Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One) (8 page)

Jonas beat them
to the turnaround where Belinda had parked in the past, leaning up against a
gray sedan and playing with his smartphone. He nodded to Bennett, smiling
widely as Belinda stepped out of the passenger's side. "You've been
kidnapped," he said, shaking her hand. Belinda looked at the path encased
in shadow and lit only by a partial moon.

"Could the
person have had a flashlight?" she said dubiously.

Jonas grinned,
waving a flashlight to and fro. "Bennett will go with you, honey."

That placated
her, so she took to the slope.

Belinda took the
lead, self-conscious with Bennett walking behind her. She hoped her clothes
behaved and that the jeans she wore actually flattered her butt. And why was
she worried about him staring at her butt anyway? Oh, no. What if he was
staring at her butt? Belinda tugged at the hem of her shirt, trying to will it
lower.

They were on an
uphill climb that wound from the turnaround to the Mayhew property. Wild
flowers and sea grasses made it look like it led nowhere. But it was a good
workout for your thighs and a bit difficult to navigate in ballet flats. There
were no lights on that side of the property and a few trees nearby let you safely
bob from the wild grasses to the trunks without having to step out into the
open.

She found it
actually wasn't as dark as it seemed at the bottom. Enough of the moonlight
reflected off of the water, shooting a decent glow in front of her feet. They made
it to the top of the property and stood toward the cliff.

"What if
Jeff was just standing there, thinking or something?" Belinda looked out
at the cliff's edge soberly. "He could have been lost in thought and not
even realized someone had come up this side of the property. With the waves,
his own distraction, it would have been all too easy to just push him
off." She demonstrated, throwing her arms out in front of her. "You
were right about no one noticing from inside either." She pointed to where
the party had taken place. "It's too far out. And that music was insanely
loud."

"Everything
all right up there?" Jonas said through the walkie-talkie he gave her.

Belinda searched
for the right button to push, turning it to different angles to make it out in
the light. Bennett slipped it from her palm, holding it to his mouth.
"We're fine. It was no problem getting up here."

"Excellent.
You can come down then before someone thinks you're trying to break in."

Bennett rolled
his eyes and stuffed the walkie-talkie in his jacket pocket, pulling out a mini
flashlight. He flicked it on, shining it ahead of them.

"You come
prepared, don't you?" The light reflected off of something and Belinda
started to reach out to grab Bennett's arm when the world started to spin. She
hit a pebble that started a landslide that sent her feet up and the rest of her
down. She hit bottom with a grunt and Bennett whirled around to help her,
whistling for Jonas.

"You have a
whistle signal too?" she said, trying to sit up. Her hands stung from the
fall and when she held them up to brush them off, she thought she saw blood.
Jonas and his flashlight appeared on the hill, and he crouched over her, worry
crinkling the skin around his eyes.

"I saw
something reflect in the light," she said, deciding she needed a moment
before standing again.

Bennett picked
Belinda up by her waist and scooted her over a foot so they could look where
her palm had hit dirt. Buried in with the gravel was an earring. Jonas whipped
out a pair of tweezers and held it up in the light. It was a silver stud.

"Rather
plain." Belinda frowned. "I don't think this came from any woman that
Stellan invited."

"Maybe it
doesn't belong to a woman." Bennett met her eyes and lifted his brows in
significance while Jonas dropped it in a plastic baggie. Then Bennett held
Belinda by the waist and carefully led her back down.

If she hadn't
felt so discombobulated and heavy and just relieved to have him keeping her
upright, Belinda would have had chill bumps from his taut arm flexing against
her back and the way his finger grazed her skin where her shirt had lifted up. But
all she could think about was sitting back down.

"Battle scars." Jonas winked at Belinda as she swung her legs out of the truck while
Bennett pulled items out of his first aid kit. "This is a huge help. It
could turn things around."

"I should
have told you earlier."

Jonas shrugged it
off. "Out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. Doesn't matter. We know
now."

Belinda didn't
feel quite so nonchalant about it. Something about the whole situation made her
wonder if she'd made a mistake telling them.

Bennett cleaned
off her hands, Belinda wincing as he squirted disinfectant onto the cuts. She
looked up at the Mayhew property while he added the finishing touches of
bandages to her palms.

Jonas smiled.
"It's hard to leave a job unfinished, isn't it?" His face turned
darker as he checked a message on his phone. He forced one last grin for
Belinda and saluted both of them and drove off, probably headed back to the
station for a long night. Belinda realized it was the first time she'd
witnessed him drive away instead of peddle.

