Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One)

by Amy Saunders

  Belinda sprinted but in one step he reached her and clenched her wrist with a hand about five times the size of hers. She wriggled to pry free but he only tightened his grip, twisting her wrist at the same time.

  "You keep coming back for more, don't you?" he said.

  Belinda wasn't sure what that meant, but she screamed, louder than the pain actually called for, and slammed her foot into his shin. A throb in her foot made it plain that it had hurt her more, but it did distract him and he loosened his grip just enough for her to yank free.

  She lost her balance in the process and while Bald Guy tried to get a hold on her ankles, he yelped and doubled over onto his knees. Belinda stood up and backed away as Bennett held the back of an industrial-strength flashlight at Bald Guy's skull.

  "Would you like another demonstration on the back of your head?" Bennett said to him, his gray eyes like smoke shooting up from an open fire.

  Bald Guy shook his head no.

  Within seconds, policemen surrounded the park. Jonas sprinted toward them, his light brown hair whipping up off of his head. Belinda leaned against the tree again, rubbing her wrist, which she was pretty certain was sprained now that she'd collapsed onto it on the ground. Once Bald Guy was in handcuffs, Bennett relaxed his flashlight, but his expression remained leaden. An ambulance pulled up too and Jonas waved them over.

  "He's a PI!" Belinda pointed at Bald Guy.

  Jonas noted that Bennett had casually (so he thought) moved over to Belinda's side and now stood near her protectively. "He's actually a lawyer," Jonas said.

  Belinda's mouth gaped, her finger still pointing. "That's a lawyer?"

  "Believe it or not, darling." Jonas planted his feet and looked down at Bald Guy. "Hi."

  "Hi back," Bald Guy said.

  Jonas grinned. "Assault on a defenseless woman in a park in broad daylight. And it's such beautiful weather too. What is this world coming to?"

  Bald Guy grunted.

  Belinda watched with interest, unsure if she was more scared or excited by the whole experience. "Do you know him?"

  Jonas tilted his head. "Bennett and I had a run-in with him during our private investigating days, didn't we?"

  Bald Guy declined to comment.

  Belinda's eyes widened. That's why Bennett recognized her description of him. She tried to catch Bennett's eyes, but he stayed fixed on Bald Guy.

  "During a case, we found him embroiled in some uncool business practices."

  "You never proved it," Bald Guy growled.

  Jonas shrugged. "You look a little worse than you did the last time we met." He examined the bruise on his jaw—and his earlobe with a clear hole for an earring.

  A little bit of pride bubbled up inside of Belinda. Jarrett had put up a fight.

  "So what?" Bald Guy said.

  "So what?" Belinda stepped right up to him, her brown eyes smoldering. His slits for eyes turned on Belinda. "Don't glare at me, you glorified crook. I can have you disbarred if I want."

  Jonas looked back at Bennett. He shrugged.

  "There's only one reason someone like Lily Devore would associate with the likes of you, and it's not because of your charming personality."

  Bald Guy's scowl diminished.

  "I don't care what that plaque on your door reads," Belinda said, hands on hips. "No one on this side of town would hire a lawyer like you. So that means that you're affording an office on that street some other way."

  Jonas wanted to clap.

  "You should have seen her the other night," Bennett murmured to his friend. "Blows this out of the water."

  Bald Guy pressed his lips together tight.

  "Don't make me your enemy," Belinda said coldly.

  Bald Guy looked up at the disheveled woman with fire in her eyes. She didn't look like much, but something about her told him not to take the warning lightly. "This has been more trouble than it's worth," he grumbled.

  "Cooperate with the police," Belinda said, "and I'll consider helping you out in the future."

  Bald Guy looked shocked, all his toughness melting from his face.

  "I guess someone told you about the path up to the Mayhew house," she said neutrally. "You must be special because that's kind of an inner circle secret."

  Bald Guy sniffed.

  "Well, you mull over what I've said and decide what your freedom is worth. Because if you don't cooperate," Belinda's eyes turned the color of lava, "you will be on the losing end of this game, proof or not."

