Overkill (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Four)

by Amy Saunders

  Belinda pursed her lips.

  “What?” Victoria said.

  “There is someone who may have the answers to these questions.”

  Victoria studied her a moment, then shook her head vehemently. “No.”

  “But–”

  “Absolutely not! You are not, under any circumstances, to go seeking Jarrett for information. I forbid it!”

  Belinda waited a second. “He may know–”

  “No! I said no, I mean no.” Victoria exhaled loudly. “Bennett will agree with me.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  Victoria’s hazel eyes twinkled. She so would. Belinda sighed in resignation. “Don’t stress over it,” Victoria said. “Jarrett would probably conceal the truth, too. Shelby’s his friend.”

  Victoria had a point, though the idea still tempted her. Belinda unfolded her cover-up, then decided it was easier just to walk out in her swimsuit than have to strip in front of everyone. She checked herself in the mirror one last time and they headed for the pool, managing to find loungers in a shady spot.

  They both settled in, Belinda’s mind circling around everything they knew about Kevin and Angie so far. Could Shelby have painted the fake Simone? She certainly had skills. Maybe Kevin and Angie were in on it and Shelby killed them to keep the money for herself. Or maybe they threatened to expose her. But it seemed like the murders would have been tough for one teenage girl to pull off. Kevin was knocked on the head and thrown in the water, and Angie was strangled to death. Both took some amount of strength, and Shelby did not look like she had it. Unless she had an accomplice. Like the secret criminal boyfriend, Alec.

  Then Belinda saw Jarrett off beyond the pool. There was nothing to suggest he had anything to do with this, or had an unhealthy attachment to Shelby. At least that she knew about.

  Belinda turned her head as a door opened and Bennett came out, scanning until he caught sight of her waving. Female heads snapped his way, conversations stalling, as he walked the entire length of the pool in nothing but low-rise trunks and aviators.

  “Show off,” Victoria muttered.

  Belinda giggled. “Yep.” Their position by the pool was somewhat strategic on her part. She wanted to give everyone around the pool a show, and it worked. Women fanned themselves as he swaggered by, and once he got closer, Bennett flashed a smile, practically knocking out anyone in range. And nobody thought he could do PR.

  She hopped up out of her lounger, giving him a nice, lingering kiss on the lips. “Did I miss anything?” he said.

  Belinda caught Jarrett’s sunglass-covered gaze from across the pool. “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 19

  While they lounged by the pool and between dips in it (just so everyone could drool over their martinis at the sight of Bennett’s wet abs), Belinda shot texts off to Colleen to get some dirt on Alec. Colleen didn’t have much, except an unverified story that he stole someone’s boat the summer before. If it happened in Portside, Kyle could probably find out the rest. While she had her, Belinda sent Colleen the nameless phone number from Angie’s cell to track down, and she asked for Alec’s last name and Portside address. Colleen responded that Belinda was taking advantage of her. Belinda replied with a smiley face. Then she put Kyle to work getting the scoop on the alleged boat theft.

  That night, amid the sunset on the water, Belinda, Bennett, and Jonas piled on to Kyle’s sailboat, enjoying their dinner on the harbor. Victoria and Belinda had discussed Jonas’ diving date issues at length and thought they’d come up with an acceptable solution. Say he was rusty and could use a refresher lesson. “That way,” Belinda said, “you can still do the scuba thing, but without the dying thing because you don’t know how.”

  “I still say you should just admit you made it up.” Bennett ripped off a chunk of Italian bread, offering it to Belinda, who happily took it off his hands. Riggings knocked around in the wind and laughter from another group drifted around them, along with the less distinct sounds of traffic.

  “Because that’s what you’d do if you’d lied to Belinda about scuba diving?” Jonas dove into the bread himself.

  “I would never have lied about it in the first place.”

  Jonas made a face. His approach to dating was apparently different.

  “I think I’m with Bennett on this one,” Kyle said. “If she loves to dive and finds out you lied about it, it could ruin things.”

