by K. J. Emrick
“Can you maybe have Jon give Aaron some pointers at the same time? I figure every man in the world could use a little of what Jon Tinker has.”
Darcy gave her a look, but she couldn’t say that wasn’t true. “Pointers, like how to find you attractive when you’re puking your guts out?”
“Exactly. Because if that’s all it takes, I can go home and start throwing up right now.” They shared a laugh, and Grace finally seemed to relax now that she had gotten the problem out in the open. “What about you and Jon? Do you guys have plans?”
“I’m working something up for Jon with the kids and actually, I think I’ve got the perfect gift for him in mind.”
When she told Grace what it was, her sister rolled her eyes.
“See? Right there, Darcy. Right there is what I’m talking about. You two could find romance in a rock.”
“Well, I don’t know if I’d go…actually, that’s not a bad idea!”
The two of them leaned their heads down close and whispered to each other, making a plan for Grace that Darcy was sure was going to help her out of her funk. They were still talking about it when they heard the interview room door slam all the way down the hall, and Jon came walking out.
Darcy noticed Grace watching her and realized she had perked right up when she saw Jon, just like her sister had said she would. He was angry and he was storming and he was absolutely gorgeous. She could feel her cheeks starting to pink up. She was glad when Jon started talking so she wouldn’t have to hear whatever smart-alek comment Grace was thinking up.
“Well, that was a bust,” he said, pushing his hands deep into his pockets in frustration. “Tobias isn’t talking. Or rather, he’s saying the same thing over and over. ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.’ I swear, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one…what are you guys talking about?”
Darcy and Grace exchanged a look, and a secret smile, before Darcy stood up and kissed Jon on the cheek. “Don’t worry about, honey. I’ll explain later. The short version is that you’re going to have dinner with Aaron tonight and talk about a few things.”
“Uh, sure I am,” he said dubiously. “I trust you’re going to explain that to me later but for right now, Grace, fill me in on the prowler thing.”
“Over on Sparrow?” Grace shook her head. “There’s nothing to it, Chief. We went over there, me and Miller, and met with the woman who called us. She said she saw someone at a neighbor’s house but when we went to look there was no signs of anyone and no signs someone had tried to break in. Sounds like you had better luck with the trophy thief.”
“If that’s what you want to call it. How many calls have we taken from the mayor’s office so far?”
“Three.” She held out a few slips of paper to him with her own neat handwriting on it. “I wrote them all down along with the exact message. The one where Mayor Andy threatens to bust you down to meter maid is particularly worth reading, I think.”
Jon took the messages with an amused grin. “We have a meter maid?”
“Not since the nineteen-sixties.”
“Hmm. Well, looks like you might have my job sooner than you thought.”
“Can I be the meter maid instead?” Grace wondered.
“Only if you wear a skirt.”
“Are you going to wear a skirt?”
“I don’t have the legs to pull it off.” Jon folded the papers in two and slid them in his pocket. “Well, I guess I’d better call the mayor back and explain why I arrested his personal secretary. This is going to be a great conversation, I can feel it now. Darcy you might want to go home now. This is where police work gets boring.”
“Your job is never boring,” she told him. “But…yeah. Maybe this part isn’t quite as exciting as the rest of it. I’m going to check on the kids and then maybe do some work in the bookstore. I should check on Cha Cha, too. He’s gotten good at holding his business until we get home, but he probably needs to go for a walk by now.”
“Life is full,” Jon told her, reaching out to take her hand.
He kissed her cheek, and she couldn’t help the flutter in her eyelids when he did.
“You guys are disgusting,” Grace said with playful exasperation. “Go away, I’ve got work to do.”
Jon kissed Darcy’s earlobe this time, making the back of her neck tingle. He was doing it on purpose, she knew, just to irk Grace. That was fine with her. He could keep doing that forever if he really wanted to.
But he did have work to do, and like he said, life was full for both of them.
“My car’s out back,” she told him. “Walk me out?”
“Sure.” He hooked a thumb down the hall. “Grace, can you book Tobias for me? Prints and photos and such? I’ll finish the paperwork later.”
“Will do, Chief. I’m sure Tobias will be happy to see me.”
“Don’t think he’s happy to see anyone right now but that’s not our problem.”
Darcy had seen Jon arrest people who wouldn’t confess before, but she knew it would be easier if Tobias just told them what he did and why he did it. Grace had half a point, they were putting a lot of resources into this simple case. If they hadn’t had Mason Barnes to help them today at the Town Hall, they would have been another few hours just searching the building.
There was the whole problem with Mason to deal with, too. He’d been falsifying his time sheets, and stealing God alone knew how much money from the town. Of course, since the mayor was in a bad mood as it was over Jon arresting Tobias, they probably should wait to tell him about any other problems. That would give Mason another day to square things away. Maybe he would go to Mayor Andy himself and confess what he did.
