The Language of Death (A Darcy Sweet Coy Mystery) (8 page)

Darcy had heard this story before, from Chloe, and she remembered the ending.  Chloe had fallen and scraped her knee up to the point that her mother had brought her to the hospital to get the bleeding to stop.  Then, wh
en they got home, Chloe had gone right back to that same tree and started climbing it again.  This time, she made it up into the branches.

Behind Chloe's mother, a
figure appeared.  Darcy shook her head with a smile.  She knew no one else would be able to see Chloe, standing close to Betsy, smiling at her mom, imitating what it looked like to climb the branches of that tree so long ago.  And then, what it looked like to fall down.

An abrupt laugh escaped Darcy's lips, but thankfully it was a part of the story where everyone laughed out loud anyway.  It was
so good to hear the sound ring off the high church roof.  It made Darcy's heart a little lighter.

Crying
even as she smiled, Chloe's mother sat back down next to her husband.  Others came up, one at a time, to tell a little story or share an interesting fact or just remember Chloe as she had been in life.  Behind them all, treating the altar like her stage, Chloe acted out each story for the benefit of her audience of one. 

Darcy put her hand up over
her mouth at one point to hide her smile, as Chloe tried to take a note card out of one woman's hands, pointing at it like the details were all wrong.  Another time, Darcy had to turn a chuckle into a cough as Chloe began dancing and spinning and jumping around a man, a neighbor, talking about how Chloe used to listen to this horrible alternative rock music that he absolutely hated.

"I realize now," the man said,
"that the music I hated so much was beautiful in its own way.  Just like Chloe."

Chloe stuck her tongue out at him, bent over at the waist, eyes tightly shut.
  It was a blatant raspberry she was giving the man, right here in church, in the middle of her own funeral service.

Darcy dug her fingers hard into her thigh, bunching her ankle-length black dress, to keep from howling with laughter.  This was the Chloe she remembered. 
This amazing woman who could sparkle under the worst of situations.

Chloe came over to where Darcy sat, pretending
now to sit on Darcy's lap.  Then she stuck her tongue out at Darcy.  Then when Darcy continued to ignore her, she played peek-a-boo with her hands over her face.

"Stop it," Darcy
finally hissed. 

Lorne turned to her, with a lifted eyebrow.  "What did you say?" he whispered.

Oh, for Pete's sake, she thought to herself.  "I, uh, was wondering if you were going to say anything?"

"I am," he said.  "But I want to go last."

Chloe stopped her antics and stared at Lorne, her eyes suddenly hollow and dark.  The irreverent smile she had been flashing evaporated.  She turned to Darcy, a helpless expression on her face.  "Tell him," she mouthed.  "Please."

Darcy didn't have to ask what her friend meant.  "Lorne," she said to him.  "You know Chloe loved you, right?"

He looked surprised.  "I know.  I know she did.  Did she…talk about me, or something?  I mean, I know she loved me.  I loved her, too.  Did she tell you something?"

How
was she going to answer that one, she wondered.  As she tried to form some kind of explanation that didn't involve her talking to his dead fiancé at a funeral service, the priest stood up again.  "Does anyone else wish to say anything for Chloe?"

Lorne took that as his cue, forgetting his question and Darcy's lack of an answer.  He stood, going up to the podium, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.

Chloe sat down in Lorne's place.  Her transparent hand reached out and touched Darcy's.  The feel of it was cold and tingly but she didn't draw her hand away.

With a deep breath, Lorne began.  "Chloe was the love of my life.  We had known each other since college, me and her and Darcy Sweet who has come all this way to say goodbye to our dear friend. 
We had gotten very close recently.  Very close.  Chloe and I had decided to marry, shortly before her…death."

That brought quiet gasps and whispered comments.  Darcy saw the look of sad surprise on the faces of Chloe's mother and father. 
Danson shook his head like his brother had been about to make the biggest mistake of his life.  Veronica teared up, touching at her eyes dramatically with the corner of a white handkerchief.  Sami sat staring straight ahead, her face impossible to read.             

