Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One) (15 page)

Kyle thought
about it. "Not long after I put it in storage. You know how I was at that
point. I couldn't stand the sight of it."

"Who would
have known where you kept it?"

Kyle raised his
eyes to the ceiling. "Anyone, I guess. I didn't try to keep it a
secret."

"Where was
it? Was it locked up?"

Kyle shrugged.
"It wasn't like I had Bennett Tate guarding the place. I didn't think it
was that big of a deal at the time."

Belinda sighed,
her eyes watering up. The boat could answer so many questions. About Jeff's
murder, of course, but especially all the questions she'd had about Mark for so
long.

Kyle pursed his
lips. "New topic. I saw you packed up the hutch."

Belinda blinked
back her tears. "I see you didn't pack up your stuff."

Kyle flashed his
naughty-and-I-know-it smile. "Oops."

"Yeah, big
oops when the demolition guys show up to rip up the carpet and find your dirty
underwear on the floor."

"I do not keep
dirty underwear on the floor."

"How would
you know? There could be some hidden under all of your other clothes."

"For your
information, I know exactly where everything is."

"That must
be why you can't find your wallet on a weekly basis."

Kyle snorted.
"You have an unfair advantage in this argument."

"Because I
know you so well?"

"Because we
shared a crib once and you know how to mind meld."

Belinda grinned.
"And yet, I still can't control you."

"You've
never really tried." Kyle stroked his chin absently. "Bar
glasses."

Belinda glanced
back at him, resisting the urge to run home to pack. "Excuse me?"

"You've been
stressing over the wedding shower present thing, so that's my two cents. Bar
glasses."

"Like the
ones Mom and Dad own?"

"Yeah, like
those."

Impressive.
"That's not a half-bad idea, bro."

"I am good
for something."

She smiled.
"You're good for a lot of things."

Kyle straightened
up, putting a finger to his lips as she was about to say something else.
Belinda held perfectly still. They had a visitor.

Chapter 18

Belinda panicked
as the boat most definitely rocked. Had someone followed her there? She'd been
careful and walked from a good distance to the marina, but if she had a stalker
who was not Jeff and not dead then...

Kyle whipped open
the door, shining the flashlight right in Bennett's eyes. Bennett faltered
backward and toward the edge of the swim platform, losing his balance and
half-falling, half-hopping into the water. Kyle caught him by his jacket and
dragged him up and onto the boat, helping him to his feet, and looked back into
the darkness. "Octopus warthog."

Bennett's
eyebrows shot up. "What?"

Belinda appeared
in the doorway, thrilled and relieved to see it was Bennett. "It's a twin
thing. We have a safe and danger word code system."

"So w–what
would y–you have said if she was in t–trouble?"

Kyle cupped his
hands around his mouth. "Run!"

Belinda took
Bennett's hand, leading him inside where it was warmer. If she wanted him to
get over his biases and date her, she couldn't lose him to hypothermia because
of her brother and his stupid flashlight. "Are you all right?"

"I c–can o–only
see w–white dots," he stammered out after his ice water bath, "but o–other
than that I'm just g–great."

Belinda snatched
a towel out of Kyle's hands and started patting down Bennett's face and head.
He was even hotter when he was wet. "So, Kyle's here."

Bennett smiled
wryly. "I g–got that p–part."

"And Bels is
here, and now you're here." Kyle folded his arms. "Anybody else
coming that you know of?"

Belinda shot him
a look. "What are you doing here?"

"I went to
see you at V–Victoria's, but you were gone, and her h–husband thought you'd be
h–here." Bennett looked around, taking in what he could in the dark.
"You k–know, when D–Dan said 'boat,' I had s–something a tad s–smaller pop
into my h–head."

Belinda stood
back, ignoring for the moment that Bennett had been searching for her. She
would savor that and analyze what it meant later. "Dan thought of the
boat? Just like that?"

"Great,"
Kyle snarled. "So Dan thinks of the boat, but it takes you a week."

"Kyle, it
did not take me a week. Honestly, I didn't think it would be back from the Caribbean or wherever they sent it this winter yet."

"But I'm not
on
that
one, I'm on
this
one."

"Well, I
forgot about this one. Temporarily. Anyway," Belinda turned back to
Bennett, his eyes darting between the two of them curiously. "Dan thought
of this?" Questions painted his face, but he would have to wait to get the
scoop on the boats after this was over.

"You can
join Victoria in reaming the poor guy out for it later, but I came to warn you
that I may know who's behind your assaults." Heat started to reenter his
body, especially with Belinda wrapping him up in the towel. It was like being
wrapped up in a pelt, and it smelled faintly like the beach, the way Belinda
did.

Belinda glanced
at Kyle. "Lily Devore?" she said sheepishly.

Bennett rubbed
his eyes. "Please tell me I did not just lose my eyesight for
nothing."

