Worth a Thousand Words: A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 33 Read online

  “Sure, no problem. Jon, can you round up the kids and get them over to the gazebo for the photo? I’m sure this won’t take long.”

  She knew Jon would agree, so she squeezed his hand before he could answer and walked off with Wally to a nearby corner of the park that was empty for the moment. They could hear the occasional car out on the streets around them, and a dog barked in the distance protecting their home from squirrels or something just as equally dangerous. Life in a small town, Darcy reflected. Granted, the occasional murder and other heinous crime kept everyone here on their toes, but Darcy wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

  “Are you all right?” she asked Wally once they were alone. “I thought we were all having a good time this weekend.”

  “What? Well, yeah, I am. I mean, I was.” His round face was sweating. His pudgy hands wrung themselves over and over. He’d loosened the tie at the collar of his maroon dress shirt, and now it drooped limply over his belly. “This has been great, catching up and all. You know how much I love a good party. Remember that one time in college, it was Shaniqua’s birthday and we were having that water balloon fight, only Topper had filled all the balloons with—”

  “Wally,” she interrupted him as her cheeks began to burn. “Yes, I remember that party. I remember how much fun we had back in college, all of us together. We didn’t just talk about the books we’d read. We had more than our fair share of fun, but what’s that got to do with why you’re so upset?”

  “What?” he asked her again, blinking. “No, that’s got nothing to do with… I was just mentioning stuff from the old days. Sometimes I think I remember things differently than how they actually happened. Do you ever get that feeling? Like, there’s the way you picture it in your head, but that’s not necessarily how it was? Maybe things change. Kind of like, well, how I used to be thin and now I’m not?”

  Darcy very purposefully did not look at his bald head, or mention that his weight wasn’t the only thing that had changed for him. She knew the truth of how memory could be a tricky thing. Hindsight was always colored by the light of perception, and it was rarely one hundred percent accurate. True or not, why was Wally bringing that up now, here, in the middle of their reunion?

  Swallowing, Wally seemed to center himself again. “What I mean, is that something I remember from back then seems…different, now. If I’m right, it could even mean there’s something very wrong with…”

  He trailed off when a young man in a gray uniform jumpsuit came stalking up to them. Obviously he didn’t want anyone else to hear whatever it was he had to say. Not even Kevin Pease, the man in the jumpsuit. He’d been hired by the town last year to take care of the park. Now that it was going to remain a wooded and grass-covered park in perpetuity, it was going to need a lot of attention. Kevin mowed the grass and did cleanup and made sure the equipment was in working order. He kept the reservation schedule for events, too, and made sure no one double-booked the gazebo for birthday parties or whatever.

  Right now, he looked like he was about ready to chew nails.

  “Hey, you there,” Kevin said, directing his finger pointing at Wally. “You drive a red Honda? Got out of state plates on it? That your car?”

  Wally looked flustered for a moment before nodding his head and making his heavy jowls bounce. “Er, yes. I do. I mean, that’s mine. Is there something wrong with my car?”

  “You from out of state?” Kevin asked, as if the license plate wasn’t enough to make it obvious. “You come here to do some tourism, did you?”

  Darcy stepped in, trying to be helpful. “Hi, Kevin. Is there a problem?”

  He looked up at her, squinting his little beady eyes at her. He was a short man, with flyaway straw-colored hair, and although she didn’t know him all that well he seemed to always be carrying a chip on his shoulder for no real reason. She was trying to respect his position here as the maintenance man for the park, but he wasn’t making it easy on her.

  “A problem?” he repeated back to her. “I should say so. That red Honda sports car over there is parked in my spot.”

  Darcy quirked an eyebrow. “The town gave you your own personal parking space?”

  Kevin shifted on his feet, and hooked a thumb into a tool belt loosely circling his waist. “Well, not officially, but that’s where I park every day I come to work. I work hard, you know. I keep this place looking nice and I’ve earned that space. That’s mine, and I need him to move. You outsiders always think you can just do whatever you want here in Misty Hollow, don’t you?” He got close enough to stand nose-to-nose with Wally with a scowl. “You think you can just come in here whenever you want, dirty up my park, and then leave because it’s not your mess. You’re all alike. I wish all of you would just go away!”

