Death is in the Deal Read online

  Death is in the Deal

  A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 31

  K. J. Emrick

  First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, September 2021.

  Copyright K.J. Emrick (2012-21)

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and locations portrayed in this book and the names herein are fictitious. Any similarity to or identification with the locations, names, characters or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

  - From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  No responsibility or liability is assumed by the Publisher for any injury, damage or financial loss sustained to persons or property from the use of this information, personal or otherwise, either directly or indirectly. While every effort has been made to ensure reliability and accuracy of the information within, all liability, negligence or otherwise, from any use, misuse or abuse of the operation of any methods, strategies, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein, is the sole responsibility of the reader. Any copyrights not held by publisher are owned by their respective authors.

  All information is generalized, presented for informational purposes only and presented "as is" without warranty or guarantee of any kind.

  All trademarks and brands referred to in this book are for illustrative purposes only, are the property of their respective owners and not affiliated with this publication in any way. Any trademarks are being used without permission, and the publication of the trademark is not authorized by, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owner.

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  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  More Info

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

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  For Sandy B

  Thank you for all your support

  over the last several years.

  The world is now a little less

  bright without you in it.

  I miss you.

  Chapter 1

  “Winter was brutal. It lasted forever. If I never see the color white again, it will be too soon.”

  Jon Tinker gave his wife a curious look from over the rim of his coffee cup. Their kitchen was full of the smells of breakfast, toast and eggs and freshly baked blueberry muffins. Delicious smells. Mouthwatering aromas. Even so, Jon had only poked at the food, pushing it around on his plate with his fork. Considering he only woke up half an hour ago, he was still a little groggy. And grumpy.

  Tipping his head toward the window, he did his best impersonation of a television weatherman’s voice. “If you look to your right, you will see clear skies as the sun rises up on this beautiful June morning. July is just around the corner, next week in fact, and summer is now in full swing.” He shrugged, and pushed at his eggs, dropping the act. “The snow is gone, Darcy. The grass needs to be mown, for crying out loud.”

  Darcy Sweet met her husband’s sour mood with a smile. “I just wanted to remind you that winter…well, in a word, winter sucked. Now that it’s summer and school is over for the kids, I think we should take a vacation. Something to recharge our batteries.”

  “Recharge our batteries?”

  “Sure! We should get away. Maybe go somewhere we haven’t gone before. Ooh, we’ve never been to California.”

  “I have.”

  She studied his dark blue eyes to see if he was joking, but he was serious. She’d never heard him mention a trip west of the Mississippi River before.

  He was a distinguished man who had aged gracefully over the years, still tall and still lean but getting softer around his middle. The gray that had started at his temples was now salted all through his once dark hair. He’d earned every line in his face, the honest face of someone who had been in law enforcement for more than two decades. She knew him just as well as he knew himself, or at least she thought she did. Apparently he still had a few surprises left.

  “You’ve been to California? When did you ever go to California?”

  “When I was a kid.” He yawned, hiding it behind a hand. “Our family took a trip out there. It’s one of the few good memories I have from my childhood.”

  Darcy knew better than to press him about his life when he was young. Her formative years had been no picnic, to be sure, but Jon had his own reasons for leaving the past back where it belonged. “Well, at least you’ve been to California. How was it?”

  “Honestly?” He shook his head and stabbed a fluffy bite of egg off his plate. “It was okay, I guess. We had some fun but mostly I remember it was hot, and boring, and my parents were fighting the whole time.”

  Darcy sat back in her chair and tossed her own graying, raven-black hair over one shoulder. “You’re in a mood this morning. Did you not sleep well or something?”

  He yawned again. “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry. I don’t know if it was the heat, or the mayor being on my case, or what.” He sighed and put his fork down still full of egg. “I kept jolting awake, and then I’d be up forever until I drifted off, and then it would happen all over again. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  Darcy twisted her shoulders to ease a kink in her back. She might still be able to fit into the same size 8 jeans she wore in high school—barely—but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel her age. His tossing and turning did interrupt her dreams more than once, but she managed to fall back asleep each time with her hand on his chest and her body molded to his. She was a little tired, maybe, but it was worth it to wake up with him in the morning.

  “I slept fine,” she lied to him. “You want to go lie down again for a bit?”

  “Nah, I don’t want to waste a perfectly good Saturday morning with the kids just because my brain won’t shut off. I’m just annoyed, and a little stressed, I guess. I told you the mayor’s been on me about the budget cuts. I swear, Darcy, I’ve never been so close to putting in my retirement papers before.”

  She gave him a patient smile, because she’d heard this particular song before. The one where he was going to retire ‘any day now’ because he’d spent so long in police work that it just wasn’t interesting anymore, wasn’t any fun, or whatever. But then, without fail, some problem would come up at the office and he would go rushing to solve it with a smile on his face. He loved Darcy, and he loved their kids, and the life they had together…but he was never so happy as when he was being of use to his community.

