Foiled (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Seven)

by Amy Saunders

  “True.” Belinda sighed. They didn’t even know if the Warden died in that spot or was moved there. “I really wish we had Jonas for this one. It would be immensely helpful to know what the police do right now.”

  Bennett tapped the steering wheel. “He might still be able to help. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, see what he can do for us.”

  “Even though we’re on the Southwood police radar?”

  Bennett half smiled. “Jonas is a little rogue if you haven’t noticed.”

  Belinda smiled back, a little more hope sparking inside her. Maybe Jonas could find out more specifics about the death of the Warden. As she thought that, Ginny came bounding back down the apartment stairs, hopped in her car and drove off.

  They followed her back to Portside, to her mother’s home, where she went inside and shut off the outside lights. “Maybe this was a waste of time,” Belinda said as Bennett drove by the house. “She didn’t even stay out very long.”

  “No, but she did go somewhere unexpected.” After a pause, he added, “I think we should risk it and talk to her.”

  “Really?” Belinda cocked an eyebrow.

  Bennett nodded. “I think it might be worth it. She may have insights into what was going on with her grandfather. And she knows you. She may be willing to open up.”

  Belinda was skeptical about that. If the girl was sneaking around all the time, she probably didn’t want her secrets out. On the other hand, she might be searching for answers concerning her grandfather’s death too. “There is a chance she’s suspicious about how her grandfather died. I’m sure she’s heard the rumors. And if she saw him on a regular basis, she might have reason to think he didn’t fall on his own. If I were her, I’m sure I’d be concerned.”

  “I wonder what she thinks about her mother and Vincent Sutcliffe,” Bennett said.

  “You mean about the rumors that they killed Lawson?”

  “That too, I guess. But I just mean their relationship in general. Vincent seems to be ever-present in Camilla’s life. I wonder how Ginny feels about them.”

  “She might suspect Vincent had something to do with her grandfather’s death, even if not her mother. It does make some sense on the surface, especially if he’s as ambitious as everyone makes him out to be.” If Lawson was somehow getting in Vincent’s way, or threatening to, it might have seemed easy enough to get rid of him. Of course, things became a lot more complicated with the accidents and a real murder.

  “I suggest you talk to Ginny alone,” Bennett said. “She might be more willing to open up to you without me around.”

  Belinda reluctantly agreed though she wasn’t sure how to corner Ginny. But she’d figure it out, and maybe start figuring out what was really going on.

  Chapter 19

  Bennett slept restlessly that night. They’d been followed; he was sure of it. While they were trying to follow Ginny, someone was tailing them. What he couldn’t work out was whether they were talking about police, or someone else.

  If the Southwood detective had a tail on them, then they needed to stick within Portside’s borders from now on and be discreet in their investigating. But at least the police wouldn’t have malicious intent.

  If someone else was tailing them, a distinct possibility based on their history, then they had a big problem.

  On top of that, he had an eerie feeling his house was being watched. Again, it could just be the police keeping an eye on them and trying to work out how they were involved. But if it was someone else…again, that was a big problem.

  All he could do was stay on guard. And warn Belinda.

  He’d woken up early and texted her to call once she was up. After waiting impatiently for her to call for what felt like forever, her name finally showed up on his caller ID. Belinda didn’t sound much less tired than he felt, but after telling her about his hunch, her voice grew more alert.

  “Are you sure?” she said, her voice hoarse.

  “Well, no. But I think we need to be on guard. We both know we’ve had enough problems in the past.”

  Belinda made some noise that indicated she agreed with him. But rather than sounding disturbed or alarmed–at least as much as he thought she would–her tone was more irritated than anything.

  “Well, I’m still going to talk to Ginny today,” Belinda said after a brief pause. “I remembered she spends time at the country club near where her mother lives, so I’m starting there.”

  To his surprise, Bennett knew exactly which one she meant. It was atop a hill overlooking a golf course in the back. They spent more time at the yacht club, but they’d been to the country club a couple of times together. And Bennett had golfed with her father. He had to shake his head at how much his viewpoint had changed over the past year. He’d never set foot in either building before in his life until he met Belinda. Now, people knew him by name.

  Funny thing was, it was starting to feel normal.

  “Will you tell Jonas about this?” Belinda asked.

  Bennett blinked, staring at the blank TV screen in front of him. “Yeah. I will.”

  “He might be able to find out if we’re dealing with police or not, which would help to know how careful we need to be.”

  “I know.” Bennett nodded along with his words. “But you need to be wary today, alright? I mean it.”

  He could feel her nose wrinkling as he said it.

  “I’m always wary,” she said indignantly, which made him smile. “You watch out for yourself, too.”

  He let her go, for the moment, debating if he should go with her to talk to Ginny after all. Trouble was he had a job to work on. “This is why we have police,” he muttered to himself as Tempest followed him into the kitchen. Trying to tackle two full-time jobs was getting tiring.

  But maybe they would catch a break and learn that the police were following them.

  ~ * ~

  Belinda got off the phone feeling annoyed.

  Not at Bennett. At everything else.