Darcy still couldn’t believe Mason was a thief. How bad of a financial hole did a person have to be in to start stealing from your own job? She couldn’t even begin to guess. Mason was eating his lunches at home to save on his food bill, he was walking back and forth to the Town Hall to save on gas and doing everything he could to save money. He was broke, and in debt, but there had to be something else he could do, other than steal from—
Darcy stopped in her tracks before they had gone ten steps. Jon asked her what was wrong, but she was looking at Grace. “The prowler complaint you said you and Miller went on…what street was that on?”
Grace picked her pen up again. “Sparrow Street. Why?”
“Because we need to talk to Mason Barnes. Right now.” She tugged Jon down the hall toward the back door. “Come on. He’s probably still at the Town Hall unless he went home for lunch.”
“It’s after lunch now?”
“I know, and I’m starving, but we’ve got to do this now.”
“Um. Okay, then let’s go. You’re going to explain this to me on the way over, I trust?”
She gave him a wink. “Don’t I always?”
To their surprise, they found the Town Hall was locked. The sign in the front door’s window said CLOSED.
“It’s only a little past midday,” Darcy said as Jon rattled the handles on the front doors one last time. “Why would they close up so early?”
“Probably because we arrested Tobias.” Jon knocked on the doors, but there wasn’t any answer. His words plumed on the air just like Darcy’s. The day had definitely gotten colder. Snowflakes ambled their way down from the gray sky. “Either they shut down because no one’s here to man the front desk, or Mayor Andy’s more upset about what happened than I realized.”
“You’ve got his number in your contact list, don’t you? Could you give him a call and see what’s up?”
“I could, but it means I’m going to have to get into the whole conversation about why we arrested Tobias. That call could take a while.”
“You think?”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely. So, rather than get bogged down with that I’m going to go looking for Mason Barnes first, and then see where we are with this investigation. Your point about the prowler makes sense to me. We don’t have time to get sidetracked.”
&nbs
p; “I agree. So. Want to drive over to his place on Sparrow Street?”
“Let’s try something else, first. Mason might still be here working to clean the place up. Maybe he’s just not answering the door because he doesn’t want to get interrupted.”
He took his keys out of his jacket pocket and flipped through the ring until he found one with a large square head. It slid into the lock and turned with a loud click.
“I guess,” Darcy said, “that there really are benefits to being married to a police officer.”
“You mean besides the handcuffs?”
She cleared her throat. “Don’t threaten me with a good time. How come you have keys to the Town Hall?”
“We have keys to all the government offices,” he explained, “in case of an emergency. I’ve got one to the library, too, in case you ever want to check a book out after hours.”
“I run a bookstore, Jon. I’ve got all the books I’ll ever need.”
“Hmm. Good point. All right, let’s see if Mason’s still here.” He pushed the right side of the doors open and leaned in. “Hello? Anyone around?”
No one answered. He rapped on the door, using his knuckles, and called in again. He got the same empty silence in return.
Darcy was disappointed, but not really surprised. “I guess everyone did go home.”
“Yes, they did,” she heard someone say from the sidewalk. They turned around to find Mark Franks standing there, giving them a little wave. “Sorry, I saw you guys pull up and I figured you’d want to know. I was here about a half hour ago and the mayor left all in a huff about something. Sent everyone else home too, and then locked up.”
“Oh. Well, thanks,” Darcy told him. “What brought you back? I thought you were going home.”
“Well, I decided to take a walk around the town first and it kind of led me right back here and I figured, hey.” He shrugged dramatically. “Why not see if the mayor will talk to me about the trophy. I’m on the SpringFest committee, after all. I need to know what’s going on.”
Jon nodded. “I see. I’m guessing that his honor the mayor didn’t want to discuss the matter with you even though you asked nicely?”
Mark shook his head. “He most certainly did not. I don’t know what happened today, but something’s got him all riled up.”
“We made an arrest today,” Jon told him. “That’s why he’s upset. He didn’t like the way things turned out. We found the trophy, just so you know. It was disassembled but I’m betting it can be put back together easily enough. Maybe with some superglue.”
“Well, that’s good news, anyway. I mean, the trophy was donated, but still. If we have to buy one to replace it then everyone’s going to have to pass a hat or something.”
He simulated passing a hat around to people for donations, as smoothly as a professional mime would have done. Darcy could almost picture make-believe people standing all around him and dropping coins in.
Jon shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. “It was just a homemade trophy. Which, once again, makes me wonder why anyone wanted to steal it in the first place. Gilbert Fischer thought maybe someone wanted to ruin the SpringFest for everyone. We think Tobias doesn’t like his job. There’s just no good, solid motive.”
“Let’s go have another talk with Mason Barnes,” Darcy suggested. “If I’m right, I think he’s got a lot more to tell us than he let on. It could explain everything.”
“And give us something concrete we can present to the judge when we bring Tobias in for his arraignment. Yeah.” Jon nodded his head. “Come on, we’ll drive over to Mason’s place. Hope he’s there.”
“Want me to come along?” Mark offered. “I feel like I was a lot of help when I tagged along with Darcy at Gilbert’s place.”
Darcy remembered it very differently, actually. She remembered him being scared out of his wits, even more so than she was, but it was nice that he offered. “I think we’ve got it, Mark. Maybe next time.”
