by K. J. Emrick
She didn’t like seeing so many of her friends on the list, but she knew they had to suspect everyone. There were a few they could eliminate, though. “We can take out the women. I’m sure that the killer is a man.”
Jon looked at her funny, but did like she asked. Her demonstration earlier had obviously convinced him.
“Blake was sick,” Darcy went on, leaning closer to Jon to look at the list, “and Pete said he was home taking care of him. They alibi each other out. Plus, Pete was way too shaken up. I’m sure it wasn’t him. I don’t know Mark very well, but he did seem upset by Anna’s murder when I saw him the day after at the bookstore. He has a pronounced stutter that gets worse when he’s upset.”
“So he could have been upset that he’d just killed someone,” Jon offered. “I don’t know these people very well either. Not yet. But we can’t eliminate someone just because they’re upset.”
Darcy had to agree. She sat in silence for a moment thinking. “Fine. But Aaron had no reason to harm Anna. And he’s too kind.”
“We can’t go by emotions we have to go by the facts,” Jon said to her. “But, saying he has no reason to kill her is something I can understand. No motive. Fine. I’ll put him in the ‘maybe’ pile.”
“We have a maybe pile?”
He smiled at her. “We do now.”
She couldn’t help but stare at that smile. He had such perfect lips.
He tapped his pen against their written notes a few times. They really hadn’t narrowed it down all that much. “All right. That’s what we have. Now tomorrow I can get new alibies from everyone. You should go around and talk to more of Anna’s friends.” He sighed. “It’s getting late.”
Darcy nodded. As she went to get up their hands brushed each other. Darcy felt something akin to electricity scorch along her skin. She gasped in a breath and saw him do the same. Their eyes met and she felt like she was falling.
In a panic she rushed for the door, mumbling excuses. “Oh my, I didn’t realize exactly how late it is I should be getting home.”
The cool air outside helped clear her mind, but not the feel of his skin against hers.
Chapter 16
Darcy went to work the next day all ready to ask her friends about Anna and Jeff. She was a bit nervous about all the questions she would have to ask them, but she knew that so many people in town loved to gossip that it wouldn’t seem unusual for her to ask. Well. The killer might be upset with her, she reminded herself.
The first logical place to start was at the bookstore. So while they were busy working, she slipped a few questions here and there to Sue. She was quite certain that Sue was innocent and Sue confirmed it for her when she told Darcy that she had been with her family when both Anna and Jeff had been killed.
Darcy decided to visit the bakery before lunch and talk to Helen. She found her friend with her nose in “And Then There Were None” once again. Darcy smiled to see someone else enjoying the book. Helen would be a welcome addition to the book club if she ever decided to join.
“It’s a good book isn’t it Helen?” The other woman jumped a little at Darcy’s voice. She must have been so engrossed in Agatha Christie’s tale that she hadn’t noticed Darcy was there.
“Oh, hi Darcy. Yes, it’s a great book. I’m almost done reading it and I can’t seem to put it down.” She set the book aside and frowned. “I’m so sorry about Jeff.” She sent Darcy a sympathetic look. “Did you want something, dear? Coffee?”
Darcy nodded and as Helen got it ready she said, “I’m really upset about all this. First Anna, now Jeff. I can’t seem to set my mind at ease. Can I ask you some questions?”
“What kind of questions?” Helen placed a cup of coffee on the counter for her in a brown Styrofoam cup. Darcy noticed that she had made one for herself also. That was good. It helped her pretend her inquiries were just an informal chat.
“Did you hear,” Darcy started, “that the coroner got the time of death wrong for Anna? She was actually murdered at ten o’clock.”
“Really?” Helen said, her eyebrows raising. “How interesting. Did you hear that from Grace?”
“Yes,” Darcy lied. Her sister was as good an excuse as any for her knowing the things she did. “So now the police are trying to find out where everyone was at ten.”
Helen tilted her head to one side as thought about that. “Ten o’clock you say? How odd. That means I was all alone in my house when Anna died. I suppose I don’t have an alibi at all then, do I?” She laughed at the thought.
Darcy knew it couldn’t have been Helen, anyway, but she’d been hoping maybe Helen had been with someone, or knew something else. She took a sip of her coffee and tried to keep the conversation going. “This is such delicious coffee, Helen.”
Helen smiled in a pleased way. “I’m glad you enjoy it.” Then her smile slipped and she looked a little sad. “But I don’t know how much longer it will be around. Steve and I aren’t making enough money to justify keeping the bakery open. I may have to close the shop.”
Darcy was shocked. The Bean There Bakery and Café had been operating in Misty Hollow for as long as she could remember. “Oh no. I’m so sad to hear that, Helen. Is there anything I can do?”
Helen laughed. “Not unless you can turn back time or make me rich, dear.”
They drank their coffees in silence for a little while. While they drank, Darcy said, “Have you heard anything else unusual around town?”
“Unusual?” Helen shook her head. “You mean other than two good people getting killed? No I haven’t.”
Darcy reflected on Helen calling Jeff a ‘good person.’ Maybe those two had been friendly, after all. “Well, thanks for the coffee and the chat, Helen. I have to run now.”