  If the police were following them last night, fine, she supposed. And she guessed they had that coming leaving Portside, even if it was just for a short while.

  But if it wasn’t the police, well, that ticked her off.

  They barely knew anything at this point, and certainly nothing that incriminating. They’d speculated and knew something was amok at the Lawson residence, but nothing directly pointed to his murder. Even with the Warden being murdered, it was still possible that Henry just fell down the steps on his own. The Warden’s murder could even be unrelated.

  Maybe someone was unhappy about all of Henry’s stuff being hauled off and staged the accidents. Or they may have wanted to inherit the house, and this was all some kind of weird revenge. If that was the case, then it could be the Warden knew about it and confronted whoever was responsible–and was killed as a result.

  Henry’s death could have been a catalyst for the rest of this and not necessarily a part of it.

  That thought was somehow dismaying.

  Belinda roused herself out of bed and shuffled downstairs, hoping to find clarity in caffeine. As she waited for the coffee to brew, she wondered if there was someone outside right now waiting for her to come out. She almost peeked through the blinds to see if there was a car parked in view but thought better of it. She decided to keep the blinds shut for now and to get back to regularly checking the security cameras.

  The cameras! She’d gotten used to them and hadn’t been concerned about an intruder for a while. But this was the whole point of having them. Bennett had installed more, so the whole perimeter of the house was under surveillance. And the front cameras did capture part of the street, though the trees blocked some of it. She frowned. A good surveillance team might realize they could hide behind the trees.

  On the other hand, she’d have images of Bennett bringing her back last night, too. If someone followed them, they may have been in view, even if briefly, before settling down somewhere she couldn’t see.

  Belinda raced upstairs
to grab her laptop, carrying it into the dining room and setting up shop on the table, in a much better mood now. They weren’t entirely without help in this matter, thanks to Bennett. She just wished he had the same setup at his home.

  Initially, she watched the live view of the street. As she guessed, nobody was parked on the road, unless they were in her blind spots. (Maybe they should lose the front trees? But then again, they offered much-needed privacy.) So that was a fail.

  After trying to remember roughly when they left to follow Ginny and when they returned, Belinda located the footage she needed. While the darkness put them at a disadvantage, or so she imagined, they left when it was still light out. And she had the driveway lights on.

  Not long after they left, another car headed in the same direction. The street she and Kyle lived on was relatively quiet, and nobody else passed the house until well after they’d gone. So, she moved on to when they returned home. Not long after Bennett pulled into her driveway, a car passed in the same direction as they came from.

  It was tough to say with certainty, but it did look like a similar silver sedan as the first car. Or, she was just seeing things because she wanted to. Fast-forwarding to when Bennett left, she waited, holding her breath, then…yep, there it was…the same silver car passed following Bennett. It wasn’t conclusive evidence of anything, but it was enough to make her suspicious.

  Belinda fiddled with camera angles on the daytime shot of the silver car, which was the clearest one, zooming in. She hoped this car was the same as the nighttime vehicles because she’d hit gold–a license plate! Belinda did a quick jig in her seat, then stopped abruptly.

  Now, what to do with it? Unless she could have it checked out it wasn’t any use.

  Their trusty detective friend, Jonas, wasn’t as available this time. But she did know someone who had sources…

  Granted, it might be her last resort in the past. But now…well, her memories of Colleen Maguire, a local news reporter, had softened with time. Plus, she hadn’t dealt with her in months. But she knew Colleen was still around and probably up for an assignment and possible story. With that carrot in hand, Belinda felt confident Colleen could dig up the owner of that car.

  It was always a gamble involving Colleen. And Belinda knew Bennett wouldn’t like it one bit, which she understood. But desperate times, right? Plus, who knew what Colleen may have found out. She had always been on top of anything that might turn out to be a headliner. Belinda had little doubt that Colleen would have investigated Henry Lawson’s death and the rumors surrounding it.

  And Colleen, despite being a bit of a pest sometimes, had proved useful more often than not. After all, she had incredibly handy, if secretive, sources that always seemed to know more than everyone else. If Belinda wanted information, she knew how to get it. Even if it meant opening up a potential old can of worms.

  Taking a breath, Belinda picked up the phone. Personal issues aside, this was a matter of urgency.

  Chapter 20

  After leaving Colleen a message, trying to sound as nonchalant as she could, Belinda spun over to Victoria’s on the way to the country club. As she jogged up the steps of the pomegranate-colored house to the front door, she was still debating about whether or not to tell Victoria about the possible surveillance being done on them.

  Admittedly, Belinda was leaning toward not.

  The door opened before she could ring the bell, and Victoria ushered her inside without a word. Before Belinda could ask what was going on, she met the green eyes of Jonas, relaxing on their kitchen banquette with Willa on his lap. While she was happy to see him, Belinda also felt a shot of anxiety run through her as she approached.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” she said, trying to sound light and unruffled.

  Jonas smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I could tell you this is coincidence, but it’s not. Victoria let me know you’d be here.”

