The Early Years (Darcy): A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery, #0

By K.J. Emrick

A New Town... A New Life... A Chance to be Normal...

 

Have you ever wondered what Darcy Sweet was like as a fifteen-year-old when she came to live with Aunt Millie?

 

This collection of six short stories covers a small slice of Darcy's early life. From moving to live with Aunt Millie, to getting involved and solving her first mystery, to meeting Smudge for the first time and more.

 

Come along, see how it all began and watch while Darcy settles into her new life in Misty Hollow. 

 

You'll discover why trouble has a way of finding her...

• Language: English
• Publisher: South Coast Publishing
• Release date: Mar 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386416296

Book preview

The Early Years (Darcy) - Prequel

The Early Years (Darcy) - Prequel

A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 0

K. J. Emrick

South Coast Publishing

First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, February 2019. Copyright K.J. Emrick (2012-19)

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This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and locations portrayed in this book and the names herein are fictitious. Any similarity to or identification with the locations, names, characters or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

- From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

No responsibility or liability is assumed by the Publisher for any injury, damage or financial loss sustained to persons or property from the use of this information, personal or otherwise, either directly or indirectly. While every effort has been made to ensure reliability and accuracy of the information within, all liability, negligence or otherwise, from any use, misuse or abuse of the operation of any methods, strategies, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein, is the sole responsibility of the reader. Any copyrights not held by publisher are owned by their respective authors.

All information is generalized, presented for informational purposes only and presented as is without warranty or guarantee of any kind.

All trademarks and brands referred to in this book are for illustrative purposes only, are the property of their respective owners and not affiliated with this publication in any way. Any trademarks are being used without permission, and the publication of the trademark is not authorized by, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owner.

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Contents

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Volume 1

Home Is Where the Mystery Is

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Volume 2

The Road Less Travelled

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Volume 3

The Real Thief

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Volume 4

Turn Me Over

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Volume 5

The Missing Clue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Volume 6

Losing Your Head

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

More Info

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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Volume One

Home Is Where the Mystery Is

Chapter 1

Misty Hollow. Darcy Sweet had never been here before, but now that she’d seen it, she could only think of one word to describe it.

Lame.

The houses were all picturesque. Wraparound porches. Gabled roofs. Every lawn trimmed to exactly two inches in the midsummer heat. Darcy had seen a couple of apartment complexes, but they were small ones, barely big enough for a dozen apartments each, if that. This place was a long way from the city life she was used to.

Then again, that life hadn’t exactly been kind to her, so what difference did it make to her? None at all.

She was coming here to stay with her Aunt Millicent Carlisle. She didn’t even know her Aunt Millicent. How could she be expected to be happy when no one had even asked her if this was what she wanted? She sighed and leaned her head against the window of her mother’s car. It wasn’t fair.

There were shops here on Main Street, at least. A corner grocery. Mailboxes, Etc. A bakery. A park in the middle of everything with a white painted gazebo. A bookstore.

Well, that was something, at least. At fifteen, Darcy loved to read. Most of her classmates had been into boys, and going to movies, and listening to music, and boys, boys, boys—not necessarily in that order—but Darcy was a reader. Not that she didn’t like boys, or that other stuff. It was just that books didn’t judge you. Books didn’t call you nasty names and try to make you feel embarrassed for being who you were.

Her mother pointed to bookstore. That’s your great aunt’s store.

Darcy looked at the place again. The name on the door was The Easy Reads Bookstore. Stupid name, Darcy thought. This whole place irritated her. Not just this place. Everything. Everything was bothering her today.

Pushing her hands back through her long dark hair, Darcy slumped in her seat and tried to calm down. She was angry. How could her mother just sit there and act like this was any other day? Point out the window and give her a tour? Whatever. She needed to calm down. There wasn’t any changing what had happened. Not for her.

Maybe a new start was just what she needed. Nobody knew her here. She could reinvent herself here. She could be…

Normal.

Well, say something, her mother insisted. And sit up, won’t you?

That was Eileen Sweet’s answer to everything. Act proper. Be a good girl. Sit up, paste a smile on your face and pretend everything was perfect. Darcy could see so much of her own features in her mother when she looked at her. The same heart shaped face. The same eyes. The thing of it was, other than appearances there was nothing about them that was the same. They were as different as two people could be. In every way.

