1 Death Comes to Town (3 page)

“So Jon,” she said to him, determined to make a better second first impression, “what do you think of our town? How are you handling all of the mist?”

“The town’s okay,” he said, and then added with a twist of sarcasm, “And all this mist doesn’t bother me at all.” He turned away from her and took another sip of his coffee.

Her mouth hung open. What a rude man! Had she really been falling for this jerk? Angry at herself, she twisted the ring around her finger over and over. “Well, I guess that’s great then that you love the mist so much. I’ll see you later Grace, I’ve got to get to the book shop.”

She grabbed her coffee and pastry and wondered as she stalked off if it had been her. Something she said? Then she realized that unless Jon was the type of guy to be insulted by someone saying hi, then the problem wasn’t her. It was him.

God help her sister if that was her new partner.

***

“I think it will be great fun. I simply can’t wait.” Sue Fisher, Darcy’s only employee at the book store, was chatting excitedly about Misty Hollow’s anniversary festival that was going to be held the next day. “This is the biggest thing to happen here for ages. I can’t wait for the fireworks.” She was swinging her blonde head from side to side as she twirled on her stool in her excitement making Darcy feel a little seasick.

Darcy couldn’t help but grin. Sue was just twenty, working at the book store while on a break from college for a year while she decided whether she wanted to get that law degree or not. That kind of energy could only belong to someone so young.

Sue stopped swinging around and looked through her lashes at Darcy. “Randy’s coming into town tomorrow to go to the festival with me.” She had a little flush on her cheeks as she spoke. Randy was her on again, off again boyfriend that she had met at college. “I’m so excited to see him, it’s been ages.”

Darcy sighed, such was young love. She admitted to herself that she was a little envious of Sue’s relationship with Randy, even if it wasn’t perfect, what relationship was?

Changing the subject Darcy said, “What about the Mayor’s speech? I suppose you can’t wait for that either.”

Sue screwed up her face and shuddered. “Oh, God no. Once Steve Nelson gets started nothing can shut him up.”

Darcy laughed and silently agreed with Sue. Sue started to go on about what she was going to wear to the festival and Darcy completely zoned her out. She and Sue were very different but they still got along well. Sue was a bit of an airhead and was mad about fashion. She loved wearing the latest cute dresses, at least the ones she could afford. She talked endlessly about clothes and shoes and makeup and, well, everything to do with fashion. That stuff bored Darcy to no end. Darcy was happy to wear a comfortable pair of jeans with her worn sneakers and a nice T-shirt. No fancy dresses or high heel shoes for her.

Darcy shivered as a sudden cold draft blew over her. She knew what to expect when this happened. It was her special talent coming in tune with something out of sorts with the world around her. She looked around to see where the draft may have come from. It had to be nearby…

A very faint image of her great-aunt Millie stood by one of the book shelves. The apparition’s shading was at odds with the soft lighting cast by the hanging lights. Darcy wasn’t alarmed at the sight. It wasn’t Millie’s first time visiting. The book store used to belong to Millie, after all, and she would appear at odd times. Often to cause mischief.

Keeping an eye on Millie as she pretended to listen to Sue she could see that Millie was floating towards one particular book shelf. Sue couldn’t see Darcy’s Great-Aunt standing there, of course. No one else would be able to. Darcy watched intently as the flickering ghostly image put out an ethereal hand to knock a book to the floor before quickly disappearing.

Sue jumped and turned her stool in the direction of the sound. Darcy let her go over and pick the book off the floor, acting like she hadn’t even noticed. Her gift had led her to many wonderful discoveries. It had also made her the object of ridicule on more than one occasion. Sometimes the play-acting made things easier.

“How odd.” Sue turned the book over in her hands. “Say isn’t this the book you were reading in the book club?” She held the book out for Darcy to see. It was, indeed, a copy of “And Then There Were None.” Darcy couldn’t hold back another shiver. Definitely odd. Was Millie being playful…or was there a message here?

“What made this book fall to the floor I wonder?” Sue said as she looked all around her before shoving the book back into its slot on the shelf. “Oh well.  Gravity’s working, I guess.” She shrugged, then came back over to where Darcy was without giving the book another thought and went back to gushing on about the festival.

