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    The Language of Death: Darcy Sweet Mystery, #9
    The Language of Death: Darcy Sweet Mystery, #9
    The Language of Death: Darcy Sweet Mystery, #9
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    The Language of Death: Darcy Sweet Mystery, #9

    By K.J. Emrick

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    About this ebook

    You could say that Darcy Sweet's life is definitely not ordinary or boring. In fact, things have become quite complicated for her. She thought that her life was going one way only to have it go another way entirely.

    While trying to adjust to life without Jon, and at the same time helping to plan her mother's wedding, she receives a ghostly message that leaves her reeling.

    Her best friend is dead and is asking Darcy for help. What happened? Was it a suicide like everyone thinks or is there more to it? Darcy certainly thinks so.

    While everyone else seems to have accepted it as a suicide it's up to Darcy to uncover the truth and give her friend the peace she needs to move on.

    BONUS Short Story Included: A Smudge the Cat Mystery – The Circle of Life

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSouth Coast Publishing
    Release dateJun 10, 2014
    ISBN9781498954877
    The Language of Death: Darcy Sweet Mystery, #9

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      Book preview

      The Language of Death - K.J. Emrick

      CHAPTER 1

      It was Smudge who woke her up Saturday morning. Darcy had planned on sleeping in until at least noon. Her big black and white tomcat had other ideas.

      Meow? Smudge said to her.

      She pulled the comforter up further, burying her head under it. No, she answered the cat, knowing that he was waking her up to ask if she wanted breakfast.

      Her cat pushed his head into the outline of her shoulder and purred.

      I don't care if it's a nice day out, Smudge. I want to sleep.

      Smudge tried a few more times to convince her that now would be a wonderful time to get up and get going. When Darcy kept saying no, Smudge took more drastic steps by pouncing on her toes and biting her through the puffy blanket.

      Ow! Smudge, for Pete's sake!

      She sat up in bed then and lunged for him, catching him as he tried to jump down off the mattress, laughing and hauling him back to ruffle the fur on his chest and around his neck. His eyes got wide and his tail swished and he worked his way free to run away like a jackrabbit.

      Darcy smiled to herself. She loved that cat. It was just the two of them in the house now, and he certainly kept her from being lonely.

      Clatters and thumps came from downstairs, the sound of pots and pans being rattled around. Darcy combed fingers through her long dark hair with a sigh. Well. It used to be just her and Smudge. For now, and for the next few weeks, she had someone else living in the house with her.

      In her oversized blue pajamas she padded barefoot down the hall to the stairs. She stretched and yawned and inhaled the smells of cooking. Bacon and eggs, and homefries. Darcy smiled. The same breakfast her mother used to make for her and her sister Grace back when they were just little girls.

      Mom had come to stay with her while she was in town. It wasn't like she could stay with Grace, not in that tiny apartment she shared with her husband Aaron. Especially now that Grace was six months pregnant. So her mom was staying here while they planned her wedding.

      Now that was an idea that had taken time to get used to. Eileen, her mother, was getting remarried years after Darcy's dad had passed away. Darcy was happy for her, sure, but the thought of a new man in her mother's life somehow made her stomach bunch up.

      Just the fact that Darcy had agreed to let her mother stay here was something of an accomplishment. Feelings had been strained in her family for as long as Darcy could remember. Neither she nor her sister had spoken much to Eileen in the past few years, yet here she was under the same roof with Darcy, planning her wedding. One step at a time, Darcy supposed.

      It didn't help the emotional pretzel inside of her that she had to be happy for her mom when her own love life had fallen to pieces. Jon Tinker had moved out on Darcy two months ago, after pushing to move in together and giving every indication that they would have a life together. Now, he was working at a new job at a police department in another town over an hour away. There hadn't been a lot of communication between them since he'd gone there. A few phone calls. Exactly six e-mails. Text messages every now and then sent by way of her sister's phone.

      Darcy was thirty years old and had already been through a divorce. It had taken her a long time to open up to someone again like she had with Jon. Now, as the days ticked by with him gone, it was becoming harder and harder to hold out any hope of them getting back together.

      Smudge wound his way around her ankles and then sat down imperiously between her feet. I love you, too, she told him, but it's not quite the same thing.

      He shook his head as if to say he'd never understand people.

      Darcy stretched and yawned and inhaled the aromas from downstairs. Heading down to the kitchen, she sat in one of the chairs at the dining table, drawing her knees up to her chest and bracing her bare heels on the edge of the seat.

      Eileen Sweet stood at the stove, busily stirring and tending to the food she was preparing. Morning, honey, she said to Darcy over her shoulder.

      Good morning, Darcy answered. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she watched as her mother scooped eggs around a frying pan. For as long as Darcy could remember, her mother had always been a very proper woman. Here it was the early morning hours of a Saturday, and still her mother was already dressed, her silver hair done up just so. There was even a touch of makeup on her face. Darcy shook her head. That was a lot more effort than she ever wanted to put into making breakfast.

      Everything will be ready in a moment, her mom let her know. It would have been ready by now, except I had to wait for your water to get hot enough for a shower. You really should consider selling this place and getting something, you know, more suited to you.

      Smaller, was what her mother meant. Now that Darcy was alone again, was what her mother wasn't saying. Darcy rolled her eyes. Their relationship was better than it had been in years, but that didn't mean her mother wasn't still her mother. Nitpicking was a second language for her. So were well-meaning insults and a large serving of critical observations.

      Darcy liked this house. It was a sturdy old house, with original windows that let just enough draft in and original floors that creaked in familiar ways. It had been her Great Aunt Millie's, before her death, and then Millie had passed it on to Darcy. She'd done the same with the bookstore in town. Darcy didn't want to part with either of them. This was her life, and she liked her life here in Misty Hollow. Of course, that had been one of the things she and Jon had argued about when he wanted to go take a promotion in another town…

      She cleared her throat and tried to keep her mind off that line of thought. It wasn't easy, that was for certain. She'd had the same conversation with herself every other day since Jon had left. So, mom, she said now. After breakfast are we still meeting with Helen to pick out a wedding cake?

      Oh, yes, her mother said, a smile on her face as she scooped eggs onto two plates. Your friend Helen is just the most wonderful person, isn't she? And offering the Town Hall as a place for me and James to have our wedding? Well, I just couldn't thank her enough. I know we weren't supposed to be there until this afternoon, but perhaps she could see us early.

      James Bollinger was Eileen's fiancé. Darcy hadn't met the man yet, but the way her mother talked about him she felt like they were long-lost friends. He was coming to Misty Hollow in a few days, so Darcy would get the chance to see if the real James Bollinger matched the image her mother had painted of a tall, handsome man with a square chin and thick black hair and eyes that sparkled in the moonlight.

      Her mother's exact words. Darcy tried to hide a smile of her own. Her prim, no-nonsense mother

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