Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One) (14 page)

Chapter 17

The stories about
Mark bothered Bennett. He didn't want to feel jealous of a guy who had been
dead for close to a decade, but he did. Belinda kept avoiding the subject of
Mark and her, bringing it up only in terms of hints and allegations. She
obviously didn't want to talk about it, but that bothered him even more.

He'd been staring
at the footage from Mr. Trebor's security camera since he got home and it was
almost midnight. His eyes blurred over but he kept blinking and rubbing them to
stay focused. Maybe the video footage was the wrong track. He thought of the
blood smear on the monitor screen at Trebor's shop though. Bennett could feel
Trebor was pointing at something on that screen. Maybe what Bennett was looking
for was way in the background.

Bennett rewound
again to before the accident, zooming to put the background in the foreground,
instead of just staring at the car smashing into Trebor's shop. Without that
distraction, it was easier to see what else was going on at the same time. He
could make out people walking on the other side of the divided road, and then a
woman briefly came into view from behind a tree. She looked like she was doing
something on her phone. Bennett rewound and watched again. The woman turned,
facing the direction of the accident, her phone aimed at Victoria's car as it
crashed.

Curious, Bennett
zoomed in more. The woman wore sunglasses and the image blurred when he zoomed
and she was half-hidden by the tree. But he still felt certain he knew who it
was. Bennett grabbed his car keys and sped back to Victoria's house.

The husband
answered the door with Victoria right behind him, tying her robe. Bennett
apologized, quickly explaining that he thought he'd found something and he
needed to see Belinda. Victoria ran upstairs, returning a minute later in just
as much of a rush.

"She's
gone!" Victoria dug through her purse in a panic.

"What are
you doing?" Bennett said, thinking it was exactly the type of thing
Belinda would do in a moment of crisis.

"Looking for
my cell to call her."

Her husband
calmly handed her one of the wireless phones in the house. Victoria grabbed it
from his hands and dialed. Bennett watched nonplussed. Where would Belinda have
gone in the middle of the night, and without telling them? Victoria hung up far
too quickly. "Straight to voicemail."

"You had no
idea she left?" Bennett said.

"You think
I'm pretend panicking?"

"No, but—"

"I bet she's
gone to look for Kyle," Dan said.

Victoria glanced
at him sideways. "At midnight? Where would she go to look for him at
midnight?"

"How about
their family's boat?"

Victoria
blanched. "When exactly did this occur to you?"

Dan shrugged.
"Right away I think."

Victoria looked
like she wanted to punch him. "Why haven't you said anything?"

"It's their
boat. I figured she already thought of it."

Victoria threw
her arms up in the air. "Kyle is missing! Could you not have just
mentioned it in case it slipped Belinda's mind with all the chaos?"

This was amusing
and all, but Bennett didn't have time to detour with a marital spat. "Can
you tell me where this boat is?"

Victoria gave him
the marina and possible slip number, making Bennett swear on his life to make
Belinda call her or to call the police if he couldn't find her. He could hear Victoria ranting about "just saying things anyway" as he dashed back to his
truck. Bennett grinned. No more sleep for that guy tonight. And none for him
either if Belinda wasn't at their boat.

~ * ~

Belinda crept
onto the boat, seeing by the light of a streetlamp and a lot of squinting.
She'd finally made it to the marina after spending close to thirty minutes
hunting for the other set of keys in their house. The boat was pitch black
inside and certainly looked empty enough. She tiptoed through the main part of
the cabin, every little noise she made amplified in the quiet. Holding her
flashlight with the handle out, she went down the stairs toward the staterooms.
Empty.

Belinda's heart
sank. She was so sure Kyle would be here. Maybe...maybe he had gone to Rio. Or somewhere else far away.

Belinda padded
back up. Before she hit the landing, a shadow outside on deck caught her eye.
It moved toward the doors, the face just a silhouette. Belinda slid back to the
staterooms and hid in the shadows.

