Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One)

by Amy Saunders

  "So we have a million other things to do this week to get ready to move—and to make room for the demolition." Belinda handed him a nested stack of frying pans. "Besides packing everything up and moving it, we have to deal with the furniture so it's not demolished with the tile."

  "I thought we had a moving company taking it all away to storage for us."

  Belinda paused, her hand in motion to pick up another sauce pot, flushed from the party, the moving pressure, and her tense reunion with Jeff Clark. Or more to the point, the mention of Mark and the sailing accident. She'd managed not to give it much thought, but now her mind involuntarily kept switching to images of Mark. She handed the pot to Kyle and leaned against the counter to catch her breath.

  "All we have to worry about is this stuff, and you need to be here for the movers." Kyle stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

  "I love you." Belinda slowed her pace. "I totally forgot we had professional help for that."

  Kyle snickered. "Maybe they can help you too." Belinda glowered and slammed another pot into his chest. As she did so, she caught sight of a long scratch across his forearm where Kyle's sleeve was pushed up.

  "What did you do to your arm?"

  Kyle glanced at it automatically. "I think I scraped it on a piece of metal or something. You know how crammed the yard is this time of year."

  "Are your shots up to date?"

  Kyle blinked. "Am I a dog?"

  "You can get some pretty nasty infections from rusted metal, Kyle. I'm just asking."

  Kyle shrugged. "It's nothing. I'll slap some disinfectant on it before bed, okay?"

  With more of that work out of the way, Belinda crashed in her bedroom, pretty stark with no one inhabiting it on a permanent basis for years. She sat on the edge of the shabby chic comforter and re-read the note card her mom had left on the dresser. Belinda remembered when her parents built the house when they were teens. It was strange and yet comforting coming back to it. Getting all misty-eyed, she set the card so she could see the puppies on the front from bed.

  She forced herself to turn off the light, closing her eyes on the thoughts of how best to pack up the plates and arrange everything. As she drifted off, those concerns were replaced by ones from the party. The strange conversation she overheard, obnoxious Lily, and the intensity in Jeff's eyes when he mentioned Mark.

  Mark. Now that subject brought up a whole bunch of other feelings that could keep her awake for days. Belinda flopped over on her back and stared into the dark. It was gonna be a long night.

  Chapter 4

  Belinda's cell phone buzzed and startled her awake much earlier than she cared for after sleeping restlessly. She felt for the phone with her eyes closed, opening one halfway to read the message. She read it once and closed her eye again, then bolted awake, kicking off the covers and running for Kyle's room.

  Belinda flew inside and shook him until he finally woke up with a start, eyes crazed, and mumbling something about a fire. She shoved her phone into his face. After over a minute of just staring at it blankly, the words on the screen finally penetrated and his complexion turned from bronze to ash. "Jeff is dead," he croaked.

  Belinda cupped her mouth with her hands, now sure she hadn't misunderstood Victoria's text. Kyle met her eyes, disbelief, fear, and something else mixed in his. Torment? Or maybe that was just Belinda's reflection.

  Victoria sat with the two of them on their back deck a half-hour later. Stellan Mayhew had contacted Victoria and asked her to pass the information along. A nice gesture, Belinda thought. At least she didn't find out about it from the news. Kyle slurped milk out of a cereal bowl but Belinda had no appetite. She sat curled up in a lounger with her hands wrapped around her stomach.

  Before she woke up, Belinda had dreamt about swimming off of Mark's boat. Kyle and two others she couldn't identify disappeared, leaving only gurgling water behind. She guessed they drowned. It was disturbing, but now she felt a new wave of disturbed. Emptiness. Relief. Guilt. Sickness. All of these tried to control her at once. So she emptied herself of feeling and chose numbness.

  "So they think he jumped?" she said rather neutrally, though Belinda felt anything but neutral, especially looking out at their view. Their property line ended in a similar plunge toward the water. She gripped her shirt to keep from shaking.

