Free 1 Death Comes to Town by K.J. Emrick

her mind.
    Both Helen and Steve said hi back to her. “Now what can I get you Darcy?” Helen said to her.
    “Just a coffee thanks, Helen.” Darcy fielded a few questions from Helen that didn’t stop after a pointed look from Steve. She made the excuse of needing to get to work and left the bakery. She passed more people on the way there. Everyone looked different. No one was who they seemed anymore.
    Darcy kept herself busy at the book store to give her mind a chance to unplug and maybe work over the information she knew so far in her subconscious. She had just finished unnecessarily rearranging the last book shelf when Jess O’Connor from the bank entered the store.
    “Hello Darcy, Sue,” Jess said in greeting. She looked very dressed up in astunning green dress that Darcy could tell was expensive even without Sue’s help. Her shoes didn’t look too shabby either.
    Darcy smiled at her and said, “Hi, Jess. I don’t usually see you in here. How are things with you?”
    Jess’s face broke out into a huge smile. “Oh, things are absolutely fantastic with me.”
    Darcy kept herself from being irritated with Jess’s banter, but just barely. There was a murderer in town. Why wasn’t anyone else concerned about that? “Great Jess. And what can I help you with today?”
    “Well, I would really like to learn how to speak French.”
    “French. That’s wonderful. Well, I have the perfect book with a companion CD for you.” Darcy moved over to another book shelf and ran her finger along the spines of the books there. “Ah, here it is.” She pulled the book and CD out of the shelf and held it out for Jess to see. “Are you planning on traveling?”
    Jess took the book and flipped through it. “Yes, I am.” She giggled loudly, twirling a strand of her red hair. “You know, I’ve always wanted to go to France.”
    Sue had come into the main room of the shop during this conversation. She sighed now and said, “Oh you lucky thing. I wish I could go too. I’m so jealous.”
    Jess smiled like she was very proud of herself, bought the book and left the store.
    “Did you see what she was wearing?” Sue’s eyes were wide. “I wish I could afford designer labels like that.”
    “That was never really my taste,” Darcy said to her. The banking business must be doing good, she thought. Expensive clothes, trips to France. Good for Jess, she guessed.
    She heard a small meow at her feet and looked down. Smudge was sitting there with something in his mouth. Darcy reached down and picked it up as Smudge dropped it. It was a key.  “What’s this, Smudge?”
    Smudge’s answer was to run outside. Darcy raced to the window to see what he was up to. She watched as he ran up the street, right up to Jeff who was walking to the bakery. Smudge rubbed himself against Jeff’s leg and then took off down the street and disappeared. She looked at Jeff, looked at the key. Obviously it was a key to a door. She looked at Jeff, looked at the key.
    Then it dawned on her. Smudge had brought her a key to Jeff’s place.
    “I’ll talk to you about how you got this later, Smudge,” she murmured. Then out loud she quickly said, “Sue I have an urgent errand to run. I’ll be back later.” She didn’t wait for an answer.
    Darcy arrived at Jeff’s place, a small unit in Briers Place, one of the more upscale areas of town. She quickly opened the door and slipped inside. There was no telling how long Jeff would be gone. She needed to do this quickly.
    She scoffed at how messy the place was. Piles of clothes littered the room and dirty dishes overflowed in the sink. She was so glad that Jeff was out of her life. She briefly wondered what Jon’s house looked like, and where he piled his clothes… She quickly pushed the idea out of her head, or at least to the back of her mind.
    Getting to work she looked around Jeff’s apartment for clues. Where to start? What was she even looking for? Her eyes fell upon the answering machine hooked