Bennett took his
time repackaging the first aid kit, so she waited patiently with her hands
folded in her lap. He finally snapped the top of it shut and came around to her
door, moonlight creating silvery highlights in his dark hair. "Would you
like to go get a coffee?"

Belinda smiled,
her cheeks finally flushing pink for the right reasons. "Coffee's always
welcome."

Instead of being
holed up in the coffee shop with the three other people hanging out, they got
their beverages to go and strolled through downtown, passing dormant shops
waiting for summer. Most of the small boutiques hadn't opened for the season
yet, but there was the sense of anticipation on the streets in the daytime.
Stray tourists had already begun to slip in and Belinda shivered with
excitement. It would be her first summer in Portside in two years and she
couldn't wait for the beaching, the shopping, and the people swarming the town.

"All the
shops will open soon," she said, watching her step on the cobblestone
street, gravitating toward the shop windows. One day in the not-too-distant
future, one of those would belong to her.

"Do you plan
to shop 'til you drop?"

Belinda laughed.
The second time in a row. Bennett was on a roll.

"Not yet,
though I do have a wedding shower present to buy." She perused the window
display of one of the shops. "I hate all this sort of stuff. They have all
kinds of useless or expensive items on their gift registry that I don't want to
buy. On the other hand, it will be much easier just to pick one of those than
to come up with something original that they may or may not like."

"You could
always go green. Everybody likes that."

Belinda smirked.
"I am not giving those people money. A gift is one thing, but neither of
them need the cash, believe me."

"So we're
talking a society wedding?"

"My aunt and
her husband are paying for the wedding, custom-designed dresses and all, and I
believe that the groom's parents are giving them a lavish honeymoon as a gift.
I'm pretty sure I heard Bali mentioned at one of my fittings."

"Fittings?"

"I am one of
the privileged seven who gets to walk down the aisle in a custom-designed
bridesmaid's gown. It means I have to abstain from food until after their June
wedding."

Bennett lifted
his eyebrows.

"And that
brings me back to your original question," Belinda went on. "Instead
of shopping, I plan to eat gelato and sugar cookies until I can't stand the
sight of them."

"They don't
have gelato or sugar cookies where you've been?"

"Not like
here." She skipped over a dip in the rocks. "I have to admit, it's
mostly the warm, fuzzy memories of going there with my family and
friends."

"I wasn't
sure if you had any of those from Portside."

Belinda glanced
at him curiously. "I have plenty of good memories. There are dark moments
too." Her eyes wandered away. "Really dark moments."

"I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to—"

Belinda shook her
head. She wasn't letting that shadow settle upon her at that moment.
"Don't be. It happened. We all tried to hide from it, but we can't
anymore." She sighed heavily. "I've always felt more for Kyle than
myself, but..."

Bennett held his
breath.

"I lost Mark
too." She kept her eyes on the cobblestones.

Bennett waited a
minute for her to elucidate, but it seemed that was all she would say on that
subject. "Are you sorry you came back now?"

Belinda smiled.
"You don't mess around, do you?"

Bennett's brow
creased. "What do you mean?"

Belinda laughed
again, but this time Bennett had no idea why. "I'm sorry...I don't mean to
laugh. It's just...you really don't know?"

"I know I'm
straightforward." His jaw tightened up. "Does that bother you?"

Belinda left him
in suspense, choosing to take a minute to think it over. "Not at all. I
rather like it."

Bennett nodded.
"Good."

"And I'm not
sorry I came back to Portside. I'm not sorry at all." Bennett looked
pleased with her response. "So now I'm going to turn the tables and be
straightforward with you. How long have you and the detective been
friends?"

"Too
long." Belinda laughed again and Bennett suppressed a smile. "We met
at the Academy and led parallel lives for a while, working in the same station,
moving in the same direction. We even did some private investigating work
together on the side."

"Bennett
Tate, PI." Belinda's eyes sparkled. "It sounds good together."

"It's not as
thrilling as you'd think."

"What? No
high-speed car chases or dramatic slow-walks away from exploding
buildings?" Belinda turned thoughtful. "I bet you were good."

Bennett hesitated.
"I did all right."

"No, no. I'm
confident it suited you."

"How would
you know?" As with everything he asked, he said it with perfect
seriousness. He sincerely wanted to know how she came to that conclusion.

