by K. J. Emrick
Darcy shivered, just a little, to remember those events on that Halloween night in the Town Hall all those years ago. “I know. We’ll get through it all together, right? Now, speaking of buildings burning down. Jon, the ghost from Pastor Phin’s church said that her brother killed her.”
“Her brother?”
Darcy nodded. “Her brother. He killed her in a fire.”
“I see.” Gears were turning behind Jon’s eyes. “And do we know who her brother is?”
“I can make a really good guess.” She hated what she was thinking, but so far today she’d found out that someone she called a friend was in debt to an illegal bookie, and that a trusted businesswoman in town was selling marijuana and God alone knew what else from her shop.
So really, how hard should it be to believe the pastor in town had killed his sister?
“Well.” Jon took in a deep breath. “I guess I better get that background investigation done on Phineas McCord sooner than I thought.”
“You didn’t get to talk to Helen?” Darcy asked. “When you dropped me off here earlier you said you were heading right over to the Town Hall.”
“I did, but Helen wasn’t there.” Kissing her forehead, he went and sat down at the kitchen table. “She left early. I think if I understood her clerk right she went somewhere with her husband. No idea when she’ll be back so I had to leave her a message. You know I didn’t get any ice cream.”
“Jon, this is serious.” Darcy crossed her arms. “What if Phin is, you know, some sort of serial arsonist?”
“Then he doesn’t get any ice cream, either.”
“Jon.”
“Okay, okay. I know it’s serious. Look, we’ve got three other names on our suspect list. I had my people check all of the video surveillance for Sunday from every store along Main Street that has a camera either outside, or pointed with a view of outside. Yours included. We saw the Iroc driving down the street but we can’t see the driver’s face. We saw our friendly Hand-man Edmund Beres walking up and down the sidewalk at different times of the day. Now that we know he’s wearing that cap he’s a lot easier to spot. No telling what he was up to. We saw Tobias Ford, too, but that’s not unusual because that’s where the bakery is—was—and from what I understand he was very hands-on when it came to running the place. He was there a lot. Now. Guess who else we saw?”
Darcy didn’t have to guess very hard. “You saw Phineas McCord.”
“Yes, we did. We saw the Pastor before the fire started, down by the children’s clothing store. We saw him again after the fire started. So, that confirms what Elizabeth told us. Phin was there on both ends of the timeframe when the fire started.”
She sat down with him. “I don’t suppose there’s a security camera anywhere that shows the bakery being set on fire?”
“No, of course not. That would make it too easy.” He rolled his shoulders. It had been a long couple of days for him. “And of course the fire took out the video recordings made by the bakery’s cameras, so that’s a bust.”
“Then how are you going to solve this?”
“Well, I could always depend on old-fashioned police work.” He drummed his fingers against the table. “Or…”
“Or what?” she asked, although she knew where this was going.
“See, I was hoping that maybe my extremely talented and gifted wife who is able to see things that us old-fashioned police officers can’t, would find it in her heart to go talk to Pastor Phin and maybe, uh, shake his hand again or something.”
“So let me get this straight.” She leaned forward on one elbow. “You want me to go to a church pastor and use my paranormal gifts to find out what he’s hiding from his past?”
“Well, when you put it that way… yes. What do you think?”
What did she think? Seriously? “I think I’m going to need another bowl of ice cream.”
“Ooh, get one for me too, please.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, but truth be told she was glad that he’d asked her to do this. Not that she was looking forward to seeing into the past of a man who might have killed his sister and burned their house down. She wasn’t. But knowing that Jon trusted her enough to ask her to use her abilities to solve a mystery, to help catch the bad guy… that warmed her up inside.
She got a fresh bowl of ice cream for him, and finished off her melty bowl before dishing out more for herself. When Colby came in and saw them having ice cream without her, she got another small bowl, too.
Ice cream made everything better, but it didn’t solve mysteries.
***
Darcy knew they would have to wait until tomorrow morning to talk to Pastor Phin. She could have left Jon and Colby alone at the house and gone over to the church after their ice cream bowls were stacked, but she had promised their daughter a night watching television together and she wasn’t going to go back on that. Before the third episode of My Little Pony all three of them, Jon included, were asleep on the couch.
In the morning, she walked Colby out to wait for the bus. Little bits of snow filled the air like glitter, highlighted by sunlight that broke through big gaps in the clouds above. It made the world look magical, and Colby raced back and forth collecting snow on her face, laughing the whole time. “Look, Mom!” she said. “I’m all sparkly!”
She and Jon had made plans to meet Pastor Phin at the bookstore around mid-morning. Jon was going to set it up. That was fine with Darcy, because she’d been neglecting her shop as it was recently and she needed to put in some hours with Izzy before she quit. Not that she’d expect Izzy to quit, she thought with a smile. The woman was a saint.
Now, in the bookstore, the two of them finished the decorations. With one last piece of tape to hold up a cardboard snowman’s arm as he skated along an imaginary pond on the wall, everything was finally in place. Oh, but they should have a tree! Maybe even a real one. The scent of pine needles in the bookstore would be amazing. A few weeks until Christmas and the customers would love to see a real tree.