Belinda's
breathing intensified, gripping her flashlight. She flattened her body against
the wall next to the door. Maybe she could pull off some stunt and run out when
he came in the room. Probably not, but it sounded good. Belinda steeled herself
for the right moment as the person came down the stairs.

She psyched
herself up and as he took another step forward, Belinda swung the flashlight across
her body as hard as she could, nailing the intruder right in the forehead. He
yelled and staggered, his hands flying to the wound.

"What was
that?!"

Belinda's eyes
popped open. "Kyle!"

"Who did you
think it was?"

Belinda dropped
the flashlight and threw her arms around him, toppling them both to the floor.

"Okay, okay.
Enough!" he said, half-laughing as Belinda kissed his head over and over
and practically strangled him.

She let him go,
her eyes flashing. "You big jerk!"

"Ow!"

Belinda pummeled
his chest with her hands. "I assumed you were dead!"

Kyle curled into
a protective ball on the floor as she slapped him. "You know what the
first three letters of the word assume are."

Belinda narrowed
her eyes. "You vanished! Your Jeep is abandoned in the middle of town. The
police think you're in Rio. What was I supposed to think?"

"That...I...went...to...Rio?"

She slapped him
again.

"Maybe I
should have," he muttered as she bonked him over the head with a pillow.
"I kind of had this crazy idea that you'd be glad to see me."

"I am!"
she said, whacking him across the face, feathers flying out around them.

She panted and
huffed and paced, whacking him a couple of more times for good measure. When he
figured he was somewhat safe, Kyle unfurled and stood up. "Do you want to
know what happened now?"

Belinda nodded,
walking away, and returned with a bandage for his forehead. They stomped up to
the galley and Kyle scooped chocolate ice cream into two bowls and slid one
across to Belinda. Food always pacified her. Always. She noticed his bowl
contained about half the ice cream container and switched her bowl out for that
one.

"Hey!"
Kyle said, his face drooping.

"I'm having
the worst week ever and I want more than that pathetic scoop."

Kyle pulled out
the ice cream container to fill up the other bowl and circled his arms around
it protectively while he ate. They sat like they had after Belinda got home
from Stellan's party.

"What took
you so long?" Kyle said, dismayed. "I was giving up officially as of
tomorrow."

Belinda shut her
eyes, shaking her head in disgust at herself. "It never crossed my mind
until tonight."

"Well, no.
You were too busy picking out my tombstone."

Belinda glowered.
"You act like that made me happy. It did not make me happy. I ugly cried
on Bennett's shirt."

Kyle smirked.
"Look at it this way: you've gotten to spend more time with him greatly
due to me."

"Take the
credit all you like. You will anyway." Belinda twirled her spoon in the
air. "Why are you hiding here? Why didn't you take your Jeep?"

"The last
question is answered by the first question."

Belinda just
stared at him and pointed at the clock.

"All right,
all right." Kyle inhaled for a dramatic pause.

Belinda dropped
her spoon into the empty bowl so it clanged and pushed it away from her.
"Drama. Queen."

Kyle shrugged.
"I've been hiding, you thought I was dead, the police think I'm in Rio. This is kind of exciting."

"Yes, it was
extraordinarily exciting to tell Mom over the phone that you were
missing."

Kyle paled to
Belinda's satisfaction. "You told Mom and Dad I was missing?"

"And you
were scared of them discovering the dead tomato plants." It was nice to
know that telling their parents was still a valid threat.

"You said we
didn't have to tell them about the car accident."

"Kyle, you
knew where I was after that, and I was alive and functioning. You've been
missing for three days. I kind of thought our parents should know about
that."

Kyle groaned and
stuffed more ice cream in his mouth.

"It'll be
fine," Belinda said. "You'll talk to them tomorrow. But first, you
better start talking to me." Belinda folded her arms on the counter.

"I've kind
of been following you around," Kyle said.

"That much I
knew."

Kyle arched his
eyebrows, the bandage on his forehead scrunching up.

"Bennett
figured it out. Continue."

Kyle shrugged.
"Well, I'd been doing great until the museum. Someone caught me snooping
around and I had to run for it."

