by Misty Simon
Okay, then. I couldn’t think of a time when Ben had let anything come between him and fondling my body. This must really be important. I tried not to let his behavior bother me. I wasn’t losing my sexual appeal to him, was I?
But then he kept stroking my chest and my arm, dipping his finger into my cleavage. I figured I had nothing to worry about, and everything to look forward to, as soon as he blurted out what had him so damn happy.
He simply stared at me for a couple more seconds. I thought I would burst, or start rubbing my face to make sure I didn’t have anything on it.
“I took a page out of your book, babe. I ran with an idea that’s been niggling in the back of my mind for a little bit, and my hunch paid off.” He said the words triumphantly while gesticulating wildly in the air with his long-fingered hands. His moss green eyes shone with a fervor I’d only seen when he’d been inside me. Now I really wanted to know what the hell he was talking about.
“Spill.”
He flicked one of my dangly earrings while his smile widened. I didn’t think that was possible. His grin had already been nearly splitting his face, but it did get wider. Crazy.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me a little bit. You look manic. What happened? Tell me now, before I call the little men with the white coats.”
“There will be no need for that.” He literally bounced on the couch like a little kid with a new toy.
If he didn’t tell me soon I was going to bounce him on his head. Seriously.
“Okay.” He grabbed my hands and squeezed so hard I wasn’t sure I’d still have feeling after a few more seconds. “I put an ad in the paper.” He went silent after he dropped the bomb.
I was hard-pressed to see how that would have garnered him any information as far as clearing Bella’s name of the murder charges. It certainly hadn’t helped last time when I’d tried to capture Horace by asking for someone who had a lot of blow. I’d only received crazy people calls, nothing worth picking the phone up for after the first few loonies.
So I waited to hear the rest of the story because I knew that couldn’t be all of it. Ben looked like he was about to jump right out of his own skin.
“Go on,” I prompted when he continued sitting there looking immensely pleased with himself.
“You have an appointment with someone tomorrow morning—a prospective buyer.”
And still I had no idea how this had anything to do with Trev’s murder, or Jackson’s, for that matter. What could I be selling that would have any significance to the murder? Unless it was the watch I had totally forgotten was in my pocket, the one I had to remember to show Bella tomorrow morning with the doughnuts and coffee I’d promised her. Oy!
“Okay.” I drew the word out. Ben looked disappointed that I wasn’t following this very cryptic and confusing conversation. That’s a lot of alliteration. I think the town was finally wearing off on me.
“You are going to be the seller of a number of high-quality picture frames. You need to unload them at a cheap price because you’re moving out of the area and don’t want to have to pack them.” He beamed at me, probably waiting for me to catch on, which I obviously was not doing quickly enough.
“Come on, Ivy.” He squeezed my hands. “I’ve been trying to find this frame thief, the one who knocked you in the head and took all your frames. The one who’s been stealing from everyone but no one knows who it is. Or why he only takes the frames when he’s already broken in and has access to everything. That thief? Surely you remember.”
“Well, yeah.” I hesitated, but then decided to plunge in. “But I didn’t think it was so important, with everything else going on. I had a snake in my mailbox and a horrid picture taken of me when I got home today, not to mention the murderer running around. I guess I kind of forgot about picture frames. But not you, huh?” I glanced around at the pictures I had hanging on the wall with fluorescent thumb tacks and admitted it would be nice to have my frames back if Ben could manage it. But I had thought he was working on my mystery, not trailing after some shadowy person who took the time to leave the picture of my dad and the first pony I’d ever ridden. Though I must say I was glad to still have the picture. I think it was the last time I’d fit into a size ten. I had been ten at the time, go figure. But we won’t go there.
“Not me, no.” He glossed right over the snake thing along with the picture. How could that not be important? But he was still talking. “I’d been racking my brain trying to think of a way to get the guy, or girl, to come out in the open, when it hit me. Your ad last time might not have helped when put into the singles section, but another might help if there was something specific this perp was looking for.”
My phone screamed, almost drowning out the last word Ben said. I grabbed it, glanced at the caller window, groaned, and told Ben to hang on to his thought. Of course I wanted to hear more about how brilliant I was, but the call was from my dad. He’d keep calling until he got me.
“Yes, Dad.”
“Is that anyway to greet your old man?” he asked, indignation ringing in his voice.
I decided on a little payback. “It does when I’m in the middle of making time with my boyfriend and you’re interrupting.” As if on cue, Ben leaned in close to the speaker to let out a long, low groan. The sound made goose bumps rise on my legs and certain parts of me farther north go all liquidy. Yay!
“Ben. Ben!” my dad yelled into my ear. “You get away from my girl until you tell me exactly what your intentions are toward her. I want you to make my baby an honest woman before you start having kids!”
I was so horrified he’d even made the suggestion that I dropped the phone as if it had become a live tarantula. How dare he!
But Ben caught it before it could bounce off the couch. He laughed into the receiver. “Sorry, sir, I simply couldn’t resist. No, no, I couldn’t resist teasing you. But I have a hard time resisting her, too. Yeah, I’ll put her back on the phone and behave myself. I look forward to our talk when you get back.”
