mother’s attention and ask if we can talk about whatever it is by ourselves, okay?”

  “Okay.” She looked all around, very dramatically. “Are we by ourselves now?”

  Darcy chuckled. “Yes. This is fine right here. We’ll just keep our voices down. You can keep a secret, can’t you Zane?”

  Her blonde-headed baby boy nodded with a cheerio dangling from his chin. “Yup, yup, yup,” he promised her. It was his newest, most favorite word. Yup. Sometimes Darcy worried that he was saying ‘yup’ when he really meant something else, just because he liked the word so much.

  “All right. Now, what’s this about Helen and Bruce not coming?”

  Colby crossed her legs, which she thought made her look older and more sophisticated. “Steven isn’t in prison.”

  A cold iron band wrapped itself around Darcy’s heart. Steven. Colby could only be talking about Steve Nelson, the very man that she’d had on her mind the whole day. Steve, the man who murdered Anna next door and then her ex-husband Jeff at his apartment. Steve, who was serving a sentence of fifteen to twenty-five years in state prison…

  She felt that iron band squeeze just a little bit tighter. Oh, for Pete’s sake. It hadn’t been quite fifteen years since his conviction, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t the chance of him getting paroled. Had it been long enough that he could be out on parole?

  Yes.

  “Colby,” she said slowly, “are you sure Steve isn’t in prison?”

  “Uh-huh. It’s gonna make Helen not come to dinner. She’s gonna be real busy.”

  “Why? Where is Steve now?”

  Her daughter’s eyes lost their focus, and she stuck her tongue out between her lips for a long moment as she thought about that. “Nowhere. Steven is nowhere at all.”

  Darcy understood immediately. She’d been worried about Steve Nelson being here, in town, coming to see Helen for whatever vengeful reason might be in his heart. Or her and Jon for that matter. Helen had a permanent order of protection from a court saying that Steve had to stay away from her, but that was just a piece of paper, not a shield.

  Based on what Colby had just said, she didn’t have to worry about Steve bothering Helen. No. This was much, much worse.

  She had no doubt that Colby was telling her the truth. Her gift had told her that Steve wasn’t in prison anymore. Her gift had told her something else, too.

  Steven is nowhere at all.

  Out in the kitchen, Darcy heard Jon’s cellphone ring.

  “Okay,” she said, taking Colby’s little hands in her own. “Is there anything else you need to tell me, honey?”

  Colby nodded immediately. “Yes. You know those atlas books with all the maps and stuff?”

  “Yes. I have a few of them for sale at the bookstore. What about them?”

  “They’re really heavy.”

  Darcy chewed at the inside of her cheek. As gifted as her daughter was, she didn’t have the experience with using their gift that Darcy did. Sometimes she didn’t quite know how to express the things that the gift showed her. Darcy took her daughter’s words to heart anyway and filed them away for later. “Yes. They sure are heavy. And Steve’s not in prison?”

  “No, Mom. He’s not in prison.”

  “He’s nowhere.”

  Zane answered for his sister. “Yup, yup, yup!”

  She heard a hushed conversation out in the next room, and then she saw Gloria almost fall into a chair at the tables set for a dinner that wasn’t going to happen. Her face was pale. Her husband had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, like he was trying to comfort her.

  Jon came over the baby gate, cellphone still in hand. “Darcy, you aren’t going to believe this,” he told her. “Steve Nelson is…”

  “I know,” she said. “Steve Nelson is dead.”

  Chapter 2

  Under the circumstances, dinner had to wait.

  Jon left for the police station right away, with his apologies. Helen was going to meet him there. This situation affected her both personally, and as the town’s mayor.

  Before he left, Jon explained to her as much as he knew so far about the death of Steve Nelson. His body had been found in the trees off Applegate Road, not far from the cemetery. Someone taking their dog for a walk had stumbled across him. He hadn’t been buried, and no one had made any effort to even hide his identity. His wallet was in his pocket with all of his ID.

