This scene takes place in A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery – Book 1 – Death Comes to Town.
“Go ahead. I’ll wait for you here.”
“You’re going to have to meet the rest of the town sometime, Detective Tinker.” That was something like the third time Grace had told him this, and even though he knew she was right, he was still more comfortable waiting out here by the patrol car.
Grace Wentworth, detective for the Misty Hollow Police Department and his new partner, rolled her eyes at him. When she shook her head her long dark hair bounced. She was a good looking woman, even in those pantsuits she wore to work. Her husband was a lucky man, if he’d figured out what was under Grace’s gruff exterior.
Jon hadn’t known Grace for long. He’d only been working here in Misty Hollow a few weeks officially. Transferring to a small town department wasn’t really his dream job but the promotion to detective was a definite incentive. Plus he kind of felt like he needed a rest from the crazy things that had become his daily routine in the big city. The life of a police officer was never dull, but he was looking for a little less excitement. Misty Hollow seemed like just the place.
With another grumbled comment Grace went off to get their coffee from the town’s bakery-slash-deli. No Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts here. Not much of anything here, really. Library. Flower shop. Hardware store. There was a bookstore up the street and he’d been meaning to check it out but something more important had always come up. The Sweet Life bookstore, or something like that. Maybe later today he could stop in.
“Excuse me, sir?”
An elderly woman, white hair in a bun pinned back with a broach the same color as her dark dress, had approached him on the sidewalk. She smiled, and her pale blue eyes searched his. Jon pushed away from where he’d been leaning on the black and white police car. “Yes, ma’am. What can I do for you?”
“Are you the new detective in town?” she asked. “I’m Cora Morton. So nice to meet you.”
She held out a hand, and Jon took it. Guess this was what Grace meant by meeting the locals. Where he worked before, no one had ever come over just to shake his hand in greeting. Small town charm, he thought, as Cora started telling her all about her son, the firefighter, over in Stone Hill.
After Cora had squeezed a few details of his life out of him, she’d left Jon alone again and gone on her way. He checked his watch. Grace had been gone for about ten minutes. How long did it take to get coffee?
Leaning back against the car again he looked back up the street. There she was. She had two large cups of coffee in Styrofoam to-go cups—thank God—and she was walking with someone, chatting up a small storm.
The woman with her was a few years younger, maybe, with a heart shaped face and long hair even darker than Grace’s. She was slender, and pretty, and Jon could see the resemblance between the two of them immediately. Sisters or cousins, he was sure of it.
They really didn’t have time for this. He sighed, and folded his arms across his chest, and waited. Nothing else he could do.
He took the cups of coffee from Grace as she handed them over. “Jon,” she said, “this is my sister, Darcy Sweet.”
He noticed again how pretty she was. Hmm. Maybe they had a few minutes. He inclined his head to her, wondering if he could come up with something witty to say, or if he should even try. There wasn’t a wedding band on her hand. At least, he didn’t think that artistic silver ring was a wedding band. Sure didn’t look like one and it was on her right hand anyway.
“Darcy,” Grace continued, “this is my new partner, Jon Tinker.” Grace had to nudge her sister in the ribs as she stood there, staring. What was she looking at, he wondered?
“Hi,” she finally said. “Hi, um…Jon. How are you?”
Okay, so not the most articulate of girls. Still, she was Grace’s sister so Jon knew he’d best make nice. Putting the coffees in their cardboard drink tray on the roof of the patrol car he took Darcy’s offered hand and shook—
Wow. Little tingles crawled on his fingers. Electric. Must be a static shock, or something. He dropped his hand away, rubbing his fingers together.
Needing something to do with his hands he took one of the cups from the tray carrier and thanked Grace for getting it and took a sip. They really needed to go, anyway. Besides, he probably wouldn’t be seeing Miss Darcy Sweet a whole lot, anyway.
“So, Jon,” Darcy was saying to him. “What do you think of our town?”
“The town’s okay,” he said, honestly enough. He couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice when he added, “And all this mist doesn’t bother me at all.”
He turned away with another sip of his coffee. He’d never seen a place so thick with ground fog, or mist, or whatever it was, as this town here. It really had earned the name Misty Hollow. It was kind of creepy, really. Anyway, they had work to do. He took another sip of his coffee, wondering if he was going to be driving or if Grace was. She knew the town better. She also was the one who always wanted to be in charge.
Darcy wasn’t done talking yet, apparently. She sounded upset. “Well, I guess that’s great then that you love the mist so much.” What was she so mad at?
“I’ll see you later,” she said to Grace. “I’ve got to get to the book shop.”
When they got into the patrol car, finally, he drank more of the coffee. Grace drove, just like he figured. “Your sister works at the bookstore?” he asked.
“No. She owns it.” She watched him out of the corner of her eye, expecting some sort of reaction.
He managed to keep his face neutral, but on the inside he was thinking maybe he really would take the time to check out the bookstore, after all.
Death Comes to Town is the first book in the Darcy Sweet Mysteries and is free on Amazon, iTunes, B&N and Kobo and several smaller retailers.
