Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One) (16 page)

"Perfect."

They gave each
other a high five and Belinda admired them while the shop owner wrapped each
glass in tissue paper and placed them in a box. The shop door rang and Belinda
glanced up to see Lily stalk in. Belinda glanced around, but there was no place
to run or hide and Lily was blocking the only exit.

"What are
you doing here?" Lily said angrily. Her black hair was pulled back into a
tight ponytail. Belinda thought her face would benefit from a more relaxed
hairstyle.

Belinda folded
her arms. "Buying my cousin a wedding present. You?"

Lily emitted a
noise somewhere between a sigh and a snort. "Updating my stemware."

Belinda and
Victoria exchanged glances.

"To take
back home?" Victoria kept in grabbing distance of Belinda should things
get ugly.

Lily examined a
nearby champagne flute. "I have a lot to celebrate these days."

"Earning
your way to junior partner?" The words came out bitter, somewhat to
Belinda's surprise.

Lily's eyes gazed
through the flute in her hand. "What would you know about earning
anything? All you do is traipse around Portside and throw your name in people's
faces."

Belinda seethed.
"If you want to know why Mark dumped you, take a good look in the
mirror."

Lily turned her
piercing eyes on Belinda, her hand clawing at her own throat. "You
should've stayed out of it."

Belinda's
nostrils flared.

"Well,"
Victoria said before things got out of hand, "this has been a pleasure
as usual." She took Belinda's arm, forcing her toward the door. Belinda
hugged the shopping bag, staring Lily down until Victoria practically pushed
her outside.

"They have
to solve this case before Lily and I kill each other," Belinda hissed,
stomping to her car. It was yet another public outburst that everyone would
talk about. Well, if nothing else, Belinda was making a splashing re-entry to
Portside. "Did you notice how Lily's hand went to her throat? Like she's
lost something she keeps forgetting about?"

Victoria returned
her credit card to its slot while trying to keep her eye ahead of her.
"Maybe. I'm not sure. Like a necklace or something?"

Belinda's pupils
dilated. The photos. Lily knew. But how would she have.... Belinda chewed her
lip. She should have dug around in Lily's possessions some more. If only she'd
had more time. Belinda stepped up her pace, Victoria practically running to
keep up.

Belinda zipped
them back to one of the main roads to drop Victoria off at the music school.
She needed to think and talk to the detective. Not necessarily in that order.
If Lily had what Belinda thought she did, then that meant not only did Lily
know what had happened on Mark's boat that day, but she also went to his boat—after
Belinda left the night before Mark died. That was particularly disturbing after
what Stellan had revealed.

Belinda left the
glasses in Victoria's care and returned to town, now free to think all she
wanted without having to make polite conversation. She reminded herself to
thank Kyle for his suggestion. The honeymoon bar glasses were a much better
choice than a bread maker. Or ice pick. Especially better than the ice pick.

Chapter 19

"I'm waiting
for a warrant to search Lily's house," Jonas said to Bennett. The edge of
irritation grew in his voice as he talked. "Mr. Trebor's last noted
delivery was to her."

"Quite the
puzzler for your first official assignment as leader."

"I keep
telling myself it could be worse." He looked longingly at one of the
closed bars in downtown as they passed. "How about the mysterious bald
stalker?" Jonas detoured across the street, swinging open the coffee shop
door. He couldn't drink on duty, but he could pump himself up with legal
stimulants.

"Finn and I
have crawled through all of the surveillance video that we have and no one who
looks like that ever shows up. I'm pretty sure he'd stick out, so I'm guessing
if he wasn't meant to be there, he took a back door to avoid being seen by too
many people. I only had cameras in the front, first-floor hallways."

"Do you
think he knew there'd be cameras?"

Bennett shrugged,
scanning the pastry shelves nearby while Jonas ordered some sort of
quadruple-infused espresso drink. None of the cakes, scones, or muffins inspired
him, though he might feel differently if Belinda offered one to him. When he
looked up from his browsing, Belinda was standing right there, her starlight
smile lighting up her latte eyes. Not that Bennett was even that crazy about
coffee, but the comparison was appropriate considering where they were.

He pulled out his
wallet after she ordered, placing the cash in the woman's hand before Belinda
could protest. Jonas sipped his beverage across the room, watching the two of
them with great interest. Belinda, all grateful and flushed over his financial
offering, and Bennett, pleased as punch, even if he didn't look it to a casual
observer, to shell out ten dollars on a coffee to see her smile. Jonas had to
admit her smile was worth at least that much. He had no problem understanding
his friend's growing attraction to the Portside native, and he thought the
whole experience was good for Bennett. It was time to get over the past.

