1 Death Comes to Town

by K. J. Emrick

  The next day didn’t get any better.

  In the book store, the bell over the door jingled and in walked the last man on Earth that Darcy wanted to see. Jeff smiled in that arrogant way he had and sauntered up to the counter. Sue rolled her eyes before going off into the back. She had her own opinion of Darcy’s ex-husband. It more or less mirrored Darcy’s own opinion.

  “Jeff, I’m so not in the mood for you today. Just go.” She hoped that would be the end of it. It wasn’t.

  He held up his hands, palms facing out to her. “I come in peace.”

  Darcy didn’t believe him and folded her arms across her chest. “Then what do you want?”

  “You’re being awfully tough on someone who is here to help. I have news about Anna. I was going to tell the police but then I changed my mind. I figured, why not tell you first?”

  Darcy stood up straighter and let her arms fall to her sides. She did not trust him, but Jeff had gotten her interest. He’d always known how to do that. “Well, keep talking.”

  His smile got wider. “On the night Anna was killed I saw her at the festival. She seemed really upset. She seemed to be talking to herself so I went over to her to see if she was alright.”

  “You?” She snorted. “You were never the helpful type.”

  “See, right there is why I divorced you,” he complained. “You never had any faith in me. None.” He ran a hand through his hair and started to pace back and forth.

  “I broke it off with you, Jeff. I thought you had something to tell me?”

  He stopped his pacing and looked at her. “Fine. Be like that. Anna wasn’t making much sense, but I asked her if there was anything I could do for her just like I always do for a friend,” he made sure to add. “She told me that she had seen something but was practically talking over herself and I’m not sure exactly what she said. Something about someone new in town.”

  Darcy stared at him for a moment. “That’s it? That’s your big news? What do you think she meant?”

  Jeff shrugged. “I only know of one new person in town. That’s your sister’s new partner, this Jon character. That’s why I didn’t take this to the police, see?”

  Darcy shook her head. “You must have misunderstood. Besides I was with Grace and Jon when it happened.”

  “Sure, Darcy. You’re always right, after all.” He waited a moment and when Darcy didn’t rise to his bait he said, “Guess I’ll see you later then.” He turned away and headed towards the door.

  When he got to the door she shook her head at herself for treating him so badly. He came to her, after all. “Why do you care anyway Jeff? You were never close to Anna.”

  He shrugged again. “You and me might have fallen apart, and I still want those photos you stole from me, Darcy. But I always liked Anna. She didn’t deserve this.”

  Then he turned and left the store leaving Darcy standing there, wondering about Jeff’s sudden unselfish gesture. And what was it with him and those photos?

  ***

  That night Darcy was pacing back and forth in her kitchen. She was out of options and knew what she had to do next. She’d put it off long enough. Now, for Anna’s sake, she needed to do it. She had to turn to the spirit world. She looked at Smudge and sighed. The cat blinked at her. “Yeah. I know,” she answered his unspoken encouragement.

  She grabbed a flashlight from off the counter in the kitchen and pulled on her jacket. Closing the front door behind her she walked slowly down the path towards Anna’s house.

  As she cut through the mist, she couldn’t help but think about the last time she took this walk, the night she’d found Anna’s dead body. Anger coursed through her and she knew that she had to bring the murderer down.

  That resolve carried her to Anna’s front steps.

  When she reached Anna’s house she turned the flashlight on and ducked under the yellow police tape that was stretched across the front door. She cautiously entered, her nerves on edge, and went to the spot where she had found Anna’s body the other night.

  The spot wasn’t marked. Not even any blood on the floor. She remembered exactly where it had been, though. Sitting down on that spot she closed her eyes and told herself to relax. She created a picture of the mist in her mind. It was a method she employed to clear her mind. Concentrating on the haze allowed her to center herself and connect with the other side.

  It was sudden, when it happened. With a jolt she was transported to another place. Everything came to her in flashes once again. This wasn’t accidental, though. She was intentionally seeking it out. This time, she saw more.