Maybe that story deserved a closer look.

Chapter Three

The next afternoon Darcy walked into town to attend the anniversary festival that was being held in the town square. She was looking forward to getting out and mingling with the other townsfolk. The weather was mainly fine. The mist still clung to the shadows and the tops of the trees but even that couldn’t dampen Darcy’s enjoyment of the day. As she walked along Main Street she admired the colorful streamers that were hanging between the buildings in decoration.

She hadn’t gotten around to perusing the book Great-Aunt Millie had practically tossed at her feet. There hadn’t been a good time while Sue was there and then it was time to go home and, well, time got away from her as it all too often did. There had been no dreams last night, either. For now everything in her life was normal. She was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.

Darcy spotted her sister Grace just up ahead and hurried to catch up with her. “Hi Sis. Doesn’t the town look great?”

Grace smiled at her. “Yes, they really outdid themselves this year. How are you feeling? You, uh, kind of snapped at Jon yesterday. Still having bad dreams?”

Darcy smiled back at her and shrugged. Grace thought she’d been rude to Jon? Had she not been listening to the man at all? “No, no more dreams,” she said, leaving it at that.

Grace nodded. She was dressed down today, taking a rare day off from her job. Jeans and a dark red blousy top. Darcy was wearing jeans, too, but somehow Grace’s backside always looked better in jeans than Darcy’s did. It wasn’t fair.

As they walked along together weaving in and out of revellers they waved and said hello to several people. Many of the shopkeepers had stalls out in front of their shops along Main Street, displaying their wares for all to see.

Darcy had a couple of high school girls working the book store’s stall so that she was free to attend the festival. She didn’t think it would be very busy there. Business had slacked off with the growing popularity of e-readers. She didn’t want to tell Grace, but it was getting harder and harder to make ends meet with the store’s dwindling revenue. There might come a time when she’d have to consider selling the shop. She didn’t know what Great-Aunt Millie would think of that.

Darcy and Grace walked around and looked at all of the stalls and the afternoon passed fairly swiftly. “My feet are killing me,” Grace said. “Why don’t we go and sit in the Gazebo for a while?”

“Okay, I could do with a rest,” Darcy said with a laugh. But before they could make it to their destination they came upon the Mayor and his wife as they walked, and stopped to say hello. “Hi Steve, Helen, how are you both today?” Darcy thought that Steve looked a little tense. Of course, she thought, his speech that he had to give.

He pulled a crisp white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his forehead with it. She noticed his hand wasn’t quite steady. “Well Darcy I have to say I am doing quite well. Unless you count a bad case of stage fright.”

“Oh now dear, just calm yourself,” Helen patted his arm. “What do you have to be worried about? You give this same speech all the time. Darcy and Grace don’t want to hear your woes.”  Just then Roland Baskin demanded the Mayor’s attention, probably to complain about the festival as he always did when something was being held in the town. That gave Darcy and Grace the perfect opportunity to move on.

“Oh there’s Jon.” Grace turned to face Darcy as her partner spotted them and raised a hand in greeting. She laid a hand on Darcy’s arm to get her to stop walking. “I don’t understand what the problem was between you two the other day. He’s a very kind and nice man.”

“And good looking,” Darcy had to admit, even though she was miffed at Grace laying the blame for the encounter on her.

“Well. He is easy on the eyes,” Grace agreed with a lopsided smile.

“It’s fine, Grace. He doesn’t have to be nice to me as long as he’s okay for you to work with.” Darcy tried to ignore the way her heart sped up as she looked at Jon. She sighed. She could still appreciate his looks even if he was a jerk, couldn’t she?

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” Grace asked her. “There’s something I need to talk to him about.”

“Sure go ahead. I’ll just wander around here for a bit.” Darcy watched as her sister hurried away through the crowd. She wandered along the sidewalk going from stall to stall, just taking her time and catching up with people she saw.

“Darcy! Darcy!” she suddenly heard. “Oh thank goodness I found you.”

Darcy turned to find her neighbor Anna frantically weaving her way through the crowd, waving her hand in the air to catch Darcy’s attention. As Anna reached her she grabbed her arm and held on tight.