  “Did you have that happen?” Jonas said.

  “In reverse. I’ve had girls tell me they love sailing, blah blah blah, and then it comes out they don’t have a clue.”

  “Okay. Then what happens?”

  “Then I tell them to hit the curb.”

  “That’s true,” Belinda said. “You’ve had a lot of girls play the sailing card to get your attention.” Belinda leaned forward to see Jonas on the other side of the deck. “Maybe you should just own up to it now.”

  Jonas laughed. “So all that talk and now you’ve changed your mind?”

  Belinda shrugged. “Ardith may have a lot of guys claim they love diving to get her attention. This could be a test.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I’d do it. You’re cute, but you look dangerous.”

  Jonas grinned, unperturbed by her assessment.

  “Sounds fair to me,” Bennett said.

  Jonas spun his beer bottle on his leg, watching it thoughtfully. “Maybe I should just tell her.”

  “If you like her,” Belinda said, “it might be better to get that fact out in the open.”

  “Facts out in the open. That’s a novelty in my world.”

  “It does seem like everyone involved with your case has something to hide. Shelby told us earlier that she was basically taking that art class to get to Kevin’s friend.”

  “That’s the Lachappelle kid, right?” Kyle wiggled his butt around on the cushion. Belinda had brought them so everyone would be a little more comfy sitting on the fiberglass deck.

  “Yeah,” Belinda said. “What did you find out?”

  Kyle rubbed his chin. “I dropped some hints and found out about that rumored boat theft, except it wasn’t a rumor. Shelby and her boyfriend took somebody’s boat for a joyride last summer for certain. It got swept under the rug by her family, though. No charges pressed or anything.”

  “Whose boat did they steal?”

  “Can’t remember, but somebody I talked to thought they settled it privately.”

  “Meaning a big payout.” If that was true, no wonder Shelby’s dad would have a fit if he knew she was still seeing Alec.

  Jonas sat up straighter. “Do you know who the boyfriend was?”

  Belinda played with the remaining crust of her bread. “It was Alec.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw Shelby meet Alec secretly during the auction I went to, and when she told me she was trying to use Kevin to get to his friend, I put the pieces together. Plus, she told me her parents think the guy she likes is a criminal. Initially, I thought the troublemaker might be Jarrett.”

  “Shelby’s friends with Jarrett?” Jonas said. Belinda nodded. “She’s the bridge between all these people. Shelby knows all of them: Kevin, Angie, and Alec. And she’s an artist, which means there is a possibility she painted that fake.”

  “What about Angie?” Belinda said.

  Jonas shook his head. “The little paint we found in her studio doesn’t match. Not that I’ve completely ruled her out. She could have done that work somewhere else.”

  “What about the paint flakes on Angie’s hands?”

  “Not the type used for fine art. It was industrial-strength, like the stuff used on boats.”

  Belinda glanced involuntarily at Kyle. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “I didn’t kill her.”

  “I know that. But how did boat paint end up on her?”

  Jonas picked up the end of a coil of rope on board. “The marks on Angie’s neck could be from a rope.” He tugged on both ends as if to demonstrate. “We
found fibers on her skin that match a type of material used to make rope found on lots of sailing crafts these days.”

  “So the rope could have come from a boat, and if it had dried paint on it, could have transferred to Angie when she was killed.”

  “It’s a theory.”

  Belinda rubbed the textured fiberglass deck absently. “Plus, there’s a decent chance Kevin was dumped off a boat.” She’d never considered that the body dumping method could be a connection to the killer. With the special paint on Angie’s hands, it looked like the killer was also a boater.

  “More than decent,” Jonas said.

  “Does anyone involved in the case own a boat?” Bennett said.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Jonas said. “But if Alec has a history with boats, he might be a candidate.”

  Belinda thought it could also mean the killer wasn’t anyone in the current suspect pool. Or the murderer had taken something that didn’t belong to them as a means to ditch Kevin’s body, and kill Angie. Her mind flicked back to Alec. If he did steal a boat in the past, maybe he’d done it again.