  Jonas couldn't believe it, but he definitely caught Bald Guy blanch at her statement. And it was a statement. Not a possibility—or even a threat. A statement.

  At Jonas' command, the two officers flanking Bald Guy escorted him to one of the police cars and left. Jonas lingered, rubbing his jaw. "Now we come to the part where I ask you what you were thinking."

  A paramedic wrapped Belinda's wrist, a mesmerizing experience, so that Bennett had to tap her shoulder to get her attention. "Me? You're asking me?"

  "You're the one with the bandage," Jonas said, his green eyes alight with amusement. If Bennett wasn't so besotted with the pixie, he would have asked her out himself.

  Belinda looked to Bennett as if searching him for an explanation. "Well," she said, deciding where to start, "Bennett told me to stay in the car while he went to find out what had become of Lily."

  "And you obeyed his directions to the letter."

  "I intended to." Belinda hopped off the edge of the ambulance, taking Bennett's arm with her non-bandaged one. "But I saw Bald Guy in the side mirror and I couldn't resist following him. Then I saw Lily in the park so I hid quickly and pulled out my phone." She freed herself to get it out, but Bennett held it up and handed it to Jonas. "I got video of their meeting. And sound. I'm positive there's sound."

  Jonas pressed play on the screen and held the phone closer to his face to hear. Belinda had quite the steady hand with the camera and he watched the tense exchange between Lily and Bald Guy—as Belinda called Byrne—with interest. "Their conversation doesn't really help us, but this meeting is an interesting turn of events. Byrne, er, Bald Guy, is technically an immigration lawyer with a penchant for moonlighting as an underhanded private investigator. But we do have a common denominator."

  "Who?"

  "Jeff."

  Belinda tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. They would only blow away again, but she couldn't stop herself from trying. "How is that guy connected to Jeff?"

  "You remember the note we found in Jeff's pocket?"

  "Yes. It was addressed to Mark. Mark Nichols."

  "That is what we guessed. Based on what the note actually said, or what we could get from it after its unfortunate sea bath, I'm guessing now that it was addressed to Bald Guy."

  "But his name is Byrne."

  "His last name is Byrne. His first name is Mark."

  Belinda's memory kicked in. She'd forgotten all about the strange business card that Stellan gave her, and she was ninety-nine percent positive it said Mark Byrne, Private Investigator on it. But she would hold off on saying something just yet. "What did the note say?"

  "Something about paying him but he was quitting."

  Stellan's shady business deals passed through her mind. "A business deal?"

  "Some kind of business, I'm sure."

  "You know he was at the party, right?" Belinda said, glancing at Bennett. "Byrne, Mark, Bald Guy. Whatever you want to call him. That was the dude Victoria and I saw in the hallway."

  Jonas nodded. "Then we have a few things to talk about. I'm off to deal with him. Keep out of trouble you two." Jonas winked at Bennett.

  Belinda examined the bandage on her wrist. She would never be able to wrap it that good. "Are you mad at me?" she said to Bennett.

  "Huh?"

  "You look mad."

  "Not at you." Bennett forced his mouth to turn upwards and took her free hand. "Stop picking at the bandage."

  "So what are you thinking?"

  "I'm wondering how Byr
ne is connected. I found his business address scribbled in one of your notebooks."

  Belinda thought about the business card in her wallet again. She shrugged and grinned. "It's been a full day, hasn't it?"

  "Very full." He looked at her wrist again. "I think it's time to deposit you back home to rest."

  "Rest? Humph. Who needs it? I'm just getting started." Belinda took his arm. "Besides, Carmichael's office is not far from here and he might know more about Bald Guy. Plus, he'll want to help me all he can to curry my nana's favor." Belinda smiled wickedly. Bennett agreed that they would pay Carmichael a visit and then Belinda had to go home to rest.

  Carmichael welcomed them into his office inside a marine blue townhouse a few streets over from the park. He shooed his secretary away and closed the door on her face as she stood there saying something about how he asked for tea.

  "What happened to you, my dear?" Carmichael said, taking her sprained wrist.

