The Naughty List

by K. J. Emrick

  Darcy wanted to cry with her. The bakery was more than just a building. It had been a centerpiece of the town where everyone could meet and relax and just take a moment out of their day to enjoy good coffee and delicious treats and the warm smile that Helen always had for everyone. She went around the sales counter and hugged Helen, not caring that customers might come in to find them crying and carrying on like this because this was what friends did for each other.

  “Oh, I’m such a mess!” Helen said after a moment. She laughed at herself and stepped back from Darcy to blot at her eyes with the corner of her sleeve. “It’s not just the bakery either, but there’s the mess that Elizabeth Archer is in, and Phin, and I just heard about Bobbi Jo Cameron being arrested, too… what sort of a Christmas is this turning out to be?”

  “What was Bobbi Jo arrested for?” Izzy asked, and Darcy realized that there was another bit of town gossip that she’d forgotten to tell her friend about. She was going to have to start keeping notes.

  It was a long conversation that finally shared the knowledge that everyone had about all the things that were going on. The arrests of Bobbi Jo and Phineas. Elizabeth Archer’s troubles. Darcy alluded to there being another suspect they were looking for although she didn’t mention the man’s name or his association with The Hand. Grace knew about that, of course, but Izzy didn’t, and from the way Helen listened to the story it was obvious she didn’t, either.

  “It’s the same with that Iroc that you saw on the street, Izzy,” Grace said, sipping at a cup of coffee from the drink station. Darcy had started unfurling the tree, with Izzy’s help, and with a last tug the burlap wrapping came away and branches fluffed out. “Hey, nice tree.”

  “Thanks,” Izzy smiled. “When Tom heard what I wanted it for he found me one from the special stock he’s saving at the back of the store. Nice man, Tom. Anyway… what about the Iroc?”

  “We can’t find it.” Grace shrugged, and set her coffee aside on the table where she sat. “There’s exactly four blue Irocs registered in our state and each one of them has been accounted for by the police departments in their areas. So we’re nowhere with that. I’m going to try looking… I mean, I have another idea. I can’t say much. Police business, and whatever.”

  “Oh, well. Like I said, it wasn’t really doing anything suspicious. It was just driving away while the fire was burning. That’s all. I guess it doesn’t matter now that Phin has been arrested, right?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Grace said. “Right. So I’ll see you guys later. Darcy, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m off to work. Hi ho, hi ho, and all that.”

  The cold air filtered inside as she left. Darcy felt a breeze caress her cheeks. To her, it smelled like a storm was coming.

  “This is a beautiful tree,” Helen said, agreeing with everyone’s opinion. She spread out the branches with Izzy as Darcy screwed the supports on the base into place to keep the trunk straight. “I’d like to be the first to put a present under it. Do you need anything with the gift? A description of what’s in it, whether it’s for a boy or a girl, or anything like that?”

  “Yes, that’s it exactly,” Darcy told her. “Just write it on the gift tag and then we can—”

  The door to the store flew open in a way that made them all turn their heads. Grace was there again, her expression back to its usual bleak mask. “Darcy, you’re going to want to see this. Helen, Izzy, you guys too.”

  The three of them grabbed their coats and rushed out after Grace. Down the street they could see a crowd gathered in front of the ruined bakery. It suddenly occurred to Darcy why there hadn’t been many other customers in the bookstore this morning. They were all up there watching a news crew filming in front of the fire-blackened brick building.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Darcy muttered under her breath. She knew the two people standing in front of the cameraman.

  One was Tobias Ford, tall and impressive in a long black wool coat, talking loudly and gesturing angrily. His bald head furrowed with every word. Darcy had the sinking feeling that she knew what he was saying even if she was too far away to hear him.

  Beside him, holding a microphone like she was born with one in her hand, was television reporter extraordinaire Brianna Watson.

