by Amy Saunders
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.
"But why is his name on the rental?" Bennett offered. Belinda nodded weakly. "Jonas will figure it out. He's fair and he's never happy with the obvious solution. It'll be okay." It sounded like a pathetic condolence considering everything her brother was facing. His entire future hung on this evidence.
But the little assurance he could offer seemed to lighten her up and Belinda gave him a lopsided smile. She took a deep breath. "You're right. There will be a solution to this. They'll find it."
Belinda glanced around her as if suddenly nervous someone could be watching, but Bennett had no time to say anything about it before she moved on to the next topic. "Soon enough there'll be lemonade and hot dogs selling right over there."
Bennett followed her sight to the parking lot way at the other end of the beach. "I know it all too well."
"You frequent the lemonade and hot dog trucks too?"
"I certainly did in high school. Well, as a senior anyway."
"Temporary food obsession?"
"Temporary saving obsession." Bennett bent down and rinsed the shell in the water. "I worked in the lemonade truck, trying to save for college."
"Did it work?"
"Well, between that and waiting tables and other assorted jobs I took on when I could, I did make it work."
"If anyone could, it would be you." Belinda smiled, but it looked more melancholy. "It's so funny to think you were right over there all that time. You may have even sold me lemonade." She shaded her eyes, wrinkling her nose. "Did you have bleach blonde hair and wear the same red plaid shirt all that summer?"
Bennett shook his head just happy she still wanted to word play.
"Ah, well. I still bet we saw each other."
"You come to this beach?"
Belinda shrugged. "Why not?"
"You don't have a...private beach you like better?"
"I see how it is." Belinda grinned. "You think I'm a beach snob. Well, I am. And I prefer this beach. My family always has." She was now twirling the hoodie ties around her fingers. "What about your family? Do they live in the area?"
"My dad lives in-state." He was in a perfectly good mood; no need to ruin it. "And my grandmother lives right here in Portside."
She nodded in understanding, but Bennett could see she wouldn't be satisfied with that enigmatic response forever. He started to think—no, dared to hope—this little thing he had going might last longer than he initially imagined.
"I hate to leave already," Belinda said, "but I have a dinner thing to go to and I have to get ready."
"A dinner thing?" She was just waiting for him to ask, he could see it on her face, but he wanted her to stay as long as possible so he willingly obliged her.
"It's a thing for patrons of the art museum. My parents are big donors and I promised them I would represent. So I need to clean up."
From his vantage point, there was nothing special she needed to do to look any cleaner. Before he lost his courage, Bennett asked, "Are you going alone?"
Belinda blushed. "Kyle would go with me any other time, but not tonight. So, yeah, I'm going solo."
Bennett breathed a little easier, relaxing his shoulders. That was good news. Very good news.
"Can we catch up later?" Belinda said. "Tomorrow maybe?"
Bennett's eyes glinted. "We will definitely catch up later."
Chapter 12
Bennett swung by his house to shower and change to meet Jonas, but he still got there early. He spun a french fry between his fingers while he waited, involuntarily thinking about the leaf he plucked from Belinda's hair when he met her on the Ocean Walk. That afternoon felt like a long time ago now that he was concerned with helping her solve the issues with her brother. It was an interesting situation no matter how you looked at it, but he would stay on it to keep near Belinda even if it wasn't interesting.
Jonas pulled out the chair next to him, the screeching waking Bennett up from his reverie. Jonas grinned, snapping the plastic menu in front of him. "Dreaming of Fawn Eyes, Bennett?"
Bennett snarled, dropping the soggy fry back on the plate. "I'm thinking about the sticky situation she's in." And the unspoken thoughts on her face earlier, he thought.
Jonas' grin disappeared. "Well, her brother is certainly trapped in an unpleasant one, that's for sure. On all fronts. How was she after Kyle...you know?"
"Frantic. Nervous. Scattered." Bennett recalled her expression when he told her about the rental car. "She got a little...verklempt."
"Verklempt? So she did go hysterical....that took longer than I imagined."
"I wouldn't define it as hysterical. She just lost it when I told her about Kyle and the rental car business. Then she ran up into her room for a while."
"And went hysterical. Belinda ran into her room so you wouldn't see, but trust me. She went nuts once the door closed. If there's one thing I learned growing up with four women, it's what happens when they have meltdowns."
Bennett had to accept that Jonas did have an advantage over him when it came to women, having three sisters. He leaned on the table then leaned back when bread crumbs stuck to his forearm. "What do you make of the rental car business anyway?"
Jonas scanned the menu. "Kyle denies that he rented that car and got pretty upset at the suggestion that he hurt his own sister. We're in the process of hunting down actual witnesses who made the rental agreement and not just a piece of paper, but it's difficult because it's a local place and the owners are being all skittish. I don't know what they're afraid of, but whatever people. I just want to solve this case."
"Okay. So I've gotten the official statement. Now what do you actually make of it?"
Jonas grinned. "I don't buy it. I could believe he killed Jeff, but trying to kill his twin sister in a brutal car accident? No. I don't see it." He set his menu down.