  The smile left Belinda’s face and she sat down across from him by the window. “What’s going on?” Her mind tried to calculate when she talked to Bennett last, telling herself to stay calm.

  “It’s about your possible tail last night,” Jonas said, completely unconcerned that the tip of his paisley tie was in Willa’s mouth. “I’m trying to find out if it was a police tail, but I may or may not be able to get that kind of info. Everyone knows our connection.”

  Belinda nodded, deciding she wouldn’t tell him she’d called Colleen for help on that. But she wasn’t sure whether to tell him about what was on her security videos. She felt she’d probably get better results from Colleen at that point.

  “Anyway,” Jonas went on, “Bennett is mostly worried about you. He’s hoping he can convince you to move to your parents’ house until this is over.”

  “And you?”

  “I’m worried about both of you.”

  “But?”

  Jonas cocked his head to one side. “If the police are following you around, I don’t think I need to tell you this would be a bigger problem for Bennett from a legal perspective.”

  Belinda swallowed. She’d been trying not to worry about it. And Bennett had completely shrugged it off. But it was in the back of her mind for sure. “He’s stubborn about these sorts of things.”

  “I know. But he was also the one involved in that other accident at the Lawson house. Nothing like that happened to you. So, I’m wondering if he’s a target this time for some reason.”

  Belinda frowned. She remembered how she felt like someone was watching her when she slipped into the private section of Henry’s house. But Jonas was right. Nothing dangerous happened to her. Plus, if she was right and someone followed them back to her house, they may have turned right around and followed Bennett.

  “What do you suggest we do?” Belinda said.

  “I’m going to attempt to find out if anyone on the force is following you. Otherwise….we’ll figure something out.” He glanced away, not volunteering any ideas. “In any case, just stay in Portside and try not to do anything suspicious.”

  Belinda clasped her hands in her lap, hoping to look like the picture of innocence as Jonas stared at her hard.

  When he was satisfied, or just given up hope she’d listen, Jonas handed Willa off to her mother. When he reached the door, he turned and said, “I almost forgot to tell you that the victim at the Lawson house–”

  “Elizabeth Hall?”

  “Yeah, her. She was killed somewhere else according to the Southwood police and dumped in the room you found her in.”

  Belinda inhaled. “The killer probably hoped no one would find her there.”

  “That seems to be the theory. Though people who worked there did know about the secret rooms. A lot of them were just used for storage. But they weren’t, well, a big secret.” Jonas grinned.

  As far as Belinda could tell most of the house was simply used for storage space. “So, if I hadn’t found that hidden door, someone else probably would have gone in there anyway?”

  “Hall knew about the hidden rooms and that there was more stuff in them to clean out. Apparently, most of the staff was aware of that. And her boss knew about them too.”

  “Wait–Hall’s boss? You mean Henry?” Belinda hadn’t thought of the Warden as really having a boss, except for Henry. She figured Hall was just following his instructions.

  “No, someone else…” He glanced at the ceiling as he tried to remember. “Marie Sinclair? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was it.”

  Belinda stared at him.

  “She was the executor of Henry’s will,” Jonas said, “and in charge of cleaning out and selling the house.”

  “That explains why she showed up when we were leaving,” Belinda said. “When we told her what had happened, I don’t think she believed us.”

  “She believes it now. According to my intel, the investigation has put the whole house business on hold.”

  “Did they tell you anything about Marie’s relationship with Lawson and Camilla? Because from what we�
��ve heard, she wasn’t necessarily Lawson’s favorite person.”

  “Sorry, no. I do know that Lawson had drawn up a new will not too long ago. He apparently sought Marie’s help with it.”

  Belinda shook her head. Either everyone was lying to them, or none of these people exactly hated each other. At least to the point of rejecting an alliance if necessary. “Did your source happen to mention Vincent Sutcliffe?”

  “Bennett asked me that too, and no, he didn’t. But my source did say Camilla Felton seemed pretty shocked by the news. And Marie Sinclair admitted that no one knew about the new will or that she was the executor before he died.”

  “Not even Camilla?”

  “Not even Camilla.” Jonas raised a light brown eyebrow, like that intrigued him.

  Jonas said good-bye after that and left to return to the station. Once his car started, Victoria said, “It’s weird he’s not working on this case.”

  Belinda blinked, realizing she was staring blankly at the front door as she processed all of Jonas’ information. “Why do you think they’d be targeting Bennett?”

  Victoria stopped swaying from side to side. “Probably because of his prior arrest and everything.”

  “Not that. I get the police…but they didn’t cause the accidents at the house.” Belinda leaned on the table, staring at the white surface. “Why wasn’t I targeted as an accident victim?”

  Victoria shrugged a shoulder, settling into the place Jonas had vacated. “Bennett was in the shed, so maybe it was an easier place to stage an accident. Or cause one. Or whatever. And by the way, I only know about the accidents because Jonas filled me in when he realized I didn’t know.” She glowered across the table.

  “Sorry, it’s just…this is the sort of stuff that happens to me.”

  “I don’t know, Bels. Maybe they think he’s the bigger threat or that you’ll be easier to pick off with Bennett out of the way.”