Drive-Bye (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Three)

by Amy Saunders

  And why shouldn't she think so? Belinda should be in the know.

  "Thank you," Belinda offered, hoping this might lead to some bread crumbs, "for everything."

  Alexa pursed her lips. "I owe Bennett. More than you probably realize."

  Well, she wouldn't argue with her there. But there was more. Alexa peeked behind her again, but no one was around. "He rescued me from more family fallout."

  Belinda's eyebrows bunched up. What was she talking about? "Beyond the divorce?"

  Alexa nodded. Sunlight reflected off the large rock on her finger. "I was the one who leaked the news about my father's…unwise…business practices," Alexa whispered.

  Belinda fought to remember that part of the story. Alexa's parents had gotten divorced, and somewhere in the midst of that, Belinda knew Alexa's father had made news for a business scandal. Insider trading or something like that.

  "I did it out of revenge," Alexa continued. "I don't even remember why now. Anyway, Bennett had no idea what my father was doing until I told him what I'd done. I was scared to death by that point. You remember what my dad could be like."

  Belinda only knew that he was intimidating.

  "If he had found out it was me," Alexa said, "I'm not sure what would've happened. Bennett just told me to keep quiet and that was that. I only learned later that because Bennett was doing some PI work for my mom right before the divorce, he had been blamed for my dad's actions coming to light, and lost his job. You know, the whole forced retirement business." She shook her head. "I knew my father was responsible. I felt so guilty, but I was also scared of what would happen if I confessed, so I kept quiet. Bennett never said a word."

  Belinda's whole face burned. So because of Alexa, Bennett lost his job as a police officer. But Belinda kept her cool. "Well, you're trying to make up for it..."

  "A lot has changed." Alexa glanced at her bejeweled hand. "I'm sorry for what's happening to Bennett now, but in a weird way it's given me a chance to make things right. It's amazing how small the world is. You meeting Bennett and all."

  It was a small world. Maybe a little smaller than Belinda preferred sometimes.

  She had no idea what to say to that confession, so she went with a default polite response. "Well, congratulations on your engagement."

  "Thanks." She smiled lightly. "He's a music producer."

  So Alexa still retained some of her rebellious side. Now that she looked, Belinda noticed Alexa had a few more tattoos on her arms and legs than she used to. Belinda had to smile at that. Some things never change.

  A couple hours later, she and Victoria headed back out of the stone driveway, feeling triumphant. Every woman there smiled and waved–and even hugged–as they all parted ways.

  Victoria popped a chocolate truffle in her mouth. "So...Alexa." She held aloft an extra chocolate truffle, and Belinda immediately launched into the details of her chat with Alexa.

  "She's still spunky," Victoria said, "I'll give her that. What do you think she's doing to help Bennett exactly?"

  "Take him to events? I honestly don't know. But she seemed sincere."

  "Her family has influence. She could probably help."

  Belinda tried not to be irked that her own family's influence was perfectly useless right then. She wanted to save him, but maybe she needed to let that go a little. Or at least share the load. Just so long as Bennett was still hers in the end.

  Carmichael, Belinda's trusty research monkey, came through again. The mysterious company paying Bennett was a dummy corporation that Carmichael could trace to entities owned by Alexa Dupuis' father, which was interesting in light of Alexa claiming she wanted to make things right. Did that include some sort of out of court recompense on her father's part?

  She met Bennett in the parking lot of his new job during his lunch break the next day, bringing him his favorite fish 'n chips. She wanted to get the scoop on the flash drive, and she had news of her own.

  "I cracked the password," he said, busy setting up to eat. He waved toward the tablet on the console. "It looks like nothing but photos."

  Belinda started scrolling through them. They looked like surveillance pictures. Each shot was far away, or as if Elena was in hiding. Some were at night. Belinda zoomed in so she could see faces, pausing on one. "It's him!"

  Bennett almost tossed his fish in the air. "Calm down. I only have thirty minutes."