Darcy walked slowly back to the bookstore, wondering what to do next. How did you solve a jigsaw puzzle that kept adding new pieces as you went?
Darcy not only had the jigsaw puzzle of the murders to think about but there was also the missing cat mystery that needed her attention. Not having made any more headway on the murders she decided to spend the afternoon trying to work out what had happened to Persephone.
Cats don’t just disappear into thin air. She had to be somewhere.
“Sue, I’m just heading out to see Linda at the Library for a while. Look after the shop, okay?” She heard Sue answer affirmatively from in between the book shelves somewhere and taking advantage of a lull in customer traffic she quickly darted out of the shop.
It was a nice afternoon with the sun shining down on her face and a soft breeze ruffling her dark hair. She took a deep breath as she walked toward the Library and tried to relax the tension that had built up in her body over the last few days. By the time she reached the Library steps she felt a little better and was ready to tackle the missing cat mystery.
Walking through the swinging double glass doors she spotted Linda toward the back and quickly made her way to her. Linda was very engrossed in her task and jumped a little when she saw Darcy standing behind her.
“Oh Darcy you gave me a little fright.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you Linda.”
“Oh it’s fine. I’ve been a bit on edge since the murders in town. It’s enough to make you feel very unsafe.”
“Yes it is unsettling.” Darcy couldn’t help agree with her. “I’m not here to discuss that though, I just wanted to ask you some questions about Persephone. See if I can’t work out what happened to her.”
“Oh, Darcy I’m so grateful you’re taking the time to help me. I thought you may have forgotten, what with all that’s been going on.”
“No. I haven’t forgotten although I will admit that it hasn’t been my number one priority in the last few days. But I did promise to help look for her and I meant it.”
Darcy was taken slightly aback when Linda suddenly threw her arms around Darcy’s shoulders and squeezed for a moment. “You are such a good friend Darcy. I won’t ever forget this. What do you want to know?”
&nb
sp; Darcy let out a little laugh. “You’re welcome Linda.” She patted her friend on her back. Linda let go and stepped back with a little smile. Darcy asked her a few basic questions about the day her cat disappeared. Things like when was the last time Linda saw Persephone, what was the cat doing when she last saw her and nothing really jumped out at Darcy. The cat seemed like she was doing pretty normal cat things. So Darcy was none the wiser as to what had happened to Persephone. But she vowed to find out if it was at all possible.
She chatted to Linda a little longer about mundane things and then realizing that time had gotten away from her rushed back to the book store to help Sue close up for the day.
Darcy and Jon met up at her house that night. She had done a whirlwind cleaning, knowing he was coming, and wondered why she was trying so hard.
“Everyone has a gray alibi.” Jon stopped when he noticed Darcy’s perplexed look. “That means that it doesn’t completely check out. There are only a few who have solid alibies.” He paused for a moment and consulted his notes. “Pete and Blake only have each other as alibies. Jess was home alone when Anna was killed and was at work helping the mayor when Jeff was killed. So again, those two are each other’s alibies. And Aaron was at home on his own each time.”
He sighed loudly and tossed the notepad down on her living room table. “This is useless. I think we should go and have a look in Jeff’s apartment. Maybe he found out something new since he last talked to you.”
“Didn’t you search there already?”
“Of course we did,” he said, standing up. “But we didn’t have you with us when we did.”
The short ride to Jeff’s apartment was a mostly silent one. When they arrived Darcy found all of the paper’s she and Jeff had been working on. They were scattered on the kitchen table.
“We saw those already,” Jon explained to her. “Your sister Grace recognized your handwriting right away. So how far did you and he get?”
“Wait,” Darcy said, leafing through the pages. “There’s some missing.”
“Missing?” Jon looked over her shoulder. “You mean, like gone? Taken?”
“Looks like.”
“Maybe you were on the right track,” Jon said to her. Darcy sorted through the papers, looking for any new ones. Mixed in with them she found several bank statements for the town.
“Look here,” Darcy said as she turned and handed them to Jon. Jeff must have kept working on it after she’d left to go home as there was a name highlighted on the papers. Aaron, Grace’s husband. “You said he didn’t have an alibi, right?”
Jon nodded. “What are you thinking?” he said. “Was he stealing money from the town? Maybe Anna and Jeff found out somehow?”
Darcy didn’t want to say anything. She didn’t want to believe that Aaron could be the killer, for her sister as much for Aaron. But she reminded herself about what Jon had said before about sticking to the facts and not relying on your emotions. They had to run down every possibility, until there were none left.
Darcy and Jon walked to Grace and Aaron’s house. They had just spent the last couple of hours going over the bank statements, which proved that money was indeed being stolen from the town and put into another, nameless account. It wasn’t clear if Aaron actually had anything to do with it or not but it certainly warranted investigating.
Jon needed to ask Aaron some questions about it all so they headed over to the Wentworth’s apartment.
When they arrived Jon knocked loudly on the door. Aaron opened it to them with a smile. “Hi guys. What’s up? Grace isn’t home at the moment.” He must have seen something on Darcy’s face, because his smile slipped a bit. “What’s going on?” he said as he looked back and forth between the two of them.
