by Misty Simon
“I know,” I whispered back, “but it makes everything so much easier if I get her caffeine. Have you ever seen her pre-caffeine rush? It’s not pretty.” He let me go with a quick nip to my ear, making me shiver and practically float to the coffee maker.
Once the smell of Folgers permeated the air and Bella had the first cup from under the stream, we all sat down in the living room. Ben took the seat next to me on the couch and draped an arm over my thigh. Bella lifted an eyebrow but apparently declined to comment, instead getting down to why she’d come.
“All right, so what’s this I hear about the dirty deed being done?”
Ben peered at me through narrowed eyes. Uh-oh. “Ivy,” he said, drawing the one short word out. I was in so much trouble.
Defensive was the name of the game. “I didn’t say anything to her except that we had finally managed to find some time alone together. I didn’t tell her about the elbow to the head or the way you licked my toes, for goodness’ sake. I didn’t even mention that one move you did with your...” I trailed off when Bella’s eyes widened and Ben’s narrowed further, if that was even possible.
“Well, it appears you just did,” he said, removing his hand from where it had warmed my rounded thigh.
“Um, okay. Bella, ignore everything I’ve said and pretend you didn’t hear anything.” Like that was going to work.
“I didn’t hear a thing,” she said, snickering into her coffee.
“Great.” My smile should have rivaled the sun, but from the stormy expression on Ben’s face I was pretty sure it missed its mark. I tried to snuggle into his side and got rebuffed for my trouble.
“Oh, Ben, don’t be such a nimrod.” Bella uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. “Ivy didn’t tell me anything, and you don’t have to be so sensitive. I’m happy for both of you and hope things continue being good.”
He harrumphed and crossed his arms over his chest, sinking farther into the couch. Lord, preserve me from obstinate males. “Look, Ben, I’m sorry. Let’s agree I won’t ever say anything else again about what a fabulous lover you are, and move on.”
“I’m a fabulous lover?”
“He’s a fabulous lover?” Bella said at the same time.
A faint smile played on Ben’s delicious lips, and he draped an arm over the back of the couch, his fingers toying with the ends of my hair. “Go on.”
I pinched his nipple through the fabric of his shirt, and he yelped. “Are we all settled then? Can we get on with why everyone is over at my house at the crack of near dawn?”
“Yeah, okay. Mind if I go first?” Ben asked. His fingers moved from the ends of my hair to the sweet spot right behind my ear. I shivered.
Bella smirked at me and gestured for Ben to go on. “Sure.”
“Well, Ivy asked me to look into Chad and his past. I did, when I couldn’t sleep last night.” He leered at me and I could feel the heat of a blush creeping up my neck. “Anyway, after digging into some archives and Googling him, it appears our Mr. Chad is not some lily-white character. In fact, he was questioned in another murder about five years ago. It seems he was the main suspect for some time and couldn’t account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder. Plus, he was very close to the deceased but didn’t appear to be overly upset at the person’s passing. The police trailed him and kept on him but could never pin it on him.” He rested his foot on his opposite knee—instead of on my coffee table, which would have gotten him maimed. His smile got wider. “Eventually the case was left open and became a cold case. They never found a more viable suspect but didn’t have any evidence to try Chad.”
“So he could be our suspect.” Finally, we had a solid lead.
“I’d say he is definitely our suspect.”
“But how can you be so sure?” Bella asked the question hovering on my lips.
“The deceased, whom he wasn’t overwrought about, was his fiancée.”
Chapter Seventeen
“His fiancée?” Holy cow! Did we have a serial pre-widower maker on our hands? “I admit he makes a great suspect, but why would he have killed Tarrin? According to her, everything was perfect in their lives.”
“Yeah, she told me the same thing,” Bella said. She gulped down some more coffee and started to look like herself even with all the makeup missing. “So, why, when everything was going so great, would he haul off and end her life and their life together?”
“I haven’t told you the rest of it yet.” Leaning forward, he clasped his hands between his knees. “It seems one of the things the police were very interested in was the fact that everything he and the previous fiancée had was in his name. All her money had been transferred into his name, the house they owned together was his, the cars, too. She had nothing without him, and then she mysteriously died when she fell down a set of stairs and broke her neck.”
“Broke her neck?” Bella and I asked in stereo.
“Yeah. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
“Can you dig deeper?” I asked, not quite sure what I wanted to find, but I knew there had to be something else out there.
“I’m already on it. I started a search on his financials and am waiting to hear back as to whether or not everything Tarrin owned is in his name. If yes, I think we have enough to at least take our theory to the police. I don’t really want to go before we have some connecting evidence, though. Remember last time.”
We all remembered when my plethora of suspects all ended up being wrong and each time I went to the police with a new one I looked a little dumber. I was all for holding off on going to the police as long as no one else turned up dead.
After a few more comments and suggestions about what to do, I remembered Bella had come over with news, too. “What did you have to talk about, Bella?”
“Besides the whole you and Ben making whoopee thing?”
“Please don’t start in again.”