  "I'm sorry, but it's him." She pointed emphatically at a blonde guy with a big nose facing the camera. It looked like it was at some outdoor hotdog place.

  "It's who?"

  She didn't understand Bennett's bewilderment until she remembered she'd never told him about the thief. She told him quickly, hoping to just fly on past that detail.

  But Bennett wasn't the type to ignore information like that. He grilled her until she finally confessed she'd never called the police.

  "We're fixing that," he said. "I'm giving you a head start to do what you want with this, but then I'm calling Jonas."

  "I was going to, anyway, because of the flash drive."

  "I bet."

  Belinda licked her lips. "On a completely different topic, we have plans to have dinner with Alexa and her fiancé next Saturday."

  She'd timed the news perfectly. Bennett choked on his fish, and it was minutes of hacking and coughing before he could speak again. "What?" It came out strained and croaky. "Why were you talking to Alexa?"

  "We were at the same charity luncheon." Between Carmichael's information, and what she'd learned from Alexa, Belinda had become suspicious that the invitation to the luncheon had something to do with Alexa. "We had a chat."

  The rest of his face was straight, but Bennett's eyes were wide with fear of the unknown that had passed between them. Good. "What did you talk about?"

  "We were just catching up. You know I haven't seen her since college. She's marrying a rock star."

  "A music producer."

  Their eyes met. His need for precision had caught up with him.

  "She told me I was invited to the hospital fundraiser," Belinda said, examining a crouton. "I know bringing her up wouldn't be a favorite pastime, but why didn't you just tell me?"

  "I didn't think you'd handle it well." He said each word like he was weighing it out.

  Belinda was going to protest, but thought it over. "Fair enough."

  "I'm used to taking care of myself." Bennett set his Styrofoam container on the dash. "You've had your own set of problems, and this was mine, so I was solving it on my own. But I should have told you. I should've filled you in and invited you to the fundraiser, and I'm sorry."

  Belinda took his hand and wrapped her fingers around his. "We've got some time."

  Bennett didn't go into detail about the past–concerning Alexa and his retirement–and that was okay. Belinda figured that was a whole other lunch break. But he did at least explain that he'd run into Alexa shortly after the wedding, and she wanted to apologize and make amends. He hadn't gone to meet her with plans to ask for assistance, but Alexa knew what had happened and she had a plan of her own.

  "She confessed to her dad that she was the one who told the media about what he was doing," Bennett said. "I guess they've actually been estranged for several years. But after she got engaged, she wanted to try and make things right with her dad."

  "How'd that go?"

  "He was surprised, and I guess in his own way, sorry she'd felt the need to go to that length to get back at him. She convinced him to make a sort of settlement, and use his influence to have the charges dropped. I'm still waiting for news on that."

  Belinda considered Colleen's threats about exposing Bennett's part in the Dupuis scandal against this new information. Since Alexa's father owned the TV station, it seemed unlikely that story would see light no matter what. Belinda was more convinced now that Colleen did not have the whole story.

  "I debated if it was a smart move or not," he continued. "In the end, I figured I'm pretty insignificant to this guy. He just wants to
avoid trouble. What's a few thousand dollars to avoid that?"

  "Has Alexa been doing anything else for you?"

  Bennett's gray eyes lit up. "Belinda, she's engaged."

  She smacked his arm. "I mean to help with your situation." What was with Bennett and Kyle being so cheeky all the time?

  "Not with mine. But she knew you were having your own social problems."

  Belinda knew it. Alexa had gotten her invited to the luncheon. She wanted to feel indignant–and angry that she couldn't solve it all herself. But truthfully, when you were being shunned from society, you usually needed a helping hand back in.

  "Are you okay with that?" he said.

  Belinda smiled. "I'm fine with that. Whatever it takes to get things back to normal. Besides, I have my own pots on the stove." Alexa may have helped her get a foot back in the door, but it was Belinda making the effort to revive things. And the luncheon was really the perfect prelude to the main act.

  "Like what?"