  "She was assaulted in the park."

  "Assaulted?" Carmichael looked from Bennett to Belinda. "Did you call the police?"

  "Already taken care of," Belinda said. "I'm okay."

  Carmichael held her gaze for a minute until he felt sure she meant it. "Have you had any word on Kyle?"

  Belinda shook her head. They'd all agreed it was best to keep his return quiet. "We need your help. Seeing that you're one of the top lawyers in Portside, I thought you'd probably know most of the others in the area."

  Belinda could instantly see his feathers start to fluff out. "Who do you want to know about?"

  "An immigration lawyer named Mark Byrne," Bennett said.

  Carmichael sat back in his seat with his hands on his stomach. "Please tell me you haven't hired him."

  "No," Belinda said. "He assaulted me, and he's possibly connected to Jeff."

  "That doesn't surprise me as Byrne is definitely connected to Stellan." Carmichael grunted. "He always had to drag that poor boy into his mischief."

  Bennett gently pulled Belinda back into her seat as she'd slid to the edge of it.

  "Stellan likes his schemes," Carmichael said. "You no doubt heard about different things he was involved in as a kid. Well, it only got worse. I'd heard he hadn't come by all of his money honestly, but it was confirmed when Jeff came to me for advice on how to extract himself from a scheme Stellan had gotten him tangled in. He left out specifics, needless to say, but gave me enough to know it was something very illegal and that Byrne was somehow involved with them."

  "When did he come to see you?" Belinda said.

  "Right after he got into town apparently. I don't think he wanted anyone to know about it."

  "So what did you tell him to do?" Bennett said.

  "I advised him to delicately remove himself from the situation, paying them both out if necessary and go back to California and stop answering Stellan's calls."

  Belinda thought about her conversation with Jeff at the party. "Did Jeff...did he seem like something else was bothering him?"

  "Like what, my dear?"

  "Like...like something heavier than that?" Belinda leaned forward. "Murder."

  Carmichael blinked through his glasses. "Murder, Belinda? Because of the people he was connected to?"

  "No, because of what happened to Mark."

  Carmichael processed her statement, saying "oh" several times in different tones. "Jeff was a disturbed young man." He shrugged. "He only opened up about the scheme."

  "Thank you."

  "It's nothing. And you'll..." Carmichael waved his hand in lieu of finishing the thought.

  Belinda smiled knowingly. "I'll be sure to mention this to Nana when I talk to her."

  Carmichael smiled.

  They left him yelling for his secretary about the tea he'd asked for hours ago. Belinda stared thoughtfully ahead of her as they retraced their steps to the park. If Jeff had tried to extricate himself from the sour business affair and Byrne was also at the party that night...well, it looked like a distinct possibility that Byrne killed him. On the other hand, Jeff had wanted to talk about the sailing accident, which was now confirmed as not an accident, and he seemed absorbed with that, not some crooked alliance. Maybe there was more to Mark's death that Jeff knew that even Stellan didn't realize.

  As warned, Bennett immediately drove her home, ordering her to stay put for a while. Yawning, Belinda wasn't feeling like disobeying anyway. At her door, Bennett looked like he wanted to do more than just say good-bye, but he told her he'd see her soon and trailed away. Disappointed again, Belinda watched him drive off and closed the front door.

  Chapter 21

  The time spent on the rocks confirmed one thing. Well, two actually, from Belinda's perspective. One, someone other than her and Kyle knew about and used the back path up to the Mayhew house. Second, and this was completely unrelated to the case, Bennett was unrelentingly appealing. She never thought she'd see the day she could walk away from fishing and say that she enjoyed it. But wonders never cease and that day had officially come.

  Belinda skipped into her home, completely ready to cozy up in her bed with something to munch on, half of her body still damp from their fishing experience, and her heart racing from the afternoon's events.

  Kyle met her in the hallway. "Why are you so happy?" She stopped short, realizing she was humming. "You're all wet." Kyle sniffed, making a face. "And you smell like fish. And your wrist is bandaged. What have you been doing?"