"If he killed Jeff, he might be afraid that Belinda will find out. People do terrible things when they're desperate." Of course, he didn't buy Kyle as that kind of guy either.
"That's true enough. But I'm not sold yet." Jonas stared at him over the menu, slanting his green eyes. "You're holding back on me. What's up?"
Bennett pursed his lips. Sometimes he thought Jonas knew him a little too well. He had too much trouble hiding how he really felt around Jonas. "It's just a feeling I get whenever the whole subject of Mark comes up with Belinda."
"You think something was going on with Kyle and Mark's girl there, uh, Lily Devore?"
Bennett wished that's what it was. "No...with Belinda and Mark."
Jonas' eyes widened. "I did not think of that." Jonas arched his back, leaning away from the table. "Are you sure this isn't just you trying to find a major flaw in Belinda?"
"No. And I don't even care that much, but..."
"But?"
Bennett sighed. "But I hate feeling jealous of a dead man." Every time Belinda said Mark's name, his stomach twisted up, and it had finally hit him that he wanted her to say his name with as much feeling. It was annoying to say the least.
"Fear not. I don't think she's planning on going through life alone because of it." Jonas' phone buzzed. He checked it, glowered, and put it back in his pocket. "Catch up session ended I guess." He stood, the chair screeching again.
"One more thing before you go." Bennett tapped the table. "The address in the notebook I found at Belinda's? It belongs to a lawyer."
"Does that help us?"
"Not sure yet."
Jonas humphed. "We'll
get to that later I guess. Eat some of those fries for me, won't you?" Jonas saluted and whirled back out of the restaurant.
Bennett stared at the soggy fries, now also cold, and turned up his nose. He was pretty sure even Jonas would pass them up. He checked the time, paid for his food, and ran out.
~ * ~
"You look nice," Kyle said as Belinda rounded the final stair in her black dress with the frilly skirt. It was Kyle's first attempt at talking since she came home, and he would have to pick now when she was running late for the art museum thing.
She thanked him and then they stood staring at each other awkwardly. Belinda really wanted to race out, but she also felt bad just taking off.
"I'm sorry," he said a minute later, his eyes darting between hers and the floor, the kitchen, the door. "About earlier."
It wasn't quite enough, but it would have to do for now. So she gave him a quick hug and promised they would talk more when she got back, which wouldn't be too late if she could help it. She started to pull away, but Kyle restrained her, placing his hand on her head. Belinda was too shocked to move, and he didn't say a word. Just kissed her forehead before letting her go.
"Be careful, little sister."
Belinda half-smiled and drifted out with Kyle waving with worried eyes as she closed the door behind her. She barely had time to wonder what on earth that had been about before she entered the closed museum now filled with mingling patrons and museum employees and volunteers.
Belinda accepted a champagne flute from a passing server in the hallway just in time to see Lily Devore in the exhibit room at the end of it. Belinda muttered to herself and slipped into the smaller room to her side. She already knew the pieces in there, but she looked at each oil painting as if she'd never seen any of them. Especially the painting of the sailboat at full tilt.
She stared at it in a trance, trying to decide what Kyle's odd hug had meant, when a wrinkled hand wrapped around her shoulder. Belinda jumped, eliciting a chuckle from the older man behind her. "I thought I was too old and creaky to startle anyone anymore." He smiled and side-hugged her.
Russell Carmichael. Well, it was better than Lily Devore.
"I've heard through the grapevine that you come to us straight from your grandmother's," he said silkily. "How is she since I saw her last anyway?"
The grapevine could only be one person. Belinda's nana was right. That old biddy was out to get her.
"Still not interested."
Carmichael threw his head back and cackled. Belinda couldn't believe he hadn't given up the chase yet. According to her nana, Carmichael had been after her for decades, if you counted the time before she married too. He waited a year after Belinda's grandfather died in the nineties before starting all over again. If she believed her nana, and Belinda did, it was more about her money. But who knew? Maybe Carmichael did really like her that much.
He sort of forced her out of the side room and toward the main exhibit area—a large box with wood floors and a vaulted ceiling. Several conversations echoed, but Belinda hung around the rim, deciding it was safer as both Lily Devore and Jarrett were in the center of the room. Events and fundraisers were dangerous places when you were on the outs with anyone in their general circle. She admired the gallery of paintings from a modern artist and a friend of her family's. Her mother owned several originals.
She made her way around the room, standing back a few feet to absorb one painting in particular. A few of the pieces on display were new to her, including this one. She glimpsed a man off to her side doing the same as she. With another, more studied, glance, Belinda twirled around to face Bennett. He leaned back on one leg with a hand stuck in his jeans' pocket and a decidedly smug look on his chiseled face as if he knew she'd be there.
"You..." she stammered. "You didn't tell me you'd be here!"
"I didn't know you would be here," Bennett said. "You said you had a dinner thingy, remember?"
Belinda pursed her lips. "Don't play dumb with me, gray-eyed eagle. You knew this is what I meant."
Bennett's eyes glinted. "So I did. Are you sorry to see me?"