After a few
seconds, Belinda spotted him and waved, then she and Bennett made their way
around the counter to wait for her coffee.

"We were
just talking about you," Jonas said, leaning against the high counter.

"I'm sorry
to intrude on your gossiping then." Belinda punched a straw into her cup.
"Should I worry about what you were saying?"

"Nah. I
wouldn't let Bennett say anything bad about you." Jonas winked, enjoying
Bennett's glower over top of Belinda's head.

"Well,
that's good to know though I'm not sure it's deserved." Belinda grinned,
traipsing out of the building where the air was less stuffy. Bennett was right
on her heels with Jonas trailing behind him, smirking to himself.

"I ran into
Lily today," Belinda looked at Bennett significantly, her nose crinkled up
in distaste. "Obnoxious as usual, but I think she's lost something special
and I need to know if she had it on at the party."

Bennett scratched
his head. "What am I looking for?"

"A
necklace."

"Is this
significant?" Jonas said.

Belinda glanced
at him coyly. "I'll tell you when I find out for myself." Bennett and
Jonas exchanged amused glances. "I think the necklace I want Bennett to
spy out looks like a knot."

Jonas rubbed his
jaw. "This is making me think it's high time I gave the two of you an
assignment. You up for some surveillance?"

Belinda lit up.
"Seriously? You'd ask me to do that?"

"Don't get
too excited," Jonas said. "It's boring work, which is why I'm passing
it off to you two." He grinned.

"Who are we
supposed to watch?" Bennett said.

"Stellan
Mayhew. We may not have pinned him to either death—yet—but he's bound to be
guilty of something."

Bennett thought
that plopping down on the rocks near Stellan's house under the guise of fishing
would be a good way to keep watch, but would be slightly more entertaining to
Belinda than sitting in a car waiting for something to happen. So Belinda
carpooled in Bennett's truck over to a narrow turnoff on Ocean Avenue. He
pulled his fishing pole and bait box out of the back and Belinda followed him
across the street to the rocks where she often saw people fishing.

"I had no
idea that you liked to fish," Belinda said, balancing her way along the
rocks behind Bennett. She held her arms out like a tightrope walker, her eyes
glued to her feet as she navigated the path.

"I really
don't," he said, having to yell over the waves, "but this is a good
spot to watch from."

Belinda nodded,
too immersed with not slipping and crashing into the water to make sense of
what Bennett said.

Bennett landed on
a good, flat spot of rock that was elevated enough to keep them from getting
soaked and had Stellan's house in good view. He set his bait box down and held
out a hand to help Belinda up. He caught her by her waist as she bobbed around
to get her footing, pulling her in closer than he intended. Or, maybe he did
intend to pull her in that close. Belinda flushed, loose hairs getting caught
in her mouth and eyelashes. At least Bennett's arm prevented her from getting
blown off-balance.

Once she had her
balance, Bennett let go of her waist, and set the fishing pole in front of her.
"Hold this," he commanded while he knelt down to get something out of
his box. He came back up with a neon lure with some sort of fuzzy thing
attached to one end.

"No
worms?" she said, wanting to sigh in relief. She'd been worried about him
using live bait. Belinda could just picture him showing up with a bag of live
eels and insist that she impale one of them on the hook with her bare hands.
And between his steel eyes and clipped sentences, how would she refuse?
Especially when they had to stand so close because of the size of the rock.

Bennett's mouth
crooked up. "Next time I'll bring something slimy and wriggling just for
you."

Belinda made a
sour face. "So you don't like to fish, but you do know how apparently."

"My dad
loves to fish," he said, holding the hook in front of his eyes as he
threaded it through the top of the lure. "I go out with him about once a
year. As far as it goes for a pastime, I would say it's too boring. But in this
case fishing serves a greater purpose."

"Spying on
potential murderers."

Bennett smiled. A
tight-lipped smile that could almost pass as a neutral expression, except that
Belinda was getting familiar with him and this definitely passed as a smile.
For Bennett, anyway. And it was the first time she could say she'd truly seen
him smile and witnessing it with her own eyes made her whole day.

"Hold it
out," he said.

Belinda looked at
him quizzically. "What?"

"The fishing
rod." He moved a few paces back so Belinda could face the water head on
and indicated for her to swing the line out and drop the lure. Bennett looked
around, found a suitable rock to sit on, and helped Belinda maneuver there with
the fishing pole in hand.

