by Amy Saunders
"Colleen was found in Elena's apartment," he answered uncertainly.
"Oh. Well, I saw what happened last night on the news. Any word on the shooters?" She felt uncomfortable now like she'd stepped into something she wasn't supposed to know about.
"They got a visual on the driver after scouring every outdoor camera in the area."
He led her to a less crowded hallway, and Jonas leaned his shoulder against the stark white wall, digging his hands in his pockets. It crossed her mind that he looked kind of steamy in his new suit and tie with his hair falling across his forehead like that. She wouldn't blame Colleen for wanting a piece of that action.
"You'd tell me if you knew something about this?" he said. "Because Colleen's swearing up and down that she doesn't know of any reason to get gunned down."
"So you think they were trying to kill Colleen?" Belinda's mouth went dry and the words stuck on her tongue.
"We don't know. There were a lot of people at that fundraiser–people with influence. It's just..." He stopped himself. "Reporters may get into things that are dangerous."
Belinda folded her arms. Gary Wolman was shot and Colleen could've been. They were both connected to the drug company, albeit in very different ways. Belinda felt it was possible the shooting was meant for one–if not both–of them. After all, Colleen had pointed out that the drug company knew about Gary's research funding. It made sense they might know about Colleen's digging into their business. "You think all this may connect to Elena's murder?"
Jonas looked up from examining the floor, suspicion cropping up in his green eyes. "Colleen's now connected to my investigation, but as for the drive-by, I don't know. Do you think so?"
Belinda flushed.
"I'm unclear why you're here," he said. "I don't believe Colleen's accident has made news yet."
"I...I heard about it. Through the grapevine." It was the most unconvincing story ever, and she couldn't even pretend to mean it.
"I know Colleen has relatives swirling around Portside society, but I wasn't under the impression you knew them that well. Or are particularly fond of Colleen." He smirked.
Belinda had no response to that. Colleen had affluent relatives? That was news. Big news. It could explain how Colleen seemed to know so much about Belinda's family–and general situation in life. Even if Belinda wasn't close to Colleen's relatives, it was still a small community, and gossip traveled fast.
This was news that could turn things around.
"I'm not," Belinda blurted. "But I'm sorry for what happened to Colleen, and news gets around."
"But you know the Lawsons?"
"Oh, yeah." The Lawsons. Not the upper echelon. But if Colleen was somehow related to them, that was absolutely perfect. Belinda was buddies with a close friend of the wife's. She wondered how she never heard about Colleen.
"This is a big deal, Bels. Elena is dead. Colleen is facing breaking and entering charges, and someone assaulted her. Some mystery person called for an ambulance–from Colleen's phone–and disappeared before they got there. You have to promise to tell me if you know anything."
It struck her that was the first time he'd called her "Bels" and it made her smile. "All of this is too scary, even for me. I promise."
She could tell that didn't quite pacify him. "I'm holding you to it."
He left to sort out if the shooting and Colleen's assault were related to Elena's murder, and Belinda slipped into Colleen's room, finding her gazing listlessly out the window.
"You could watch TV," Belinda said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Colleen's view was just another part of the brick building. Belinda could see a nurse shuffling around in the opposing room.
"They pulled the plug on my story," Colleen said weakly. "I got the good news last night before I went to the fundraiser."
Belinda froze. "How did that happen?"
"Money and power, Belinda. That's how. My boss told me it was over and there was no use pushing for it. My work would never see the light of day."
Belinda felt disappointed for some reason. And angry. She'd done all that for nothing.
Belinda's gaze had faded over to the sheets, just staring at them blankly. She could hear someone's IV beeping in the next room. Colleen's story was pulled before the fundraiser, but she was in Elena's apartment afterward. She could be lying about the story, or confused about when it happened. She did take a hit to the head. But Belinda figured it was more likely Colleen simply wasn't giving up. If she found something solid enough, they might be forced into running the story.
Colleen finally turned to look at her. "How did you know I was here?"
"Jonas." It was the most logical answer Belinda could come up with.
"Right. You two are pretty buddy-buddy." Colleen toyed with the top sheet. "Ever consider dating him instead?"
It took Belinda a second to catch up to what she was actually saying and respond. "No."
"Never? Not even once?"
"If you're implying my grandmother would approve of him, you're terribly mistaken." Sad to say, Belinda felt certain Jonas would actually be a peg down from Bennett in her grandmother's eyes.
"If you say so."
Belinda considered Jonas' odd reaction when she asked him why he was visiting Colleen at the hospital, and now Colleen was acting almost...jealous. Whatever had gone down between them, Belinda wanted nothing to do with it. She had enough relationship drama on her own.
She left Colleen to stare out the window, and took a walk around town to clear her head.
~ * ~
Blood pounded in Bennett's head as the woman with the black hair and animal-print dress jogged away in bare feet. It was Belinda. He'd only seen her face for a moment before the shooting. She was unrecognizable, except for her eyes. They were Belinda's.
The look she gave him before she ran away was a mix of fear and...hurt. He'd noticed her–before he knew it was Belinda–when he got out of the car. She must have seen him with Alexa.