Each of those was interesting, and full of potential meaning.  Darcy wondered what her own expression said about her.

"I promised her that I would always take care of her," Lorne said to everyone, scanning the crowd but looking especially at Veronica and Sami.  "I feel like I've let her down.  But I won't forget her.  I will never forget her."

There wasn't a sound in the entire church.  Everyone sat very still, listening to Lorne declare his love for Chloe. 
A love that could never be returned.

Except, Darcy knew better.
  Next to her, in a seat meant for the living, Chloe put her hands up over her face, her transparent eyes bright.  Sometimes, when a spirit's force was especially strong, Darcy could hear them loud and clear.

She heard when Chloe said to Lorne, "I will love you
.  Forever."

***

After a somber burial service where Chloe nearly made Darcy crack up laughing as she stood next to the priest, imitating every movement, people were invited back to Betsy and Kevin's house to share some refreshments.  Most people declined, saying their goodbyes and giving their condolences on the way out of the cemetery.  Under the shade of a spreading elm tree, Chloe had been laid to her final rest.

Except that her spirit still roamed restlessly among the people who did come to the house.  She walked around them and in front of them, completely unnoticed.  Sometimes right through them with nothing more serious than maybe a shiver on the part of the living.

Darcy lost sight of Chloe several times, but that was all right.  She couldn't talk to Lorne yet about what she had found out, such as it was, not until they were alone.  She felt like that had to be her next step.  She couldn't exactly tell him that she'd talked to Chloe's spirit, but she'd decided to tell him she'd heard the phrase "north and south" or seen it written in Betsy's house somewhere, and ask if it meant anything to him.

Making the rounds of the
Marrin house, amazed that she couldn't immediately find Lorne inside this small house somewhere, she wandered up the stairs to the second floor, thinking maybe some of the gathering had drifted up here.  The second floor was empty, however, the bedroom doors all closed, the hallway full of things all neatly arranged.  A stack of books in one corner momentarily drew her attention and she went over to read the titles on their hardcover spines.

One of the doors opened
suddenly in front of her and Sami stepped out, her makeup streaked on her face behind her glasses.  Her black dress was cut a little too low to be proper for the occasion, Darcy thought, but it wasn't her place to judge.

"Oh," Sami said, hastily shutting the door behind her.  Darcy caught a quick glimpse of a bed with a fluffy purple comforter
similar to the one from her vision.  That had been Chloe's room when she had lived at home.  Darcy fondly remembered that purple had been Chloe’s favorite color.  "Sorry, I was looking for a place to be alone."

"Not a problem," Darcy said, totally understanding.  "It's an emotional day for everyone."

Sami nodded, another tear spilling over her cheek.  "Especially for Lorne.  I can't imagine what he's going through.  I told him earlier that I was around if he needed me."

Darcy heard the extra meaning in those words.  Apparently Chloe hadn't been the only one carrying a torch for Lorne.  Sami fiddled with her fingers,
then smoothed down the front of her dress, looking nervous.  "Darcy, could you do me a favor?" she finally asked.

"Um.
  Sure, if I can."  Darcy reminded herself that Sami was still a suspect, still a potential murderer, but the woman seemed so vulnerable right now it was hard to imagine she had done anything except hold a secret crush on a guy who was already spoken for.  Besides, this was a great opportunity to find out any information she could.  "Tell me what you need.  We were all Chloe’s friends.  We should help each other out any way we can, right?"

Sami seemed to brighten when she heard that. 
"Right.  That's right.  Veronica didn't seem to think so, but we were all friends of Chloe's.  She didn't seem to think anyone else had any right to Chloe but her.  I always felt like I was intruding on their girl's night out, like Veronica wanted to keep Chloe all to herself…" 

She caught herself, her mouth in a little round circle.  "Oh. 
Um.  That's not what I meant to say.  You knew Lorne back in college.  Could you…I mean, if you think the timing is right could you…"  She stopped, then started again in a rush.  "Could you let him know that he doesn't have to give up on life?  He doesn't need to be alone.  Let him know that Chloe wasn't the only one willing to share her life with him."