  Jonas stretched. “I may give Ardith a call when I get home and straighten things out.”

  Belinda smiled in approval. She liked the thought of Jonas and Ardith, but she wanted them to get off on the right foot. Kyle might be right. Ardith was pretty straightforward. Belinda doubted she’d appreciate being fooled like that from the start.

  She checked the time on her phone, and finally had a text from Colleen. Colleen had offered Alec’s last name–Luca–and his vacation address without any demands of her own. For now. Belinda might regret this later. And, interestingly enough, the nameless phone number also belonged to Alec. So Alec did know Angie, and it didn’t look like Shelby knew that.

  Jonas yawned and stood, stretching out his long frame. They left Kyle in peace and headed back to the parking lot. Jonas lagged behind with Belinda, his hands in his pockets, looking like he wanted to say something. Just so long as it wasn’t something dreadful.

  “Has Colleen…said anything to you about me?” He kept his eyes on the dock like he was shy about the subject, which wasn’t like him.

  Uh-oh. Belinda did not want in the middle of their relationship. If they needed to sort something out, they needed to do it without her.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything,” he added hurriedly. “I’m just under the impression she might be pestering you again.”

  Belinda smiled. “I can handle it.”

  “I know. I’m just puzzled by how she’s been acting.” His cheeks turned red, also not like him.

  “I know about you two,” Belinda whispered, deciding to name the white elephant. “Not details, just that you were a thing at one time. All I’m going to say is she asked me for advice and I was honest with her.”

  “So she wants to get back together.”

  She figured Jonas already knew that, but he was seeking confirmation. “I think so.”

  “What do you think about Colleen? Her job aside?”

  It was tough to separate them out, she thought. Colleen was a reporter. She couldn’t picture her doing anything else. “I don’t know her that well, but she is improving on me.”

  “Really?”

  “A teeny-tiny bit, but yeah.”

  Jonas grinned. They caught up with Bennett, who Belinda realized had kept his distance, and they chatted with Jonas for a few minutes in the parking lot before going separate directions. Bennett drove her Mini, going back to his house. It was completely dark now, quiet out in the more residential areas of town. Quite unlike around the harbor, which was lively late into the night on a hot summer evening like that.

  Belinda was lost thinking about Kevin Pratt picking up the fake Simone at a yard sale and eventually ending up dead. How did he get from one to the other? Then there was Jarrett being friends with Shelby and at a party with both Kevin Pratt and Angie Chen, who were both dead. A shiver racked her body and she tapped the AC vents off her.

  “You never mentioned you saw Jarrett recently.” Bennett had also looked lost in his own musings. The only sound was the song on the radio they’d heard on their way to the marina earlier.

  “Wow. I said that like an hour ago. You’re slow tonight.”

  “We had company.”

  Belinda rested her head back. “Maybe I subconsciously omitted that fact.”

  Bennett felt for her hand, taking it firmly. “Was he okay?”

  “Yeah. I think he’s alright.”

  “But?”

  “I’m keeping my distance to be sure.” She caressed Bennett’s thumb with hers. “I think Jarrett could know the subject of those paintings.”

  “You think he knows the subject, or is the subject?”

  “You thought the same thing?”

  “It crossed my mind. It could be him. If one of the Lachappelles did it, he’s connected to them.”

  Belinda snapped her head in his direction. “One of the Lachappelles? I was thinking Alec as the painter. His last name starts with an ‘L’.”

  Bennett raised an eyebrow. “Is he a painter?”

  “I don’t know…” Belinda felt troubled. She didn’t think Alec was an artist. In any case, Shelby never said so and that sounded like a big selling point to Belinda. There could be another angle to this. “What if Alec is the subject and Shelby painted them? Her middle name is Ann, and it would make sense for her to hide them, knowing how her mom gets. Maybe she put them in that Dumpster and asked Angie to get them and hide them.”