He held his hands out, showing he understood. “Sure, sure. I get it. Police business. Us simple civilians should leave it up to you. Um. Darcy, on another note, did you say Izzy’s going to be back tonight?”
Darcy didn’t know what to tell him, other than the honest answer. “She was supposed to be, but I can’t say for sure. You should come by the bookstore tomorrow. If she’s back, I’m sure she’ll want to see you.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Sure I do.”
“It’s just that she’s not answering my texts.”
“I…I’m sure she’s just busy.”
He looked at her oddly, as if he could hear a broader meaning behind her words. “Busy. Okay. Well, see you around, guys.”
Jon watched him as he walked away. “Odd guy.”
“Yeah, but he has helped us a lot on this case. I mean, as much as he can.”
“So what’s this about Izzy being busy?”
“Um,” Darcy bit down on her bottom lip. “That may have been a bad choice of words. She’s still at the cabin with her boyfriend. They…decided to stay an extra day.”
“Ah. That kind of ‘busy.’ I see.”
Darcy slapped his shoulder. “That is not how I meant it.”
“Hmm. Well, however you meant it, I guess Kyle and Izzy aren’t as broken up as we thought, huh?”
“I don’t know. I mean, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Everybody wants to be with somebody.”
“I think Mark was hoping to be with Izzy.”
“Well…Valentine’s Day is right around the corner,” was all she could think to say.
“Seems I’ve heard that somewhere,” Jon told her with a smile. “Come on. Mystery investigation first, then we can try to untangle our friends’ love lives after.”
“Deal. I think I’d rather deal with a thousand ghosts than the question of who my friends are dating. Now. Let’s go see a janitor about a prowler.”
Chapter 7
She wasn’t sure why it had taken her so long to realize where Mason Barnes had told them he lived. He’d said it while they were all together in the Town Hall earlier. It should have been obvious from the start. It had been right there in front of her, staring her in the face.
Sparrow Street.
The same street where Grace had gone looking for a prowler.
Darcy hated coincidences. When two things happened in the same location, it was her experience that they usually were related to each other in some way. If not directly, then by some other factor. Someone had been looking into house windows on Sparrow Street. Mason, who lived on that street, was the janitor at the Town Hall. The SpringFest trophy had been stolen from the Town Hall.
Connect the dots to make a picture. She wasn’t sure what the picture was, not yet, but she knew it made something. She just needed a few more dots…er, clues.
Somehow, Mason was more connected to everything going on than he had let on. She thought back to his reaction when they told him they wanted to search the building. He couldn’t let them into any of the rooms, he’d said. Not without permission. But the rooms Jon had pointed out were just conference rooms, and the locker room. Not exactly high security areas. Why would he care if Jon went looking through them? For that matter, why didn’t he just call Mayor Andy and get his permission instead of waiting for Jon to blackmail him into doing it?
Because he already knew what Jon was looking for. It was the only explanation. Even though they hadn’t said what they were after out loud until they found the trophy in that duffle bag, Mason must have known somehow.
And if that was true, several other ideas came to mind.
“When we get in there,” Jon said, pulling the car into the driveway, “I’ll ask Mason the questions, okay?”
“That’s fine with me,” Darcy agreed. “The facts speak for themselves.”
“He had keys that would open every room in the Town Hall.”
“Exactly.”
“He would know when the cameras were working, and
when they weren’t.”
“Just like Tobias.”
“Right, but if Tobias is a good suspect…”
“Then Mason Barnes is a great one.”
“Good chance they were working together.”
“Very good chance.”
“Just took us a little while to realize it.” Jon pulled the key from the ignition and nodded his head. “I’m not sure I would have put it together as quickly as you did. I really should have made you a police officer years ago.”
She beamed at his compliment. “Oh, I don’t know. I kind of like being listed as a ‘police consultant.’ You guys do all the hard work, and I’m just the woman behind the scenes, coming up with great ideas. Although my idea about Gilbert Fischer turned out to be no good.”
“Then let’s go see how this idea pans out, Miss Consultant.”
“After you, Mister Police Officer.”
Around them as they stepped out of Jon’s car, tiny flakes of crystalline snow filled the air. The weather forecast hadn’t said anything about snow today. In fact, the whole week was supposed to be unseasonably warm. Darcy had been looking forward to it after all the snow and cold over Christmas. Well, she supposed the weather didn’t pay much attention to what the forecasters had to say. If it wanted to be cold, it was going to be cold.
Mason’s house had a doorbell. Darcy actually stared at it for a moment. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw an honest-to-God doorbell. They were always knocking on people’s doors. This was a nice change.
“For a guy who cleans the floors of the Town Hall,” Jon said, “Mason’s got quite a bit of class.”
Darcy reached for the doorbell button, repeating an old wisdom. “Never judge a book by its cover.” They heard the chimes from inside, ringing out to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner. “Well, that’s certainly patriotic.”
“Yeah, but we got the same response we would have gotten if we knocked. Which is to say, no response at all.”
“Yeah. That’s just our luck. Why don’t we try peeking in the windows?”