  She was without her usual trenchcoat today, standing out in the cold and snow in just her pantsuit and blousy red top that nicely complimented her long brunette hair. She was dressing for the camera, not the weather. Ever since Darcy had known her she’d been a strikingly beautiful woman, her makeup done just so with lipstick and rouge and eyeshadow that had no doubt been tested for its visual affect with real studio audiences. The way the corner of her lips were set in a permanent curl made it look like she was eagerly hanging off every word that Tobias said.

  “Now I know why he was gone yesterday.” Darcy was already walking up toward the crowds with Grace. Helen followed with Izzy. “He went to find a news reporter to listen to him shoot his mouth off.”

  “Yup,” Grace agreed. “Great men do great things. Little men have inferiority complexes. Aaron doesn’t have that issue, in case you were wondering.”

  “Grace!” Darcy was shocked, even as she giggled at the off-color in that comment. Jon didn’t have that particular problem either, she reminded herself, bumping her shoulder against her sister’s. “We can compare husbands later. For now, let’s go see what Brianna is up to this time.”

  There were still hard feelings on the part of Darcy and her friends toward Brianna Watson. Izzy knew better than Darcy did, from an incident with Connor and Lilly a few years ago, but Brianna Watson had always been all about Brianna Watson. The only thing she cared about was what made her look good. She’d staked her career on it, working her way up from a newspaper byline to one of the best-known television personalities in the state.

  Before they got to the crowd watching news in the making Tobias saw them approaching, and the next thing she knew, Darcy was the center of everyone’s attention.

  How did these things always happen?

  “There she is!” He advanced on Darcy through the crowds, arm outstretched, finger pointed. “That’s the woman who destroyed my business. She was so jealous of how well I was doing that she had to come and burn down my place!”

  Brianna waved for the cameraman to stay on Tobias as she ran in her chunky-heeled pumps alongside him. There was a hungry look in her eyes. She could smell the story unfolding and she was here to gobble it up and spit it back out for her audience.

  “You burned my place down,” Tobias insisted. Grace intervened, holding the much bigger man back just by standing in his way. Hard to imagine this ex-football player being stopped midstride by someone so much smaller, like Grace, but Darcy knew her sister could be more intimidating than an entire wall of rushing linebackers all by herself. “Darcy Sweet. That woman, right there!”

  “Don’t be a moron,” Grace said to him. “Now step back before you get yourself arrested.”

  Darcy would have chosen a much politer way to say it, but for once she appreciated Grace’s directness. Tobias looked like he was out to get his pound of flesh.

  “Darcy Sweet,” Brianna said with a wide smile that showed off recently whitened teeth, “how do you respond to the accusations that Tobias Ford has been making this morning? Did you have anything to do with burning down The Bean There Bakery and Café?”

  The microphone was stretched out toward her, and the camera was centered on her face, but Brianna smartly stayed on the other side of Grace’s imaginary line in the snow.

  Darcy looked into the camera and didn’t flinch. “Tobias has been accusing me of burning down his shop, has he? All morning long?”

  “That’s right!” Tobias would not ease up. “You were jealous that I bought your friend’s bakery. You wouldn’t even accept my simple business offer when I came to you with it. You threw me out of your little bookstore over there and then you waited for me to be gone before you burned down my store!”

  Brianna jumped right
in a split-second later before Darcy even had a chance to answer that ridiculous accusation. “Darcy,” she said, “I see the mayor is here with you today, along with one of the senior officers of the Misty Hollow Police Department. Do any of you have a statement for my viewers at home? What do you say about the accusations by Tobias Ford that you burned down his bakery?”

  “I say,” Darcy said with a sweet little smile, “that Tobias should pay more attention to the town he claims to love so much. The police department here in Misty Hollow arrested a man for the arson not two hours ago.”

  Tobias went perfectly still, his mouth hanging open, ready to throw out more insults that instead died in his throat. His finger wavered in the air.

  “I’d also like to ask him,” Darcy continued, “if he recently took out any big insurance policies on his building?”

