2 Mists of the Past by K.J. Emrick

arms behind his back. He took out his handcuffs from their case on his belt and had Robbie’s hands secured in only a few seconds.
    As Jon pulled Robbie to his feet, Darcy felt something rub up against her legs and looked down to find Smudge at her feet. He meowed, a self-satisfied cat smile on his face. She bent down and scratched between his ears. Smudge purred as he leaned into her attentions. “Good job, Smudge,” she told him.
    After all, it wasn’t every day her cat caught the bad guy.
     

Chapter Fifteen
     
    Back at the police station, Darcy, Jon, and Grace were sitting around Jon’s desk while he filled Grace in on what had happened. Grace had heard the call for backup come in across the police scanner, and she just knew her sister would be at the heart of it all. Turned out, she was right.
    “Robbie gave a full confession for both murders after we brought him in,” Jon was explaining. Darcy knew how relieved he was, even if he was trying not to show it. He’d been proven right after all this time. His friend Kyle hadn’t overdosed. It had been a homicide after all, meant to cover up the first murder of Emily Ayers.
    He smiled over at Darcy before continuing as if he could hear her thoughts. “Robbie had been dating Emily in college and when she broke up with him he got so mad that he ended up killing her in his rage.”
    Darcy wondered at the matter-of-fact way he could say that. For a police officer, this must all seem routine. For her, it was a tragic thing that a woman should lose her life because she didn’t want to be with a man anymore and he couldn’t deal with it.
    “So,” Grace said, trying to understand the story Jon had laid out for once already, “Robbie found out that your friend Kyle was investigating him for Emily’s murder, so he decided to put an end to Kyle’s investigation.”
    “Exactly,” Jon said. “He wanted to throw off suspicion so he thought of a way to get rid of Kyle by making his death look like a suicide. He’d been using his sister’s anti-anxiety meds already anyway, so it was a small thing for him to break up some of the pills into a powder. He said he went over to Kyle’s place under the pretence of confessing. That was what Kyle meant when he said he had something to show me. He thought he’d have the whole thing wrapped up for me. Instead, Robbie put the powdered medication into a drink and Kyle overdosed on the stuff without even knowing what was happening.”
    Anger had seeped into his voice. His friend had lost his life trying to do him a favor. That was a lot to bear.
    “So why did he try to kill Lily?” Grace asked.
    “He was afraid of what she might say,” Jon answered. “He figured his sister wasn’t stupid, and she’d put together that he had access to her medications as soon as I asked her. Not to mention it would only be a matter of time before Emily Ayers’ name rang a bell with her. Her brother’s girlfriend. Lily would have figured it out.”
    “She might not have said anything,” Darcy pointed out. “She was in no hurry to cooperate with us.”
    Jon shook his head. “Robbie couldn’t take that chance. So, he ground up more of the medication into a solution of water and household cleaners, and put it into a syringe. He only wanted to see Lily so badly because he needed to get the shot to her.” He grimaced. “Our back window allowed him to do it anyway. The Chief is already hiring someone to block those windows up.”
    “And,” Darcy chipped in the final piece, “when he knew we were getting close to figuring out it was him, he attacked you, Grace, and left us a note trying to scare us off.”
    “Right,” Jon agreed. “And when that didn’t work, he got desperate enough to attack me, thinking he could either kill me or incapacitate me, and sidetrack the whole investigation that way. He let his emotions get the better of him on that one, though. Broad daylight, in front of a police station.” He snorted. “As soon as he