1 Death Comes to Town Read Online Free

as she pretended to listen to Sue she could see that Millie was floating towards one particular book shelf. Sue couldn’t see Darcy’s Great-Aunt standing there, of course. No one else would be able to. Darcy watched intently as the flickering ghostly image put out an ethereal hand to knock a book to the floor before quickly disappearing.
    Sue jumped and turned her stool in the direction of the sound. Darcy let her go over and pick the book off the floor, acting like she hadn’t even noticed. Her gift had led her to many wonderful discoveries. It had also made her the object of ridicule on more than one occasion. Sometimes the play-acting made things easier.
    “How odd.” Sue turned the book over in her hands. “Say isn’t this the book you were reading in the book club?” She held the book out for Darcy to see. It was, indeed, a copy of “And Then There Were None.” Darcy couldn’t hold back another shiver. Definitely odd. Was Millie being playful…or was there a message here?
    “What made this book fall to the floor I wonder?” Sue said as she looked all around her before shoving the book back into its slot on the shelf. “Oh well.  Gravity’s working, I guess.” She shrugged, then came back over to where Darcy was without giving the book another thought and went back to gushing on about the festival.
    Maybe that story deserved a closer look.
     

Chapter Three
     
    The next afternoon Darcy walked into town to attend the anniversary festival that was being held in the town square. She was looking forward to getting out and mingling with the other townsfolk. The weather was mainly fine. The mist still clung to the shadows and the tops of the trees but even that couldn’t dampen Darcy’s enjoyment of the day. As she walked along Main Street she admired the colorful streamers that were hanging between the buildings in decoration.
    She hadn’t gotten around to perusing the book Great-Aunt Millie had practically tossed at her feet. There hadn’t been a good time while Sue was there and then it was time to go home and, well, time got away from her as it all too often did. There had been no dreams last night, either. For now everything in her life was normal. She was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
    Darcy spotted her sister Grace just up ahead and hurried to catch up with her. “Hi Sis. Doesn’t the town look great?”
    Grace smiled at her. “Yes, they really outdid themselves this year. How are you feeling? You, uh, kind of snapped at Jon yesterday. Still having bad dreams?”
    Darcy smiled back at her and shrugged. Grace thought she’d been rude to Jon? Had she not been listening to the man at all? “No, no more dreams,” she said, leaving it at that.
    Grace nodded. She was dressed down today, taking a rare day off from her job. Jeans and a dark red blousy top. Darcy was wearing jeans, too, but somehow Grace’s backside always looked better in jeans than Darcy’s did. It wasn’t fair.
    As they walked along together weaving in and out of revellers they waved and said hello to several people. Many of the shopkeepers had stalls out in front of their shops along Main Street, displaying their wares for all to see.
    Darcy had a couple of high school girls working the book store’s stall so that she was free to attend the festival. She didn’t think it would be very busy there. Business had slacked off with the growing popularity of e-readers. She didn’t want to tell Grace, but it was getting harder and harder to make ends meet with the store’s dwindling revenue. There might come a time when she’d have to consider selling the shop. She didn’t know what Great-Aunt Millie would think of that.
    Darcy and Grace walked around and looked at all of the stalls and the afternoon passed fairly swiftly. “My feet are killing me,” Grace said. “Why don’t we go and sit in the Gazebo for a while?”
    “Okay, I could do with a rest,” Darcy said with a laugh. But before they could make it to