  The camera swiveled, and now the focus was on Tobias.

  It was a page out of Jon’s playbook, a total shot in the dark asking a question they knew had to be true even though they had no proof of it. Tobias’ eyes went wide, and he clamped his jaw closed tight. “I got nothing to say to this woman.”

  Grace stared him down. “Darcy didn’t do anything to you, Tobias. We’ve got the man who burned your store down behind bars right now, being questioned before formal charges are laid. You’re welcome.”

  Brianna’s eyes sparkled as she followed the conversation back and forth. The mention of a suspect under arrest would be just what her story needed. Darcy could feel how she was chomping at the bit to wrap things up here and get down to the police station where the real story was unfolding. No doubt about it.

  On the other hand, Tobias looked like he just wanted to disappear. He’d been accusing the wrong person this whole time and now, live on a popular television news program, he’d been made out to look like a fool because of it. That question about him taking out an insurance policy just before the bakery burned down hadn’t settled right with him, either. Darcy’s instincts went into overdrive. There was definitely more to this mystery.

  “Tell you what,” Helen said, stepping up to stand beside Darcy on her right side and Izzy on her left. “Why don’t you come down to my office, Mister Ford? We can discuss my… I mean your bakery and why you haven’t done anything to cover up the broken windows before the snow gets in and ruins everything. That would be the actions of a responsible business man. If he really cared about the business he was screaming about on a public street, that is. How much was that insurance policy for, anyway?”

  Lightning flashed in Tobias’ brown eyes, but he had nothing to say.

  “And… cut,” Brianna told her cameraman. “That’s perfect, Scott. Do me a solid and go get some more exterior shots of the bakery. It’s going to make for great television with it all broke up like that. Then we’re heading down to the police station. Mister Ford, you were spectacular, great stuff, watch for your piece on the six o’clock news tonight. We’ll be in touch.”

  She turned her back on Tobias like he didn’t even exist anymore. Darcy was sure that in the world of Brianna Watson he didn’t. He’d served his purpose. Instead she clapped her hands dramatically as she sidestepped Grace to get closer to Darcy. “You,” she said gleefully. “You always bring me the very best news stories. I swear to you I’m going to convince the executives at my network to let me put in a branch office right here in Misty Hollow. Maybe right here on Main Street. Know any good places?”

  “Brianna, I really don’t want to talk to you right now.”

  “Oh, come on, Darcy.” Brianna rubbed her hands up and down her arms to warm them in the cold air. “You know I love you. Every story I’ve ever done you’ve always come out smelling like a rose, haven’t you?”

  “If you say so.”

  Helen squeezed her arm. “I really have to get back to work, Darcy. There’s a problem with the stage for the winter pageant and our usual Santa Claus has the flu. Too many fires to put out, too little time. You going to be okay here?”

  “I should get back to the bookstore too,” Izzy said. “Some of this crowd is filtering that way. Guess having Tobias scream about it on the news is going to be a boost for business.”

  “See?” Brianna insisted. “I’m good for you, Darcy. Always have been. You and me are a good team. Scott! Bring my jacket!”

  Izzy rolled her eyes as she and Helen walked away. Darcy felt like doing the same. “We’re not a team, Brianna,” she told her.

  “Oh, sure we are. You just don’t know it yet.”

  Scott the cameraman came back over, handing Brianna her expensive Brooks Brothers twill trenchcoat as he whispered in her ear. She nodded to whatever it was and then winked at Darcy. “Gotta go. The news waits for no woman. See you next time, Sweet.”

  Grace actually growled as they watched Brianna walk away. “Is there a reason I don’t like that woman?”

  “Yes,” Darcy confirmed. “There certainly is.”

  “That’s what I thought. Look sis, I’ve got to get back to work too. Jon’s going to go nuclear when he hears we just made the news.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Darcy told her. “He doesn’t hate the news as much as he says he does.”

