by K. J. Emrick
It was one more thing to put on her to-do list. The mists kicked up around her feet as she thought about how long that list was getting. Once, she would have been able to lean on Jon to help her get things done. Now there was just her.
Well. Her and her friends.
In the driveway at Izzy’s place there were two cars. Izzy’s sensible blue sedan was the one Darcy expected to see. The other car, a white 1988 Fiero, was a surprise. That sporty wedge profile in the front and the rear spoiler were pretty identifiable in a sleepy tourist town like Misty Hollow. Ellen Gless might have moved out of town, but she still found lots of time to come visit.
Darcy wasn’t sure if this was fate or just chance. She’d learned over the years that coincidences did happen, but they still almost always happened for a reason.
After leaning her bike up against the side of the front porch Darcy knocked on the door. Izzy opened it for her, bringing her inside with a quick hug. “Everything go all right?” she asked, with no need to explain what she meant.
“I think I’m on to something,” Darcy answered, just as cryptically. “Um. I might need you to—”
“Watch the bookstore?” Izzy finished for her, eyes wide with mock surprise. She laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “When you offered me a job there you didn’t tell me that you intended to be more of a silent partner.”
Darcy set her backpack down on the floor. “I’m sorry, Izzy. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
“I know. Darcy, I understand. Half the time you have a hundred different irons in the fire. Like when you helped me and Lilly without me even having to ask. You think I’d stop you from doing the same for someone else?”
“Well,” Darcy hesitated, embarrassed by her friend’s praise. “I, uh, might need you to watch Colby for a night, too. Just keep her home from school tomorrow. I don’t know how long I’ll be. Um. Would that be all right?”
Izzy hugged her again. “You have to find out what happened to Jon. Don’t worry about Colby. A sleepover with my Lilly? The girls will be ecstatic.”
Which was true enough. Darcy knew how much Colby liked having Lilly next door. She really did look up to Lilly like a big sister, just like Izzy had said. Still, Darcy felt a little guilty. She didn’t like passing off her responsibilities. She sighed, and thanked Izzy again.
Then she felt a tug on her pants leg. “It’s okay, Mommy,” Colby said to her. “I want a sleepover. Can I, please?”
Darcy knelt down and pulled her daughter close. She still had Bittie Bunny with her, like always, and the three of them did a tight group squeeze. “You’re pretty special,” Darcy told her daughter. “Do you know that?”
“’Course I know it. You tell me all the time. Are you sure I can miss school again?”
She asked it so seriously, and it made Darcy laugh. It felt good to laugh. “Well, it’s kindergarten, so I’m sure you can catch up after missing a couple of days, don’t you?”
Colby tried to roll her eyes but the result looked more like she was about to sneeze. “Two plus two is four and yellow and blue make, um, green and don’t eat the paste. I can handle kindergarten.”
Darcy tousled her daughter’s hair and the girl squealed like it was the most fun game ever before spinning away and running from the kitchen into the living room. Darcy watched her go, noticing Ellen standing there in the entryway for the first time. She was leaning against the door frame with one shoulder, arms crossed, with that same little half smile on her lips that Darcy always associated with Ellen Gless.
She was taller than Darcy. She had that slim, rugged grace that athletic women seemed to wear as easily as a second skin. Even now, in a pair of ripped jeans and a pleated red blouse, Ellen looked like she was ready to wrestle a man twice her size. Or go clubbing. Either way. Under the tight curls of her hair, recently dyed to a lush honey blonde, her face was as expressive as ever.
Right now, her expression was serious.
“Have they found Mister Police Man yet?”
Mister Police Man. Darcy smiled at that. That was Ellen’s nickname for Jon. She and Jon had always kept this friendly antagonism going between them. They’d gone after each other like cats and dogs since the first day they’d met, back in Bear Ridge when Ellen had still been a contract killer, albeit one with a heart of gold. That life was behind her. Now she was a true friend and one of the best mothers Darcy knew.