  She saw Anna opening the door, then her visions flashed to Anna pouring the tea, then to Anna running into the living room, then her on the floor. Darcy could see a clock in the background in that instant. It read ten o’clock.

  Abruptly she was thrown out of the vision. She fell forward onto her hands and knees, panting like she had run a marathon. Her head was spinning. She scrubbed a hand over her face as she tried to settle down. Although the vision was painful to watch she was glad she had seen it. She’d seen something. Something no one else knew.

  The coroner got the time of death wrong by a full hour. That meant everyone’s alibis were off. The entire town was now filled with suspects.

  ***

  Feeling extremely shaken by her vision, Darcy returned home as fast as her legs would carry her. She fell into the rocking chair on her front porch and tried to calm down. Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes in the darkness and just sat there. Smudge jumped into her lap, startling her. He curled into her lap and purred. It was reassuring to have him there with her. She could feel her muscles starting to loosen a bit.

  She jumped when someone called her name. Jon. What was he doing here? It was almost midnight, for crying out loud! She was twirling the ring on her finger before he was even within the reach of the porch light. Smudge jumped off her lap and ran away into the house.

  As he got closer to her she could see that he was carrying an envelope in his hand. His hair was damp as if he had just showered. It curled slightly. At the porch he leaned one elbow casually against the railing.

  Her eyes were drawn to his muscled chest and the way the shadows fell across his wonderful face. She did not like this man, did not trust him, but she couldn’t help but be attracted to him. Her hands itched to reach out and touch him. She licked her lips and stopped trying to keep her mind from wandering over his body. She was just too tired to fight it.

  He looked her directly in her eyes. “Is this a bad time?”

  No, she thought to herself. Come inside and let me run my hands through your hair… Darcy cleared her throat and made sure to keep her eyes away from his face. “It’s very late, Jon. What are you doing here?”

  She heard him sigh before he quietly said, “I’m breaking all sorts of rules coming here to talk to you. That’s why I’m here so late. I was surprised to see you up. Surprised, and kind of glad, actually.”

  “Really?” Dear God, woman, she said to herself, get yourself together.

  “There’s just something that I can’t figure out.” He pulled a small tape recorder from the package he was holding.

  Darcy watched as he pressed play. She was surprised to hear Jeff’s voice coming from the small device. “Hi Anna, we need to talk. I don’t know what to do. I need to talk to you about Darcy.”

  Jon clicked the recording off. He looked expectantly at her. “Do you know anything about this?”

  “I have no idea,” Darcy answered truthfully. “Did you ask Jeff?”

  “Not yet. I came to you with it first.”

  “Does…does my sister know?” Jon and Grace were partners. If this recording was evidence in the case, then she had to know about it, too. Didn’t she?

  “Grace knows I pulled the messages off Anna’s machine,” Jon said. “She doesn’t know the contents. Yet.”

  “Yet?” She narrowed her eyes at him. Was that a threat? “You can tell her about it. Tell her you asked me abou
t it, and I don’t know a thing about it because that’s the truth. Now, thank you for sharing this with me but I think you should leave.”

  Jon stared at her for a moment and she found herself hypnotized by his eyes. He nodded and turned away without another word. When he was gone, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

  Chapter Twelve

  As Darcy walked to work the next morning she saw people she had looked at as friends and neighbors, and now she saw them as potential murderers. Pete was walking down the street toward the bank. He waved and smiled at her. She waved half-heartedly back to him.

  Darcy kept walking until she got to the bakery. A good, strong coffee was just what she needed today. Going inside she found Helen frosting donuts fresh from the oven. Her husband Steve was pouring a cup of coffee for himself.

  “Hi Helen. Hi Steve.” She smiled, putting on a front even as thoughts and worries and theories spun themselves like spiders’ webs in her mind.

  Both Helen and Steve said hi back to her. “Now what can I get you Darcy?” Helen said to her.