  "I guess," Victoria said, staring up at the sky through sunglasses. "I didn't want to bug Stellan with a lot of questions."

  "When did it happen?"

  "All I know is that it was some time last night."

  "I saw him last night. Did I tell you that?"

  Victoria turned to see Belinda. "No, you didn't, but I assumed from the way you ran out of there."

  "This was after that, on my way to get my car. He wanted to see me."

  Kyle snapped to. "You didn't tell me you saw Jeff."

  Belinda groaned. "Did I have to? Wasn't my blatant misery and early return enough?"

  Kyle shrugged. "I thought you just hated the party in general. What did he say?"

  Belinda sighed. "Nothing. Stellan showed up before he could get anything out." She shivered thinking about Jeff's skittish expression at the party like he was being watched. What did he want to tell her about Mark and the accident?

  Kyle put his cereal bowl down and stared out at the water, the sun glistening off the ripples. The current was fierce that morning, visible on top of the waves. It would be good sailing weather, circumstances aside. "I'm sorry, Bels. Maybe I shouldn't have encouraged you to come back."

  Belinda slowly changed her position, her legs going numb. "I came back of my own volition. I knew I'd see him again eventually."

  "I think he'd actually gotten worse," Victoria said. "Dan and I talked about it last night and we both felt like something was gnawing at Jeff."

  "He never got past Mark's death," Kyle said, gripping the chair arms. "Jeff blamed himself more than Stellan for what happened."

  "I've always wondered why," Victoria said. "I know Stellan was affected, but it hit Jeff the hardest. Stellan seemed to shake off the blame."

  "Jeff was more sensitive." Belinda returned to her curled up position in the chair. Is that what Jeff wanted to say to her so badly? Did it connect to what Jeff told Stellan?

  "Jeff should've stayed in California," Kyle said. "He might have forgotten eventually." Belinda and Victoria exchanged glances. Kyle turned to both of them and pulled out one of his secret weapon smiles. "Bels needs to eat. Let's go make pancakes."

  ~ * ~

  Jonas Parker leaned over the cliff's edge as far as he could and dared, examining the rocks below. He held his tie down to keep it from blowing up in his face, but then his light brown hair blew into his eyes anyway. It was amazing that Jeff Clark's body had not been swept away, and fortunate that a man who worked for the Mayhews spotted it early that morning. Jonas looked down to where the body had been and repressed a shudder. What a way to go.

  "Detective!" Bennett sauntered across the lawn toward him.

  Jonas jumped, quickly stepping away from his perch and darker thoughts. They shook hands, Jonas slapping Bennett on the shoulder.

  "Congrats on the promotion. Way to get broken in." Bennett swung his head in the water's direction. "You asked to see me?"

  Jonas rubbed his chin. "I'm hoping you'll have something from the party last night for us to work with."

  Bennett nodded, sifting through what he knew had happened. "You don't think he jumped?"

  Jonas shrugged. "Too early to say. It's possible. All we have so far is what appears to be a note to someone named Mark in the victim's pocket, an empty beer bottle on the cliff's edge, and traces of some white stuff on the grass. The only person living in the house right now, one of the Mayhew kids, thought the victim had left, but he didn't park with the valet service and his car is not at his grandparents' house, which is where he was staying. I could use your insider information to narrow things down."

  "I've got plenty of footage of empty hallways."


  Jonas laughed. "What? Nobody snuck off to snog in one of the bedrooms?"

  "All the bedrooms were locked. And I think this crew is past their partying prime."

  "Aren't we all? Well, I'd like to go over the footage with you first, if you don't mind. You might have some insight on who we're dealing with."

  Bennett had brought his equipment for that reason and they set it up in the same room he'd occupied the night before. Lots of empty hallways as promised, some bad dance moves, and a few odd hallway moments. They watched the victim, Jeff, and a woman as yet unidentified, go outside in a hurry. Then there was Belinda.

  "Fawn Eyes," Bennett muttered. Jonas raised an eyebrow. Bennett pursed his lips as he came on the screen.

