Hot and Bothered

by Jennifer Bernard

  “Maybe you should get that chip off your shoulder. Maybe it’s not about you and what she ‘owes’ you,” Will said.

  Ben slapped a burger onto a bun. “Are you taking her side?”

  “How do you even know there are sides? I’m just saying, your damn ego might be getting in the way.”

  “In the way of what?”

  Tobias poked at his burger with a suspicious frown. “What is this?”

  “In the way of what?” Ben asked again.

  “This burger is not cooked,” Tobias declared. “This is a travesty. I think I speak for the entire Knight family when I say that I want the old Ben back.”

  “Well, the old Ben isn’t coming back,” Ben snapped. “And I want Will to finish his sentence. Getting in the way of what?”

  “Love and happiness,” Will snapped back. “Love and goddamn freaking happiness. You’re playing a part that doesn’t suit you. You’re not some asshole playing the field, afraid to feel anything. That’s just not you. And I’m tired of you fooling yourself that it is.”

  An abrupt silence fell over the group. Ben stared at his older brother. What the fuck? How long had he been thinking that? “Fooling myself? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Will squirted ketchup on his bun. “Yes, you do. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You got hurt and you closed up shop. You’re not a cynical dickhead who doesn’t care about anyone. You care too much. And you always will, because that’s you who are. You need to stop lying to yourself.”

  No one dared say anything as Will and Ben stared each other down. From inside the house came the sound of Sarah’s footsteps clattering down the staircase. She must have woken up from her nap. What an awkward moment for her to walk in on. Ben scrambled for a change in subject, but his mind was blank. You care too much.

  Merry took a fork and lifted one edge of a burger. “You know something, Tobias is right. This burger could use a little more flame on it. How about I—”

  “I got it.” Ben grabbed the platter and carried it back to the grill. “At least there’s one thing I can still do right. I can still screw up a burger like nobody’s business.”

  By the time Monday rolled around, Ben had done plenty of thinking about what Will had said. He didn’t necessarily agree with all of it. But his brother had a point. Maybe he should get that chip off his shoulder—at least long enough to hear what Julie had to say to Will.

  She arrived at Will’s new office—which was half of the duplex he and Merry had purchased—a little late. Ben watched through the front window as she parked her bright red VW Jetta out front instead of in the driveway, as if she might want to make a quick getaway. In black leggings and boots, with a red sweater hugging her body, she made his mouth water with desire.

  He opened the door before she could knock. “You look great,” he told her, hoping to start off on a positive note. “Special occasion?”

  “Audition, actually. Mrs. Murphy talked me into trying out for Grease. They lost an understudy. I’m here to see Will, is he in?”

  “Yes, he’s next door. He went to get coffee so I could try to convince you to let me stay for your meeting. Would you mind?”

  Her eyes widened and worry tugged her eyebrows together in a frown. Julie had never been good at hiding her emotions; he’d always read them in her eyes like wind on the ocean. She was afraid of something. Filled with doubt. About him? About what she had to say?

  Finally, she nodded. “Sure. It’s probably better, actually.”

  Well, that was cryptic.

  She stepped inside, bringing the fresh scent of lavender with her. He immediately thought of her spray bottle, and how he smelled lavender and remembered her every time he walked through his foyer these days.

  “How’s Felix?”

  “He’s fine,” she said absently, tugging off one of her gloves. He noticed that her hands were reddened and chapped. It probably went with the territory of being a cleaner. “He’s already plotting ways to avoid airsickness on his next flight.”

  “Good—” he began, but she interrupted.

  “Ben, before I tell you and Will what I came here to say, I want you to know how sorry I am about your father. I cried every night after I heard. I should have said it earlier, but things have been so awkward between us.”

  Her sympathy felt weird to him. Almost out of place. Wasn’t it a little late to be sharing condolences? But he didn’t want to start on the wrong foot, so he simply nodded.

  Will came through the door then with a pot of coffee and a pile of Styrofoam cups. He and Julie greeted each other warmly, though Ben could tell that Julie was starting to get nervous.

  Will had furnished the sitting area with a comfortable couch and armchair arrangement, so he could put potential clients and sources at ease. Sunshine streamed in the bay window, giving the hardwood floors a warm caramel gleam and keeping a hardy jade plant alive. Ben wasn’t sure the pleasant atmosphere was working on Julie, even though Will showed her to the most comfortable seat, the armchair. Ben could personally vouch for it, having napped there one evening after a long day of flying.

  She perched on the edge of the seat and gripped both upholstered arms, as if it was a rocket ship instead of a La-Z-Boy.

  Will set a cup of coffee on the end table next to her, then sank onto the couch next to Ben. “You know I’m not a deputy anymore, right, Julie?”

  She nodded. “I intended to talk to the police instead, but then I heard that you’re investigating the murder of your father. This has to do with that.”

  Ben narrowed his eyes at her. “You’d already left when it happened. How could you know anything about that?”

  She shot him a look. “I don’t mind if you’re here; in fact, I want you to hear this. But you can’t interrupt me every other sentence. Obviously, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it was relevant.”

  Will shoved a coffee cup into his hands. “Ben, you focus on that. Let me do the questioning. Can you do that?”