  Although that was interesting, it didn’t shed any light on how he might have died. They wouldn’t know the answer to that mystery until they did an autopsy. Grabbing his keys from the hook by the door, Jon had leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

  “It figures,” he said. “The first day off I’ve taken in months and something goes wrong. Um. If you happen to… you know, hear anything… you’ll call me?”

  “Of course.” She kissed his cheek. “Just like always.”

  When people died in Darcy’s life, their ghosts would often show up to visit her. They would come looking for help, or seeking vengeance, or just to pass the time until they moved on. As much as she never wanted to see Steve Nelson again, if his ghost came knocking she wasn’t going to turn him away. Not until they knew who killed him, anyway.

  After that, his stinking corpse could rot in Hell for all she cared.

  She felt like she should apologize to Gloria and Cameron. They had come all this way, taking a detour just to spend some time with her and Jon, and now this. Now Gloria’s brother was dead, and Darcy could only imagine what she must be feeling. ‘Sorry for your loss’ just didn’t seem to cover it. Darcy wanted to try and make it better, somehow.

  When she tried to find the words to say exactly that, Gloria only shook her head. “He was an evil man, Darcy. I’d like to think this is the end for all evil men. Not just death, but a violent death. Did you know he wrote me once from prison? Told me how he’d found God and when he got out he was going to have everything he needed to start over and do things right this time. Bunch of crap, the lot of it. He was never going to be anything other than who he was. That was never going to change.”

  Cameron put a comforting arm around his wife. They seemed like such a strong couple. Just like her and Jon. It had been a tragedy for both of them when Steve killed Anna and Jeff, in different ways. Darcy had been given the chance to move past it. Now Gloria would have to live through it all over again.

  “What about the rest of your family in Misty Hollow?” Darcy asked her. “You said your grandfather died recently but your mother and your aunt are still here, aren’t they?”

  The grim frown on Gloria’s face spoke volumes. “I suppose someone needs to tell them about Steve, right? Make sure that they know?”

  “I can have Jon take care of that, if you want.”

  Gloria thought about it, and then shook her head. “No. It should be me. I suppose I couldn’t avoid my family for the rest of my life.”

  “No worries, baby,” Cameron said to her. “I’ll go with you. I’ll be there.”

  “I will, too,” Darcy promised. It occurred to her, suddenly, that she knew absolutely nothing about Steve Nelson’s extended family. She knew Steve, of course, but she’d never once met his mother, or his grandfather or aunt either. “Um. Where do they live? I don’t even know their names.”

  “Jozelle and Althea. Jozelle Nelson is my mother. She reverted to her maiden name after the divorce because she hated my father so much. And Steve became a Nelson too. I’m sure Grandfather Nelson had something to do with that, someone to carry on the family name and all that,” She paused, bitterness twisting her face for a moment before smoothing out. She took a breath before continuing, “Althea LaCroix is my aunt. They live at the far side of town in a house on Lommers Street.”

  “LaCroix? Was she related to Benson LaCroix?”

  “Mm-hmm, yes. She married into the family.”

  That surprised Darcy a little. Benson had been the town historian for years before he passed awa
y. Darcy had always admired the man. Now she would get to meet part of his family she had never even known existed. She was familiar with Lommers Street, too. It was a lonely stretch of road, just barely within the town limits of Misty Hollow. It had once been considered the “rich section” of town, decades ago, but not any longer. The once grand houses that had dominated the area were either in disrepair, or torn down, or empty and for sale.

  Darcy looked toward the living room where her kids were watching a goofy cartoon show that she had put on for them. Colby always complained that it was far too juvenile for a grown-up girl like her, but she still sat there through the entire half hour and laughed right along with her baby brother Zane whenever it was on.

  “I have to call my neighbor Izzy to come over and babysit,” she told Gloria. “Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

  Gloria nodded silently, thoughts clouding her eyes.

  Darcy hated having to call when she knew that Izzy had a romantic dinner planned, but she was sure that Izzy would understand. When she picked up on the other end and Darcy explained the situation hastily Izzy agreed, without any hesitation, to come right over, and Darcy was struck again by how lucky she was to have a friend like her. She was going to postpone the dinner date with her boyfriend, but Darcy told her just to bring him over here instead. She knew Devon Moore. Him being here with Izzy and the kids for a little while wouldn’t be any sort of problem. Darcy promised to make it up to them both.