"Easy. You
don't miss a thing. In fact, I believe I heard someone call you the gray-eyed
eagle."

Bennett raised
his eyebrows, surprised and delighted that she knew his eye color. "May I
ask who that someone was?"

"Me."
Belinda grinned mischievously. "Of course, I'm not sure I intended it as a
compliment at the time."

"Was it when
you wanted to...hire me...for Victoria's party?"

"I think
so."

"Then I'm
sure it wasn't."

Belinda giggled.
"Well, I've changed my mind. It's now officially a compliment."
Belinda now admired, even liked, his keen eyes. And she was glad he'd brushed
by her in the hallway at Stellan's and saved her from Jarrett at the market and
then again near the cemetery. Someday, she would ask him about all of these
coincidental meetings, but for that night, Belinda was just happy they'd met.

"I'll add it
to my business card."

"It could be
your new slogan: 'Stay safe with the gray-eyed eagle.'"

"New? It
would be the first."

"You don't
have one?" Belinda screwed up her nose, trying to remember what was on his
website. "No, you don't. That's a shame."

"Well, I
promise to get your input if I decide to change that."

"Please do.
I'd love to help." Their eyes met, Belinda's sparkly and Bennett's warm
like the fur of those funny dogs she still couldn't remember the name of. And
there was nothing in the past or present that could dampen the anticipation
burning in her chest.

Chapter 10

Bennett returned
her back to her house reluctantly, and Belinda floated back to the kitchen,
mulling over possible slogans for Bennett's business and dreaming about pumpkin
pie for some reason, deciding that she'd have to add a pumpkin pie cupcake to
her menu.

"Hey,
Bels," Kyle said, sitting on the couch in the living room in the dark.
Belinda walked toward him, all the shimmer in her diminishing as he glanced at her
sideways. "Have fun with your new friend?"

Belinda assessed
the situation. She nodded, deciding less was more at that moment.

"You showed
them the path, huh? The path that takes you onto the Mayhew property, bypassing
the gate?"

"It could be
important."

Kyle stared
straight ahead. "Then there's something I should tell you now because it
may come out anyway."

Belinda
straightened up, her heart flip-flopping.

"I was there
the night of the party," he said, avoiding her eyes. "To talk to
Jeff."

Belinda stared at
him in disbelief. "But...but you haven't spoken to him in years!"

"I wanted to
make things right between us. It was time."

"Time?"
It crossed her mind that under other circumstances this would have come as
great news. Right now, it was just a huge mess. "You were mad at me for
going to the party in the first place. For risking seeing Jeff. Now you're
telling me you wanted to make things right between the two of you?"

"That was
you, this is me. I would never trust him with you, but I needed to say a few
things to him."

"Like
what?"

"That's not
really any of your business."

Belinda crossed
her arms over her chest. Kyle brought this up, volunteered actually, and now it
was none of her business. "Uh...okay. So did you talk to Jeff?"

"Yeah, I
did." Kyle's eyes were distant. "I snuck up that path and found him
alone in the yard. We talked and I left the way I came."

"And that
was it? You just had a casual chat with a person you wouldn't deal with for the
past ten years and went home to watch TV?"

Kyle's eyes flashed.
"What do you think I did? Push him over the cliff?"

"No! But I
can't believe it was that normal either." Why did he opt to tell her this
at all if he was going to tell half-truths?

Kyle sighed.
"He was shocked to see me, but glad I think. We both avoided mentioning
you and we made our peace and I went home, leaving him alone—and alive—in the
backyard."

"Are you
sure you were alone?"

"Yes. I
wouldn't have talked to him otherwise."

"And all you
did was...make peace? You didn't talk about anything else?" Belinda could
feel the irritation emanating off of Kyle, but again, he brought it up. If he
didn't want to divulge anything, he should have kept it to himself.

"It was a
brief conversation."

"And you are
absolutely positive no one saw you?"

Kyle glanced at
her curiously. "Why are you so adamant about that?"

Belinda dropped
her hands to her sides. "The killer could have used that path. I was just
thinking that someone might have noticed you coming or going that way and
gotten an idea of how to avoid being seen. They could have officially left the
party and then returned that way to kill Jeff. And that would have been good
timing if he was alone when you left."

"Will you
tell your friend about this?"

Belinda examined
his profile. She didn't want to have to do anything, but he didn't seem to be
leaving her with much choice. "I really think you should just go tell the
police yourself. It could save you a lot of trouble later. If you don't, it
just looks like you're hiding something." As she said it, Belinda bit her
lip. It didn't
look
like he was hiding something, he
was
hiding
something.

