“All right. It looks like everything is moving right along here. Things should be good for tomorrow. I’ve got to just check in with the mayor and then we can go and get that pizza. Shouldn’t take long.”
“Sure.” Darcy shook her head doubtfully. “Because Andy Blanchard is known for being brief and to the point.”
“Our mayor is known for a lot of things.” Jon’s snort echoed her own thoughts. “But being brief is not one of them.”
Or for being reasonable either, Darcy almost added out loud. She and the town’s current mayor had crossed paths several times in the past. Most of those hadn’t ended well. She found him to be a very disagreeable man, although that was putting it lightly. She had other phrases that fit the man’s personality better, but she was trying her best not to slip and say them out loud when Zane was right here with them. She didn’t want him picking up those words until he was much, much older.
“Mom?” Zane said to her suddenly, “what’s that word mean?”
For a moment she thought she’d slipped and actually called Andy something bad out loud, but it turned out her son was pointing at one of the many banners hung up throughout the park. Some of them were huge, hanging up between two poles, colorfully declaring the “Semiquincentennial Celebration!” this weekend. Some smaller ones were tacked to the tops of many of the booths being constructed by the horde of busy workers. Everywhere you looked, there they were. That might just account for the entire town budget right there.
“It says ‘semi-quin-centennial,” Darcy told him, drawing out the pronunciation of each part. “It’s a fancy word for a 250th birthday. The town of Misty Hollow is that old this year. Can you believe it?”
“Semiquintosential?” Zane tried.
“Semiquincentennial,” Darcy said again.
“Semi-quemi-senti-mental?
“Close,” Jon told him. “It’s semi-quin-cen-tenn-ial.”
Zane scrunched up his whole face before shouting out, “Semi-chemi-tenni-gal!”
Darcy laughed out loud. “Yeah, kiddo. That’s close enough. Just think of it this way. The town is really old.”
Her son’s eyebrows drew themselves together. “So, we’re all really old?”
Jon ruffled his son’s unruly hair. “No, kiddo. You’re still really young. It’s just the town that’s old.”
“Whew. That’s good. I don’t want to be old yet.”
“Nope,” his father agreed. “Me either, but here I am.”
Zane looked at him funny. “You’re not old, Daddy. You’re just Daddy.”
“Thanks, kiddo. That means a lot.”
“Welcome!” Reaching up, he took his father’s hand and started swinging it back and forth as he sang, “Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us!”
Darcy clapped. “Now you got it. Happy birthday to us!”
They made a circuit around the park, using the gazebo in the center as a compass point to guide them through the construction and flurry of activity in what was usually an open space. They were almost back to where they started before they found Mayor Andy Blanchard. He was standing with a group that included several of the town board members…and the local business owners.
Jon huffed a breath. “Hmm. Looks like an impromptu town meeting.”
Darcy felt the muscles at the back of her neck twitch. Something wasn’t right here. “Funny. Last I checked, I was a business owner in Misty Hollow, too. Wonder why I wasn’t invited to join whatever it is they’re doing?”
“Oh, I think we both know the answer to that,” Jon said with a twist of his lips.
She frowned, but he was right.
Andy resented her, and the way she constantly called him to task for the bad decisions he made. She might be the owner of the town’s only book store—still a big draw for the tourists—but that wouldn’t matter to him. All that mattered was that he didn’t like her. Come to think of it he didn’t like Jon, either. He’d tried to replace Jon as the chief of police once already, only to have it backfire in his face.
Darcy tried not to be annoyed when she noticed Kelsi Roberts, the owner of the town’s artisan craft shop, and Belson Mathers, the owner of the camping goods store, were in the group. She considered them to be friends, but she supposed she couldn’t blame them if the mayor asked them to be here. If the town board had come to her with a business opportunity she thought could help her store, she would want to at least listen to it, too.
Although, that didn’t explain why Kelsi and Belson and some of the others wouldn’t meet her eyes as they got close.
Mayor Blanchard sniffed. “Er, good to see you, Chief Tinker.” The way he said it made it obvious it was anything but. “So. Have you completed your walkthrough of our preparations? There’s no splinters or anything that could hurt anyone?”
Darcy saw the way Jon’s lips tightened. He was careful not to let the mayor see how annoyed he was, but Darcy could tell.
“Splinters aren’t really my concern, Mister Mayor.” From somewhere, Jon managed to pull out a smile. “But everything looks up to code and my officers will be here Saturday and Sunday to provide security for the event just like you asked. So…what’s going on here?”
The mayor’s face flushed red. The sudden color made his thin, mousy-brown mustache stand out all the more. He swung a finger up to point it in Jon’s direction. “That’s not your concern either, Chief Tinker! This is just…just more splinters as far as you’re concerned. Which is to say, it’s none of your concern!”
Andy was a thin man, bordering on scrawny, and even when he was angry it was hard to be intimidated by him. Darcy thought that might just be the lamest comeback in the history of the world, but it made his point. Whatever they were doing, it was a secret.
She absolutely hated secrets. Here in Misty Hollow, secrets usually got people killed.
Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case this time.
To read more about it and to preorder your copy please click the link below:
The Promise of Murder