  Several minutes later, Belinda reappeared in the same spot, talking to the victim and then the client. Jonas marked something down on his phone.

  "And that's the extent of the people activity beyond the party," Bennett said. "At least, on camera. You'll want to talk to Finn about what happened outside." Bennett tore his eyes off the monitor and slid a printout of the guest list across the desk. "I only have names this time, no photos. I'm also under the impression that most of these people no longer live in the area but were just in town for their high school reunion."

  Jonas arched one brown eyebrow. "Thrilling. No wonder none of them could dance." He pocketed the list. "So, should I start my inquiries with Fawn Eyes?"

  Bennett twirled his thumbs, staring at the black and white image of Belinda Kittridge. Real life did her more justice. "It's your call, Detective."

  Jonas swiveled around in the office chair, lifting his feet off the ground to do a full circle. "She had an unpleasant meeting with the vic and ran from the party right afterward. So I'd have to say she's first on my obvious list."

  "Your 'obvious list'?"

  "My list of people who obviously know something about what's going on with my dead guy." Bennett's eyes eagerly wandered back to the screen. "Maybe you should get that shot printed out. It is the best one after all."

  Bennett glowered and shut the laptop.

  "Why are you so touchy? You know, Finn warned me you were in a mood, but I told him he just doesn't understand you." Jonas grinned.

  "This is work, and right now she's a suspect." Bennett started to pack up his equipment.

  Jonas took stock of his friend. "You know..."

  Bennett wrestled with getting the laptop back in its case. "You know what?" His voice was crisp like he knew what came after that. Maybe now wasn't the right time to finish the thought.

  "Never mind. Thanks for the help, bro." Jonas threw his jacket back on.

  "Anytime." Bennett was now consumed with his repacking, or more likely with other less pleasant thoughts, so Jonas left him to it and went to interview Belinda Kittridge.

  ~ * ~

  Belinda had finally settled down enough to crack open her laptop to browse wedding registry items for her cousin's upcoming shower when the doorbell rang. Reluctantly, she pushed herself off the couch and opened the door to Jonas Parker. He smiled, a bit lopsided, and explained why he was there. Belinda escorted him to the back porch, thinking it would have a calming effect on her.

  "I have to say...wow." He crashed into a lounger, the wind undoing his forward-brushed light brown hair, hurling wisps of it straight up into the air. He didn't seem to take any notice and just absorbed the surroundings for a few minutes. Belinda waited with her hands clasped in her lap, perched on the edge of her seat, not quite as relaxed as she'd hoped.

  "So I just have a few questions to ask," the detective said after he seemed to get enough of staring at their property. "Nothing too scary. First, I'd just like to know how you knew Jeff Clark."

  "Oh...well, that's easy." Belinda swallowed, her mouth going completely dry. "We went to school together and our families knew each other."

  "Were you close?" Belinda started to speak then hesitated. Almost like a good TV interviewer, he jumped in. "Is it more complicated than a yes or no answer?"

  Belinda nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She hadn't cried once yet, or even felt like it. Now, when she needed to hold it together, she was unraveling. "We weren't on the same page about our relationship."

  "I see. Was that the cause of your awkward meeting with him at the party?"

  All Belinda could do was nod emphatically.

  "Was seeing him upsetting to you last night?"

  More emphatic nodding. The detective let her compose herself. She took a deep breath, dabbing at her eyes with a sleeve and sniffed. "He...if I had known he would be there, I would have skipped the party."

  "What exactly was your relationship like with Jeff?"

  "He liked me, a long time ago, in high school." Belinda fought to remember what had actually happened. Some things stuck out too much and others not enough. "I didn't feel that way about him, but before I got a chance to be clear on that, he suffered a tragedy."

  Jonas leaned forward on his knees, his brow creased up in concentration.

  "You may remember from the news," she continued, feeling choked up again, "but one of our friends died in a horrible sailing accident about ten years ago." The detective nodded. "Well, Jeff was with him when he drowned. I mean, he was one of the boys on the sailboat when it happened. And...and he was never the same person after that."