Kyle swallowed.
"I'm sorry, Bels. I'm really sorry." He kissed her forehead and
headed to his room.

"Does that
mean you won't?" Belinda's voice echoed along with her frustration.

He didn't answer,
leaving her alone in what now felt like a big, empty box. Belinda took a deep
breath, trying to steady her nerves. Why was every pleasant moment in her life
scarred like this? She would wait and try and talk some sense into him in the
morning. If he still refused...well, she would try not to think about that.

Kyle avoided her
in the morning, barricading himself in his bedroom. Belinda sat at the kitchen
island trying to work on her to-do list for her cupcake boutique, thoughts of
Kyle "making peace'" with Jeff and Bennett's gray eyes absorbing her
concentration. So when the doorbell rang, Belinda wasn't at all prepared to
deal with anyone.

Bennett's
detective friend was outside her door with a uniformed officer behind him.
Belinda's eyes shot open and all other thoughts evaporated.

"Is your
brother around this morning, Ms. Kittridge?" he said.

So they were back
to that. Last night, he'd called her honey, which Belinda could only guess
meant something incredibly awful was about to happen. Belinda nodded and
stepped aside for them to enter and then flew up the stairs to Kyle's room,
banging on his door. He opened, glowering, until he saw the detective.

"Mr.
Kittridge," Jonas said in his official voice, "you're under arrest
for the murder of Jeff Clark."

Kyle ignored the
involuntary squeak that shot out of Belinda's mouth and let them handcuff him
and lead him outside without a word, refusing to even glance in Belinda's
direction. She followed them out, staring blankly as the officer helped him
into the back of the police car.

Belinda could
only watch from a distance, feeling more helpless than she ever had, and she'd
felt pretty helpless in the past.

"Do you have
anyone you can call?" Jonas said with a less official tone.

"Our parents
are on a cruise."

He nodded in
understanding. "Will you be okay?"

"I...I
think. I'm not the type to go into hysterics if that's what you mean."

Jonas smiled.
"I didn't believe so." He dug his hands in his pockets, staring at
the grass. "This is entirely off record of course, but I would call
Bennett if I were you." Jonas nodded to her, slipped into the passenger's
side of one of the patrol cars, and ambled away. Once they were out of earshot,
she could only hear the distant whining of a landscaping tool and her own
heartbeat.

Before she'd
opened the door to the police, Belinda had felt hurt, but now she was on the
verge of a complete meltdown. Kyle had shut the door in her face, refusing to
open up and tell her exactly what happened. And now this. And their parents
were out of the country. Belinda had just told the detective she wouldn't go
into hysterics. Well, maybe she'd lied.

Belinda stood
there in a daze for a few minutes, thinking numbly whether she was actually in
a dream. Deciding that was a lost cause, she plodded back into the house and up
the stairs, her steps seeming to echo louder than before, and flipped open her
computer. She typed in Tate Security and called Bennett.

He made it to her
house in insanely good time, less put together than she was used to. His short
hair spiked out in all directions, and he'd buttoned his shirt wrong. Still in
a daze, Belinda automatically started to fix it for him.

"Jonas
suggested I call you," she said, struggling with the last button. Bennett
waited patiently as she forced it through the slot, maybe too surprised to
offer to help.

She flattened out
his shirt panel so the buttons aligned properly, his skin peeking out through
the gap, and patted down the material gently. As she started buttoning it back,
Belinda realized what on earth she was doing and got nervous, fumbling with her
task. Bennett took her hands, now shaking, and walked her over to the kitchen
island, helping her onto a stool.

"It's harder
from the outside," she mumbled, trying to relax.

Bennett finished
buttoning his shirt. "Do you have a lawyer you can call?"

"Yes."

"Well, you
should." Bennett frowned. "I know some of what's going on here and
it's not in your brother's favor. They found evidence that he'd been on the
cliff. Paint particles I think. And they believe Kyle and Jeff got into a fight."

Belinda wrung her
hands. "The scratch on his arm..."

"Yeah."
Bennett's mouth gaped like he was about to say something else but changed his
mind.

"What?"

"The car
that rammed you was a rental."

"So, in
other words, it doesn't help?"

"No, they
found out who it was rented to." Bennett averted his eyes.

"Who?"
Belinda said suspiciously. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like his
answer.