  “Or maybe Angie was blackmailing Shelby. Though we still don’t know what happened to the paintings after we left. They were gone by the time you found Angie’s body.”

  Belinda frowned, thinking back to her conversation with Shelby at the yacht club, when Shelby trailed off at the end and then bolted. “What if we weren’t the first people to find Angie dead?”

  “You have someone in mind?”

  “It could’ve been Shelby.”

  Bennett flicked on his signal light. “She might have taken the paintings back so no one would find them.”

  “Maybe. But if she was hiding them or throwing them out in the first place, I doubt she’d want to hold onto them.”

  “You’re thinking it’s the boyfriend…Alec. He’s got them.”

  “He knew Angie. He even left her a nastygram on her phone. Angie obviously knew about the paintings and where they were tossed, and from Alec’s message to her, I think he knew Angie had them. That means he could have gone to her studio and taken them.”

  “And killed Angie.”

  Belinda chewed her lip. “Are you up for some snooping tonight? I’ve got Alec’s address and tonight’s the bonfire. All of them should be out.” Alec had told Shelby they were all going. She hoped he’d meant it.

  Bennett’s lip curled. “You’re getting way too comfortable with this.”

  “Practice makes perfect.”

  Chapter 20

  After making stops to change into appropriate clothes and get what they needed for the job, Belinda and Bennett walked onto Alec’s street–or the street where he was staying for now. Hardly any lights were on in any of the houses, which could be good for them. They used the side door, and Bennett glanced through the glass for a security system. He tried the knob before bothering to pick the lock, and it clicked open.

  Bennett shrugged. “College kids. Not as concerned about security.”

  It was difficult to say whose room was whose in the dark with no idea of Alec’s personality. It would’ve been helpful if each door had a name on it. They split up, looking for evidence of Alec’s bedroom. Belinda thought she’d stepped on some dirty underwear when Bennett whistled low for her.

  She followed the sound, squinting to make out where she was going in the meager light from outside. Bennett was on his knees next to a bed, picking the lock of a metal cash box. “Alec left his wallet behind on the dresser with his license inside.” He motioned his head in that direction. “This was under the
mattress.”

  He flipped open the lid, revealing several piles of cash. The box was full, and it looked like all twenties. “That’s a lot of money for this guy,” Belinda said.

  “Especially all in cash, hidden under his mattress.”

  “I guess he was afraid his roommates might help themselves.”

  “Or ask where it all came from.”

  Belinda stood, looking in Alec’s closet for any sign of the paintings. It was a tiny room and there was no other place to hide something, unless he’d put them in another part of the house, kept them in his car, or trashed them. Or was about to trash them…

  She made eye contact with Bennett, thinking the same thing at that moment. “The bonfire!” they said in unison. Bennett slammed the cash box lid, stuffing it back where he found it, and they ran back to her car and hightailed it to the beach and bonfire.

  There were a good number of people there, though the parking lot still wasn’t as full as when they’d gone for the day with Jonas and Ardith. That felt like weeks ago now, not mere days. Still, maybe it was too crowded to toss some 16x20 paintings into the fire without getting noticed. They ran anyway, dodging kids lingering in the parking lot, until they were past the bathhouse and onto the sand.

  “Maybe we should’ve checked the parking lot?” Belinda said when they stopped to get their bearings.

  “Maybe.” Bennett squinted to see, but besides the people standing right around the bonfire a little ways down the beach, it was tough to make out detail.

  “Let’s split up.”

  Bennett didn’t even flinch. “No way.”

  “There’s too many people. I’ll go left and you go right and we’ll meet back here in ten minutes.”

  “It’s dangerous letting you on the loose.”

  “Well, it’s also dangerous letting some college kid destroy potential evidence in a murder investigation.”

  Bennett’s eyes darted side to side, and finally he sighed in resignation. “Fine. Ten minutes. Call me if you get into trouble.”