The Language of Death (A Darcy Sweet Coy Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wonderfully absent Jon Tinker.
    Wonderful and absent, she meant…
    This wasn't helping.
    Getting up out of the chair she began pacing the distance of the small room, the dark blue rug making soft noises with each step.  She forced herself to think.  Suspects.  Who had killed Chloe?
    There were already plenty of people to look at.  First, Darcy did not suspect either Chloe's mother or father.  She had seen the pain in their eyes.  They were grieving for the loss of a daughter, and Darcy had recognized a similar look on her own face at the loss of such a good friend as Chloe.  Betsy and Kevin had been caught off guard just like Darcy had.  They didn't do it.
    There were still the friends who had been gathered in the Marrin house this afternoon.  Could one of them have been involved?
    Some of them certainly made good suspects in Darcy's eyes.  It would be nice if her gift allowed her to look at someone and see their sins.  Unfortunately it didn't work that way. 
    There was that one technique that allowed her to see figurative, ghostly b lood on someone's hands when they had hurt someone else, but Darcy doubted she would be able to convince everyone to let her hold their hands and perform a paranormal ritual on them.
    "Hi," she imagined herself saying.  "My name is Darcy Sweet and I'm here to accuse you all of murder.  Now.  Let's hold hands."
    Darcy snorted.  Sure.  That woul d go over like a ton of bricks.  Veronica already looked at her as a meddling outsider.  There was a reason she kept her abilities to herself.  Very few people could keep from looking at her as a weirdo when she let them in on her secret.  She hadn't even told Chloe everything about them.  Just the basics of it all.  Just enough, apparently, so that in the afterlife Chloe knew to seek her out for help.
    So, that left good old fashioned investigating, if she was going to find Chloe's killer.
    Start with what you know, she reminded herself.  Chloe had overdosed on epilepsy medication.  Did Chloe have a medical condition?  Was the medication hers?  If not, where had she gotten it?  She wrote these questions in a mental notepad, then turned to her list of suspects.
    Veronic a Theissen.  Like that actress Tiffani Theissen.  Veronica even looked a little like her, come to think of it, except for the excessive jewelry and makeup.  Veronica had been the one to find Chloe.  She sort of had an alibi, if Darcy could just talk to someone at this Hoot Owl bar to verify it.  Or bust it.  Veronica had been very cold and aloof, too, and certainly hostile toward Darcy.  She wasn't quite convinced that all of that had been because of how upset the woman was.  On the other hand, Lorne had said that Veronica was Chloe's best friend here in Smithsville.  Good friends didn't usually kill each other.  Hm.
    Then there was Sami Wilmer.  She'd been in the room with the others but had hardly spoken.  She'd seemed friendly, if a little shy.  No one had quite mentioned what her connection to Chloe had been.  Another friend, probably.  So really, there wasn't a whole lot to go on with her.  Darcy wasn't ready to cross anyone off the list, though.
    Danson Sommers.  Veronica's fiancé and Lorne's brother.  He'd been smug and abrasive, and it had been obvious he was only there because Veronica was.  Drop dead gorgeous, the kind of guy who was used to people paying attention to him.  Probably would have been around Chloe a lot, too, since his fiancé and Chloe had been such good friends.  She'd have to talk with him at some point and find out what he knew.
    So.   Lots to do, and nowhere specific to start.  Well, that wasn't quite true, she supposed.  Normal investigative police-type sleuthing was all well and good, and this was where having Jon with her really would have helped.  Not to mention it would be nice to have someone to hold her and comfort her tomorrow at Chloe's services.  But.  Jon wasn't here.  She'd have to do the