  "Fishing," Belinda said, her eyes darting to Kyle's hand and what he was holding more importantly.

  "Fishing? You?" Kyle laughed. "I know I was checked out for a few days, but did I miss something? Do pigs fly now?"

  Belinda put her good hand on her hip. "It wasn't a casual fishing trip if you must know."

  "Obviously." Kyle pointed to her wrist. "Was Bennett there?"

  "Yes, he was."

  Kyle smirked. "So did you catch anything? Other than him of course."

  "In fact, I did." Belinda stuck up her nose proudly.

  "What kind of fish did you catch?"

  "I don't know what it was. Some sort of small, silvery thing." Belinda showed the fish's approximate size with her hands.

  "Impressive. So where is it? You probably got one filet, if that, from the sounds of things."

  "I told you, it wasn't a casual fishing trip. I threw him back."

  "Wait, wait, wait. You touched a live fish?" Kyle tossed his head back and laughed. "Who is this guy? He must have the Book of Belinda hidden away somewhere with all these secrets on how to convince you to do certain things. I sure never could get you to do anything like that."

  Belinda narrowed her eyes. "That's because you're my brother."

  "Ah, I see. It's because you don't want to make out with me after touching the dead fish." Kyle grinned. "Now about the bandage. Did you slip and fall too?"

  Belinda picked at the edges of the bandage until she heard Bennett in her head telling her to cut it out. She tried to explain in brief what she'd done that afternoon, including Bald Guy's arrest.

  "It was him spying on you," Kyle said. "It's got to be."

  "Bald Guy probably caught you at the museum too. He seems like a real jerk."

  "He must be if he's working with Lily."

  Her eyes wandered back to what Kyle held. "What do you have there?" She pointed at his hand. Kyle tossed a book in the air, catching it with his other hand and held it out to her. "Our yearbook?"

  Kyle smirked. "Your yearbook. I couldn't find mine."

  "You went and dug this out? Why?"

  "Just curious with everything going on." He shrugged. "I thought you might want to see it too." Belinda smiled, flipping through the pages of the hardcover book. He couldn't find his wallet that morning, but their yearbook.... "Now that you've learned how to fish and gotten over your phobia of slimy things, you can move on to case solving and really blow Bennett Tate's clockwork mind." He dodged her swing with the book and ran into his room, shutting the door before she could strike again. />
  "I like his clockwork mind," she said through the door and she could hear Kyle chuckle. Belinda sighed and took her book and plopped onto her bed, then groaned when she realized she'd forgotten to change out of her wet clothes.

  She flipped through the pages of the book, scanning all of the messages. Most of the notes were bland congratulations with a lot of phone numbers mixed in. She was pretty sure she didn't call half of those people.

  Belinda purposely took her time reading them anyway, not wanting to admit to herself whose note she wanted to hurry up and find. Eventually, she came to it. Mark's note was actually just a sketch. A simple doodle of a special knot. Belinda traced the lines. Though she hadn't looked at it in years, Belinda could still see it exactly in her mind. Mark had taught her to tie knots one summer when they were younger and it had become their symbol, almost an inside joke. The thing that had solidified their friendship ages ago.

  Then the summer after graduation, that knot became their symbol for a meeting place. Mark knew about this abandoned warehouse that the Mayhews owned. They'd meet up there and sometimes Mark hauled Sea Stud into the docks and they'd go out to swim for the afternoon. Belinda had never even told Kyle that she and Mark had met up alone sometimes. But her mind rewound to the photos Lily had of her and Mark on the boat alone. Did Lily know about the warehouse?

  She scrambled through her purse, digging out the business card from Stellan. She flipped it over, the address of the supposedly abandoned warehouse written in black ink. Obviously, he hadn't meant to give her that information, but she knew Byrne and Stellan were connected now, and not because of Byrne's private investigating skills, so it was too late. Byrne was now also connected to Lily. She tapped the card against her chin. Sea Stud was in that warehouse, she could feel it.

  Belinda ran out of her room, bumping into Kyle coming out of his. "Are you all right?" he said. "You look a little wild-eyed."