  “There,” she said as she hung up the phone. “It’s all set. So, did you two book a room for the night somewhere?”

  “Yes, at that new motel between here and Oak Hollow.”

  “I know that place. It opened last year.”

  “Right. Well, we got a room there. We’ll catch some sleep tonight and then just continue our trip tomorrow.”

  That struck Darcy as odd. “You won’t be staying longer now that your brother is dead?”

  Gloria quickly shook her head. “I wouldn’t waste a single day of my life on my no-good brother back when he was alive. I’m certainly not going to upend my life now that he’s dead.”

  Darcy understood the sentiment, but it still struck her as peculiar. Family was family. Darcy had worked through issues of her own with her mother. She knew how hard it could be, but in the end, it was always worth it.

  Then again, Jon had family members in prison, and the relationships there weren’t going to heal any time soon.

  When Darcy turned around, Colby was at her heels, looking up at her with those big eyes. “Mommy? Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  “Um. Yes. That’s very true. Thanks for the advice, my little Starshine.” Something else for her to put in the back of her mind. “You’ll be good for Izzy while I’m gone, right? I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “Can we have popcorn?”

  Darcy laughed. That seemed a small thing to ask in exchange for being a good little girl. “You got it. Just remember, Zane can’t have any. Okay? He can have some more of his cheerios, but that’s all.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Mom.” Then off she went back into the living room, masterfully undoing the hook to the safety gate and closing it again behind her so Zane wouldn’t be tempted to wander.

  “Bright girl,” Gloria said. “Is she always that cute?”

  “She likes to tell me she is a forty-year-old woman trapped in a ten-year-old’s body.”

  Gloria smiled at that. “Oh, that’s adorable. Cameron and I never had kids of our own. Sometimes I wonder how different our life would have been if we had.”

  Cameron kissed the top of his wife’s forehead. “I think we’ve had a good life just like it’s been. We’ve had a good run up to this point, and I certainly wouldn’t want to change anything.”

  From one of the chairs at the expanded table, Darcy heard a cat meow. She hadn’t even heard Tiptoe come into the room. She was just there, sitting and listening to their conversation with those unblinking, pearl green eyes of hers. Darcy had the feeling the sleek grey feline could understand all this talk about family. Tiptoe had lost her father a few months ago. Everyone missed Smudge. Darcy still felt a pang of loss anytime she thought about him.

  Tiptoe had gone through her own grieving process. For weeks, at first, she hadn’t come near her or Jon or the kids except to get food. Then she’d gradually started sleeping on the bed next to Darcy, and now it was like she couldn’t get enough time with everyone. That was just how it should be. Darcy certainly didn’t mind having a cat in the house to love. Especially one who was continuing Smudge’s legacy.

  “Merrow?” Tiptoe asked.

  Darcy bent close and scratched between her ears. “Yeah, I agree. Everything changes, and not always for the good. I miss Smudge too, if that counts for anything.”

  The way Tiptoe stared back at her, it obviously didn’t count for much.

  “Tell you what. How about you and I spend some quality time on the couch tonight after the kids go to bed? Would that be okay?”

  Tiptoe blinked and lowered her head for Darcy to get at the spot behind her right ear that she liked so much. Sure felt like a yes.

  After Izzy and Devon got there and Darcy had reminded Colby of the rules, she and Gloria and Cameron got into Cameron’s car and they were off. Darcy had to repeat the directions a couple of times for them. Granted they hadn’t ever been to Misty Hollow, but Gloria had been right about how bad Cameron was at getting from point A to point B. No wonder they’d arrived at Darcy’s house so late.

  The residence they finally got to on Lommers Street had practically been a mansion once upon a time. Two stories high with a gabled, slate tile roof, a wraparound porch and architrave molding all around. Now the paint had faded to an uneven gray and some of the siding had started to come loose at the corners. The roof had been reshingled in spots with tiles that weren’t the same color. It had started from money. Somewhere along the line, the money must have dried up.

