Free 3 From the Ashes by K.J. Emrick Page A

to pull away from him.
    “I can’t let you leave until you promise to drop this,” he said desperately. “You have to stop digging. You have to promise me you will stop.”
    Darcy tried to keep herself calm. “Why? Why, Louis? What are you afraid I’ll find?”
    He dropped her arm, realization of what he was doing written on his face, and then stepped away from her. “Nothing. There’s nothing to find, and you need to keep it that way. Now, please. Get out.”
    Darcy found her way to the door and left as quickly as she could, more convinced than ever that in spite of what Louis said, there was a lot more going on here than anyone knew.
     

Chapter Twelve
     
    The next morning Darcy cycled into town. She was thrilled that Jon had done this for her. There was a certain freedom in feeling the breeze in her hair as she rode and of being able to go wherever she wanted more quickly than just walking.
    She was there before she knew it and took mental note to not leave home so early any more. She wouldn’t need the thirty minutes to walk to work anymore.
    She jumped off the bike at the beginning of Main Street. Her plan was to walk around town for a while, maybe clear her head and figure out another direction to come at this mystery from. She saw tendrils of mist in the shadows, being burned off by the rising sun, and did her best to ignore them.
    In the town square everyone was working hard to finish setting up for the harvest festival. She walked her bicycle around, looking at everyone’s booths, at the decorations, at the people rushing back and forth. Darcy saw Henrietta walking and waved to her. The elderly lady waved back and then steadied herself with her cane. Again, Darcy tried to guess the woman’s age. Old, was the best she could come up with, chuckling to herself.
    When she passed by Helen’s stand she stopped to say hi. “Hello, Helen. Almost ready for the festival?”
    Helen propped a hand on her hip and wiped her brow with her other hand. Her old button-up shirt and jeans were dusty and there were dark grass stains on the knees.  “Getting there Darcy, getting there. Oh my you have a bicycle. How wonderful. When did you get that?”
    “Friday,” Darcy answered with a smile. “It was an early birthday present from Jon.”
    A middle aged woman came up behind Helen, waiting to be noticed. “Oh,” Helen said finally. “Darcy, this is Elizabeth Archer my new baker. She’s a damn fine one too. She’s been a lifesaver for me, with all of my work as mayor now.”
    Darcy held out her hand for Elizabeth to shake and noticed that the woman had several scars on the left side of her face. Long, auburn hair hid most of them, but they looked a lot like burn scars to Darcy.
    Darcy’s mind jumped to conclusions. Here she was, trying to decipher a mystery of a burning house and a missing woman, and a new woman shows up in town at the same time, with burn marks on her skin. The face looked different, but people could change their appearance, especially if plastic surgery had been needed to remodel burned skin. And hair color was easily dyed.
    Could it be?
    “Where are you from Elizabeth?” Darcy asked, trying to rein in her suspicions and act natural.
    “Around.” Was all she said. She stared at Darcy with hard eyes and then turned on her heel and walked away.
    “I’m sorry about that, Darcy,” Helen said. “Elizabeth is a very private woman. She hasn’t even really opened up to me. But she can bake like nobody’s business. Here. Try one of Elizabeth’s muffins. It’s a new recipe.”
    Sliding her eyes away from Elizabeth she took the proffered muffin lying on a brown paper napkin. “Thanks Helen. Lily isn’t working for you anymore?”
    “Oh, no. After all that business with her brother, and him trying to kill her, she had a bit of a breakdown. Poor girl. She’s having a ‘holiday’ for an unspecified period of time.”
    Helen put air quotes around the holiday part and Darcy knew that the poor