  “Kevin, you can’t…” Darcy stopped midsentence. “Wait, what do you mean, you want all of us to go away?”

  He gave her a quick bob of his head. “That’s right. It’d be a lot easier to keep this park clean if nobody came in here throwing trash around and walking all over the flowers.”

  “Kevin, that’s what the park is for. It’s here for people to walk around, and have fun, and sure have a picnic or two. Some people drop trash, true, and I wish those people would learn some manners but you can’t just kick everyone out!”

  She was trying to reason with him, but the man’s face was red and his hands were shaking and he honestly looked like he was going to kill someone. She looked around for Jon, trying to catch his eye and signal for him to come over. He was busy with Colby and Zane though, and Cha Cha, and he didn’t notice what was going on here.

  “Are you going to go move that car?” Kevin snapped at Wally. His tone was demanding. His body language was threatening. “Maybe you need a lesson in manners. Hmm?”

  “Okay, back off,” Darcy told him bluntly. She was embarrassed that her friends were here in Misty Hollow for the first time, and now a town employee was trying to make them feel unwelcome. “There’s no designated parking spaces around the park. My friends and I won’t be here for much longer, and when we’re gone you can put your car wherever you want. In fact, I have a suggestion or two for where you can stick it!”

  She hoped her insinuation was clear. Of course, this man would have to take the stick out of his backside first before he could fit his car up there, but at this point she would be happy to help him make it happen.

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” was Kevin’s delayed response, once he got past the shock of her putting him in his place. “I run this park. This is my park!”

  “This park,” she told him levelly, “belongs to everyone. Both the people who live here, and anyone visiting our town. My friends are here to enjoy the park so can you just wait a few minutes and go…go trim a bush or something!”

  His thin eyebrows climbed up his forehead as his jaw dropped. Obviously he wasn’t used to people speaking back to him. Then again, she wasn’t used to having to speak to people like this. She very rarely lost her temper. It just wasn’t who she was. Today, distracted by concerns over what had Wally so upset, she simply did not have patience for this man’s rudeness.

  Kevin took a big breath, and shook his finger at both of them again. “We’ll just see about this. Don’t think there won’t be consequences for this. You just wait and see!”

  Turning on his heel, he stalked off into the park, kicking at a discarded soda can, rather than picking it up to put it in the recycling bin like he was supposed to. Apparently, his job wasn’t as important to him as he made it out to be.

  Darcy laid a hand on Wally’s wrist. “I’m so sorry about that,” she told him. “People in this town are usually very friendly but I guess there’s always a few exceptions. For the rest of the trip, I’ll make sure we’re only around nice people, I promise. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

  Wally screwed his face up, and mopped sweat off his wide brow. “Uh, no. That’s all right. I thought we could speak in private but there’s too many people h
ere. Later, maybe?” He waved his hand vaguely toward the gazebo where the others were already standing in a group. “Besides, everyone is waiting for us. Let’s not ruin the day just because I’m being silly.”

  “There’s something going on, I can tell.” She tried one last time to get him to open up. “You’re always ready with a joke or a smile, Wally, but now you’re really upset over something. It’s okay. You can tell me.”

  He stopped a few steps away from her, and turned back with a ghost of his usual smile on his lips. “You were always a good friend, Darcy. Maybe you were a little odd, but hey, weren’t we all? I could always talk to you about anything. This is…this is just a lot for me to wrap my mind around. Let me catch up with you later tonight. You’re still having us over for dinner at your place, right?”

  “Well yes, but…”

  “Good, good. I’m looking forward to it.” Mopping his brow again, he made it obvious that was the last he was going to say on the subject. “Let’s get this photo taken. It’s suddenly very hot out here.”