The rock was
cool, even through her jeans, and while it was a relief right then to sit, she
knew she would be cursing that unforgiving piece of stone soon enough.

"You watch
the fishing line and I'll watch our target."

"What am I
watching for?"

"Pull."
He tugged on the line.

"It's
pulling now though."

"That's just
the current. Trust me. You'll know when something's crunching down on it."

Belinda took his
word on that and diligently guarded the fishing pole. For a few minutes that
is, until she started to feel bored. "Can we talk while we watch?"
she said.

"That's your
specialty."

Belinda cut him a
glance, which he picked up on—and enjoyed—despite her shades. She wiggled
around a little to avoid numb butt syndrome and shook her head dismissively.

Bennett handed
her a printout of Lily at the party. "Is this what you expected to
find?" He pointed to the pendant at the nape of Lily's neck.

Belinda stared at
the image and dropped her hand, feeling her stomach constrict. She swung her
legs to try and keep cool, but her heart thundered in her chest. She was right
about Lily. All this time, she'd known Lily was a rival, but this changed
everything.

"Oh!"
She jumped from her station. "It's pulling! It's pulling!"

Bennett observed
the line calmly. "Well, stop hopping up and down and reel it in."

A couple of old
men perched on another set of rocks across from them snickered watching Belinda
crank and pull, crank and pull, with Bennett snapping out directions. Belinda
yelped as the fish broke the water's surface, flailing and flopping while
Bennett got a hold of that end of the line and set him down on the rock. The
old men clapped and whistled and Belinda waved back, grinning proudly.

"My first
catch!" she said, kneeling down to get a good look. Its iridescent scales
sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight, its gills contracting repeatedly and
mouth gawking. "Aw, I feel bad now." She examined the hook caught in
his jaw.

"Shall I
throw him back?" Bennett said, holding the fish down so he could remove
the hook. "He's too small to be any use to us anyway." Bennett held
the fish firmly then looked back at Belinda. "I think you should do the
honors."

Belinda screwed
up her face as he stuck the fish out to her, telling her how to hold it so it
wouldn't slip away. "Just swing back like you're holding a bat and let him
fly."

Belinda nodded,
swung her arms back with the fish struggling to escape her hands, and rapidly
swung back around. A dazzling rainbow ensued as water flew through the air with
the fish, the sunlight reflecting off of its scales, almost blinding them.
Belinda laughed as their audience gave her two thumbs up. She went to clap then
saw her hands. "Eww," she said, frantically looking for a way to wipe
them off.

Bennett ripped a
paper towel from his bait box, instructed her to dunk her hands in the salt
water near her feet, then thoroughly wiped them down with the towel.

"I smell
like fish now." Belinda scrunched her nose up.

"It washes
off, I promise."

Belinda smiled as
Bennett wiped her final pinky finger of any trace of fish goo, his face intent
on his task. For a second, Belinda forgot about the old guys fishing or the
cars whirring passed them on the road. All she could feel was the spray as
waves crashed in front of them and the tip of her nose as it grew numb and the
texture of Bennett's fingers as he held her hand. He raised his eyes to hers
and she fell still. Like the water at sunset with maybe a seagull bobbing on
the surface.

After a few
seconds of gazing at her, Bennett leaned in, and then she leaned in and shut
her eyes and was just waiting for his warm lips to meet hers when she felt a
sheet of ice water crash over her head. They both froze under the blanket of
pin pricks.

Howling laughter
from the old men reached their ears. A grin spread across Belinda's face and
she got the giggles. To her amazement, it spread to Bennett and they both sat
there and laughed. They'd probably just given the older fishermen the best show
they'd had in ages.

"I should've
brought more paper towels," Bennett said. Belinda giggled, ringing out her
sleeve.

"It's a good
thing it's sunny." Belinda shimmied back up to the higher rock, raising
her face toward the sun.

Bennett joined
her, returning to the reason they were actually there, which he temporarily
forgot while Belinda's cheeks glowed and her laugh echoed off of the water. Far
from being a waste of time, which Bennett never would have thought anyway as
long as Belinda was with him, the view of Stellan's house produced results.

Bennett nudged
Belinda with his elbow, and she glanced back at him and shrugged after he
jutted his head around for no apparent reason. He leaned toward her, whispering
for her to look up. She did, trying to be subtle about it. When she turned back
to Bennett her face was satisfied if not happy.

Lily Devore
half-slid her way back down the path from Stellan's house to her car.