  “What about Brianna?”

  “Oh, her he hates. No doubt.”

  “Don’t blame him.” Grace gave Darcy a quick, unexpected hug. “Love you.”

  “Wow, sis. Is the world ending?”

  “You know what,” Grace said, “forget it. Just forget it. I was trying to be nice, and supportive, and all of that other sisterly stuff that we don’t usually do, but—”

  “Grace?”

  “What?”

  “I love you, too.”

  Grace smiled at her, then clapped her hard on the shoulder. “Don’t forget it.”

  When everyone else was gone, and when the news van was pulling away up the street, and when the crowd around him had gone their own separate ways, Tobias glared at Darcy. “What, do you expect me to apologize or something?”

  Darcy didn’t bother to answer. Tobias was never going to be part of the Misty Hollow community, no matter how many businesses he bought on Main Street. He didn’t care about the people here. He just wanted to turn a profit for himself. Darcy was sure he didn’t plan on doing anything to keep the bakery from being ruined further and that cemented in her mind that he really did load up on insurance before the fire. Whether he set it or not… well, like Grace said, they had Pastor Phin McCord under arrest for the crime already. If he was the arsonist, that still didn’t make Tobias Ford anything other than despicable. He’d take his insurance money from the fire and call it quits.

  She had nothing to say to a man like that.

  While she was walking away from him, she caught sight of a man further down the street watching her. A man twice as wide as she was and a half foot taller. A man wearing a leather aviator’s cap to hide his red hair, and a jacket from the 1980s.

  Edmund Beres waved at her with his fingers, a cutesy little wave that set Darcy’s teeth on edge.

  Then he turned and disappeared around a corner, as snow started to come down in earnest.

  Chapter Eight

  Snow fell all through the night, and the next morning school was closed while plows worked overtime to clear the roads off. It was a winter wonderland that met Darcy’s eyes as she pulled the curtains away from the window in her bedroom. Everything white, and fresh, and new. It was still coming down when Colby came bounding down the stairs to bundle up in her snowsuit and her boots and her mittens, full of energy now that she didn’t have to go to school. Out the door she went, scarf trailing behind her, flopping down in the puffy layers of sparkling powder to see how many snow angles she could make in a row, like a big paperdoll chain in the shape of her own little body.

  Darcy called Izzy, knowing her and Lilly would be home because of the school closing too. No sense opening the bookstore today, she said. Why not come over and spend the day with us?

  While Jon was at work Darcy and Izzy chatte
d over cups of tea. Lilly was always happy to spend the day playing with Colby, although at age seven the games they played together had changed. Gone were hide-and-seek and eye spy. In their place were card games like War and Old Maid, or crazy games of charades. Colby was fascinated with Lilly’s hair, too. Lilly was always experimenting with different colors, and for Christmas she had dyed streaks of red and platinum blonde into the right side of her pixie cut, and then twirled them into mini braids that looked like candy canes.

  Lilly explained it was her way of making things pretty for the holidays. Colby told her that she was already pretty. “Connor thinks so too,” she whispered as they ate grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. “I think he loves you.”

  Leaning in closer like it was a big secret, Lilly whispered back, “I think I love him too.”

  Colby’s eyes got very big, and very wide. She knew all about love from Jon and Darcy. Her mother and father had no problem showing their affection for each other, or for Colby either. But the idea that a boy and a girl might love each other before they were all grown up… well. Colby had a few years yet to learn about that. Darcy hoped.

  Tiptoe hung around the table waiting for someone to drop her a bit of cheese or buttered bread. Sitting over by their food dish, Smudge twitched his whiskers at the impatience of youth. Funny, Darcy thought with a smile. She seemed to remember a younger white and black cat who found his way into everything and loved to beg for people food scraps. Old man, she whispered to him in her mind. His eyes blinked up at her, and he shifted slowly from foot to foot, which was as close as he would ever come to admitting she was right. He was getting old.