  Belinda shrugged. "I'll tell you later."

  She flipped through the other photos, some taken at night, in some...back alley, perhaps? The subject was wearing a hood again and facing away from the camera, but it could be her thief. Belinda zoomed in, but the photo only got fuzzy. The area looked familiar.

  Her cell phone rang with the sounds of the sea, and it was Jonas. He wanted to talk. And he had Television Detective Voice, so she knew it was serious business–and it probably meant she was in trouble. She talked to him, then smiled over at Bennett. "Well, looks like we have plans tonight. Jonas is coming for dinner."

  Chapter 15

  Everything happened at once. Belinda was positive it was how things went at the luncheon. It had created a positive buzz–and gotten Belinda positive results.

  First, she'd used her head start that afternoon to tap into her own network to spread a decent headshot from Elena's pictures of the potential thief.

  Almost immediately, she had a million sightings of the possible thief–stealth photos of all varieties in markets, on the street, and one that suspiciously resembled a bathroom. Victoria helped her filter through them. Most were all wrong. But one, of a guy in a hotel lobby heading for the elevator, had potential.

  After leaving Victoria's, Belinda made an emergency market run. Jonas would be their first real company since they'd moved into the new house, and Belinda wanted to do something nice. It worked out in her favor because, driving back, she saw a back alley that looked a lot like the one in Elena's night photos.

  Belinda swerved into the next parking lot, realizing it was the little strip of offices where Portside House Cleaning was. She pulled into a space, and walked around the sidewalk to a much smaller parking lot behind the building by the Dumpsters. Three cars were squeezed in, and she guessed this was employee parking. She walked up to the back door and peered in. It led into Portside House Cleaning.

  She'd e-mailed some of Elena's photos to herself, including the night photos of the possible thief. None of them were great, but Elena had caught him glancing back once as he went into the back entrance. She zoomed in on the photo, and you could see a key in his hand.

  The back door opened and Carolyn Hartley came out, buttoning her light yellow blazer. She jumped when she saw Belinda.

  Belinda smiled, shrugging apologetically. The manager laughed, but was staring at her funny. "What are you doing back here?" the manager said. "Client parking is around the front."

  "Of course. I just thought I saw people coming out of here..."

  "This is just an employee entrance. Did you need something?"

  "No, no. I was walking and texting and decided to stop here to finish so I wasn't bumping into things." Belinda was positive her faking skills would never improve.

  The manager gave her a curious glance, and moved toward her sedan in the first spot closest to the door.

  "Does everyone who works here have a key to this door?" Belinda said.

  The manager rested her hand on the car roof. Belinda noticed there was no wedding ring of any sort. "Uh, no."

  "Just you and the owners?"

  "And our receptionist." The manager held her keys in the other hand. "If you're still concerned..."

  "No, no. I'm fine. Just curious." Belinda shrugged.

  "Alright." Carolyn got into her car hesitantly.

  Belinda waved, waiting until the manager drove away to go back to her car.

  Three or four people had a key to get inside, and two or three people had a key to the cabinet of keys. Was her thief working with someone, or on his own?

  Belinda went home and was forced to put that aside to spend a couple of frantic hours cooking. The only good news was the house required no emergency cleaning.

  Later that night, after stuffing her boys with dinner and dessert, Bennett, Jonas, Kyle, and Belinda crashed in the living room. The couch faced the back wall with a white media cabinet between the two windows, and a fireplace to the side, centered between the couch and TV. Behind them were two square columns that divided the living and dining rooms.

  Jonas sat in the cushy chair cocked toward them, his feet propped up on the ottoman with Aria curled into a perfect spiral on his legs. He was in casual clothes, which Belinda wasn't used to, and she thought it was something she helped pick out. He'd had two pieces of the freezer pies she'd made that afternoon, and looked like he could die now and be perfectly satisfied with his life.

  Kyle was splayed out next to her on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, and Belinda sat sideways, leaning into Bennett.