He had debated whether to run after her, after picking up her glasses from under the car. Then chaos broke out as cars stopped, guests flooded out of the building, and people ran from other sides of the street to see what had happened. One man was on the ground, bleeding out onto the sidewalk. All around him, he heard people answering questions from 911 operators, and even saw people filming or taking photos of the scene.
He heard himself asking Alexa if she was hurt, and then wrapping his tie around her arm where she'd been clipped and was bleeding. He felt bits of glass down his shirt from the shattered car windows.
Soon the block was covered with police cars, the strobe lights creating an outdoor disco and giving him a headache. Eventually, the situation was under control, and they were allowed to go home. Alexa went to the hospital with her family. She was only grazed, but rightly shaken.
There wasn't much he could do about that. And he was now more concerned with the woman who had run from the scene barefoot in a leopard-print dress. Since Bennett wasn't free to follow Belinda these days with his wonderful new job, he opted for a high tech method of keeping watch. The GPS on her phone.
As soon as he had a break, Bennett left the building for a blessed few minutes of peace from the idiots he worked with, and tracked what she was doing. She'd left home and went into the Historic District, near one of the parks, and went inside the office of a private investigator. Then after a short shopping trip, she went to the hospital. After that, she seemed to wander around town for a while.
What was this woman up to?
He knew Gary Wolman was still in critical condition from his gunshot wounds, according to the news, but Bennett doubted she was at the hospital for that. So unless one of her family members had something happen that he didn't know about, he had no idea what she was doing there.
It was unlikely Jonas would have any clue, either, but it was worth giving him a call while he had time. As expected, the PI business was a mystery to Jonas, but he did know why she was at the hospital. "She was
visiting Colleen McGuire," Jonas said over the phone with his mouth full.
Bennett now felt more confused. "Belinda was visiting the reporter who led the pack with the embezzling story? Why?" He hadn't watched the news that morning and had no idea that woman was even in the hospital.
"Good question. She gave me a vague answer I didn't buy, so I really don't know. I'm not even sure how she knew Colleen was in the hospital. Colleen was trying her best to keep it under wraps. She hadn't even called her family."
"So what were you doing there?"
There was a pause, which Bennett could attribute to eating or swallowing, but somehow it felt like neither.
"McGuire broke into my vic's apartment after the drive-by shooting," Jonas said, "and she was assaulted while there."
"Why was she in your murder victim's apartment?"
"Don't know yet. Colleen won't own up to anything. Nor can she tell me who called the ambulance, because it wasn't her. She was out cold till they got there. We have paramedics to testify to it."
"Maybe the person who assaulted her called?"
Bennett could picture Jonas' eyebrows arching high on his forehead. "Yeah. 'Cuz that happens a lot."
Bennett shrugged. "Just a suggestion." He thought about Belinda taking off after the shooting. Originally, he imagined she ran because she didn't want to be caught there in disguise. That would raise a lot of questions. But now.... Well, let's say he regretted not chasing after her.
"Are you thinking the same thing I am?" Jonas broke in.
"It was Belinda who called the ambulance."
"But why was she at that apartment at the same time as Colleen?"
Bennett hesitated. There was the question of who assaulted Colleen. Bennett could picture Belinda knocking someone out, and then calling the police. "When was the assault?"
There was a loud slurp on the other end. "Mmm...not long after the drive-by. Probably around nine o'clock."
"And Colleen was at the fundraiser when the shooting happened?"
"Yes, which is also bizarre. She had to have taken off right afterward because there's no record of her giving a statement. And no one remembers seeing her once the shooting was over. Of course, it was pure chaos."
Bennett was nodding, the picture coming together. Belinda had probably seen Colleen sneaking off and that's why she jerked away and ran. If she followed Colleen into the apartment, maybe Colleen attacked first. "Where was Colleen hit?"
"On the backside of the head. Near as we can tell, it was some kind of vase from the apartment. The person left it behind. No prints."
A surprise attack. That wouldn't make sense if Belinda was attacked first. And he couldn't picture her just knocking someone out unless she was threatened.
The question was what prompted her to follow Colleen in the first place? While she was curious, it was more likely something had already happened to motivate her to do that.
He should have been tracking her since she found the victim in the house. He knew what she got like, but he'd been too wrapped up in his own concerns. Any number of things could've happened to her by now.
"Bennett? Still there?"
"Yeah." He drummed his fingers anxiously. "Would you go talk to her? I can't right now and my break's over."
"I'll make sure she's okay." Jonas seemed perturbed, but he didn't say anything else before they hung up.
Bennett raced back inside. This work day could not end fast enough.
~ * ~
Jonas was outside of her house when Belinda returned from her walking tour of downtown to get ready to go sell cupcakes. And he looked stern. Jonas never–well, rarely–looked stern. It wasn't a part of his collection of facial expressions. But it was that minute, so she braced for a verbal flogging.
"What have I done now, Detective?" Belinda walked toward him, taking shelter under the long boughs of the tree that consumed most of the front yard and shaded that side of the house.
She was expecting one of two things: Jonas knew she was at the fundraiser, or he knew she was at Elena's apartment.