  “Just a coffee thanks, Helen.” Darcy fielded a few questions from Helen that didn’t stop after a pointed look from Steve. She made the excuse of needing to get to work and left the bakery. She passed more people on the way there. Everyone looked different. No one was who they seemed anymore.

  Darcy kept herself busy at the book store to give her mind a chance to unplug and maybe work over the information she knew so far in her subconscious. She had just finished unnecessarily rearranging the last book shelf when Jess O’Connor from the bank entered the store.

  “Hello Darcy, Sue,” Jess said in greeting. She looked very dressed up in a stunning green dress that Darcy could tell was expensive even without Sue’s help. Her shoes didn’t look too shabby either.

  Darcy smiled at her and said, “Hi, Jess. I don’t usually see you in here. How are things with you?”

  Jess’s face broke out into a huge smile. “Oh, things are absolutely fantastic with me.”

  Darcy kept herself from being irritated with Jess’s banter, but just barely. There was a murderer in town. Why wasn’t anyone else concerned about that? “Great Jess. And what can I help you with today?”

  “Well, I would really like to learn how to speak French.”

  “French. That’s wonderful. Well, I have the perfect book with a companion CD for you.” Darcy moved over to another book shelf and ran her finger along the spines of the books there. “Ah, here it is.” She pulled the book and CD out of the shelf and held it out for Jess to see. “Are you planning on traveling?”

  Jess took the book and flipped through it. “Yes, I am.” She giggled loudly, twirling a strand of her red hair. “You know, I’ve always wanted to go to France.”

  Sue had come into the main room of the shop during this conversation. She sighed now and said, “Oh you lucky thing. I wish I could go too. I’m so jealous.”

  Jess smiled like she was very proud of herself, bought the book and left the store.

  “Did you see what she was wearing?” Sue’s eyes were wide. “I wish I could afford designer labels like that.”

  “That was never really my taste,” Darcy said to her. The banking business must be doing good, she thought. Expensive clothes, trips to France. Good for Jess, she guessed.

  She heard a small meow at her feet and looked down. Smudge was sitting there with something in his mouth. Darcy reached down and picked it up as Smudge dropped it. It was a key. “What’s this, Smudge?”

  Smudge’s answer was to run outside. Darcy raced to the window to see what he was up to. She watched as he ran up the street, right up to Jeff who was walking to the bakery. Smudge rubbed himself against Jeff’s leg and then took off down the street and disappeared. She looked at Jeff, looked at the key. Obviously it was a key to a door. She looked at Jeff, looked at the key.

  Then it dawned on her. Smudge had brought her a key to Jeff’s place.

  “I’ll talk to you about how you got this later, Smudge,” she murmured. Then out loud she quickly said, “Sue I have an urgent errand to run. I’ll be back later.” She didn’t wait for an answer.

  Darcy arrived at Jeff’s place, a small unit in Briers Place, one of the more upscale areas of town. She quickly opened the door and slipped inside. There was no telling how long Jeff would be gone. She needed to do this quickly.

  She scoffed at how messy the place was. Piles of clothes littered the room and dirty dishes overflowed in the sink. She was so glad that Jeff was out of her life. She briefly wondered what Jon’s house looked like, and where he piled his clothes… She quickly pushed the idea out of her head, or at least to the back of her mind.

  Getting to work she looked around Jeff’s apartment for clues. Where to start? What was she even looking for? Her eyes fell upon the answering machine hooked up to his phone. She pressed play to listen to his voicemails. She was disappointed to find that of the two he had saved, one was from the bank and the other was from his brother. Both sounded mundane. There was nothing of interest there.

  She went into his bedroom but came up empty after another fruitless search. She had never felt so dirty as she had after rifling through his underwear drawer. His taste in clothing hadn’t changed one bit. She came out of the bedroom and froze in her tracks. Jeff was standing there in the doorway.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “What the hell are doing in my apartment, Darcy!” Jeff was red in the face and Darcy shrank back away from him, just a little scared. She had only seen him this angry once before. It had been a bad night for everyone involved.