Belinda got
closer to him, examining both of his eyes rimmed with dark circles. She almost
reached up and traced the bone underneath, but held back. "What did you
find?"

Bennett explained
what he saw on Trebor's footage, and how he thought it was Lily watching the
accident. Possibly even recording it with her phone. Belinda and Kyle looked at
each other somberly.

"It's common
knowledge she hates your guts," Kyle said, but there was no humor in his
voice.

"She
certainly made that plain at the museum." Belinda knew Lily was crazy, but
this was taking it to a whole new level.

Bennett nodded.
"Lily did say you two had unfinished business."

"Meaning she
hasn't killed me yet?"

Kyle snorted.
"I wouldn't be shocked, would you?"

"All
right," Bennett said, folding the towel and handing it back to Belinda.
"I'll call Jonas first thing tomorrow." He turned toward the door.

"Are you
leaving already?" Belinda blinked her doe eyes at him. "There's
safety in numbers."

"You are
safe." He glanced at Kyle.

"Not me.
You." She wasn't the one about to walk out into the darkness alone.

"Me?"
Bennett almost laughed, but her face was so serious.

"Kyle's in
all this trouble because of me, why not you? I think you should stay here
tonight with us."

Bennett arched
his eyebrows. She didn't make it sound like a suggestion.

"He's not
sleeping with me," Kyle said.

Belinda rolled
her eyes. "We can each have our own stateroom, Kyle. Honestly." She
didn't wait for Bennett to agree or seem remotely interested in his opinion,
but walked to the landing in front of the stairs and stared at him. "Well,
come on. The rooms are down here. Kyle will get you some dry clothes." She
looked at Kyle to make sure he heard her command and trotted away.

Kyle smirked at
Bennett. "Welcome to my world."

~ * ~

Belinda heard
talking and thought it must be Victoria and Dan. But then it sounded like two
Dans. Er, two men. Kyle...Kyle and Bennett. Kyle and Bennett! Belinda's eyes
opened with a start. It was light out. Sort of. She checked the clock and
buried back under the covers until she heard a rap on her door. She didn't
answer, hoping he would just go away, but then the door clicked open.

"I could be
naked," she grumbled from under the comforter.

"Want me to
go get Bennett?"

Belinda glared
though she couldn't see him through the fabric.

"I don't
like being up this early either," Kyle said, "but we need to leave
before it gets later and people show up for work, etcetera."

Belinda peeked
out of her cocoon. "We're leaving?"

Belinda dressed
and met the two guys in the main deck living area. It felt weird to have actual
light after being in the dark for so long. She wandered over, not feeling even
close to awake. She'd managed to get dressed and put her hair up, but she
wasn't so sure she could communicate yet. Her only real thoughts involved
coffee.

Bennett handed
Belinda his computer tablet without even saying good morning. "Now about
this extra guest at Stellan's party. Look through those photos and see if
anyone's a match."

Oh, wonderful. He
was a morning person. Belinda stared at the faces for an absurd amount of time
before any of them registered, and handed the tablet back to him. "He's
not there." She flopped onto the couch. If they weren't getting coffee,
she wasn't holding her own weight yet.

Kyle glanced from
Belinda to Bennett. "Who are we talking about?"

"I saw a guy
posing as a security worker at the party."

"We don't
know that," Bennett said.

"I do."

Bennett's eyes
glimmered.

Belinda turned to
Kyle. "He was a beefy guy with a cue ball head and a big nose."

"Wait, wait,
wait," Kyle said, planting his palms on the counter. "Kind of short
but stocky? Not a lick of hair."

Belinda nodded.

Kyle snapped his
fingers. "That's your stalker."

Belinda and
Bennett exchanged looks. His mind was cranking. She could see it. And so was
hers, but it was moving in a completely random direction.

"Weimaraners!"
she blurted out, then wanted to sink through the floor. She would pay for that
by having to explain.

Bennett just
looked at her quizzically. "Is that relevant to something we were talking
about?"

Belinda flushed.
"Oh, no. It's just those funny little dogs that are famous now. Well, I
guess they're not really
little
dogs, but, you know..." Bennett's
quizzical expression deepened. "I just remembered their name is all. It's
one of those things...I couldn't think of the name the other day and it keeps
bugging me." She shrugged, hoping to look indifferent. "Now it won't
because I remembered." Maybe she should just open the oven door and crawl
inside.

"Do you like
them? Weimaraners."

"No, not
particularly."

Bennett's eyes
lightened. "Do things you don't particularly like usually bug you?"

Belinda caught
Kyle's smirk from the corner of her eye. "Um...sometimes." Bennett's
lip turned up. Well, at least she was amusing him. "Something reminded me
of them and it's just annoying when you can't remember."

Bennett seemed
satisfied with that and moved on. "So I'll plan to meet up with Jonas
today, and the two of you lie low at home."

