K.J. Emrick - Darcy Sweet 12 - Death at the Wheel Read Free

go back into the bookstore…”  His voice trailed off as he turned to see the damage to her shop.  “Well.  I guess I know what we’ll be doing later.”
    “No.  Izzy and I can take care of the bookstore.  You’re needed right here.  Uh, I talked to the guy sitting over there with Mark, too.  I guess that will be important?”
    “Probably.   Hold on.”
    The fire department arrived, one big red engine and two ambulances.  As Darcy and Jon watched, the volunteers in their yellow turn-out gear and black helmets rushed up to the cars.  One of them went up to the open front passenger door on the blue car.
    In the passenger seat, just like in her vision, Darcy saw the red-headed woman slumped forward, against the deflated airbag.  A flash of light sparked off a necklace she was wearing around her neck with a little silver ring at its end.  Blood smeared across her cheeks.  There was a glimpse of the driver, a man, but that was all Darcy could see.
    Jon stoically watched everything as it unfolded.  The injured man whose memory Darcy had seen was loaded onto a stretcher with a neck brace and loaded into an ambulance.  The squad members checked out the two still in the car.  The uniformed officers of the Misty Hollow Police Department went about their jobs.
    “What did the guy tell you?” Jon asked when Darcy forgot to move away from the scene.
    “Oh.  Um.  He asked me to help the woman in the car.  The redhead.  Her name is Lindsay.  And, uh…oh right.  He said they were coming into town when the other car hit them.”
    Jon looked down at her, one eyebrow arched.  “That was how he said it?  The other car hit them?”
    Darcy concentrated.  Everything had been so crazy.  “Actually, no.  He said they were all in the same car, coming into town, and then…I guess he never actually said what happened.”
    Jon didn’t make fun of her for the slip.  He’d talked to her before about how police officers expected witnesses to mix up what they saw and heard at traumatic scenes like this one.  It was human nature.  Even so, Darcy was still embarrassed.  She wouldn’t be much help to him if she started assuming things.
    “But he did say they were all in the same car?” he asked her.
    “Yes.  That part I’m sure of.”  There.  That made her feel a little better.
    “Okay.  When you get your store taken care of come find me at the station and I’ll take a written statement from you.”
    A commotion over at the edge of the gathered crowd drew their attention.  A man with a blue baseball cap sitting backward on his head lifted a bulky news camera onto his shoulder.  A tall brunette in a long beige coat stood in front of the camera, a microphone held in one hand, narrating with the accident scene behind her.  Darcy would recognize the woman with her pixie haircut anywhere.  Brianna Watson, reporter for the Ryansburg Chronicle newspaper.
    “When did the news get here?” Jon asked, annoyed.
    “When did she start doing television news?” was what Darcy wanted to know.
    “She got a spot on the local channel a few weeks back.  Obviously she’s trying to move up in the world.”  He smiled a little grudgingly.  “ There’s certainly enough stories in this town to report on, right?”
    Before she could say anything another detective in a plain brown suit came up to them.   Wilson Barton, former night shift officer for the Department and recently promoted to detective.  He was a young man, with eyes that were too old and too serious.  The way he had his blonde hair buzzed so severely short made him look even older.  He knew he had a lot to prove, though, being basically promoted to replace Darcy’s sister.  Grace was on forced medical leave now as she was about to give birth to her first child.  Wilson was Jon’s new partner.  At least for now.
    “Jon.  Darcy,” he greeted them with a nod.  He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. 
    “Will,” Jon returned the