  Darcy watched him walk away for a moment before following him. Now what was that all about? Well, he’d promised to tell her later. She would just have to wait and let him get it out in his own time.

  When she rejoined everyone else, Jon came up to her, grinning ear to ear, with Colby and Zane at his side. Audrey Kwon was there too, hanging back a little. Darcy liked Audrey. She was a good friend to Colby. So much so, in fact, that the two of them had become practically inseparable in the last few years. She waved, and Audrey waved back, a little shyly. She was Colby’s age, minus a couple of months, but shorter by several inches. The blue of her dress highlighted her bronze skin as the wind playfully swept her short and straight black hair into her eyes, over and over. She was a cute girl, and a good friend. At this point, after spending so much time with them, she was practically an honorary member of their family.

  “So,” Jon said to Darcy, sounding like he’d just solved the mysteries of the universe. “I have a solution to our problem of who will take the group photo. Colby has graciously offered to do it for everyone.”

  Colby’s lips twisted to one side. “I wouldn’t exactly say that I volunteered.” She twirled a finger into the ends of her hair, the sun bringing out auburn highlights as she did.

  “Oh?” Darcy asked, intrigued. “Then how would you put it?”

  “I’d say I was forced into offering my time.”

  Jon clapped her playfully on the back. “That’s the spirit!”

  Darcy stifled a laugh behind her hand. She could tell that her daughter was glad to help, and she was only protesting to show off for Audrey. At the age of fifteen, when your friends were around, doing things for your family was just oh-so-much trouble.

  “Can I take pictures, too?” Zane asked. “If Colby doesn’t want to do it I will.”

  At his feet, Cha Cha sat himself down and whuffed up at them.

  Zane giggled at their family pet. “No, no, no. Dogs can’t take photos, goofy.”

  “Goofy’s a different kind of dog,” Colby told him, folding her arms in a I-know-better gesture. “He’s a Disney dog, and he walks on two legs.”

  Zane looked at her in all seriousness. “Sure, but Cha Cha’s a Bassador. Bassadors are better than Goofies.”

  Colby had no idea what to say to that.

  Darcy pulled her son into a tight hug. He was growing up so fast. Seven years and change younger than his sister, he was still very much her little boy. “Thanks, buddy. We’ll let you take a couple of pictures, too. Make sure to get my good side.”

  He squinted his sky-blue eyes up at her, thinking hard about that. “You have a good side?”

  Jon stifled a laugh, turning it into a snort. She gave him a glare before ruffling her son’s curly blonde hair. “Yes, I have a good side.”

  He made a face. “But I thought all your sides is good sides.”

  “Are good sides,” Colby said, correcting her brother’s grammar. “All Mom’s sides are good sides.”

  “See, Mom?” Zane said. “Colby agrees. All your sides are good sides, Mom.”

  Colby rolled her eyes and mouthed the word “brothers” to Audrey. Jon smirked, but there was a mischievous twinkle in those eyes of his. Darcy even saw her friends trying to hide smiles of their own as they conveniently looked away. Marcus winked, at least, and gave Zane a thumbs up.

  “Okay, y’all,” Drucilla said to them all, her southern accent soft and pleasant. “Line up on the steps of the gazebo. I think this will make a great backdrop, with the trees and the sky, and the clouds. Yes, this is gonna be great. Marcus, there. Shaniqua next to me. Oh, Darcy you and Jon have simply got to be in the front. We’re only here in this wonderful town of yours because you invited us all. Wouldn’t be a party without Darcy!”

  It felt good to have her old friends back together again, enjoying themselves so much. She might have thought about them less and less over the years, but she’d never forgotten any of them. She missed having times like this with them. There were plenty of new friends here in Misty Hollow, but you never really forgot the friends of your youth.

  Finally lined up in two short rows, they all put on their best smiles, hands on each other’s shoulders or linking elbows. Colby had Darcy’s cellphone, and Drucilla’s, and Topper’s. She very carefully centered the group with each phone, taking a couple of photos each. Zane had Jon’s cellphone, but considering how he was holding the device by the corners, Darcy had a feeling none of his pictures were going to be more than a blurry blob. He was having fun, and that’s what mattered.