“No,” she told Ellen in answer to her question. “They haven’t found Jon yet.”
Which was true, as far as it went. Even so, Ellen eyed her suspiciously, like she could somehow read in Darcy’s eyes all the things she wasn’t saying.
“I went to see Grace,” she told Darcy after another moment. Which made sense, considering that Ellen lived in Meadowood now. “She told me what happened. Came over to see how you were but you weren’t home and Connor wanted to see Lilly, so here we are. I’m real sorry, Darcy. Jon can be a real stick in the mud, but I kind of miss him when he’s not around.”
“So,” Darcy said, changing the subject on purpose. “How are the kids?”
“See for yourself,” Izzy told her, pointing with a thumb toward the living room.
Darcy came over to stand beside Ellen and peek into the next room. There on the couch, sandwiched between Colby and Lilly, sat Connor Gless.
The boy was all of sixteen now, just a few months behind Lilly in age, much to his eternal disappointment. Just like her, he’d grown up quite a bit in the last few years. He still had that sandy blonde hair and that face that was going to give women whiplash one day, but for now he was long limbed and lanky. A teenager a few steps away from becoming a man.
Colby was bouncing Bittie Bunny in front of him, rambling on with some story she was making up on the spot. Lilly sat very, very close to him on his right, making sure her knee touched his, leaning an arm on the back of the couch while her fingers feathered through his hair. She’d changed into a pink hoodie after getting home, and Connor kept tugging at one of the strings. Lilly would pull it back with a grin, and Connor would tug at it again as soon as she let go.
Connor looked over just then and mouthed the words “help me” to Darcy, even though she could see exactly how much he was loving all the attention. Especially from Lilly.
Lilly turned to Darcy, and winked.
It was nice to see those two becoming so close, especially after everything both of them had been through when they were younger. She remembered feeling that close to Jon, wanting nothing more than to be with him. To know he was there. To feel his touch…
Her breath caught in her throat, and she had to wipe at her cheek where a traitorous tear had fallen. She caught Ellen watching her again and quickly cleared her throat. “You’re going to have to watch those two. Teenagers and love. That’s some strong magic. Plus, school will be over in a month. They’ll have lots of free time on their hands.”
Ellen nodded, but she wasn’t going to let Darcy change the subject this time. “So. You have a lead on what happened to Jon?”
“I do.” She stepped back into the kitchen to include Izzy in what she was going to say. “I need to go to a casino. It’s just a few hours from here.”
“The Brick Road.” Ellen stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “I know the place. And it’s five hours away.”
“A casino?” Izzy asked. “Darcy, are you sure?”
“Yes, I am,” she said, realizing she hadn’t really been certain until that moment. Sure the clues had led her that way but what were the chances that Jon would be at a casino? Pretty close to zero. Except now as she thought about it, that felt exactly right. Something at the back of her mind was telling her that was exactly where she should go, and that she should already know why. Something she had heard, or seen, was telling her she needed to go there. Now.
She just couldn’t place her finger on what it was. Maybe it was her sixth sense.
Maybe it was something else.
“All right,” Ellen sa
id into the silence. Pushing herself away from the frame of the doorway, she met Darcy’s gaze squarely. “So when do we leave?”
“We? Ellen, I can’t ask you to—”
“To what? Come with you on a long drive to another town so you can investigate a mystery? ‘Kay. Because that’s never happened before.”
“Well, sure, but that was different.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow, and didn’t say a thing.
“Better just do it, Darcy,” Izzy said. “You know how Ellen can be when she’s set her mind to something.”
“Well, I do need a car…”
“Of course you do,” Ellen scoffed. “That goes without saying. It’s settled, then. Besides. I owe Mister Police Man after he got all those warrants of mine taken care of.”
“It didn’t hurt that some of them were in different names you don’t use any more,” Darcy reminded her.
