Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One) (9 page)

"I think
it's worth considering with everything that's happened. It could be you've
accidentally started to unearth something you shouldn't know."

Belinda yawned
and Bennett took that as his cue to let her rest for a while. She'd had a lot
going on. Belinda snatched the edge of his sleeve as he stepped out onto the
stoop. Belinda's eyes were still dim, but her face looked a little less pale
than it had when he got there.

"Are we
okay?" Belinda said timidly. She was scared. More scared than she wanted
to admit, and the house started to collapse in on her as Bennett walked out the
door. Without Kyle around, she was completely alone.

Bennett held her
arms, stepping close so she inhaled that spicy scent always lingering on his
skin like he'd walked through a bazaar in some exotic location. "I can't
make promises, Belinda. But I will do everything in my power to help you and
keep you safe."

His eyes had
tightened and grown that darker shade of gray they did when Bennett flipped
into serious mode. Just knowing that he was so serious about what was going on
made Belinda feel calmer as she strolled back into the kitchen after he left,
not in a huge hurry to do anything.
Great
, she thought, staring at the
kitchen floor. Right by the side door was a mud smear that Kyle had
conveniently ignored. Belinda sighed and bent down to wipe it up with a wet
paper towel when it hit her that the smudge was not there that morning. And
Kyle wasn't home yet, and Bennett came through the front.

Belinda sucked in
a shallow breath. While she had been languishing upstairs, thinking she was all
alone, someone else had been right there with her.

Chapter 11

Maybe the mud
smear was nothing. Maybe she was just paranoid now, Belinda thought as she
opened her eyes. The next day brought rain showers, the first unpleasant
weather in weeks to Belinda's recollection. She felt relieved looking out the
window that morning though and seeing something drearier than perfect sun. It
was more fitted to the actual circumstances.

Before the
revelation that Mark's death might have been more than an accident, Belinda was
just confused. Confused by Kyle's behavior and actions and the evidence
surrounding Jeff's murder. Now the pieces were coming together like bits of
glass in a mosaic. It wasn't rounded off at the edges. No, it was sharp and
jagged. But it was getting clearer.

Victoria had
insisted she stay over the night before and as she followed the smell of
something delicious to the kitchen, Belinda was glad she'd taken her up on it,
even if it was a pain to pack up all of her stuff. Why did you need so much for
only one night anyway? But it beat being alone in that big house.

Egg batter
splashed out as Victoria threw pieces of bread slathered in it on the griddle.
Belinda poured some coffee, yawning as she dumped spoonfuls of sugar into the
cup. Victoria grinned. "It looks like you need that."

"I may drink
the whole pot, just to warn you." Belinda watched her flip the
egg-enveloped pieces of bread with longing. "I heart French toast."

"That's why
I made it." Victoria set the spatula down on the granite countertop.
"Do you think Bennett fancies French toast? Maybe I should call him and
invite him over for breakfast."

Belinda narrowed
her eyes. "Do you see what I look like right now? Don't even tease me
about it."

"Something
tells me he'd be just as happy to see you."

Belinda
self-consciously stuffed a stray lock behind her ear as if Bennett would
magically appear in the room.

They each filled
a plate and sat down at the pedestal table. "So you still haven't filled
me in about your recent escapades," Victoria said, shimmying in her seat
to get comfortable.

"I think 'escapades'
is blowing things out of proportion."

"I don't
know. You're running up and down the coast with a pretty hot guy. I'd call that
an escapade personally."

Belinda took her
time chewing the first bite. "Let's see. We met his detective friend at
the base of that hill you can climb up to reach the Mayhew house."

"Ah, yes.
The backdoors to everyone's property that we all used to be so familiar
with."

"So I led
them up and had a complete panic attack imagining Bennett staring at my
derriere."

Victoria raised
one perfectly plucked eyebrow. Belinda seriously needed to find out what salon
she went to. "I'm sure he was but you have nothing to worry about. Trust
me. I'm sure he enjoyed the view." Victoria winked.

"Then I made
a complete fool of myself and crashed on the way down, but we found an earring
stud on the path, which could be useful. At least, I'm positive that piece of
evidence won't point at Kyle." Belinda wiped syrup from her lips.
"Once Bennett took care of my newly acquired cuts, he asked if I wanted to
go get a coffee, so we did and then we spent a while walking through
downtown."

Victoria's eyes
sparkled. "You didn't tell me that!"

"I was
saving it." Belinda grinned.