She laughed. “I’m kidding. I wanted to talk with you about Jared. When I got ready for bed last night, I remembered you saying something about Tarrin and her boyfriends, plural. You said his name started with a J, according to Mr. Hanks. I thought about Jared when you said it the first time, and the more I ran it around in my mind, the more I remembered he and Tarrin used to date. It was right after Ben, but before she left. Jared called me last night to make sure everything was okay.” She paused, only for dramatic effect, as far as I was concerned.
“Yes?” I prodded, not wanting to think about Tarrin and Ben in the same sentence, much less in a relationship.
“She definitely went from Ben to Jared.”
“Your Jared? You’re positive?”
“Jared Henderson?” Ben asked at the same time. “She went from me to Jared?” The disbelief was evident in his tone.
I stroked his arm. “Not everyone has my good taste, honey.”
“Hey!” Bella gave me the evil eye.
Uh-oh. Tricky, sticky situation ahead. “Um, there’s a right someone for everyone? Hunkiness is in the eye of the beholder?”
She harrumphed.
“Oh, come on. You wouldn’t want me to want Jared, would you?”
“Absolutely not.” Ben and Bella made their own in-stereo protest.
I laughed at both their disgruntled looks.
“To change the subject,” Bella said, “I also wanted to let you know your father’s indiscretion will be all over town by now. His car was sitting outside Martha’s house when I drove over this morning.”
Great. Not only did she get the last laugh, but this was exactly what I needed. Some kind of murderer on the loose, the hidden diamonds we’d found to figure out, and a hussy (husser?) of a father to take care of.
****
The husser came home ten minutes before I was due to open the store. No doubt this had been planned so we would be ships passing in the day, but he was out of luck.
“Ahem,” I said as soon as he quietly opened the door.
“Oh, Ivy, hello and good morning. What are you still doing her
e? Shouldn’t you be at the store?” His ears were the same color red as the night before, and he knew I knew what was going on.
“So, it’s all right for you to sleep over at someone’s house when you have only known her for a matter of days, but it’s not okay for me to have a relationship with a man I think I’m truly falling in love with?” My hands went to my hips in the classic pissed-off-female pose.
“Now, Ivy, I never said you couldn’t have a relationship with Ben.” He started backing toward his bedroom, and I followed him, sputtering.
What planet had he been on when we’d talked endlessly about him leaving me alone so I could pursue Ben? He’d called me every time his sin radar went on alert. Oy! I could strangle this pigheaded man whose loins I’d sprung from.
“I can recall several times over various conversations where you’ve said it was inappropriate for me to be with Ben. You objected to him and only recently accepted him as someone I wanted to date, because I didn’t give you a choice.” After all the crazy crap he’d spurted about my man over the last several weeks, and the asinine dinner we’d had, leading to my current predicament, I deserved more than the shrug he was currently giving me.
He huffed out a disgruntled breath. “I had a choice, thank you very much. And I have a choice about my present situation, also. I like Martha. I know you like her, too. What I choose to do about my feelings is my own business.” He turned to go into his room.
“Well, that must be nice,” I said in my nastiest voice, which made him stop and turn around. He gave me the glare, and I returned it in kind.
“You will remember to whom you are speaking, young lady.”
“I know exactly to whom I’m speaking, and all I ask is for you to show a little consideration for the fact I live in this town. I’m the one who will have to deal with this situation because everyone either saw or heard about your car at Martha’s last night.” I felt like the roles were being reversed, and it made me icky in the stomach. I didn’t do authority very well, and I was riding near the end of my outrage. In fact, I was beginning to find the whole thing ridiculous. My dad, the middle-aged lothario, whisking Mad Martha into his trusty Ford Focus for a night of passion. Snicker.
He must have caught the gleam in my eye, because he laughed and then tried to cover it with a cough. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
I guffawed, which sounds as bad as the word, and stood holding up the wall while I wrapped my arms around my middle. “Did you hear me get all parental on you?” I asked between bouts of giggling.
“Don’t do that again. I almost had a heart attack. I’m not ready for the whole parent-as-child syndrome thing.”
“Me neither.” I went over and draped an arm across his shoulders. “Seriously, though, Dad, can you be a little more discreet? I love Martha and think she’s a wonderful woman, but this won’t do a whole lot for her reputation. She has a business to run and, although what she does with her spare time should be none of anyone’s business, it is. That’s a fact of small town life. You should walk over there; it’s not too far. Or I can drop you off.” I hoped with all my might he wouldn’t take me up on the last, but it would be better than the never-ending gossip if his car were there every night. I certainly did not want to start fielding questions as to my father’s nocturnal activities. Eww!
“To be truthful, nothing happened last night. She invited me in after I helped her clean up the diner, and we talked for hours over a couple bottles of wine. I passed out on the couch at some point. She covered me up, then slept in her own bed, alone.”
“I believe you, but watch out for what people are going to say today when you’re around town. The grapevine is far reaching, and you might get some strange looks like I did when Ben and I first started dating.” I didn’t want him to suffer some of the torment I did. I also wanted to hold on to the hope he would be going home soon, so I could resume my normally scheduled life.
“I can take care of myself, Ivy.” He patted my shoulder. “But thank you for your concern.”