Ellen shrugged. “Sure. So Izzy, you mind keeping Connor here for the night? He won’t be any trouble, I promise. I’d take him home but it’s in the opposite direction I need to take Darcy. Plus, I don’t, uh… I don’t think he’s ready to be left alone all night by himself.”
Connor’s nightmares were few and far between nowadays, Darcy knew. That didn’t mean they were gone completely.
“I’ll make up the couch,” Izzy said without hesitation, laying her hand briefly on Ellen’s arm. “I’ll get them both to school in the morning, too. They won’t let Connor ride from here without a note, I don’t think. Darcy, are you sure you want to keep Colby out? If I’m going anyway I could just drop her there.”
Darcy weighed that option, but then shook her head. “I’d feel better if she was with you, Izzy. At least until we, um, know more.”
“Of course. And Ellen, I’ll make sure to send Connor with a note so he can ride the bus here after school.”
“Thanks,” Ellen told her. “I didn’t bring him any clothes to change into, so if you could stop by our house in the morning on the way there?”
“Not a problem. It just means an early morning for everyone. Lilly won’t mind, as long as it’s an excuse not to ride the bus in the morning.”
Ellen snorted dramatically. “It’s good for teenagers to have to wake up before the sun some days. Builds character.”
“See, in my experience,” Izzy sighed, “it just builds cranky teenagers.”
She went into the living room in time to catch Lilly whispering close into Connor’s ear. The girl’s face turned the same shade as the dyed ends of her hair.
“I doubt those two even know what’s going on between them,” Ellen said to Darcy, a mother’s pride in her voice. “I’m just glad to see my Connor Bear growing up and getting past his father’s death. If he’s going to have his first girlfriend, I couldn’t ask for a better one than Lilly.”
“I know,” Darcy agreed. “That’s one wedding I’m looking forward to dancing at.”
Ellen quirked that eyebrow again. “Is that just wishful thinking, or is that your special, magical sense telling you what’s going to happen?”
Darcy just smiled at her. Ellen knew more than most about what Darcy could do, her “special, magical sense” of things to come and the way she could talk to ghosts. It was good to have another friend who knew about that side of her life, other than Jon. As far as what was going to happen with Lilly and Connor… well. Darcy had a feeling that story was yet to be written.
Colby jumped down off the couch when Izzy started laying down the law about where exactly Connor was going to sleep tonight, and how Lilly was going to stay upstairs with Colby. Darcy’s little girl yawned and rubbed her eyes like she was already too tired to stay up, and then attached herself to Darcy’s leg.
“Mommy?” she said.
Darcy knelt down to put them both at eye level. “Yes, Sweetie?”
“When you find Daddy, tell him Bittie Bunny misses him.”
It took an effort to get the words out. “I will. I promise.”
“And, Mommy… um.”
“What is it, Colby?”
“Sometimes… sometimes trees fall down.”
She kissed Darcy’s cheek, and smiled up at Ellen, then skipped off to snuggle up on the couch at Lilly’s side.
“She’s like you,” Ellen asked, watching the children in the next room. “Isn’t she?”
Snuffling back a knot of emotions, Darcy stood up again. “More than you can imagine. Come on. Let’s go.”
***
As Ellen drove them down the dark highway, headlights pushing back the dark of night, Darcy adjusted her seat back as far as it would go. The Fiero was a pretty car, to be sure, but it certainly didn’t have a lot of interior room.
“How do you and Connor fit into this sardine can of a car?”
“The Fiero? Come on,” Ellen said, lovingly running a hand along the brown leather of the dash. “This car is a classic.”
“I liked your other car.”
“So did I. Apparently, however, the man who backed into the front end didn’t appreciate it as much as I did. That’s all right. The insurance money was enough to get this special beauty.”
“Your new consulting job isn’t paying you enough to buy a whole car?”
“Oh har, har, very funny,” Ellen griped. “You can insult my baby all you want. At least I have a car.”
“I’ve never needed a car of my own,” Darcy said defensively.
“Or a cell phone, either.”
“Well, that’s for a different reason.”