For one thing, Darcy would never consider bringing her own daughter to live with an aunt she’d never met or dump her in a tiny flyspeck of a town like this and forget about her.

For another… Darcy had a sixth sense that her mother could never know anything about. Darcy could see the dead. She could see ghosts.

That gift was what got her sent here, to live alone in a town full of strangers. This was the 1990s, for Pete’s sake. Who even did that?

Life sucked.

You know your father wished he could be here, her mother said, trying to fill the silence as they turned off Main Street and onto a side road that looked like it led right back out of town again. The street sign proclaimed this was Candy Lane. I’m sure he was sorry he missed you.

Darcy scoffed and put one foot up against the dash.

Feet down, please, her mother said sweetly. Look, there’s your great aunt’s house.

With a minimum of interest, Darcy lifted her head. She saw a two-story house with siding the color of gray autumn skies and windows trimmed with white. Front steps lead up to a door with stenciled vines and flowers on it. There was no garage. In the driveway was an older brown station wagon. A bumper sticker on the back said, Honk if you read a book today.

Gray fog hovered above the ground around the bottom of the house. It looked kind of ominous, she thought to herself, even though she couldn’t put a finger on why she felt that way.

She couldn’t ignore the feeling, though. She’d learned to trust her instincts. That was the whole reason for this trip. Her feelings, and her instincts, and the fact that she’d developed a… talent. One that her mother, her father, and even her own sister couldn’t handle.

Darcy felt tears starting and angrily closed her eyes, and kept them closed, until she could open them again without the embarrassment of crying in front of her mother. She wasn’t going to do that again. Ever.

Here we are, her mother said with a cheery smile in her voice. The brakes squealed a little as they parked behind the station wagon. Get your suitcase, okay? The rest of your stuff will get here tomorrow or the next day. Now, your great aunt is an old woman. She’s in her sixties. You have to be good for her, okay? I don’t want to hear from her that you’ve been causing any problems.

You just don’t want to hear anything from me or about me at all, Darcy muttered. She kept her voice down, and if her mother heard what she’d said, she didn’t let on.

From the backseat, she removed her purple suitcase with the rollers on the bottom and the extendable handle. It held most of her clothes and a few important things she couldn’t live without. She was already wearing her special sun and moon earrings, the sun on the right and the moon on the left, although under her long dark hair hardly anyone ever got to see them. Darcy knew they were there. They’d been a gift from her dad and it was a way for her to keep him close. Especially since he never actually showed up for anything that was happening in her life. Like today, for instance.

On the front porch steps her mother rang the doorbell, and they waited.

It didn’t take long for the door to open, but for Darcy it was another eternity of awkward silence between her and her mother. This was what her life had become. Would Misty Hollow be any different?

A woman with a kindly face and a warm smile greeted them at the door. She was definitely older, with gray hair and wrinkles around her eyes and mouth but she had a youthful way about her. Darcy vaguely remembered a picture hanging on a wall in her mother’s house of Millicent, smiling that same smile at the camera. In fact, there was a good chance that she had been wearing the same flowery, purple dress in that picture that she had on right now.

She was shorter than Darcy, and shorter than her mother too, but somehow, she seemed to stand taller than them both as she reached out and drew Eileen into a warm, loving hug. Oh, it’s so good to see you. It’s been too long.

Yeah… I’m sorry about that, Millie.

The way she said it, Darcy was pretty sure she her mother wasn’t sorry at all. In fact, if she wasn’t here to dump Darcy off now, Eileen Sweet most likely wouldn’t have stopped into Misty Hollow for years to come.

Millicent patted Eileen on the shoulders anyway, just happy to see her family. And this must be Darcy. Oh my, she gushed. I haven’t seen you since you were knee high to a grasshopper.

There was something welcoming in Millicent’s voice. Something that made Darcy feel immediately at ease with her. It wasn’t the funny way she had of saying things like knee high to a grasshopper. No, it was more of a feeling that she cared about Darcy and was honestly glad to have her here.

Millicent looked at her intently with eyes that were the same washed-out gray as the house’s siding. Darcy knew she was being weighed and measured, and with a little nod, her aunt came to some kind of decision.

Come on in, the both of you, she said, stepping out of the way and motioning them into a long, narrow kitchen and dining room area. I’ll make us some tea. I’ve got chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. How does that sound?