“No problem, husser.” That last part slipped out, and I banged out the door, ignoring his questions of what exactly it meant.
Once in my car, I leaned back and let out a sigh. Please, please, don’t let the first woman to catch his eye in years ask him to stay permanently. For once in my life I wanted my dad to have a fling and move on, so I didn’t have to deal with him in my house for eternity.
****
Later in the day—after I’d worked my tush off over lingerie and various costumes, because everyone seemed to be having themed holiday parties this year—I collapsed onto a chair in Bella’s kitchen with a huge sigh.
“Hard day?” she asked, throwing some cookies on a plate and pouring me a cup of coffee.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Everyone and their mother came in today looking for some authentic this and authentic that. God, I thought the rush would be over with Halloween out of the way, but apparently I was wrong. And why is everyone having huge theme parties? And more importantly, why wasn’t I invited to any of them?” It would have been nice to get an invitation from someone for all these glitzy parties. I knew I wasn’t any kind of local and hadn’t made many friends so far other than Ben and Bella, but you’d think someone would think of me when it came time to send out the glossy invites. We moved to the more comfortable furniture in the living room, and I sank deep into her plush couch.
“Don’t concern yourself with it, Ivy. I’ve been here for years—I grew up here, for pity’s sake—and I still don’t get invited. I did for the years I was with the Bastard, but after he left, nothing. If I didn’t know the people in this town, I’d say I couldn’t believe they would hold a grudge for so long. Knowing them as I do, I can believe it.” She tucked her feet under her and put her mug on the round coffee table.
Well, there went my pretty party dress.
Bella continued before I had time to make a remark, “However, I am throwing a little party and think we should have a theme, too. What’s already been taken, so we don’t duplicate?”
I rattled off the list, including Victorian, Greek, Snowmen, Santas, Reindeer, and Futuristic. I ended by saying facetiously, “I think the only thing that hasn’t been covered is pirates.”
I guess I wasn’t facetious enough. “Then we’ll do pirates. You can be a saucy wench and drive Ben wild.”
“Ooh, Ben as a pirate.” The thought struck me as particularly yummy. I could blow him down, so to speak.
We started planning and were knee deep in decoration ideas when Bella’s phone rang.
“Could you get it?” she asked with a pen stuck in her mouth and a mile-long list running across the table.
“Sure.” I picked up the phone from the end table and did the customary hello thing, then sat in stunned silence while I was cursed out in the vilest of ways. I hung up after a very nasty f-bomb was dropped, and stared at Bella. “Piss anyone off lately?”
“Not that I know of, why?”
“That was a very angry woman on the phone, shouting obscenities and calling you all kinds of names.” My ears were still ringing from the extremely creative way the woman had strung her words together. She’d pushed ten curse words into a two-word sentence.
Bella peered at me from beneath her bangs. “Anyone you recognized?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t think so.”
“She didn’t sound familiar at all?” Nibbling on the end of her pen, the words came out a little muffled and she was starting to look very nervous.
“A little. Probably not. I barely heard what she was saying because I couldn’t believe my ears, but I think I would have known the voice if I’d heard it before.” I suspected it would never leave my memory now, either.
“I want to say ‘huh’ and move on, but with everything that’s been going on lately, I don’t know if I should do that.” Her eyes got a steely look to them. “Forget it. No matter what’s happening in this crazy town, I’m through being scared. Anyone who wants to call
and is too much of a chicken to say her name can kiss off, for all I care.”
“Good for you, Bella, but you might want to let the answering machine pick up from now on, as a precaution. Maybe Ben will recognize who it is if you can get a recording of her voice.” And maybe he could tell us who it was and how seriously we should take the murderous language she’d used.
“It’s a plan. Now back to Avast, Me Hearties.”
The phone rang again before we had a chance to do anything. Bella gasped. I gripped her hand while we stared at the phone like it was a poisonous snake. “Let the machine get it,” I said.
After the fifth ring, I barely restrained myself from answering. “How many rings do you have it set at?” My hand hovered over the talk button, my other hand tapping nervously on the arm of the couch. The ringing was driving me insane.
“Eight.”
“Eight? For God’s sake, that could be forever.” I’d go stark, raving mad. But the machine chose to answer right then—giving me a measure of relaxation.
Bella’s voice filled the living room, asking the caller to leave their name. It was very businessy, and I looked at Bella askance. She shrugged and hunkered closer to the answering machine.
Finally the beep did its thing and then there was nothing. We waited for the hang-up, more foul language, something. But nothing happened. Nothing, that is, until Jared started talking.
“I hate these things,” he said, his baritone amplified. “All right, Bella. I wanted to see if you were okay this evening and, uh, warm. Dammit.” The last word was muffled like he was scrubbing a hand over his mouth. “Well, anyway, call if you need anything. Bye.” A click sounded and the message light started blinking.
“Why didn’t you pick it up?” I was surprised she’d let him ramble when she could have talked to him.
“I like listening to his voice.” She sounded dreamy. This was the softer side of Bella I’d only seen a few times previously. She’d led a hard life here in town after the divorce. I liked to see her let her shields down a little. It must have been hard for her to always be on the defensive.