Why did his cheekiness have to be so darn attractive? "I don't know why, considering how insolent you are, but I am glad to see you." He'd drawn much closer, but it felt comfortable now. "Actually, I'm relieved. I wasn't really in the mood to come."
"I'm sure everyone would understand if you stayed home tonight."
"Not everyone." She glanced at the floor.
"Well, you look beautiful. And like you attend these events often."
Belinda blinked. Had Bennett just said she was beautiful? "You don't look like a stranger here either." She looked him over, casual chic balancing a red wine glass in one hand.
"I'm not your parents, for certain, but I have my interests too."
"Are you a fan?" She jutted her chin toward the wall of canvas. Bennett nodded, his head tilted back to look at the painting above them. "Well, the next time my parents have Simone for dinner, I'll invite you so you can tell her in person."
Bennett arched an eyebrow. "I should have guessed."
Belinda smiled sheepishly and was about to add that she only mentioned it because of his interest in the artist's work when the museum director pulled her away to ask about her parents, kindly ignoring the news about Kyle, though she was sure they all knew. She glanced back but Bennett stayed on the perimeter of the room, returning to examining the paintings. On top of not being in the mood to chitchat, she was also now in the same circle with Lily, who glowered every time she made the mistake of glancing at her. She caught Jarrett's eyes once, but he averted his.
Belinda snagged a plate with shrimp, too hungry to be picky. She gave up on the miniature fork almost immediately, trying to eat delicately with her fingers. Just when she thought she'd succeeded at capturing one of the shrimps, the bugger squirted out of her hands and dive-bombed Lily, bonking her on the chin and free falling down her plunge V-neck dress.
Lily screeched and danced around in a circle as the shrimp used her stomach as a slip-n-slide. The entire group stopped to watch, Lily's squeals the only echo in the room. Belinda stared with her mouth agape.
"Belinda Kittridge!" Lily shrieked. If the entire room wasn't watching before, they were now. In fact, Belinda was pretty sure she heard people in the hallway actually enter the room. "Mark was a fool! How he ever dumped me. Me. For...for you is absurd!"
"Oh, dear," Carmichael muttered from somewhere nearby.
Belinda felt her face go hot as everyone turned their attention to her. A queasy, unsettled feeling writhed in her stomach. It could have been the concussion still, but she doubted it.
Lily's walnut eyes, filled with rage, appraised Belinda. Belinda glanced around her, but there was no one in that room any less shocked than her.
"I should go," Belinda managed to squeak out.
"You're not going anywhere."
There was that panic again.
"I have business with you, Belinda Kittridge. And you're not leaving until it's done."
Bennett came into Belinda's peripheral, making her jump.
Now if there was one person in that room who could go head-to-head with Lily it was Bennett Tate with his gray eyes now the color of cold steel. "Believe me," he said sharply, "you're done." With his hand firmly on Belinda's waist, he started to lead her out.
"Look at you!" Lily said to their backs. "Mark belonged to one of the top families in Portside, and you're sashaying around with some glorified mall cop who thinks donating a hundred dollars a year makes him one of us!"
Belinda froze despite Bennett's trying to push her forward. She whipped around, closing the distance between her and Lily in a few short strides. She had no idea what she looked like, but it must've been bad because the crowd parted for her like royalty. And not the waving to the crowd kind of royalty, but the off with their heads kind of royalty.
"Let me make something perfectly clear," Belinda hissed, close enough to Lily's face to smell the champagne
on her breath. "Nobody talks to my friends that way. Least of all some lawyer's daughter whom my family could buy and sell five times over!"
Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Nobody so much as swallowed.
Except Russell Carmichael who murmured that the Kittridges always did give the best parties. Belinda decided to put in a good word for him to her nana.
She left with Lily's eyes exploding out of her head, catching sight of Jarrett gawking at her as she breezed back the way she came. Belinda's heels were the only sound in the entire museum as the two of them walked out, every pair of eyes fixated on them.
Let them talk about that.
Chapter 13
Belinda fumed, spitting out half-articulated curses as Bennett walked her across the street to her car. He watched her in fascination. One minute she looked about ready to pass out, the next she had the entire room kneeling in her presence. And all it took was Lily Devore insulting him.
"You didn't have to defend me," Bennett said while she muttered to herself and dumped her purse out on her hood to find her keys. "I couldn't care less what any of them think about me."
Belinda huffed, slamming her clutch down in frustration. Not so good for the paint job, but he didn't dare tell her so. "I care what they think! You're not giving them money so you can hobnob. Look at you. You spent the entire night in a corner staring at the wall."
"Actually, I was—"
"You know, her family did that very thing. They bought their way into this circle. She has no right..." Belinda growled and stamped her foot. "I was fully prepared to write Simone a check when I got home."
"For what?"
"For slamming one of her paintings over Lily's head. The only reason I didn't is because I doubted I could lift one by myself and Victoria's not here to help."
"That's probably a good thing."
Belinda stopped huffing and throwing things and just stared at him, a little smile tugging at his mouth. "I don't normally act like this."