Belinda nodded at
Bennett's advice, so relieved she escaped having to admit to Bennett that the
color of his eyes sometimes reminded her of the dogs. "You think we should
keep Kyle's reappearance quiet?" Belinda glanced from Bennett to Kyle, his
face wrinkled up in thought.

"Yes, I
do."

Kyle folded his
arms. "I agree. It could be a tactical advantage for us."

Belinda sighed.
"Can we eat first?"

Kyle laughed, his
eyes brightening. "Catch a murderer or eat breakfast? Bels' chooses
breakfast."

Belinda punched
his arm, but she was happy to hear him laugh. "If you're going to drag me
from my cozy bed at this hour, you're going to feed me, okay?"

Kyle opened his
mouth to say something, but Belinda cut him off. "Do you prefer French
toast or pancakes?" Belinda said to Bennett. He raised his eyebrows.
"We have the stuff to make either so it's up to you."

Bennett nodded.
"I like pancakes."

"Pancakes it
is then." Belinda flashed a smile. Then her eyes darkened as they settled
on Kyle. "You are calling Mom and Dad today." Kyle's mouth gaped.
"No. Excuses." Belinda raised her nose up and glided toward the door.

Kyle's eyes held
a twinkle as he passed Bennett. "You can't say I didn't warn you."

They split up to
hike to their vehicles and return to Belinda's house. Kyle started the engine
of her car. He would have to reclaim his Jeep. There was no way he was taking
off alone with her car. "Why didn't I get a vote on what we have for
breakfast?"

"Because
you're not the guest."

Kyle smirked.
"I like how you just glossed over the whole asking him to come over part
and skipped right to what he's eating."

"I did ask
him."

"Oh, sure.
'Pancakes or French toast?'" Kyle affected a woman's voice, and a poor one
at that in Belinda's opinion. "'Pancakes it is, big boy. You're coming
over whether you want to or not.'"

Belinda jabbed
his shoulder.

"Ow! I'm
driving."

"And I'm
being hospitable."

"You're holding
Bennett hostage and force-feeding him pancakes." She pinched his arm this
time, hard. "Ow!"

"Do you
think he didn't want to come over?" Belinda wanted to smack her forehead.
She never really gave Bennett a chance to say.

Kyle snorted.
"He wants to come over. I bet he's been dreaming about your pancakes for
days." He grinned wickedly, dodging Belinda's swing at his arm.

"Seriously,
Kyle. Do you think he didn't want to come over?"

"Well, I'm
not in his head, but I get the feeling he would have just said he wasn't coming
over if he didn't want to, so I think you're safe."

"Do you mean
that? If you're lying, just come out and say it now and spare yourself the pain
later."

"Yes, I mean
that. He let you ugly cry on his shirt, he hunted you down when he thought you
were in danger, and stayed here last night at your command. There is every
indication that he does indeed want to eat your pancakes."

She frowned.
"It's too bad he didn't say French toast."

"You could
have just rolled with the whole commanding thing you were doing back there and
told him he was eating French toast. At our house. Shirtless. Ow!"

Belinda grinned.
At Kyle's pain, of course, but she had to admit she didn't mind his last
suggestion either. Not. One. Bit.

While Bennett
reconvened with Jonas and Kyle hid out at home, Belinda and Victoria detoured a
few blocks up from the downtown to shop for a wedding gift. After a lot of
eyelash batting and smiling and filling the stomachs of the men in her life
with delicious homemade food, she managed to convince her protectors to let her
go shop. She was ordered not to leave Victoria's side, and they were to stay in
sight of other people at all times. Jonas failed to mention it, but they also
had eyes on them.

"Do they
have to be crystal?" Victoria said, checking out the price of one glass.

"No, that's
just what my parents have." Belinda tried to focus on the glasses, but she
kept gazing right through them, her mind a million miles away. "Now so
carefully packed away that I don't remember where I put them."

Victoria laughed.
"Just don't tell your mom that."

Belinda smirked
at the conversation Kyle had had with her parents earlier. She mostly heard
"yes, ma'am" and half-finished words on his end. "No worries
there. At least they won't be looking for them anytime soon."

"They're too
busy getting busy on a cruise."

Belinda made a
face. "Unnecessary visual information." Belinda picked up a glass off
the shelf, weighing it in her hand. "These are nice."

"Too nice.
Look at the tag."

"Oh."
Belinda set it back down and moved forward in the aisle. "How hard is it
to find bar glasses that aren't chintzy but not extravagant?"

"Pretty
hard." Victoria pointed at another shelf with a few more options. Her eyes
gleamed as she held a glass under the lights. "These."

Belinda took it
from her hand, rolling it over, watching the colors in the glass shift. She met
Victoria's eyes and nodded enthusiastically. "They're perfect, Vix. And
the price?"