“Anna, what’s the matter?” She tried to guide the older woman away from the busy sidewalk to one of the park benches so that they could talk more privately. The whole time Anna was shaking her head. Her face was very pale. Whatever had upset her must be bad.

Giving up on getting to a bench she just led them away from the crowd a ways. “Anna what is it? If you don’t tell me I can’t help you.” Anna looked at her with frightened eyes and Darcy felt that familiar odd feeling go through her again. Did she really want to know what it was that Anna knew?

“I…I found out something horrible earlier and…”

Darcy waited with impatience for Anna to continue but the woman looked at something over Darcy’s shoulder instead. She shook all over just as Darcy saw her sister Grace heading their way, with Jon in tow. “I’m sorry, Darcy. I was mistaken. I’m sure I was mistaken. I’m just going to go home.”

Darcy could hear Grace and Jon’s voices now. They seemed to be talking heatedly about something. She was more worried about Anna, though. “Are you sure? You seemed so upset.”

Anna smiled in a way that did nothing to erase the fear from her eyes. “Yes. I’m sure. The crowd. Yes. The crowd is too much for me today. That’s all it is.”

Darcy could tell there was something more to it. She didn’t want to press Anna and spook her more, though. “Okay, if you’re sure that’s what you want to do?”

“Yes it is. Definitely. I’ll talk to you later on.” She nodded to herself and then scurried away. Rushing home as if the devil was on her tail, Darcy thought. How odd.

“…and I hear that Darcy is always causing trouble.” Darcy tuned into the conversation Grace and Jon were having behind her when she heard Jon say her name. Now she was all ears. Trouble? What was he saying about her always causing trouble?

She swung around and faced him with a glare. “I don’t cause the trouble. Trouble just happens to find me.”

Jon opened his mouth to say something at the same time that Grace opened her mouth to say something else but the screeching of the microphone as the Mayor was about to make his speech cut them both off. Jon snapped his mouth shut with a hard stare at Darcy. Everybody in the crowd quieted down and faced the podium where Steve Nelson was now smiling nervously.

“Can you all hear me?” The crowd shouted a resounding “Yes!”

The ceremony began with the Mayor making his speech about the town of Misty Hollow’s history. A glorious history, he said, starting back in the Revolutionary War and continuing through a series of remarkable events that led to the wonderful town they all knew and loved today.

Darcy knew all of this. She had researched the town’s history and probably knew it better than anyone else. Plus, Steve gave this same speech, or some variation of it, at just about every town event he had ever spoken at.

              After what seemed like an eternity the Mayor’s speech ended. Then the celebrations got into full swing. As night fell the fog started to descend upon them once again also. The fog got thicker the later it got and Darcy wondered if they would be able to see the fireworks when it was time. As she listened to the music playing Darcy reflected that even the thick fog couldn’t dampen the town’s enthusiasm for their festival.

When nine o’clock rolled around and it was time for the fireworks the fog seemed to miraculously part over the center of town for the ten minutes it took for the fireworks to light up the sky. As soon as they were done the fog soon descended upon them once again. Darcy shivered as the fog seemed to penetrate her clothing.

When the fireworks were over the festivities continued on with music and dancing. Darcy stayed for another hour or so but when it looked like the other townsfolk were dispersing she decided to head home also.

As she did her thoughts kept returning to Anna, though, and why she had suddenly stopped talking just as her sister had shown up.

***

Darcy walked home alone after the festival thinking about how lovely the town had looked all decorated and how beautiful the fireworks had been. It was difficult to see where she was going as the beam from her flashlight was bouncing off the curtain of fog in front of her. She was going on instinct alone as she walked this path everyday of her life and could do it with her eyes closed.

Despite the fog she felt great and the good feelings from such a wonderful day had succeeded in pushing her silly dream she had and Millie’s appearance right out of her head. Anna and her actions at the festival kept coming to mind, but she figured that would work itself out.

As she reached her porch she could see that Smudge was waiting for her. He was such a good cat. As she got closer to him and reached out to pet him he meowed very loudly at her. Instantly Darcy was on edge. Smudge was a good cat and he was trying to tell her something now.