"Your
brother."

Belinda shook
trying to squash down the rage in her chest. "No."

She was barely
audible, but from the redness in her face to her stiff upper body, Bennett had
gotten the response he anticipated.

Belinda walked
around the kitchen island, randomly opening up kitchen cabinets, which were all
empty. Her hands shook while she poured water into a glass and her cheeks
tightened. She was about to cry, wasn't she?

After barely
managing to gulp down one drink of water, it started. Belinda was obviously
trying hard not to lose it, but she was also obviously losing the battle.
Before he could think of what to do, she ran from the room and up the nearby
staircase. He heard a door slam and then...nothing. Bennett stood in the
kitchen, torn on what to do.

After going back
and forth, he decided to wait downstairs. He didn't want to leave her like
that, not with her brother under arrest. So he sat down at their kitchen island
and opened the notebook sitting there, figuring he could make a list of things
he needed from the hardware store while he waited. He flipped for a blank page,
passing a random scribble dead in the center of the notebook. Out of curiosity,
he flipped back to see what it said. Someone had slashed an address diagonally
across the page. Bennett flipped back to the beginning. Random lists and notes
covered the pages. The handwriting did not match that of the address.

A door creaked
and then Bennett heard soft padding on the wood floor upstairs. He closed the
notebook and pushed it back into place where he'd found it, repeating the
address to himself. Belinda appeared at the bottom of the stairs, disappeared
as she hit the landing, and reappeared a second later at the edge of the
kitchen. She looked paler than when he arrived and now her brown eyes were
bloodshot. They also looked surprised to see him.

Belinda tugged on
the ends of her sleeves and hugged her body, avoiding his eyes. "I figured
you'd left," she said quietly, but not with the ferocity of her earlier
statement. She cleared her throat and poured more water, gulping without a
problem this time.

Bennett hoped he
hadn't messed up by not leaving, but it was too late. He couldn't think of a
question that didn't sound lame, so he stayed quiet, letting her pad around and
drink more water and search through the cabinets. She found cookies and nestled
into a seat next to him, setting the package between the two of them and
offering him one.

"You
first," he said, his voice echoing in the house like it was built of
marble.

She nibbled on
the edge of the cookie. "I'm sorry. I'm not good at public
hysterics."

"Neither am
I."

Belinda's face
started to come back to life. "You can ask me now," she said.

"Ask you
what?"

"Whatever
you wanted to before I went nutty."

Bennett raised
his eyebrows, taking a minute to remember. "Why did your brother want to
talk to Clark?"

"To make peace."
She exaggerated her words.

"You don't
believe him?"

Belinda scrunched
her nose. "Not really...but I don't think he killed Jeff either. Or rammed
into me."

Bennett nodded.
"Someone saw your brother exchange heated words with Jeff the other day
outside of one of the cemeteries. And apparently that wasn't the first time
that had happened."

"It was
probably where Mark is buried. Do you know what they were arguing about?"

Bennett shrugged.
"Maybe Kyle was concerned that Jeff would pick up where he left off
obsessing over you."

"As
flattering as that is I don't think it was Kyle's top priority."

Bennett leaned
closer to her. "Did you know Mark well?"

Belinda felt her
body tense and her mind drifted off to that final summer when Mark died....
"Oh...um, well enough, but he was primarily Kyle's friend." She
avoided his eyes and focused on her cookie.

"Was he a
good sailor?"

"Oh,
yeah." Belinda waved her hand like everyone should know that. "He
rivaled Kyle, and that's saying something."

"So he
should have known what he was doing."

Belinda didn't
know where this random line of thinking was heading, but she shrugged and
answered anyway. "Beyond. He actually taught lessons at the yacht club in
the summer." Belinda watched Bennett's eyes, deep in puzzle solving.
"Are you thinking...are you thinking Mark's accident wasn't an
accident?" Her throat constricted saying the words.

Bennett looked at
her questioningly. "Is that what you're thinking right now?"

"I don't
know, but I'm thinking about how good a sailor Mark was and that conversation
between Jeff and Stellan at the party..." She pursed her lips. "It
could explain some things."

"Such
as?"

"Their
behavior afterward. Jeff was a train wreck right from the beginning, but
Stellan was totally reserved about the whole thing. I just wanted to know what
happened, but he was very vague on some points and always got defensive.
Maybe...maybe that's because they weren't telling the whole truth." She'd
always had that feeling whenever she talked to Stellan.