  She thought about lying, of making up some excuse. She sighed and decided that it was probably best to be totally honest with him. Especially after her tirade when she caught him in her house. She told him all about the recording that Jon had played for her. She left out the part about going through his boxers.

  “Yeah, so?” he said to her, his anger only defrosting a little. “Did you hear the whole thing? I was calling Anna about the pictures you had in your basement. I’m sure that you still have some of them and I wanted Anna to talk to you for me.”

  Darcy realized then that Jon must have turned off the recording before the end. Why would he have done something like that? Was it to throw suspicion onto Jeff? Or her?

  As long as she was on a roll she decided to throw all her cards on the table. “The coroner got the time of death wrong, Jeff. It was an hour later than what he said.”

  He blinked. “How do you know that?”

  “That’s not really the point. What matters is that not only might Jon be the new person in town that you think you heard Anna talking about, but maybe he played that voicemail for me to get me off his scent.” She looked at Jeff sadly and said, “He must have done it.”

  “Off his scent?” Jeff sneered. “Do you even hear yourself?”

  “Yes, I hear myself, you big idiot. Now you listen to me, please. Jon must be the one who did this. You know I sense things. I know things that are true. So stop being dense and listen. Based on what you know, and what I know, I’m telling you that Jon must be the one who killed Anna.”

  Jeff’s face slowly changed from angry to stunned. His eyes went off to the side for a moment before they came back to her. “So now what?”

  ***

  Darcy and Jeff were sitting at his kitchen table trying to work out a possible next move.

  “Okay, Darcy. So let’s say you’re right about this Jon fellow being the one who killed Anna. I can’t argue with you. It all makes sense.” Jeff was biting his thumbnail like he always did when he got excited about anything.

  Darcy was at odds with herself. Now that she’d convinced Jeff of her theory, her gut was telling her that something wasn’t right about all of this. “It all fits. But why? What motive would he have had to kill her? As far as I know, he didn’t even know her.” She was frantically twirling the ring around her finger now. She saw herself doing it, and didn’t even try to stop herself.r />
  “I have no idea why he would have done it. Does it matter? We don’t need to know the why. Maybe he’s unstable. Maybe he didn’t like Anna. Maybe he’s just plain crazy. I don’t know, and I don’t care. We have to tell the police what we know.”

  Darcy was shocked. “How can we tell the police? He is the police!”

  He looked at her like she was the stupidest person in the world. “So’s your sister.”

  Darcy conceded that he was right. “Okay. We’ll tell Grace.”

  She really didn’t like the idea of involving her sister. But Grace was a police officer, after all. It was her job. And she knew, at least, that in this whole town of potential suspects she could trust her sister. Maybe she couldn’t trust anyone else, but she could trust Grace.

  ***

  “What on earth are you two doing together? Do you both have concussions?” Grace’s shocked expression would have been comical to Darcy if the situation wasn’t so serious. They had walked into the police station together, and Jeff had muttered something about how Hell must have frozen over.

  Jeff ignored Grace’s attempt at humor. “Is Jon around?”

  Grace shook her head. “Jon? No. He said he had to go home early today.”

  “Good,” Darcy said to her. “Grace, we need to talk to you.”

  “Well, I’ll mark this one on my calendar. Why don’t you sit down and tell me what’s important enough to bring the two of you together.”

  Darcy looked around the room. There were two other officers working in there, and the desk Sergeant at the front, and God alone knew who else. Maybe even the Chief. “Not here,” she said as Jeff was about to speak. “Can we go into one of the interview rooms?”

  Grace caught on to how serious Darcy was being. “Sure, Sis. Follow me.”

  The interview room was small, with a metal table bolted to the floor in the middle of it and two chairs on both sides. Grace sat down on one side, and Darcy and Jeff sat side by side on the other. A wall-length mirror showed Darcy her expression. When was the last time she’d gotten a full night’s sleep, she wondered. She sure looked like she needed it.