"Don't call me that."
"It's what you are."
"Not right now. Right now, I'm your friend."
"Okay." She took a seat on the grass, crossing her legs. He just gazed in her direction.
"What happened to your hand?"
Belinda covered her right hand with her left, then felt silly. It was too late; he'd already noticed.
"Oh, uh, that. You see–"
"You've been dealing with Colleen, haven't you?"
Belinda kept quiet, looking down in shame at her bruised knuckles. She wasn't going to fool him.
"I know better than to tell you to stay out of things," Jonas said. "So here's my advice about how to proceed from here: Do your research, and don't trust–ever–that she's telling you the whole story. And if I were you, I wouldn't share much."
Something about the conviction in his voice made her think Jonas had learned this lesson the hard way.
Belinda's cheeks were warm, and she could feel she was about to cry, even though she was fighting it with all her might.
"Oh, no," Jonas said. "Please, please don't do that. I'm just trying to keep you from getting killed or arrested."
"I know." Her voice quavered. "It's just...Bennett hasn't even called to see if I'm okay." The fight was lost by the end of the sentence.
After sobbing into her hands, she could feel Jonas rubbing her shoulder, and murmuring something about it being okay.
She got it under control, and Jonas helped her up against the tree trunk for support.
"He is worried about you," Jonas said.
"How do you know?"
"He asked me to come by and make sure you were alright."
That should have been comforting, but it wasn't. Why didn't he come over himself? Or call? "He was at the fundraiser with some woman with red lipstick," she blurted.
"Wait–how...? Oh, never mind. What woman?"
Belinda described her in pretty graphic detail. Jonas scratched his jaw, looking puzzled. "I'm positive that's not what it seems, so I'm just going to tell you to pester Bennett."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you need to just force your way back into his life. Use a crowbar, a battering ram. Whatever it takes. You can't sit and wait for him to cool off and come around this time. You need to get in his face and stay there."
"I think he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you."
"He won't talk to me."
"Then you need to make him. I've got plenty of experience with this, trust me. He's stubborn, but so are you." There was a twinkle in his eye as he said that.
Belinda supposed he was right. He'd been friends with Bennett for years, had roomed with him, and worked with him. She guessed there were few in this world who knew–and understood–Bennett as well as Jonas. As for being stubborn, Belinda had never thought of herself that way. "If I'm going to take your advice, I need some tips from a police officer and sometimes private investigator."
Jonas arched his eyebrows, about to protest.
"You can't stop me," Belinda said quickly before he could say no. "The two of you may as well face that fact. So just help me out so I can do things the right way, and not need saving all the time."
Jonas studied her for what seemed like a very long few seconds, maybe making up his mind, or deciding how serious she was.
She pulled out her best doe eyes until he started to laugh. "Don't look at me like that." He shook his head, brushing his hair back. "I'm probably going to regret this."
"Oh, I have no doubt. But you will regret it more if you don't."
Jonas smiled. "I guess I knew somewhere inside me this was coming. And maybe...maybe I even hoped it was."
Belinda ran inside to get a pen and paper. She didn't trust her memory. She paused by the stairs, wondering if she should retrieve the flash drive from the turret. But that could lead to problems for both of them, and she didn't want to surrender it until she'd se
en what was on there herself, for all the trouble it caused.
She hurried back, flopping onto her knees. "Okay. I'm ready."
He leaned forward. "Alright, Fawn Eyes. Pay attention."
Chapter 12
As soon as his shift was finished, Bennett went back to tracking Belinda, but she only ended up by some coffee shop downtown, no doubt with the Cake Diva truck.
"Are you still planning to redo the kitchen?" Jonas said from his seat a few feet away in Bennett's backyard.
Jonas stopped over for steak he'd brought. Bennett was starting to feel like a charity case, but no longer had the energy to fight it. They were waiting for the steaks to grill, crashed out on the back patio the size of a postage stamp. Bennett had planned to add a full-fledged deck eventually, encompassing most of the backyard, including a screened-in porch. But now he wasn't even sure he could keep the house, never mind continue renovating.
Jonas sat low in his seat in his plaid shorts and loafers, hands laced on his stomach now that Tempest had leaped off him to chase a bug around the yard. The shorts were courtesy of Belinda's forcing him to try them on. But, hey, the woman knew her stuff. "I'm asking 'cause I saw some samples on the countertop."
"I was just cleaning out some drawers." Bennett flipped the steaks and closed the grill cover. Nearby, Tempest swatted at something with her small paw. "Do you think Belinda and I have any prayer of staying together?"
"I just asked if you were renovating the kitchen."
Bennett sat down in the white plastic seat across from him. It was a cheap outdoor set he'd bought right after he moved in. Upgrading had also been on the list.
Jonas twirled his thumbs, watching the motion for a few seconds before speaking. "Before I answer that, I have to ask you something. Were you at that fundraiser with another woman?"
Bennett's eyes went wide for a second, until he reminded himself that he and Alexa had gone together. Not the brightest idea in hindsight. "You won't believe me."
"Try me."
Bennett acquiesced, giving the entire story. As he went on, Jonas looked more and more stunned.