  After a few poses, with and without smiles, Colby had gotten pictures for everyone and handed the phones back to their owners. Zane, too. It was still a beautiful day out, and still early, so Darcy suggested they take a walk around town before everyone split up. They would meet up again at Darcy’s place for dinner. There was still a lot of work ahead of Darcy to get that ready, but she was honestly looking forward to it.

  Jon slid his arm around her waist again as they started out of the park. She saw Kevin Pease glaring at them and did her best to ignore him. There would always be people like him around, she supposed.

  She also noticed Wally hanging back from the rest of the group, lost in his own thoughts. What had him so troubled, she wondered? Curiosity was burning her up inside, but he obviously didn’t want to talk about it in front of anyone but her. Well, she would have to find some time to get him away from everyone tonight at dinner.

  She could find out then.

  Chapter 2

  Dinner was in an hour.

  Darcy had changed out of her dress to get everything ready. She was much more comfortable in jeans and a blouse anyway.

  Everything was almost ready. Their small house really wasn’t set up for dinner parties. The kitchen, just inside the front door, was short and narrow and the table she and Jon and the kids sat at to eat their meals was only big enough for them, and even then just barely. Colby and Zane ate in the living room more often than not—although not with the television on. That was a rule of the house. One that got broken on a regular basis, but Darcy still liked to pretend.

  She checked on the two trays of lasagna she had cooking side by side in the oven. The cheese was just starting to bubble, so they’d be ready soon. The garlic bread would have to go in next, while the lasagna cooled. The bread was store bought, but the lasagna was something she’d put together last night from scratch before she went to bed, leaving it in the fridge for today. She thought hard, trying to remember if she was forgetting anything. There was soda and beer on ice in coolers down in the basement. They would have to be brought up soon. She could probably get Colby and Audrey to help with that. They were up in Colby’s room playing…no, she corrected herself with a small shake of her head. Not ‘playing.’ Fifteen-year-olds didn’t play in their rooms, they ‘hung out.’ Her kids weren’t children anymore.

  A furry gray streak named Tiptoe jumped up on the countertop not too far away, and s
at there eyeing Darcy with an unblinking, pearlescent green stare. With her feline agility she made the leap look easy. It should be. She did it all the time.

  “Hey, Little Miss,” Darcy said, speaking sternly. “We’ve talked about this. Cats don’t belong up on the counter. Especially when I’m making food.”

  Tiptoe held her gaze and twitched her whiskers. She seemed unimpressed.

  “You know, in some households the cats respect the people.”

  Tiptoe swished her tail, blinked, and looked away.

  “Well, it’s true.”

  Tiptoe didn’t look back.

  Darcy sighed. Who was she kidding?

  “Look, Tiptoe. How about a bargain? If you get down, and find somewhere else to stare at me, I promise I’ll save a piece of lasagna for you. A small piece.”

  Now Tiptoe’s head swung back, and her mismatched ears pricked up—one gray, one tipped black. The promise of human food was a strong motivator for both of Darcy’s furry household friends. Cha Cha’s legs were too stumpy for him to jump up on things, but he had Zane wrapped around his paws anyway. Tiptoe, on the other hand, was the daughter of Darcy’s favorite cat in the world—God rest his soul—but there had always been a communication barrier between them. Not the kind that her son could bridge with his ability to talk to animals, either. The real kind.

  Even so, Tiptoe understood the power of lasagna.

  Dipping her head, looking for all the world like she was giving Darcy a yes, Tiptoe finally jumped down from the counter. She made sure to stay close by, though, going no further than the corner of the room to watch. She wasn’t going to let the lasagna out of her sight. That might change when all of Darcy’s friends started showing up but for now she was a cat on a mission.

  Darcy couldn’t help but love the cat even with all of her eccentricities. Not that she didn’t have a few of her own personality quirks, but you wouldn’t catch her jumping up on the counter!