"You minx.
What did you talk about?" Victoria pulled her chair in closer, practically
leaning her entire body across the table.

"Oh, this
and that. He doesn't have a slogan for his business so I teased him that it
should be 'stay safe with the gray-eyed eagle' or something like that."

"Watch.
It'll be on his website soon."

Belinda laughed.
"I doubt it, but I have been trying to think of a suitable catchphrase for
him."

"So this
talking with each other stuff will keep happening I take it."

Belinda glanced
heavenward. "At least right now. He seems to want to help, especially with
Kyle and all."

"Hmm...I
wonder why? Oh, that's right. It's because of you."

"He told me
he likes the puzzle."

"And
you."

"He likes
putting it all together."

"And
you."

"Then
there's no doubt the satisfaction of seeing justice meted out."

"And
you."

Belinda aimed her
fork at Victoria's head then stabbed another piece of sausage. "And me,
naturally. I am his French toast."

"Now that
should be on his website."

"Along with
a photo of what he looked like yesterday morning." A smile crept onto
Belinda's face just remembering it. Every time she saw him, Bennett looked more
handsome to her.

"Ooh...was
he all morning sexy?"

"He was more
like just got out of bed sexy." She tried to demonstrate what his hair
looked like with her hands.

"But he was
sexy."

"Yeah."
Belinda sighed and bit into another piece. "That seems to be one of his
bad habits. That and getting way to close to me for the good of either of
us."

"Indeed. You
sound incredibly disturbed. Maybe you should tell him to just back off
already." Victoria waved her coffee cup around, almost spilling it all
over her floor.

"I would
except I like it too much. And it's hard not to like a guy who doesn't run away
from you when you're having a complete meltdown." Belinda drew an
invisible swirl on the tabletop. She felt guilty for being anywhere near happy
with everything going on though. And for being relieved that she didn't have to
worry about bumping into Jeff again. And scared for Kyle...and herself.

"I hate to
abandon you like this." Victoria dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a
napkin. "Especially when our conversation revolves around a sexy man, but
I have the future of piano concerts sitting on my shoulders."

"I forgot
you have the spring recital coming up soon."

"Yes, and
one of my students has some family stuff going on right now and is behind, so
we have an extra long session scheduled today so I can help her catch up.
Frankly, I need to practice myself." Victoria stood, smiling. "But
you just sit tight and drink all the coffee you want. I will be stranded over
at that black monstrosity in the corner for the better part of the
morning." Victoria pointed at the upright piano in the living room.

Belinda sipped
her coffee, listening to Victoria drill out snippets of what she thought could
be Mozart. Then Victoria packed up her gear and Dan picked her up and hauled
her off to the music school where she now taught advanced students—and had
learned once herself.

Without the music
and the distraction of another person in the house, Belinda's mind wandered to
Kyle's predicament and the dark cloud that his name was on the rental that hit
her and Victoria. But she didn't have long to wallow as Jarrett had managed to
find out where Belinda had gone.

He brought
another balloon and fresh flowers and was delighted to see no one else was
there. He dumped his backpack beside the couch and after asking her several
times how she was feeling, leaned forward on his knees with his hands clasped
like he was about to say something important. Belinda wanted to sigh.
Not
now, Jarrett. Please.

"Is that guy
your boyfriend?" Jarrett said.

Belinda had tried
to sit up nice and proper, but couldn't stand it for long, so just sunk into
the cushions. Jarrett's feelings about Bennett were not high on her priority
list right then. "He's a friend, Jarrett."

"You were
holding hands at the store."

"Friends
hold hands sometimes." This was all getting way too complicated for her.

"We've never
held hands," he said quietly, focused on his own, spindly and tan.

Maybe she should
explain. Maybe. But Jarrett's back and forth niceness didn't encourage her to
come out with the truth. He needed to let this whole idea go. The sooner, the
better.

She didn't answer
and after a minute, he sat up straighter and asked to use the bathroom.
Jarrett's backpack tipped over after he left and Belinda bent to put it back in
place when she saw something peeking out. She unzipped the front pocket and
pulled out a huge wad of cold, hard cash.

The upstairs door
shut and Belinda dropped the cash back in the pocket and zipped it up just in
time for Jarrett to tromp down the stairs. She smiled as he came over and
lifted up his pack.

"Guess I
should get going," he said curtly. Belinda started to get up, but he held
out his hand. "Don't bother." Without a good-bye, Jarrett threw open
the front door and left, but not before Belinda took note of the mud and grass
caked onto the side of his sneakers.