“What are you thinking about over there?” Izzy asked her, kneeling down to put the tape and the unused bits of ribbon back in the empty decoration box. “That snowman isn’t going to come to life and start running around the town square or anything, you know. What’s up?”
“I was just thinking… what if we brought in a real tree, and decorated it all up, and then hung a sign asking people to bring in a wrapped present to distribute to families in the community who don’t have much this year?”
Now Izzy looked over at the same corner that Darcy was staring at, picturing the tree there as well. She got up off her feet and brushed dust from her hands onto her jeans. “I think that’s a really good idea, Darcy. Tom down at the hardware store is still selling trees. I can go down there and pick us out a good one, if you like.”
“That would be great, Izzy, thank you. I’m expecting Jon anytime now.”
She didn’t bother mentioning that she was expecting Pastor Phin to be with him. The rumors in this town didn’t need any help.
“It’s settled then.” She went to the office and got her coat and took her keys from her pocket. “I don’t know if I can fit a tree in that car of mine, but maybe Tom or one of the guys will have a truck. Or I could walk it back, I suppose.”
“That might make for a long walk. I’d stick with having someone deliver it.”
“It’s not that cold out,” Izzy said.
Darcy laughed. “Says you. Have you ever considered moving to the arctic circle? Or Canada?”
Izzy snapped her keys around. “I like it cold. What can I say?”
Holding her coat rather than wearing it, off she went.
There weren’t any customers in the store right now, and she really wasn’t expecting any on a Tuesday until closer to noon. Sometimes tourists walking through the town would wander in to browse and occasionally buy, but the real crowds didn’t normally come in until after noon on a weekday.
When the shopkeeper’s bell rang at the
front Darcy looked over to see Jon and Pastor Phin coming in. Jon was laughing at something Phin had said, slapping him on the back like they were just two guys on an outing about town. Jon had decided a little white lie would get Phin off his guard and get him here without too many questions. Bringing him down to the police station might put him on the defensive which could cause him to clam up and ask for a lawyer. If they went to his church and asked him a question he didn’t like, he could order them off the property and they would miss their opportunity. Neutral ground was their best bet in this case.
“Hello Pastor,” Darcy said with her best smile. “Thanks for coming. I have some coffee and hot apple cider in the dispensers over there. Something new I’m starting for my customers in the winter months. Would you like some?”
She pointed out the little wooden table over in the reading area and the two stainless steel beverage dispensers with their black tops and plastic spouts. Styrofoam cups sat in an upside down stack between them, along with glass bowls of creamers and sugar packets.
“Er, no, thank you Darcy.” Now that he was out of the snow he slipped out of his jacket. It had started to come down harder in the last hour and the snowplows had already been through town once. “I’m a little confused why you guys wanted to see me? Jon wasn’t exactly forthcoming about it.”
He was dressed under the coat in a very simple gray sweater and khaki pants. Darcy had never known him to wear anything bright and flashy. Nothing that would draw attention to him. He was always there, always available for people, but he was obviously a man who didn’t like to stand out.
Darcy sat down at the closest of the reading tables. Jon sat with her. A moment later, Phin sat down as well with an uncertain smile. “What’s going on?”
“We wanted to talk to you,” Jon said, “about the fire at the bakery.”
Phin blinked. He looked from Jon to Darcy, and back again. “It’s a terrible thing. For the owner and the rest of the town, too. Are there any plans to rebuild?”
“I wouldn’t know about that.” From the inside pocket of his jacket Jon took a bundle of folded papers. “What I was curious about, actually, was if the fire seemed familiar to you.”
The color drained from Phin’s face. “I… I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh?” Jon put the papers down on the table and spread them out flat. “You used to live in Everton, right? Little town with, let me see here… three thousand people? Wow. Small place. We have twice that number in Misty Hollow. Why’d you leave?”
“Our house… our house burned down.” Phin took a deep breath, steadying his palms against the table. “I don’t like to talk about it. Everyone has something in their past that is better left in a little black box at the back of their mind. God wants us to be happy, after all. Not mired in our past.”
“That’s an interesting way of putting it,” Jon said. “Forgetting all about your past, and such. According to public records, your house burned down.”
It was a long moment of silence before Phin gave a simple answer. “Yes.”
“Well. Let’s leave that alone for now.” Jon turned over the top page on the table, and then the one under it. “You saw the fire at the bakery on Sunday, right? You were there?”
“Yes, I was there. Half the town was there.” Craning his neck sideways Phin scanned the papers Jon was reading. “What do you have there?”
“This, is a copy of a police report. I’ll get to this in a minute.” Jon crossed his arms to lean his elbows on the table. “Can you tell me when you got to Main Street on Sunday? We’re trying to work up the timeline.”
Darcy could see how suspicious Phin was of the question. She waited. An honest man would have nothing to hide. They’d already discovered the deep, dark secrets of two of their neighbors. Would Pastor Phin turn out to be another friend with those sorts of secrets, or would he turn out to be a good man?