  His complaining about wanting to leave it all behind was solely for her benefit. He didn’t want her to think he was going to work forever. They were both getting up there in years now, and they wanted to be able to enjoy time with their children before the two of them got too old. More than just a single, peaceful Saturday.

  Little did he know how very, very proud she was of him. His job was important, and he did it better than anyone else could. He was Misty Hollow’s police chief, sworn to serve and protect the people who lived
here and anyone who needed his help. He had dedicated his life to helping others, but he never shortchanged his family. She loved him completely. As far as she was concerned, her life didn’t truly begin until the day she met him.

  “You know,” Darcy told him, picking up her empty breakfast plate to bring it to the sink. “The kids are actually still asleep. If you wanted to change out of those very fetching striped pajamas and into some real clothes, we could take a walk in the morning sunshine before they wake up. It might help you wake up, too.”

  “They’re still asleep?” His surprise was ironic, considering the next yawn that overtook him made his jaw crack. He covered his gaping mouth with his fist, then tried again. “Why are they still asleep? They’re usually up way before us on the weekends. Can’t get them up on school days for love nor money, but on the weekends nothing can keep them in bed.”

  She chuckled, thinking about how right he was. “Well, that’s what happens when you let the two of them stay up late to watch an Avengers marathon.”

  “What can I say? Those movies have a lot of heart in them.”

  “And here I thought you only loved them for the explosions,” she teased.

  “The fact that things blow up is just a bonus.”

  She didn’t quite roll her eyes, but it was close. She understood why their almost six-year-old son Zane loved the action-packed superhero movies, and even why her young-at-heart husband did. She couldn’t say for sure what their daughter Colby, at the age of fourteen, saw in them…but she suspected it had something to do with Chris Hemsworth’s abs. Or Chris Evan’s boyish good looks. Anthony Mackie’s smoking smile. The nerdy allure of Tom Holland.

  Okay, fine. So those movies did have a few things that might appeal to a teenage girl. Like a shirtless Chadwick Boseman. Strong female characters like Black Widow and Captain Marvel, too, but there was no denying the men were fun to watch. Not something a mother liked to admit, but Colby was growing up fast. It wouldn’t be long before Colby would be off to college, and then married, and starting a family of her own.

  Time didn’t just move fast…sometimes it sprinted.

  “Well,” Jon said, pushing away his plate, “I’m up for a walk, I guess. If the kids are going to sleep the day away, we might as well enjoy it. It’s been a while since we’ve taken a morning to just hang out together, you and me. Why is that?”

  “Gee,” Darcy hedged. “I wonder.”

  “What? No, I’m serious. We used to do little things together all the time. Go for walks, take a drive, or whatever. I can’t remember the last time we climbed a mountain.”

  “We took a trip to the Adirondacks and climbed Mount Ampersand a few years ago. I think that was our last mountain climbing trip.”

  “Yeah, I remember. Zane wasn’t born yet and Colby stayed with your sister for the weekend. See, that’s what I mean. We used to do things like that. Why did we stop? It wasn’t just because we had kids.”

  With a smirk, she walked around behind him to rest her hands on his back. “No, I don’t think it was the kids, dear.” She rubbed her thumbs in circles along the slope of his shoulders. “Our kids are a blessing to our lives.”

  “Then what was—?”

  On the table next to his coffee cup, Jon’s cellphone began buzzing insistently. The screen lit up with the name of the caller. After she saw it, Darcy gave her husband a kiss on top of his graying hair. It was Grace Wentworth calling, and she knew what that meant.

  “That, dear husband of mine, is why we don’t have time just to ourselves anymore. We both decided that helping people was more important.”

  Jon didn’t seem to share his wife’s pessimism. “What? She’s your sister.” He pointed to the name on the screen. “Maybe Grace is just calling to catch up. Say hello. Ask us to brunch.”

  “Yeah…I don’t think so. If Grace just wanted to chat, she’d be calling me. The fact that she’s calling you tells me this is about work. You forget,” she said with another kiss. “She’s not just my sister. She’s also your senior detective. She’s practically the assistant chief.”

  “Don’t give your sister any ideas, please.” With a sigh, he picked up the phone. “Hello? Yeah, Grace. It’s fine. I’m already up. Bright-eyed and bushytailed. Yes. Hold on.”

  He chose to ignore a doubtful look from Darcy. Setting the phone down on the table he tapped the icon for the speakerphone. Darcy wondered what he was up to, but when she mouthed a silent question, he just held his hand up to tell her to wait.