She chewed on her
bottom lip, originally planning to stay home all day. But now Belinda doubted
she could stand it. There was too much to think about, and now the house seemed
to compress her thoughts even more. It was time to get some fresh air.

~ * ~

Bennett picked up
a whole quahog shell at the edge of the tide, tipping out the water that had
collected inside. At some point, this had been home to a strange, alien-like
creature. Now, it was probably in the stomach of one of the seagulls squatting
on the beach.

He flipped the
shell over, running his thumb along the ridges. He wasn't one for collections,
though he did have a few shells he'd picked up over the years sitting around
the house. But he didn't know how to display them, at least well. Belinda might
know more about that, if their house was any indication.

Not that he
should be feeding into his growing attraction to her. It wasn't the same
situation; it wasn't. But it was close. A girl from a wealthy Portside family
wrapped up in a scandal. And the previous one had worn all the same signs of
interest. Bennett smirked. Jonas would shoot that remark down without blinking.
In fact, he might bring it up next time just to see what he said. But,
objectively, Bennett had to counter that thought too. In hindsight, there had
been red alerts before from the beginning, but he didn't know enough to
recognize them. Maybe he didn't know enough to recognize them now either, but
he would try.

"Bennett!"

Bennett's head
shot up in the direction of the strained feminine voice. Belinda waved, jogging
in his direction. He practically dropped the quahog on his foot. Had he wished
her there somehow? She smiled and he could picture her eyes sparkling
underneath the sunglasses. She had her jeans rolled up and looked like she'd
come there on her way from somewhere else while Bennett had his running gear
on. Now that he'd stopped for a few minutes, he could feel the sweat
coagulating on his back. Great.

"Are you
shell gathering?" she said, kicking up damp sand as she walked.

Bennett looked at
her quizzically until she pointed at the shell now hanging limply in his hand.
"I like shells."
Oh, boy,
he thought. Here we go again,
sounding like an idiot. Not being prepared for conversation never worked in his
favor and he could feel color rising in his neck. "I mean, photographing
them. Because of the detail. Though I collect them too."

Now she looked at
him quizzically. Or that's what he interpreted from her mouth. "You
photograph too?" She took a step closer, reaching her hand out for the
shell.

Of all the
thousands of things shooting like stars through his mind at that moment, the
joy that she stepped closer to him and how near her hand was to his was
instantly replaced with horror that he must smell awful. If she noticed, it
didn't register on her face.

"So, you
mean, you do more than just snap off-center photos with your phone like
me?" Belinda grinned, pleased with her self-deprecating humor.

Bennett
temporarily forgot that he smelled and with absolutely no red alerts blaring,
he flipped the shell over and showed her the ridges. "I was thinking of
trying out some close-ups of the ridges. I've been doing other things lately,
but it would be a good texture to work with and would give me a new
project."

"What other
things?" Belinda lit up.

"Water,
actually. I have more shots than I can count of spray on the Ocean Walk."

"So you do
frequent the Walk. I thought as much."

Bennett's heart
raced a little faster. Did that mean she thought about him when they weren't
together too?

She sounded much
more down to earth than she had during their last conversation, and Belinda
explained that she'd stayed with Victoria the night before, which relieved
Bennett. Apparently her friend's hospitality had calmed her down. Staying in a
house with other people helped and, according to Belinda, the French toast and
sausage from that morning's breakfast made a big difference in her outlook.

Bennett's mouth
crooked up as Belinda recounted these thoughts in a manner that reminded him of
an underwater current. Fast, unyielding, and inescapable. She pulled him in and
carried him off to sea before he knew he couldn't see land anymore. It was
incredible. And what was worse, Bennett didn't mind. At all.

But something in
her manner was still off. It was probably her brother, but still...

"Are you out
for a walk?" Bennett looked her over again. Not that he needed to, but he
couldn't stop himself.

"I thought a
walk might help me get some things straight in my head."

Something was
bothering her. He thought so, even if she did ramble on happily about Victoria's breakfast. "Is it working?"

Belinda tugged on
the ends of the ties on her hoodie. "Yes and no. Right now, I'm all
brain-cloudy."

"Can I
help?"

Belinda looked
sad. "The car that hit us is really bothering me. Kyle doesn't need to
tell me he didn't have anything to do with it, but..." She just trailed
off, caressing the edge of the shell he still held. Bennett couldn't pin down
why, but he felt she was holding something back from him.