Darcy didn't know what to say, so she just nodded her head, not really committing to anything, not saying yes or no.  Sami took it as a yes, though, and gave Darcy a quick hug before scurrying off down the stairs.

***

Darcy considered whether she should tell Lorne about her encounter with Sami. 
She had to find him, first, and sharing what she'd found out about Chloe's death had to come before anything else.  Taking a small plate of crackers and cheese she mingled around from living room to kitchen and then down to the room where the washer and dryer stood silently amid a group of chatting people.  Where was he?  On her way back she finally spotted him talking with Betsy and Kevin.  Catching his eye, she motioned for him to come outside with her.

Two steps towards the door, she stopped.  She still had the stupid plate
of snack foods in her hand.  The living room was packed with people, and she didn't see anywhere to put the plate, so she brought it with her out to the kitchen while Lorne slipped outside.  He nodded as he left, letting her know that he'd wait for her.

In the kitchen, she dumped her untouched food into the garbage bin and went to leave her plate in the sink. 
For the moment, everyone had drifted away from this room to join conversations elsewhere.  She almost ran into Danson, standing by the sink, pouring himself a cup of water from the tap.  He'd put on a gray suitcoat for the service, without a tie, his white shirt undone at the collar.  They stood staring at each other for a few seconds, and then Danson tossed two pills from the palm of his hand into his mouth and chased them down with the water.

Darcy's eyes went wide. 
Pills?  Could those be…

He must have seen the expression on her face.  "No.  I know what you're thinking and Chloe's mother already asked me."  He smiled and pulled a small pill bottle from his pocket to show her.  "
I have bipolar disorder.  I take medication so that I don't lash out at people from out of town that stand around staring at me.  See?  Bipolar medication.  There.  Now you know my little secret.  The medication keeps it in check but if I ever sound like I'm about to take your head off one second and the next I'm asking you out on a date, that's why."

When she continued to stare, he added, "Don't worry.  I'm more likely to take off your head than ask you for a date.
  I'm engaged, after all.  Guess little brother Lorne was, too.  It's too bad his ended this way."  He didn't sound at all like he thought it was too bad, but he added, "I liked Chloe.  She was good people."

Darcy relaxed.  Of course it wasn't epilepsy medication.  No one would be stupid enough to show off the murder weapon in a house full of people.  "Sorry, I guess I'm just on edge," she told him.

He shrugged.  "No worries.  Like I said, I've already been grilled about my pills.  Nobody who knows me thinks I'd be stupid enough to let Chloe get ahold of them.  I don't let them out of my sight.  This is pretty strong stuff.  I don't want them to end up in the wrong hands."  Taller than her by half a foot or more, he squinted down at her.  "I wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea."

"Uh, right," Darcy said, putting her plate down quickly on the sink and hurrying out.

***

"Lorne, let me ask you something," she said
as she caught up to him on the front lawn.  They were the only ones out there, except for a man and a woman sharing a cigarette over by the driveway.  "Does the phrase 'north and south' mean anything to you?"

He thought about it.  "The Civil War, maybe. 
Nothing else.  Why?"

That was definitely disappointing, but she had expected exactly that answer.  "Oh
, I saw it inside Betsy's house," she lied.  "I thought it might have meant something to Chloe.  That's all.  That was a nice speech you gave at the service."

"Thanks.  I meant it, you know.  I'll never forget about her, and I won't stop until I know who killed her.  Have you found anything out?"

She shook her head helplessly.  "I thought I had, but maybe I was wrong.  Not that there isn't lots of secrets to learn about people you've only just met."