  "So did he drop his interest in you?"

  Belinda shook her head. "The opposite happened. He became somewhat obsessed with it to the point that my family had to leave town for a while. He did calm down, thankfully, but," Belinda thought back to him in Stellan's yard, "he always insisted it didn't work out because of the accident. Because he wasn't the same person after it."

  "But that wasn't the case."

  "No. It wasn't."

  "Is that what he said to you in the hallway?"

  "Well...he didn't really get a chance. I avoided him because we always had the same conversation. That we couldn't be together because of his issues related to the sailing accident. I couldn't deal with it anymore." A shock of terror went through her that he'd think she meant she killed him. "I mean, I just avoided him because of it."

  The detective seemed to ignore her blunder.

  "Something different happened last night though." Belinda edged closer to the detective. She had to get this out before he switched topics. "Jeff asked to meet me today. He said he had something important to tell me about...about the sailing accident."

  Jonas' chill expression intensified. "Do you have any idea what he wanted to say?"

  "I can only relate it back to something I overheard between Jeff and Stellan. But it's all out of context."

  Jonas leaned forward. "Doesn't matter. Tell me." Belinda related every detail about the conversation that she could recall. It wasn't much, but Jonas took notes, and looked her directly in the eye. "Who else was on that boat when the accident occurred?"

  Belinda didn't even have to think. "Jeff, Stellan, and Mark."

  He took notes on his phone. "Mark?"

  "Yes, Mark Nichols." Belinda looked down.

  Jonas tapped his stylus on his phone. "We found a note to a Mark in Clark's pocket. Do you think it could be this Mark Nichols?"

  Belinda didn't know how to answer that question. "Well, I suppose it could be, but Mark has been dead for almost ten years." Jonas tilted his head, so Belinda went on to explain. "He was the friend that died in the sailing accident."

  Jonas nodded. "Did they sail together often?"

  "Oh, yes. My brother was in their group a lot too. And sometimes Mark's girlfriend, Lily Devore."

  "Is she still in the area?"

  "Not permanently. But she was at the party last night."

  "Huh." Jonas glanced up from trying to make out his screen in the sunlight. "So your brother wasn't there that day? Of the sailing accident?"

  Belinda almost clapped her hand over her mouth. "No." She bit her lip. "Is this a murder investigation?"

  "I honestly don't know yet. Why?"


  Belinda turned to look out at the property's edge. "Because I'll tell you right here, that Jeff did not kill himself. He acted his share of crazy, and he was definitely freaking out about something, but I know that he would not have asked to see me that night only to jump off a cliff right afterward." Her voice was shaky but convinced.

  Jonas nodded and stood, stretching his long legs out. Belinda followed him around the house to the driveway, looking for his car, but Jonas knocked the kickstand of a bike up and peddled off.

  Belinda darted back inside and called Kyle's cell. He answered, sounding a bit distracted. "Got a minute?" she said, pacing around the kitchen island. "I just had a big oops moment and I need to tell you."

  "Did you take off with someone else's watermelon again?"

  Belinda narrowed her eyes. "That happened once about five years ago. Honestly."

  "Okay, okay. What was today's 'oops' moment?"

  "Not that I'm in the mood to tell you now, but I talked to the police about Jeff."

  "So it was a murder."

  "He didn't say that, and as far as I could tell he was just sizing up the situation."

  "All right, well go on. I'm sure that's not what you're ramping up to tell me."

  "I had to tell him about my relationship, or lack thereof, with Jeff, and it kind of came out that you used to sail with all of them."

  "Well, I did."

  "I also accidentally mentioned that you weren't there when the accident happened."

  Kyle paused. "Well, I wasn't," he said flatly.

  "I know. It's just...I don't know..."

  "Don't worry, Bels. Jeff is dead and we did hang out a lot at one time. I'm sure they'll want to talk to me at some point. It would've come out anyway. It's not a secret."