14 Christmas Spirit Read Online Free PDF Page B

address on Lavine Street.  That was one of the nicer residential areas in town.
    "Do you know either of them?" Darcy asked.
    "No."  Jon was turning another page.  "I don't recognize either name.
    "I wonder if Grace knows them?"
    "Worth asking," Jon muttered, still reading.  Darcy knew that his trained police eye would pick out more details than she could ever hope to.  "Hm.  Megan isn't from Misty Hollow.  She's originally from Cider Hill."
    "Izzy's home town?  Well.  What are the chances of that, do you suppose?" 
    Jon shrugged.  Their next door neighbor Izzy and the missing girl, both from the same town.  Coincidences did happen, his shrug said.  "Everyone has to be from somewhere.  It might be worth talking to Izzy, too.  Maybe she knows the family or might know something about Megan, even."
    "You mean other than how her ghost likes to hop into movies."  Darcy's attempt at sarcasm fell flat.  Her good friend Isabelle McIntosh—Izzy—worked at her bookstore with her.  She had escaped an abusive relationship and left Cider Hill to go into hiding here in Misty Hollow.  She was finally fitting into town, with her daughter Lilly, and the thought of reminding them about their former life didn't make Darcy very happy.  Jon was right, though.  They would have to follow up every lead they could.  Izzy would understand, and hopefully be eager to help.
    "So why did Blair wait a week before she reported Megan missing?" Darcy asked.
    Jon flipped a page in the report.  "Good question."
    "I pick up a few things by living with a police detective."
    "Is that so?" Jon asked her, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile.  "Like what?"
    "Like how to kiss the right way.  Turns out police detectives are really good kissers."
    He sat up a little straighter and now his smile touched his eyes.  Darcy had meant what she said.  Jon was the best by far out of any man she had ever kissed.  It made her feel good to know she could still boost his ego in little ways like that.
    "It says here," Jon told her, "that Megan was gone for a few days.  Blair expected her to come back by Thursday at the latest, and when she didn't, she called us.  That's not unreasonable, I guess."
    "As long as you're willing to accept that her girlfriend wasn't worried about not hearing from her in all that time."
    "Which I'm not ready to accept."
    "Me either," Darcy agreed.  "That's suspicious in my book."
    "Ah, the team of Darcy Sweet and Detective Jon Tinker," they heard Chief Daleson say.  "Nice to see you two hard at it already."
    The Chief was just coming in through the door from the lobby, wearing black slacks and a crisp white dress shirt over his burly physique, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.  That was as close to weekend casual as Joe got.  His balding head had recently been shaved tight to his scalp, and in a way he reminded Darcy a lot of a squat Jason Statham.
    "Hi, Joe," Darcy greeted him.  "We only just got here ourselves.  Has anyone interviewed the girlfriend yet?"
    He smiled at her in a fatherly way as he took a chair from another part of the room and joined them at Jon's desk.  "No, not yet.  We only got this call in yesterday, and I wanted the first person who spoke to her to be the detective on the case.  You know, Miss Sweet, I really should put you on the payroll here.  You think just like a cop sometimes."
    "No, she doesn't Chief," Jon argued.  "She outthinks me, most times."
    Joe chuckled and Darcy rolled her eyes at Jon.  "Well," she said, "when you run the place then you can hire me.  How's that sound?"
    "You've got a deal," Jon told her without hesitation.
    Joe was oddly silent for a moment, then he reached over to point at the open folder in front of Jon.  "We get requests to check on people's welfare all the time.  We get lover's quarrels, too, where the boyfriend, or I guess girlfriend in this case, disappears.  Usually it's nothing more than someone who wants to break up and isn't brave