"Who?"

"I don't
know for sure; I was too busy running for my life. The dude looked like a line
backer."

Belinda wrinkled
her nose. "Okay, well, why were you following me in the first place?"

"Because
somebody else has been following you...for a while."

"The
photos." So maybe whoever took those was still playing paparazzi.

"Huh?"

Belinda quickly
explained about the photos she found at Lily's, and Bennett's surveillance
theory.

"He's
right." Kyle folded his arms. "Way back when, one day when you and
Mark were out on his boat alone, I saw someone on shore taking photographs. He
was trying to look like an innocent tourist, but something was off so I started
keeping an eye on you. Sure enough, the same dude kept reappearing in similar
circumstances, with a camera." Kyle traced the grain of the countertop.
"I blamed Jeff 'cause, you know, he'd been in love with you forever."

"But?"

Kyle's cheekbones
tightened. "I bumped into Jeff at the cemetery where Mark's buried right
after he got here."

"The fight
someone saw."

"Yeah, it
started that way. But Jeff wouldn't let me just take off. He calmed me down
when he said he was worried about you being back in Portside and wanted me to
know that someone had been stalking you the summer Mark died. Turns out, Jeff
had been doing the same thing as me. He'd seen someone following you and
Mark."

Belinda
swallowed. "So, it wasn't Jeff? Ever?"

"Well...I don't
know about that. But now I do think he was trying to protect you, even if he
was a bit misguided, and I'm worried he figured out who was behind it and
that's why he died."

"But...you
fought with him." She pointed to his arm with the gash.

Kyle shrugged.
"We faked it. We agreed that whoever was behind the stalking was there
that night and we were both paranoid and decided to pretend to get into a
fight." Kyle's eyes wandered to the cut. "Of course, that sort of
backfired on me."

Belinda sat back
down. "That basically leaves one person who I can think of who would want
to stalk me."

Kyle grimaced.
"Loco Lily."

Belinda leaned on
the oval island. She could barely make out details of Kyle's face because
they'd left the lights off to not draw attention. "I think the reason he
died may be more than just because he caught someone following us." She
explained Stellan's reveal, watching Kyle's face deepen into a scowl.

"Figures,"
he said, huffing. "Selfish..." Kyle's mouth formed a hard line.

Belinda was glad
her features were hidden in the shadows. After a few minutes of looking
menacing, Kyle sighed and shrugged, muttering something about how it was too
late now.

"You know it
was dangerous just walking in here," he said more cheerfully. "I
could have been naked."

Belinda rolled
her eyes. "Your missing boat is a bigger concern right now."

Kyle frowned.
"The police probably think I'm lying about that too."

"Are
you?" Belinda asked sadly. She felt better knowing Kyle had been trying to
protect her, but she wished he'd told her what was going on a long time ago. It
might have made things easier. Or even safer for them both on some level.

Kyle leaned back,
observing her from a distance. "I'm sorry to put you through all of this,
Bels. You put up with me, you always have, and you even pretend like you like
me."

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes."
He gave her a crooked smile. "But you're my constant, you know? And I'm
glad you've been here through all of this."

"Me
too." Belinda sighed. "The police probably do think you're lying about
Mark's boat, which is why we need to find it."

"Bels, I did
lie to the police."

Belinda blanched.
"About not knowing about the boat?"

"No. Well,
not exactly. About the day Mark died. I told that detective that I wasn't there
because our grandmother died."

Belinda paused.
"Which one?"

Kyle looked up at
the ceiling. "I didn't think that far."

Belinda humphed.
Well that explained why Jonas asked her the real reason why Kyle wasn't around
when Mark died. "Russell Carmichael will be devastated."

"Carmichael? He's still alive?"

"And chasing
Nana."

Kyle guffawed.
"I bet she makes his life interesting."

"You have no
idea. But he keeps coming back for more." She picked up a stray napkin on
the counter and started twisting it. "So now that we know Mark was already
dead before the supposed accident, we definitely need to find the boat. When
was the last time you saw it?"