What was in that black box at the back of his thoughts?
“You want to know when I got to Main Street?” Phin asked, repeating the question rather than answering it.
Jon kept his gaze levelled at him. “Yes. I need to know when you got to Main Street on Sunday. Before the fire, or after the fire?”
Phin swallowed noisily. “It was before the fire happened.”
“I see. What time was that?”
“Jon, I’m beginning to feel like I’m on trial.”
“There’s no judge here,” Jon told him with a smile. “It’s just the three of us here and these are questions I need to have answers to. So, you got to Main Street… when?”
Phin’s hands curled into fists, and he slid them down into his lap. “I came down to Main Street around noon. I went to the deli for lunch after services and then I went to the bakery.”
Jon sat up straighter. So did Darcy. She couldn’t help herself.
“You were in the bakery on Sunday?” Jon asked. “Well, actually we knew that. Elizabeth Archer told us you were there. You talked to her on Sunday. What I didn’t know is that you went to the deli for lunch. Now, why would you go to the deli, if you were going to go to the bakery? Why didn’t you just go to the bakery for lunch?”
“I… I had an appointment.”
Jon nodded. “Okay. An appointment. At the bakery?”
“Yes.”
“With Elizabeth?”
Very slowly, Phin shook his head. “No.”
“Then who was this appointment with?”
Phin shook his head again. “I don’t want to tell you that. This is ridiculous. I think I’d like to go now—”
“Why won’t you just tell us? Is it one of those pastor things where you can’t tell me?”
“Clergy privilege,” Phin clarified for him. “It’s called clergy privilege, but you knew that, didn’t you, Chief? So what if I told you it was? Would that end our little discussion here?”
Jon waited, but that was all the answer he was going to get. Phin was stonewalling them. Darcy watched as Jon switched mental gears and went back to the pages in front of him. “I see. Well, let’s try this, then. When your house burned down it was investigated by the State Police, right? The circumstances were suspicious. At least that’s what it says here.”
“Yes, Jon. There was an investigation. A very long and personal investigation. It would be years before my family was whole again. Why are you dragging up all of these bad memories?”
“Your sister died,” Jon said. It wasn’t a question.
Phin went to stand up, then sat back down like his legs weren’t working. His mouth struggled to form words. “Genevieve. My sister… yes. She died in that fire. She’s been dead all these years, and I do not want to talk about it. Are we done here?”
“There’s a notation in the report,” Jon went on as if he hadn’t even heard Phin. “It says that you were inside the house when the fire started. The police questioned you about the fire. Six times, in fact.”
“Yes.”
“That’s right. You said it was a long investigation. But why would they question you about it… six times?”
“You’ve got the report right there,” Phin said, his voice growing softer with each word. “Why don’t you tell me what it says?”
“I’m asking you.” Jon countered. “You were there. Weren’t you? I mean, when the fire happened you were right there. And now, fast forward a couple of decades and here you are at the scene of another fire. You see the connection?”
Phin closed his eyes, and Darcy had the impression that he was saying a prayer. When he opened them again, there were unshed tears brimming at the corners. “Chief, please don’t do this.”
Jon didn’t stop. “You got to town around noon, you said. Elizabeth told us you were at the bakery until she closed it at five. We also know you were there later, at the scene of the actual fire. So where were you in between?”
Silence.
“I think you were on Main Street the whole time. I don’t think you ever left. I think you were at th
e bakery when it closed up, just like Elizabeth said, and then I think you hung around town. So where were you?”
“I told you… I was meeting with someone.”
“Who?”
Phin clamped his mouth shut, and leaned back in his chair, blinking at the tears that were about to spill over.
“Tell me how your sister died.”
Silence again.
“You were there when the fire started,” Jon pressed him. “Weren’t you?”
Phin shook his head. Was that a denial, or an attempt to shake away the memory of something so awful?
“You were there when the fire started at the bakery too, weren’t you?”
Now the tears fell, as Phin’s lips began to tremble.
Jon put the papers back together, and folded them up, and put them away again in his inner pocket. “You see how this looks, don’t you Phin? Suddenly you were there on Sunday to meet someone, but you won’t say who, and now we know that all those years ago you were there when your house burned down. Only that time, your sister died. How’d that feel, Phin?”
“Stop it,” the pastor mumbled.
Darcy winced. She knew Jon was only doing his job, being cruel to get at the truth, but the pain in Phin’s eyes was hard to take.
“Admit it, Phin, someone set your old family home on fire. On purpose.”
“I… can’t…”
Darcy saw her chance. They’d been waiting for this, because they knew that just coming right out and asking Phin to let her have a paranormal peek into his past was going to be met with laughter or hostility or both. They had to be sneaky about this, and choose just the right moment.
This was that moment.
Taking hold of Phin’s hands, feeling them shake with a tangle of emotions, Darcy told him it would be all right.
At the same time, she took a breath in, and then let it out, and then quickly took it in again and held it and let herself slip into a state of awareness that went beyond her five senses.