  “Sorry,” Ben muttered. “Just ignore me. Carry on.”

  She drew in a long, audibly difficult breath. “Okay. I think I saw the murderer. In fact, I believe he came after me and threatened me. He told me never to come back to Jupiter Point.”

  11

  Even though Ben had pledged to be quiet, as soon as Julie made that statement, he exploded with a curse, then another one as coffee spilled onto his pants.

  In the next second he was on his feet, six feet plus of steaming, furious manhood.

  “What?” He swung back toward her. “Is he still here? Has he threatened you again?”

  Julie gave Will a pointed look. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have Ben here after all. She’d thought it would help clear up a few things, answer some of his questions. But she hadn’t anticipated this kind of reaction.

  Will reached for his brother and tugged him back to the couch. “Want me to kick you out of here, Ben? Because I will at this rate.”

  Ben turned fierce eyes on him. “She just said the murderer threatened her and you’re worried about me?”

  “I’m trying to get the story, for chrissake. Now sit down.”

  Ben sat, but he didn’t look happy about it. He leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, hands gripped together. “Just tell me if you’ve gotten any more threats, and I’ll shut up.”

  A sense of warmth bloomed in Julie’s heart. Maybe Ben still cared about her. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be freaking out like this.

  “No more threats. Believe me, I wouldn’t still be here if there were. Especially with Felix.”

  Ben scanned her face, and what he saw must have reassured him enough so he nodded at her. “Okay. I’m shutting up now. Trying, anyway. So, when did this happen?”

  “You know, the next time I sit down in the pilot’s seat of the 206, feel free to slug me,” said Will, shaking his head. “Start at the beginning, Julie. What makes you think you saw the killer?”

  She decided that the only w
ay she was going to get through this was to focus on Will. If she watched Ben’s reactions, she might lose it.

  “I was outside your house, late at night. I’d gotten a panicked call from Savannah, begging me to meet her. But I couldn’t reach Ben to let him know I had to cancel our camping trip, so I drove to your place to tell him in person. I didn’t want to wake everyone up, so I turned the headlights off and parked out of sight. I snuck over to the side porch. I used to climb up that post to reach Ben’s room. I mean, not very often…hardly ever, really. Just occasionally.”

  “We know,” Will said dryly. “Wasn’t exactly a secret.”

  Julie’s face heated and she dared a glance at Ben. He looked stunned, and maybe a little disbelieving. She dragged her gaze away from him and fixed it on Will again.

  Will, with his stern manner and quiet gray eyes that somehow drew the secrets right out of you.

  “Anyway, I never got to the post. A man grabbed me from behind and clamped his hand over my mouth. He said, ‘Get out of here or I’ll hurt you.’ It was more like a growl, like he didn’t want me to recognize his voice. He yanked my arm behind my back. It hurt, a lot. He demanded my phone, and I gave it to him. Then he said, ‘Now go, Julie. Run, before I change my mind. No telling anyone or you’ll pay.’”

  “Those exact words?” Will asked.

  “Exactly. I’ll never forget those words. I can still hear them. I was always good at hearing things and memorizing them, because of my singing.”

  She flicked a glance at Ben. His face had gone blank, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “I was scared to death because he knew my name. I didn’t know if he knew it already, or maybe saw it on my phone. It was just an old-fashioned flip phone, nothing fancy. Definitely not worth stealing. I ran to my car and drove away as fast as I could. But I didn’t do what he said. I mean, there was a stranger lurking outside your house. I had to call the police. So I stopped at the Mobil gas station right outside of town and used their phone to call nine-one-one. I told them what had happened.”

  “You took a big chance,” said Will softly.

  “Well, I kept it anonymous because he knew my name. They had a cruiser already in the area. I waited on the phone until the dispatcher came back on and told me that they’d checked it out and seen no one. He made me feel stupid even for calling, like maybe I was pulling some prank. Anyway, I was glad the man was gone and figured maybe I’d scared off a burglar or something.”

  She stole another glance at Ben. His head was lowered, gaze fixed on the floor, hands clasped together so tightly the tendons and veins stood out.

  “I kept driving until I got to Benson. Savannah had a hotel room there, which she’d booked under a fake name. That was when I found out she was pregnant. Like, about six months pregnant, but she’d been hiding it really well. I hadn’t noticed because I was in such a funk over my mom. She was freaking out because she hadn’t told her parents and didn’t want them taking over her life the way they always did. She begged me to help her, at least until the baby was born. I couldn’t say no—I owed her so much. Her and the Reinhards.”

  Ben made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a snort.

  She ignored him and went on. “Savannah and I holed up in that hotel for two nights, ordering room service and trying to figure out how to make it work. She didn’t want her parents involved, but I convinced her she had to tell them. She was going to need financial support no matter what she did, and she still hadn’t finished high school. I was still only seventeen, how much help could I really be?”

  Ben dug his hands into his hair, as if it were physically painful to listen to her story.

  “Anyway, when we finally left the hotel, I saw a note on my car. It was addressed to me, by name. And it said that if I made any more calls or came back to Jupiter Point, all hell would break loose.”