Terror filled me at the prospect of what that talk would, or would not, entail. But before I could dissolve into a puddle of ick, Ben handed the phone back with a benign smile. “For you.”
I spent a moment goggling at him, but Stan was squawking in my ear. What on earth was I supposed to say now that Ben had taken the opportunity to pull my dad’s whiskers? Crap.
“…and another thing. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be with Ben so often. What kind of example are you setting for your nieces? I mean, really, the two of you living together.” He huffed out a breath.
I took the opportunity to shut that down immediately. “You and Martha practically lived together before you got married, and you’re older than me, so you should have known better than I do at twenty-five.”
He sputtered, but I went on.
“And secondly, I don’t think it’s any of your business, and certainly not the business of my nieces, who have their own mothers to look to for a better example. I don’t even live near any of them. None of them know my living arrangements unless someone tells them. Not to mention that none of them are even old enough to understand what living together means, unless, like I said before, someone tells them.” I sucked in a breath, expecting Stan to interrupt me, but I must have stunned him into silence. “Now, what exactly did you call to ask me, or tell me, or berate me for? Because I don’t have time to really get into much of anything with you. There’s been another murder, as I’m sure you’ve already heard, and I need to figure things out before anyone else dies.”
“Okay.”
I waited for more, but it didn’t come after that one softly spoken word. “Okay?”
“Yep, okay. Just thought I’d let you know we’re about four hours from home. We stopped in Gettysburg to get a bite to eat. Once we get back on the road, we’ll come straight to your house when we get in.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“I think it is. Something seems to be happening around Bella, and I’d
like to make sure you’re taken care of.”
I stared at the phone after pulling it away from my ear. What? I put it back against my ear, wanting to choose my words carefully. “Dad, I’m a big girl.” And if that wasn’t the understatement of the century, I didn’t know what was. Anyway. “I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself. But I also have Ben here with me. I promise I’ll be safe.” Of course, I immediately crossed my fingers behind my back. I had yet to tell him about getting hit in the head by Bella instead of Jackson, along with everything else that had happened. I didn’t know if it had been significant enough to make it onto the grapevine since it was yours truly, not a real community member.
“All right, then. We’ll stop at home, unpack, and see you in the morning.”
“I have an appointment first thing in the morning.” I wasn’t going to tell him it was with Bella—my dad would either balk or horn in. So I left it at an appointment and waited for him to come up with some way to find something wrong with that.
“Fine, how about after your meeting?” Frustration was radiating through the phone. Part of me felt bad—he only wanted to protect me from myself and any bad people out there. But part of me wilted because of the way he used to keep me completely under his thumb, even if he’d had the best intentions.
“I have to open the store at ten. I don’t know how long my meeting’s going to go, but how about if I call you as soon as I’m done. We’ll get together sometime during the day.”
There was grumbling on the other end of the phone, but he didn’t really have a choice. I was mistress of my own universe. Maybe he had finally grasped that concept.
“Fine,” he spat. “But I expect a phone call as soon as you’re done with your meeting. No stopping in between to get some time in with Ben. You understand?”
The object of our conversation came up behind me and started nuzzling my ear. Stifling a giggle at the very last moment, I swatted him. “Fine, Dad. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a safe drive. Sleep well tonight.”
“Take care of… What was that?”
This time I hadn’t quite stifled the giggle as Ben’s very clever fingers snaked underneath the hem of my shirt to draw hearts on my stomach.
I quickly ended the call in the best way I knew how, by simply closing the phone and turning in Ben’s arms all at the same time. “Take me to bed,” I murmured against his lips, ignoring James Brown screaming in my hand.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
****
Sun poked through my slightly opened window the next morning. I stretched, enjoying the feel of Ben next to me in bed, even if his snoring was what had snapped me out of sleep. I tweaked his nipple, reminiscing about the tiger I’d been last night, but then he turned over and nearly knocked me off the small slice of mattress I occupied at the edge of the bed. It was about all I’d been allowed for sleeping last night.
Still smiling, though. I might have bruised my elbow on my nightstand, but I was still smiling. Since Ben continued sleeping through any and all noise, I walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower.
Or it would have been a quick shower if I hadn’t been sexually assaulted in the middle of shampooing my hair. Not that I minded too much, of course, but it did put me a little behind schedule on getting dressed.
Ben stepped out of the shower two minutes later, looking like a Greek god risen from the sea. I had to lift my jaw back into the appropriate position from where it hung at my feet. I mopped at the drool at the corner of my mouth with my sleeve. Yowza! Looking at him never got old. I hoped it never did.
“So what are you doing today?” he asked, wrapping a fluffy pink towel around his waist while defogging a part of the mirror to run a hand over his stubbled chin.
“I have to go see Bella, then my dad, then open the Shoppe.” I couldn’t forget the watch again. I had to see if Bella recognized it. Something told me she might. Hopefully, it could be a clue to get us one step closer to the killer. Who was I kidding? It would the first step toward the killer at all, now that Jackson was dead.
