Laid to Rest (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 18) by K.J. Emrick Read Free Book Online

definitely a him.
    The little girl’s ghost had definitely warned Millie that she was in danger.
    Something about the house . My home!  I cannot allow it to be taken away.  Darcy didn’t understand that part at all.
    The last thing she wrote down, as Jon sat on the bed next to her, was the last thing in the journal.  Millie expected Darcy to know what to do next.
    “I don’t know what to do,” Darcy whispered, to Jon.
    He put his arm around her shoulder, and held her while she cried.  His strong presence steadied her and she allowed herself a minute or two to just stay there in his protective embrace.  While he held her, he picked up her notes and read through them.
    “It seems like there should be more,” he said when he’d read everything for the third time.  “You know?  For all of this trouble.  For Smudge.  Do you really think she might have been…?”
    “Killed?  No, Jon.  Millie dying was tragic and sad.  It took me a long time to get over it and I’m not ready to just accept that she was killed by someone.  Everyone dies.  That doesn’t make it murder.  I mean, seriously?  Killed by some shadowy guy who’s been reduced to a leftover footnote in a beehive journal that was buried between stones in our foundation for all these years?  No.  I won’t believe it.”
    He was silent for a moment.  Then he put the notepad down next to the journal and asked, “Have you ever talked to Millie about it?”
    Darcy didn’t want to talk about this anymore.  “I’ve asked her why her spirit is still here, still watching over me.  Lots of times.  She always avoids the question.  I figure it’s her business.  She’ll tell me if she wants to.”
    “I don’t know as much about relating to ghosts as you do,” he offered, “but from what you’ve told me spirits don’t hang around unless there’s a reason.  What reason would Millie have to still be here, if there wasn’t something wrong?”
    She pushed away from him and stood up, wiping at the moisture in her eyes with the heel of one hand.  “Jon, don’t start.  Just…don’t start, all right?  I am not in the mood to drag up a bunch of old memories and feelings and…ungh!”  She grunted in frustration and turned on him as he stood up behind her.  “I’m not doing this, all right?  All I know is what’s in that book and most of that is gone!  I want Smudge back, and I want this over so can we please, please, please just get on with this?”
    His face tightened in surprise, and after a moment he nodded.  “Darcy, I’m sorry…”
    “Just, please, don’t.”
    She couldn’t take it if he started being all understanding with her now.  She was too angry for that.  All she wanted was for him to be the tough, strong cop he had been that first day they’d met.  That’s what she needed right now.  She’d come back around to needing the comfort and gentle reassurance of her husband later.
    Right now she just wanted him to be a cop.
    “All right,” he said, like he could read her thoughts, “let’s go and talk to Roland Baskin.  Then we need to photocopy this journal.  If Baskin doesn’t pan out then we’ll still need to use it for bait at the library.”
    Right.  That’s right.  Tonight, by the deadline at midnight.  In the library, next to the book about Deseret in the reference section.  A very public place.  What good would it do to put the book there?  The man involved in this scheme wouldn’t be able to get the journal without being seen.
    Well, that was a worry for later.  They had plenty of other worries right now.
    Like finding Roland Baskin.
    ***
    Not that it was that hard.  Baskin hardly ever went out of his house.  He’d become the old hermit in town, always mad at everyone and everything and complaining how noisy the sleepy little town was.
    “You ever wonder why he turned out this way?” Jon asked on the drive over.
    “No,” was Darcy’s curt reply, “and I don’t care.”
    “I