The Greatest Gift (A Darcy Sweet Mystery) by K.J. Emrick Read Free Book Online Page B

Belinda pushed herself back up out of the chair to go tend to it.  Jon took the opportunity to lean over and whisper to Darcy.  "Maybe they didn't have any money because Dominic was saving every extra dollar and hiding it from his wife."
    "I thought of that, too," Darcy said.
    "Maybe," Jon added quickly, "he was hiding money because he was using it for things he didn't want Belinda to know about.  Gambling?  Women?"
    Darcy looked at him sharply.  " Put away your suspicious mind, Senior Investigator.  Dominic told me that he loved Belinda.  He wanted to save up to buy Belinda a house.  That's a nice gesture, don't you think?"
    "You've never had a ghost lie to you?"
    Darcy frowned.  Ghosts usually told only the truth, or the truth as they saw it.  Apparently in the afterlife there wasn't any reason to lie.  Especially during a communication, where Darcy was basically compelling the spirit to communicate.  But that fact aside, there had been a few ghosts who had told Darcy a lie.  It wasn't impossible.  She remembered the look he had given Belinda in the vision, though, and she knew it had been the real thing.  Love.
    Just like how Jon used to look at her.
    She studied Jon, wishing that instead of discussing another mystery in the sleepy town of Misty Hollow, they could go back to talking about them.  Where did they stand with each other?  What happened next?  She knew that something was happening between them, a rekindling of a spark that maybe hadn't ever gone out, strong emotions coming to the surface again.  That was what they should be talking about instead of how to help Belinda.
    But, helping out her neighbors was part of who Darcy was.  She'd been like that long before she'd met Jon.  That would never change.
    Belinda came back with matching blue ceramic cups for Darcy and Jon.  When she set them down Darcy asked the next question on her list.
    "Do you think you could show us the door that leads downstairs?"

Chapter Five
     
    Belinda had picked up the living room since Darcy had been here yesterday.  Everything was back in its place, the picture frames back in order, the furniture arranged perfectly again.  The poltergeist had not struck today.
    They went to where the stairs leading up to the second floor started.  This was where the door had been in her vision.  Instead, it was a wall.  Darcy looked but saw no seam, no joint, no hinges.  Nothing that would let anyone know there had ever even been a door here.  Belinda smiled at her confusion and put a finger up to her lips.  "This is a secret, you know.  I had this built just two years ago now.  I wanted to keep my real treasure safe and hidden."
    Aha, Jon's expression said.  Darcy knew what he meant.  They had been asking about money, and Belinda had said there was none, but that didn't mean there wasn't something of value in the house.
    Belinda reached out to the paneled wall beside the stairs leading up to the second story.  It looked just like any other part of the wall, but Belinda put her hand against a certain spot and pressed here and there with her ring finger and thumb.  Darcy blinked.  Those two points had blended into the pattern on the wall panel but Belinda had found them with practiced ease.  When she pushed and held them the panel released with a soft snick and a narrow rectangular door opened toward them.  It was right where Dominic had shown Darcy the door in her vision.  The door that led downstairs.
    Reaching into the exposed space behi nd the hidden door, Belinda flicked a switch and lights came on, revealing a finished stairway with hand railings on both sides, leading down.  The walls were painted blue.  Light brown carpeting softened their footsteps.  Obviously, someone had spent a lot of time on this.
    Belinda smiled and waved them on.  "Come on down.  Let me show you the only treasure my Dominic left me when he died."
    The stairs were steep and narrow but they opened up at the bottom to a wide space