  Gloria leaned forward in the front passenger seat, looking at the house through the windshield. “You know, this is exactly the kind of place that I would expect my mother to be living in. She’s still clinging to the past even when it costs her too much.”

  Darcy recognized that tone. “I take it your parents’ divorce wasn’t very friendly?”

  Gloria’s face became stone. “No. No, it was not. Oh, but don’t worry about them. From what I understand, my dear old granddaddy Merlon Nelson had money to spare. Mom’s probably just letting the house go to rot so she can keep more of it in her own pocket.”

  Darcy wasn’t sure what to make of that assessment. The house definitely needed repairs that weren’t being made. Gloria’s grandfather had died two months ago, and his money should have passed down to Gloria’s mother. If that was the case, then why wasn’t her mother spending any of it?

  They got out of the car and went up to the house together. There was a white Volkswagen Beetle in the driveway that had seen better days. On the porch, the floorboards squeaked under their feet. Gloria reached over for Cameron’s hand, and took a deep breath before knocking on the door with its two frosted window panels.

  Looking over at the window, Darcy saw a shadow move. A face hovered into view there briefly, and then was gone again. She felt a cold chill sweep over her when she saw it. For a moment she couldn’t breathe. That was a face she hadn’t seen in more than a decade.

  Steve Nelson’s face.

  It was there and gone again, like he was trying to hide, but Steve’s ghost was definitely here. Now Darcy was glad she came, for more reasons than one.

  It was a little bit before they could hear the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door and a frail voice called out to them. “Hello? I say, hello? Who is it?”

  Gloria’s frown deepened. “Mom. It’s me, Gloria. Your daughter. Can we come in? It’s about Steve.”

  There was a long silence. Then the door opened, just a crack, and a woman no taller than Darcy’s shoulder peeked out. She blinked her hazy blue eyes at
the sunlight. “Gloria? Is that really you?”

  Gloria shifted on her feet, clearly uncomfortable. “Yes, Mom. It’s me. I’m sorry for just dropping by like this but I’ve got some bad news about Steve and I didn’t want it to come from someone else.”

  The door opened wider. The elderly woman in her flowery purple dress gave them an uncertain smile. Her snow-white hair was up in a bun. Her glasses were thick and heavy. The wrinkles on her face were a roadmap of a very long and full life. It was the kind of face you just instantly wanted to like.

  “Land sakes,” she said, looking up at the three of them. “Is that my wayward daughter? And… friends?”

  With a deep breath Gloria closed her eyes, just for a moment, before pulling up a smile from her mother. “This is my husband, Cameron Kroeger. Cameron, this is my mother Jozelle. Of course, you should already know Darcy here.”

  Jozelle adjusted the glasses on her face. “Oh, Darcy Sweet. Yes, yes, of course I recognize you. Why, everybody in Misty Hollow knows who you are. What brings you to my doorstep with a daughter I’ve not seen in more years than I can count?”

  “Oh, here we go,” Gloria muttered. Her mother blinked at all of them again. Darcy had to wonder if the old woman’s hearing had gotten so bad that she didn’t hear it, or if she was ignoring her daughter’s snarkiness. Maybe she was just so used to Gloria treating her badly that she didn’t even notice it anymore.

  Maybe, Darcy thought, she was just so happy to have her daughter visiting again that she was willing to take any amount of insult that came with it.

  “Well, come on in.” Jozelle motioned for them to follow her inside. “You said there was something about your brother Steve? Such a hard life that boy has had. So many hardships.”

  Gloria looked incredulous. “Mom, Steve killed two people. He went to prison. It’s not like he misplaced his keys.”

  “As I said, such a hard life.” Jozelle nodded to herself like she and her daughter were somehow on the same page. “Come on in the living room, dearies. My sister and I were just sitting down to some tea. You remember your aunt Althea, don’t you Gloria? Sure you do. You should join us. I’ve got so much catching up to do with you, now that you’ve finally come out to visit.”