“I remember. So. We’re just about an hour away from the Brick Road Casino. You’re going to tell me what’s going on now, right?”
“What do you mean?” Darcy leaned her head back and closed her eyes. It wasn’t enough to deter Ellen.
“Come on, Darcy. I saw you at Izzy’s. I can tell when someone is hiding something bad. Especially you. You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” She slowed to take an exit off the main road, marked with a large green and white sign for the casino. It really wouldn’t be long now. “Good liars like me are hard to find. Now spill.”
Darcy knew there was no getting around it. Ellen wouldn’t let up until she knew everything. Besides, she deserved to know. Here she was, helping when she didn’t have to, and she’d helped Jon and Darcy any number of times before, too.
If Darcy was being honest, she really just wanted to tell someone.
Her heart was heavy when she started talking. Funny, she thought. A story like this, and it started with waking up on a bright, sunny morning that should have been full of promise. She spun her aunt’s ring on her finger while she told Ellen everything. Then gradually, as she talked, the weight in her chest got less, and less, until the words just flowed from her lips in a fluid stream like the tears that were flowing from her eyes.
Everyone thought Jon was missing, but Darcy had seen his ghost. She knew different. She knew, but she hadn’t been able to say she knew, because no one would believe her if she told them what was really happening. No one, except Jon and Ellen.
“I have to find him,” she finished her story. “Ellen, I have to find Jon.”
“You mean,” Ellen replied carefully, “that you need to find out what happened to him.”
“Right.” Darcy frowned at that same slip of the tongue, again. “That’s what I mean.”
“So going the casino is going to help us do that?”
“Well. Ferguson Gorsky is sure that the people who conned him are connected to the casino. Or at least, they were part of The Hand, and The Hand is connected to the casino. Gorsky said he would recognize the men if he saw them again. Maybe if we can put faces to the suspects in his case, it will give us the people who hurt Grace and Jon, too.”
“Not sure I follow.”
“Honestly, Ellen” Darcy sighed, “I’m not sure I understand it either. But this is the second time in one day that I’ve heard someone mention The Hand. After all this tim
e…it can’t just be a coincidence. Besides. Jon’s spirit mentioned fortunes coming and going. You know a better description for a casino than that?”
“’Kay. That’s good enough for me. I guess since you don’t carry a cell phone that means the picture taking will be up to me. Shouldn’t be hard for two pretty young women to get a few guys to let us snap their picture.”
Darcy closed her eyes again. “I don’t feel very young right now. Or pretty, for that matter.”
She felt Ellen’s hand on hers as the stopped to make a turn onto a different road. “It’s okay, Darcy. I promise you it will be all right. We’ll find what happened to Jon. I won’t let this go. We’ll find the people responsible and either they’ll get justice at the hands of a judge, or they’ll get justice at my hands. That’s my promise to you.”
Darcy’s eyes snapped open and she adjusted the seat up, turning to Ellen. “I don’t want you killing anyone.”
“Seriously? Darcy, this is your husband we’re talking about…”
“Right. My husband, who was a police officer. You think he’d want you going all Deathwish on anyone? Even for him?”
Ellen pressed her lips together. “No. Your husband was too much of a stick in the mud for that.”
“You call him what you want,” Darcy said, crossing her arms over her chest. “He was an honorable man. A good man. He dedicated his life to doing the right thing for the right reason. For Pete’s sake, Ellen, you used to kill people for a living, but you aren’t that person any more. We helped you give it up, remember? Jon and me?”
The silence stretching between them was Ellen’s only answer, which to Darcy was no answer at all.
“I do not want you killing anyone. Not again.”
Hands tight on the wheel, Ellen stared straight ahead, up the road to where the bright lights of a thriving gambling establishment were just coming into view. “Fine, Darcy. I promise I won’t kill anyone. We’ll do this your way. No killing.”
“Thank you,” Darcy breathed, feeling like she’d won a small battle, for Jon’s sake.