Darcy’s stomach growled at the very mention of it. The car ride had been almost two hours long and she hadn’t realized she was hungry until this very moment. She opened her mouth to say she’d take one, but her mother was faster.

I can’t stay very long. Sorry. I have to get back home for Darcy’s sister. You remember Grace?

I do, Millicent nodded. Wonderful girl. I hear she’s thinking of going to college to become a teacher?

The pride that came over her mother at the mention of Grace’s future plans sent a twang of jealousy through Darcy. That’s right. Although I don’t know if she’ll stick with it. She’s a smart girl, but I just don’t know if she has the motivation to stick with it. I mean, six years of college just to teach ungrateful brats in high school? I wouldn’t put myself through that, no way.

Darcy set her mouth in a thin line and busied herself with setting her suitcase aside. She took off her gray hoodie and laid it over the case as her mother went on and on about Grace this, and Grace that. She was picking imaginary pieces of fuzz off her tank top when Millicent noticed how left out she was feeling.

Well, Darcy, she said, right in the middle of Eileen’s rambling explanation of how much college was going to cost her. Why don’t I show you up to your room? You can bring your suitcase right up, no need to leave it here at the door like you’re just some sort of guest. How’s that sound? You’re family, after all.

Darcy shrugged. Sounds good, Aunt Millicent. I guess.

The older woman tsked and shook a finger. First of all, it’s Millie. Not Millicent. That’s what’s on my birth certificate, but I like people to call me Millie. Also, I’m a great aunt.

Darcy blinked at her. Um. I’m sure you’re a wonderful aunt. I didn’t mean to… you know…

Millicent laughed. It was the most wonderful laugh that Darcy could ever remember hearing. Of course, there wasn’t a lot of laughter back home in the Sweet house to compare it to, but maybe it would be different here…

Goodness me, no, Millicent chuckled. "I mean I’m a Great Aunt. I’m your grandmother’s sister, which is what you call a great aunt."

Oh. I get it. She couldn’t help but return a smile of her own. Okay. Great Aunt Millie it is.

"I am a great great aunt, though, Millie said with a wink. I mean, it’s right there in the name."

This time, Darcy surprised herself by laughing, too.

From the corner of her eye she saw her mother checking her watch. Well, this is fun and all, but I have to run. You’ll be all right here now, Darcy. She said it as a statement of fact, and not a question. If you need me you know how to call me, right? Okay. I have to get going. Good to see you again, Aunt Millie. Love you. Darcy. I’ll check in on you tonight. Bye, now.

She was a whirlwind on her way out, in such a hurry to leave that Darcy was pretty sure her feet never touched the front steps on her way to the driveway. Her car started up a few seconds later, and then she was gone.

Leaving Darcy Sweet to start her new life.

Well, Great Aunt Millie said after a moment. That was short and sweet. I suppose, all things considered, we should think about getting ourselves some lunch.

Right. Sweet, Darcy parroted. Just like their family name. She wasn’t sure ‘sweet’ was the right word to describe dumping your daughter off with some random family member.

Not that Millie seemed all that bad. She seemed like she’d be kind of fun, actually.

Chapter 2

Darcy sat on the bed in the upstairs guestroom and fisted her hands in her lap. She told herself, over and over, not to get her hopes up. This was an exile, plain and simple.

She could see ghosts. She wasn’t crazy, but she wasn’t normal either. If her own mother couldn’t handle who she was, then what was an aunt—even a great one—supposed to do for her?

Knock, knock, she heard Millie saying. She was at the door suddenly, or maybe she’d been there the whole time and Darcy just hadn’t noticed, all wrapped up in her own thoughts like she was. Hungry yet, dear?

Actually, Darcy was starving. She had thought that with everything going on today food would be the last thing on her mind, but it turned out that her body wasn’t going to stop even if her world was crashing down around her.

In fact, at that moment her stomach let out a loud grumbling at the very thought of lunch, making it impossible for her to lie and say she just wanted to stay here.

I suppose some food would be nice, she shrugged.

Wonderful! Great Aunt Millie said, actually clapping with glee. "Come on downstairs and we’ll hop in my car. No need to change. You’re fine just the way you are. In fact, I feel a bit overdone myself in this dress. But, you know what