“You have to be home by three today, if that’s possible.” He ran his hand from his neck up to his chin, tilting his head back. I defy you to say that wasn’t one of the sexiest poses on a man. Yum!
But I couldn’t think about dragging him back into bed when I had so many things to do today. I’d get him tonight. I assumed he’d be here when I got home, as he was every night these days. Having him in the house was starting to grow on me in a way I hadn’t thought it would. I could still be independent and have my own space, even with someone else in the house. Right? At least I had been able to so far. And until Ben broke the lease on his apartment, I wasn’t going to worry too much about how often he stayed here.
“And I want you to be safe out there today. I did hear you when you were talking about the snake and the picture, even if I seemed caught up in my own stuff.”
Well, that was something, at least.
“I don’t know what we can do about either unless we catch either the photographer or the snake handler red-handed, but you need to watch out, just in case.”
Water gleamed on his chest. I tried to pay attention to the conversation, but the snake and the picture seemed so long ago and insignificant compared to what was standing right in front of me. I had to remind myself, again, about my full day ahead. Ahem.
Anyway, he stroked his throat a second time, looking at me through the mirror. I had lost my train of thought along with the line of the conversation, but now I got it back. “Why do I have to be here this afternoon?” Not that I couldn’t. I fully trusted Charlie to take care of the store now.
“You’re the frame seller, remember?”
Oy!
****
I was only a few minutes late to Bella’s, since I did end up dragging Ben to the floor and having my wicked way with him one more time before I had to go. Unfortunately, that meant I hadn’t had time to—
“I told you, you have to use the roll brush on your hair, hon!” Bella said before I had both feet inside Bella’s Best. Yeah, I hadn’t blow-dried my hair that morning. My little bout of sweatiness on the bedroom floor hadn’t helped the bushy tangle it had naturally dried into, either.
She circled me like a vulture. “Tell me you didn’t go out anywhere with your hair like that,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“Um.” I waved the to-go coffee containers along with the box of doughnuts under her nose.
“Don’t do it again,” she said as she snatched the box and grabbed out a cream-filled doughnut after taking a sip of the steaming coffee.
I’d stopped in at Mad Martha’s Milk and Munchies, hoping against hope my dad and Martha would still be at home. For once, something had gone my way. I hoped I hadn’t used up all my good luck for the day. I was going to need it to get through the next twelve or so hours.
We munched companionably in silence for a few minutes, only rarely making noises of appreciation for the food and hot coffee. I figured we had a little time to eat before we got down to talking. And the watch sat silently in my pocket. I’d noticed this morning that it had stopped at 12:15, but I didn’t want to touch the battery in case the time happened to be significant.
Bella went to throw away our trash. She collected the empty doughnut box and the two paper cups. “I’ll be back in a second. Get yourself comfortable in one of those chairs. I’ll do your hair while we talk. I can’t let you go back outside like that…” Her voice trailed off as she ducked into the back of the shop.
I got myself situated onto the chair, thinking maybe I could talk her into giving me a manicure and maybe a redo on my makeup. It always looked so much better when she did it. I had mastered doing eyeliner without actually poking myself in the eye anymore, but I hadn’t attempted mascara in quite some time because I was dangerous with the wand.
As I checked through the colors on Bella’s counter, my heart nearly seized when I heard her screaming in the very back of the shop, as if murder
were being done right now.
Chapter Twenty
“What the hell is going on!” I yelled, running to the room in the back, not sure what I expected to find. I took it as a sign of encouragement that Bella was still screaming—it meant she was alive.
I probably should have been quieter, though. Now whoever was making her scream was fully aware she wasn’t alone, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.
I skidded to a halt at the scene of the first crime. Bella stood with her hands on either side of her face, staring down at what looked like a trash bin outside the big door of the walk-in refrigerator where Trev had been found. I couldn’t tell what was so horrific about a trashcan, but I peered into it anyway.
Nope, nothing but a bunch of rust-colored towels. What was so scary about that? Unless they had been white like her other towels. Maybe they had been washed with a red towel and changed colors. I supposed that would have been worth being upset over, though I didn’t know if it was worth the blood-curdling scream that was still going on.
Then she started pointing and stuttering. “Bl-bl-blood. Blood on my t-t-towels. Those are mine and there’s bl-bl-blood. Oh, God.” And for the first time ever I had to catch Bella because she fainted.
I laid her down gently on the floor, then stepped closer to the wastebasket. On second thought, it looked like a tall barrel laundry bin, since the trash can stood right next to it. I peered over the lip, then stepped back immediately. On closer inspection it sure did look like crusted blood instead of laundry gone wrong. But how had the towels arrived? Who had brought them? What was the purpose? I doubted Bella had mopped up a customer with them from a little nick of the razor. No way would that much blood have accumulated from a shaving accident.
I put in a call to the police department immediately, fanning Bella’s face with the other hand. Who knew I could multitask so well?
A wailing siren filled the street outside as Bella slowly came to. “Oh, my God! How did they know? Why are they coming after me so soon? Ivy,” she said, gripping my arm so hard I almost fell over on top of her. “You have to help me get this cleaned up.” Her eyes were wild, but her hair was still perfect. How did she do that?