  “Can you hear me?” Grace’s gruff voice sounded preoccupied, and Darcy thought maybe she could hear the sound of papers shuffling. “I hate to bug you on a Saturday, Chief, but I didn’t think you’d want this to wait.”

  “It’s fine,” Jon told her. “Go ahead. You’ve got me and Darcy is here, too.”

  “Oh, yeah? Hey, sis. How’s things?”

  “We’re good, thanks,” Darcy told her, leaning over the table to be heard better. “We miss you and Aaron and the kids, though. Hey, we should plan a beach day now that school is out. We were just talking about things to do this summer and we haven’t been to the beach in forever.”

  “Neither have we.” Grace sounded excited about the idea. “I’m game. I know our girls would love to go swimming with their cousins. Let me check with Aaron and we’ll let you know.”

  “Sounds good. Our schedule is pretty open.”

  “Ours, too.” Grace chuckled. “Aaron’s the one who makes the social calendar in our house, which means if I want a beach day, I have to be the one to suggest it. Of course, I’ll have to get my boss to give me the time off, whatever day we choose. He’s kind of a hardcase.”

  “Ha, ha,” Jon said sarcastically. He was her boss, after all. “Maybe I’ll just have you work a couple of double shifts to make up for it.”

  “Er, yeah. Like I said,” Grace covered quickly, “my boss is a great guy. Salt of the Earth. Couldn’t possibly ask for a better person to work for. Someone should build him a statue, if you ask me.”

  “Wow, sis,” Darcy said. “Way to suck up.”

  “Yeah,” Jon agreed, “but there’s something to be said for flattery. Anyway, Grace, you said you took a phone call for me?”

  “Er, right. I would’ve just taken a message, but I figured you wouldn’t want this to wait for Monday. Not this one.”

  Jon rubbed at the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, meeting Darcy’s gaze at the same time. It must be someone important for Grace to be that concerned about it, Darcy reflected. Maybe the State Police needed something. Or the Governor’s office, even. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “Do I need to come in?” Jon asked her.

  When Grace cleared her throat, they could almost hear her shaking her head. “It’s nothing like that. This is…something different. I’m sure you remember Maxwell Bylow?”

  Hearing that name, Darcy dropped back down into her chair. How could they possibly forget Maxwell, and everything that had happened this past winter at the Hideaway Inn? Their Christmas had been anything but peaceful, and Maxwell had been at the center of all of it. Of the people she would have expected to hear from today, his name was definitely down at the bottom of the list.

  “You can’t be serious,” Jon said, echoing Darcy’s own thoughts. “How could he be calling me? The last we heard, he was at a residential mental health facility in Boston.”

  “Yeah, that’s where he was calling from.” Grace paused, and they heard more shuffling of papers from her side of the call. “Some place called the Sunlight Health and Wellness Retreat.”

  “You’re sure it was him?”

  “He only said his name, like, twenty times. The staff initiated the call, and I double checked the phone number with an internet search. Yeah, Chief. I’m sure.”

  Darcy reached across the table to put her hand over Jon’s. They had helped Maxwell get himself committed, and he’d written them once he left the hospital for a care facility where he could exorcise the demons of his past. He owne
d and operated the Hideaway Inn where they had stayed on their mini-vacation at Christmastime. Of course, because of the way their life worked, their vacation had been full of ghosts and all kinds of trouble, and in the end, Maxwell had been in tears while he let the ambulance take him away.

  Ghosts were nothing new for them. Darcy could see them. Darcy could talk to them. At the Hideaway Inn, the real tragedy had been Maxwell Bylow.

  Someone who was in as desperate need of help as Maxwell was…well, he was going to be a resident at the Sunlight Health and Wellness Retreat for a long time. It might be years before he could function in society again.

  So why was he calling them now?

  Jon was obviously wondering the same thing. He had his eyebrows scrunched down tight in thought. Worry lines were creasing the corners of his eyes. “Did he leave a message for me?”

  “Nope. He just said it was urgent. He kind of talked in circles, honestly. Anyway, I remember the story you and Darcy told me about your little visit to that Inn of his over in Pittsfield.” For a moment, Grace’s voice muffled as she said something to someone in the room with her. “Hey, Chief? I’m going to text you the number Maxwell was calling from. Someone just walked in who needs my attention, so I have to go.”

  “Anything serious?”

  “Not sure yet, but we can handle whatever it is. Go enjoy the rest of your day off. And Darcy, I’m going to hold you to that beach trip.”

  “You better,” Darcy told her.

  Jon waited for the phone call to disconnect before he snorted acerbically. “Fat chance of us enjoying ourselves now. Not until we know what Maxwell wants to talk about. I’m assuming he called me, and not you, because it was easier to find a number for the Misty Hollow Police Department than your bookstore. You were the one he trusted to help him, there at the end.”