  “Did you save that note?” Will asked sharply.

  “I did.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the Ziploc bag in which she’d kept the note all these years. The ink had faded, and the paper looked soft and worn. “But it probably won’t tell you much. Block letters, ordinary notebook paper. I’m sure my fingerprints are all over it, so if you need to take mine, that’s fine.” She handed it to Will.

  “Pretty good thinking to save this.”

  She shook her head, the familiar guilt flooding her. “I should have done something before this. But I kept thinking, how did he know I called the police? What if he was the police? So who should I tell? And his threats sounded real. He knew how to find me. He knew my car, knew my name. He had my phone. I completely freaked out.”

  “So, what happened next?”

  “We took my car to a junkyard.”

  “Your mom’s Beetle? You junked it?” Ben raised his head to look at her. A quick memory of making out in the front seat of the Beetle flooded her brain. Ben had kissed the inside of her arm for hours, until it felt made of liquid fire.

  “We didn’t know what else to do. The man knew how to track it. Savannah and I decided Los Angeles would be a good place to go. We figured it was a big city with everything we needed. Jobs, hospitals, apartments. She called her parents and told them she was pregnant. I got on the phone with them, and they begged me to stay with her until the baby was born. They promised to pay for everything, even pay me a salary. They didn’t want her to be alone. So I agreed.” She looked at Ben, who was still watching her steadily. “But I asked them to give you a message, since I didn’t feel safe calling myself.”

  “What was the message?” he asked slowly, as if he was afraid of the answer.

  She flushed. “I asked them to tell you about Savannah, and that I planned to stay with her until the baby was born. I asked them to tell you that I loved you. And I asked them to tell you to meet me on my birthday at the place where I first told you I loved you. I figured even if that bad guy was listening, he wouldn’t know what I was talking about.”

  For a long, agonizing moment, he stared at her blankly. Did he not remember that moment? Could he really have forgotten something that was indelibly printed on her heart for eternity?

  “Neptune’s Oasis,” he finally said.

  “Yes.” She made a little face. “Water parks aren’t nearly as fun alone.”

  “You went. On your birthday.”

  “Yes. It’s not in Jupiter Point, so I figured I wouldn’t be angering the man, if he was still paying attention. My birthday was after Savannah’s due date, so I thought I’d be at loose ends by then.”

  “I was at the Air Force Academy by then.”

  She licked her lips, dry from all her talking. “It was a stupid plan, anyway. I just couldn’t think of anything better. That was before Facebook and all that.”

  Will cleared his throat. “I’d like to get back to that first encounter, when he grabbed you outside our house. Maybe there’s a detail that might help us identify him.”

  But she barely heard him. She was still captured by the intensity of Ben’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Ben,” she whispered to him. “I probably should have done something different, or more. But when you didn’t show up at Neptune’s Oasis, I thought maybe you were done with me. After a while, I called the Reinhards again and asked if they’d seen you. That was when they told me your dad had been murdered, and that you’d joined the military.”

  Ben looked as ashen and horrified as if he’d seen a ghost. He jerked to his feet. Hung his head. Then said something in a strangled voice and pushed his cup of coffee at Will. “Do your thing,” he said. Then strode from the house without another word.

  Tears started in Julie’s eyes. So much for explaining herself. If Ben still hated her now, there was nothing she could do or say.

  “Don’t worry,” Will said, touching her briefly on the knee. “He just needs to readjust his entire world view, that’s all. He’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure? He seems pretty upset.”

  “Probably upset to learn he’s had his head up his ass
. He thought— Well, you two should work things out between yourselves. Can I ask you some questions now?”

  She glanced at the door Ben had fled through. Part of her longed to go after him. “Go ahead. I’ll try to remember as much as I can.”

  “Let’s start with that night outside our place, when you had physical contact with the man. Can you remember anything like how he smelled, other details like that?”

  “It was twelve years ago,” she said dubiously. “And I was scared out of my mind. I remember his gloves were leather, and they smelled like diesel. I know he was really strong. I didn’t recognize his voice.”

  “Did he have any kind accent or particular quirk in how he talked?”

  “No, not that I remember.” She thought back to the terror of that moment, but nothing jumped out at her. Except… “This will sound strange, but he had a really good voice.”

  Will cocked his head at her, a penetrating look in his gray eyes. “Explain.”

  “Well, you know I’m kind of a singer. I mean, I like to sing, it’s always been something I was good at. Especially back then, I sang in the church chorus and every time there was a musical production, I auditioned. This man had a very resonant baritone. He was disguising it by growling, and he didn’t say much. But I did notice.” She laughed a little. “Not much of a clue.”

  “You never know. It’s more than we had yesterday.”

  She twisted her hands together. “I know I should have come forward earlier, as soon as I put it together that your dad was killed a few nights after that man grabbed me.”

  He put up a hand to stop her. “You have nothing to apologize for. You took a chance calling the police, and that backfired on you. We don’t know for sure if this man was the killer, and it’s not as if you saw his face.” He shook his head. “No. I’m glad you didn’t try anything else. Staying away was the best choice. But I have to ask you, what made you come back now? Do you think the man who attacked you is gone?”