Without hesitation Jon stepped forward and grabbed Aaron by the upper arm. Darcy had to look away as Jon took out his handcuffs.
“You’re under arrest,” she heard Jon say.
Chapter 17
Grace did not take the news well. “I just don’t understand what’s going on! How could you do this? Why would you arrest my husband?!”
Grace was crying. Darcy couldn’t remember ever seeing her this upset. She had been out doing an errand when Jon and Darcy had brought Aaron in but she’d come screaming into the police station not long after. Anger had quickly turned to frustration for her.
Jon laid a calming hand on Grace’s shoulder that she shrugged away. “Grace, listen to me. We found some papers in Jeff’s apartment that seem to incriminate Aaron.”
“In the murders? Are you insane?” Her voice echoed around the police department as several other officers looked on. They had heard about the arrest and come to watch. Darcy imagined everyone in town had heard about the arrest by now.
“I don’t know what he’s into, Grace. But you need to talk to him.” Jon went to his desk and came back with photocopies of the documents that Darcy had helped him find in Jeff’s apartment. “I’ve questioned him. He won’t talk to me. Maybe you can talk to him like a wife and get something out of him.”
She ripped the papers away from him, her fist wrinkling creases into them. “Screw that. You have nothing to hold my husband on. Let him go.”
Jon nodded as if he’d expected that answer. Quietly, he left the room to go and get Aaron. Grace glared at Darcy the whole time he was gone.
Aaron came flying out of the back of the building where the holding area was. He fell into Grace’s arms. “Come on,” he said to her, “let’s go home before your new partner changes his mind.” He gave Jon a dirty look and then turned it towards Darcy. Without another word he and Grace left the police station.
“He wouldn’t give me anything, Darcy. I’m not sure what we should do now,” Jon said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Well, I know.” Darcy shook her head and crossed her arms over her stomach. “I know what to do, but you’re not going to like it.”
In the bookstore Darcy went around lighting candles as Jon looked on nervously.
“Uh, Darcy? I know I said I’d trust you and all, but what are you doing?”
This was the part he wasn’t going to like. She wasn’t wild about it, either. “We are going to have communicate with the other side to try and channel the spirit of Anna. Maybe she can shed some light on this whole situation.”
Darcy saw the look that Jon gave her. She was used to the scepticism of others. She just smiled and finished preparing the space. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s sit and hold hands.”
They sank to the floor, cross legged, and Jon gave her his hands. She bit her lip at the warm sensation that flowed through her at his touch. She had to concentrate for this to work. She swallowed and pushed aside thoughts of the gorgeous man she was holding hands with by candlelight, and instead pictured the fog in her mind.
Nearby, within the circle of candles, mist coalesced in ethereal tendrils. She watched it, wondering if Jon could see it too. She let it happen, let the bridge between this world and the next solidify until the mist became a spirit, became the form of a figure. A woman’s form, tall and shimmering dark.
But it wasn’t Anna, it was Millie. Great-Aunt Millie once again floated over to the book shelf and took Agatha Christie’s thriller from the shelf and sent it flying at Jon. The book hit him squarely in the head. He yelped loudly and jumped up and as he did it broke the connection the communication had created and Millie disappeared.
Darcy sighed. Millie’s obsession with that book was becoming annoying. And what did she have against Jon? Darcy no longer believed that Jon had anything to do with either of the murders. So why did Millie dislike him so much?
Knowing they weren’t going to be able to connect to the other side for a while she pulled Jon into the employee area of the shop where there was a small refrigerator and freezer unit.
“I’m so sorry about that. I don’t know what’s gotten into Aunt Millie.” Jon looked uncomfortable but didn’t say anything. Using a plastic bag, she dropped ice into it an
d handed it to Jon. “Here. This will help with that knot that’s forming on the back of your head.” She gently laid the ice pack to his skull. His hand slipped over hers and she pulled back at the touch of it. Once again, she looked up into his face.
“I, uh, didn’t realize that you were quite so tall.” She heard the breathlessness in her own voice. She’d been right. He was very distracting.
He smiled at her. “I’m glad to have you on my side, Darcy. Only, no more flying books, okay?” His voice was quiet when he spoke.
“Yes, I agree.” She laughed softly. “And I’m glad you’re on my side, too. I couldn’t do this without you.”
Standing this close she could see flecks of silver around the pupil of his deep blue eyes. And those cute freckles across his nose were begging for her to kiss them.
Her breath stalled as he moved in closer until their bodies were just touching. She watched in fascination as his head lowered towards hers. The first touch of his lips to hers felt so right. The kiss was soft and sweet and electrifying and everything a first kiss should be.
Darcy couldn’t remember the last time she had felt like this, or if she had ever felt like it before. For a moment she was able to forget about all of the doom and gloom that had been hanging around her lately. There was nothing but this moment.
When they broke apart Darcy laid her head on Jon’s chest for a moment. This was perfect. Like a story from a book. Then she suddenly gasped.
Jon leaned back and held her by her upper arms. “What’s wrong?”
“I know what Millie has been trying to tell us. That book. The only person I know who is reading that book right now is Helen.”
“But… you said the killer was a man. Remember?”