Free A Murder of Crows (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery #7) by K.J. Emrick Page A

had the equivalent of ghost-be-gone.
    Mark Phillips looked up from a variety of forms spread out across his desk.  “Oh, hi guys.  Sorry, I’m trying to write up the arrest sheets on our friend Riley Mason.”
    Darcy wasn’t sure she’d understood him correctly.  “You’re arresting Riley?”
    “Well, yes.  That’s what we do to murderers.”
    “When did you prove he murdered Marla?” Jon asked.  “The last I knew there were still some serious questions.”
    “I can’t say there aren’t still some loose ends, but that’s always the way of it, right?  We’ve got plenty enough for probable cause.  I’m sure he did it.   The District Attorney can worry about the rest.”
    Jon sat down in a chair on this side of Phillips’ desk.  “ Mark, we saw the security video from the bar.  Riley never left with Marla.  She left with some other guy.  Then he stayed at the bar until four in the morning.  It proves what he said to us in the interview.”
    Jeff stopped screaming and started pacing back and forth instead, shaking his head.  Darcy watched him, trying not to make it obvious to the other officers in the room that she was keeping an eye on a ghost.
    Officer Phillips nodded along with everything Jon had said.  “Right, right.  I know he didn’t leave with her.  But the window for the time of death is sketchy.  I figure Riley found Marla again after he left the bar.  He probably wanted to continue their flirting, and she didn’t, so they argued and he killed her.”
    “What about his friend Brad’s statement?” Jon pressed.
    “What statement?  That they left the bar together?”  Phillips sighed, his eyes level on Jon.  Then he sat back from his desk and unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves, rolling them up.  “You need to remember this isn’t your case, Jon.  I appreciate the help you’ve given me, but we’re working this, and we’ve got it in hand.  Now, I know Marla was a friend to the both of you, and I understand why you’re taking such an interest.  But don’t try to tell me how to do my job.”
    Jon started to say more.  Darcy stepped close and put her hand on his shoulder.  She squeezed to get his attention.
    On Officer Phillips’ right forearm was a tattoo.  A tattoo of a crow.
    Jon saw it, too.  He knew what Darcy was trying to tell him.  “All right,” he said.  “I understand.  Wouldn’t want someone from out of town getting into my cases either.  We’ll head back to the hotel and wait to hear from you.  Okay?”
    “Actually you might want to just go home,” he said, taking both of them in with a meaningful glance.  “There’s nothing more you can do here.”
    “Well,” Darcy put in.  “I’m actually here for a conference so I’ll be in town for a few more days, just in case you need me for something.”
    “Sounds good,” Phillips said .  “Thanks for understanding.”  Standing up he put his hand out to Jon.  The crow was dark against his skin.
    J eff crossed his arms and gloated with a told-you-so smirk.
    ***
    “What does it mean?”
    Jon and Darcy were back in the hotel room.  She held the coin in h er hand, turning it over from clover to crow and back again.  “I’m not sure.  Officer Phillips is definitely involved somehow.”
    “Have you asked Jeff?”
    She frowned and rolled her eyes.  “Now he doesn’t want to be chatty.  Apparently he thinks he’s gotten his message across.  He told us to beware he crow, and now we have a crow on a coin, and a crow on Mark Phillips’ arm.  It’s got to be connected.”
    “Yeah, but the only reason we know so is because Jeff said.”  Jon looked around the room, as if he was trying to see Jeff.  “We can’t exactly call your dead ex-husband in to testify on the stand.”
    In the corner, Jeff sulked.
    “So we have to do more legwork,” Darcy said, ignoring Jeff.  She knew better than to feed into his moods.  “How often do you end up doing that anyway?  My gift can