  "I see you two are finally on the same page," Jonas said. Belinda knew Jonas had something to say or ask, but she was leaving it in his court. He seemed to need some time away from that for a while. "That's good. You can rescue her when she's pushed off the hotel balcony."

  Bennett smirked.

  "What are you talking about?" Belinda said.

  Bennett put his arm around her. "I'll tell you another time."

  Belinda had a feeling it was something unflattering–about her.

  Jonas sipped his cappuccino. "I guess it's time to get this over with before I fall asleep in this chair. Belinda, you have to tell me everything you know Colleen's been up to."

  Belinda was surprised it had taken this long for him to ask. "Why? What happened?"

  Jonas related the recent discoveries about Colleen, including the threats. "We didn't find the phone, so we don't have much beyond the security footage. And we don't have a motive for her to kill Elena."

  He sat up straighter. "After I talked to Colleen, I went to see Gary Wolman. He's just been moved out of the ICU. He told me what he's been doing, with the drug research, and that he put his family in hiding because he'd become suspicious someone was following him around. He was trying to keep a low profile himself, but stay close to the research in Boston."

  That would explain why no one seemed to know their whereabouts. And could explain why Gary had kept his involvement so secret. He was afraid.

  "Does Colleen know about all this?" Jonas said.

  Belinda glanced at Bennett, then nodded. "Well, she knows about Gary's involvement with the research, anyway. I don't know if she's aware his family's in hiding. But she told me she's been investigating the story for months, and had information that indicated they'd had a break in their research."

  Jonas nodded that he was listening, but didn't comment if he knew about that.

  "The story was pulled," Belinda added. "Colleen just said it was about money and power. But she got the bad news about the story before the shooting, then she was at Elena's–" Oops. She didn't mean to mention that. "Anyway," Belinda went on, "I don't think she's given it all up despite that. But maybe the drug company was threatening her." If Colleen had poked her nose in too far, maybe they'd taken action–even so far as a drive-by shooting. But if the drug company had gotten Colleen's story yanked, would they really need to kill her? Maybe it was more about Gary.

  There was a twinkle in Jonas' eyes when she looked u
p. He'd caught her slip up about Elena's apartment.

  "Did Gary know Elena?" she said quickly.

  "No," Jonas said. "He didn't recognize the necklace we found on her body, either. But when I showed him Elena's photo, he said she looked familiar, like another girl who used to clean for them." Jonas set his cup on the side table and folded his hands in his lap. "Turns out, Isabel, Elena's sister, worked for Portside House Cleaning a few years ago, before she got pregnant. She used to clean the Wolman's house, but also his relative's–the family that learned about Elena's drug use.

  "I'm pretty sure Isabel helped Elena get the job. But I don't think it's a coincidence that Isabel cleaned for the same people who got Elena fired. The manager said the Wolman's relatives just adored Isabel. They even offered to bring her with them on vacation." Aria's tail curled around his fingers. "Isabel may still be in touch with them."

  "You think Isabel got Elena the job and then got her fired?" That sounded a little demented to Belinda.

  "It's an odd coincidence," Bennett said. He'd been listening with fox ears as usual.

  "And Isabel didn't volunteer that she'd worked there," Jonas said. "Now maybe it just didn't seem important, or cross her mind–"

  "Or maybe she was hiding it on purpose," Belinda finished, annoyed. "When I asked Isabel if she thought Elena had acted mysteriously in recent history, she seemed perturbed–but not. I thought she was just afraid Elena was returning to old habits or something, but what if she actually knew about all this?"

  "It's another string to chase," Jonas said.

  "Is the manager of Portside House Cleaning married?" Belinda stared off into space, contemplating their conversation so far.

  "Why?" Kyle said. She thought he'd been snoring, but it was Poseidon. "You interested?"

  Belinda jabbed him with her elbow. "I just noticed she didn't have any rings."

  "Divorced," Jonas said. "Kids in college. Why?"

  "What about the, uh, receptionist. She attached?"

  "Married."

  "What does he look like?"