Chapter Three

Bella’s house was overly neat, which was really not surprising. But after already tidying up the kitchen it left me with a whole lot of nothing to do during those ten minutes while I waited for Ben to move his cute rear end over there. I fantasized the whole time I put away magazines and straightened the pillows that were already straight.

The doorbell rang before my time was up. I whipped open the door, fully prepared to get in my kissing quotient before we got down to the business of figuring out what had really happened to Trev Brewster.

But I almost locked lips with a very miserable-looking Officer Jared. His usually handsome, smiling face was drawn and pale. The hair that always looked so shiny and soft appeared flat and dull. His eyes were bloodshot. Not a good look for him at all.

Once I had heard him talk about himself in the third person. At the time it had made me laugh, asking Ben if he did the same thing. Now, I almost asked if Officer Jared was sad, to lighten his mood. But I stopped myself within a breath of uttering the words. He wasn’t going to find it funny.

“What can I do for you?” I asked, keeping the door open wide enough to frame my biggie-sized body, but not leaving enough space for him to think he was getting inside.

“I heard you brought Bella home.” He held his black-brimmed police issue hat in his hands, running it around and around in a circle while keeping his eyes trained on the motion. My heart went out to him, but I knew Bella wasn’t going to want him inside even if she was asleep.

“Yes.” I kept my answer short, hoping Ben would get here soon. He and Jared had gone to school together, so I felt Ben could handle Jared better than I could. For all the couples’ things we’d done with Jared and Bella, I still didn’t know him that well.

He looked up at me from under dark lashes. I was surprised to see a sheen of what I thought were tears over his eyes. He blinked before any water could fall, straightening his broad shoulders and running one of his hands over his wavy hair. “You’re not going to let me in, are you?”

How to answer that? Confrontation and I were not friends, in case this is your first time with me. I could barely stand up for myself some days; how was I going to keep this big policeman out of the house if he really wanted in?

But I tried. “No, I’m really sorry. I can’t?” Stupid lilting at the end of the sentence that showed my hesitation! I cleared my throat and tried again. “I can’t, Jared. I don’t think now is a good time. Bella’s lying down for a little bit, and Ben should be here soon.”

He rose up on his toes, peeking over my shoulder.

“You’re not going to see her. She really is in bed. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

His whole frame seemed to sag in on itself. The hat was turning again, nearly mesmerizing me. I shook my head to clear it, then started to close the door. There was nothing more to say, as far as I was concerned.

His hand shot out, startling me. He blocked me from closing the door, his eyes hooded, and his whole body bristling with emotion I could literally feel radiating from him. I’ll admit I was a little bit scared—make that a lot scared—until Ben came up behind Jared, clapping him on the shoulder.

“What’s up, man?” Ben said to Jared, but kept his eyes on me, cocking an eyebrow.

I hadn’t had time to tell Ben about Jared being the chief cuffer when Bella was arrested. I prayed he wouldn’t invite the man in not knowing what was going on. I attempted mental telepathy, though that had never worked before. Surprisingly it seemed to this time. Either that or Ben was very astute. Yeah, I’d go with that, too.

Regardless, Jared turned toward Ben and told him, “Take care of both of them. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I will. Then I’ll be back to talk to Bella when she wakes up. Make sure she knows I won’t take no for an answer, and I won’t ask twice.” With that he walked away.

In the far back of the house I heard wailing, so I ran away from the man of my dreams to the woman who needed me right now.

I brought Bella tissues before turning on the shower for her. After retrieving her bathrobe, I left her to soap up and wash off the smell of jail. I figured I had about thirty minutes alone with Ben. And I could do a lot of damage in that short span.

Trotting back into the living room, I feasted my eyes on my own personal wet dream in the flesh. His gold-tipped brown hair stood up in spikes, enticing my fingers to play. His shirt was buttoned wrong, which showed me he’d really thrown himself together to get over here fast. Sigh. How can you go wrong with a man who haphazardly dresses to be near you as soon as possible?

He took one quick look at me, scanned the front room in a split second, then swooped me into his arms. Those full lips I loved to lick settled on mine in a heartbeat. My world went up in a haze of lust. If there was a better kisser in all the world, I wouldn’t be able to stand meeting him.

Flashes of light shot through my brain straight to my center, and my legs acquired the consistency of overcooked noodles. His strong arm around my waist was the only thing keeping me standing, at this point. It tightened when I purred in the back of my throat.

“God, that noise, it does it for me every time,” he said right into my ear once he came up for air. His thing for my ears drove me crazy, but I didn’t tell him that. Why give him additional ammunition?

“I know. That’s why I do it.”

“Wicked woman.”

“You can bet your sweet ass on that.”

“I have a sweet ass?”

Someday I would not insert my foot in my mouth whenever I was within ten feet of Ben. On that day the champagne is on me. Seriously.

“Anyway,” I said, not wanting to go down that particular path. I always managed to get myself in trouble whenever I tried to banter with Ben.

“No, not anyway. I want to hear about my sweet ass.”

“I am not having this conversation with you.”

“You’re the one who started it.”

“And I’m the one who’s ending it. We need to be serious here.” I shot him a quelling (ooh, good word, Ivy) look before he could say anything about being perfectly honest about his sweet ass. It would be typical Ben. “Bella is in trouble. We don’t have time to mess around right now.”

Ben’s mouth opened. I could practically hear the opinion he wanted to express about messing around, but he must have thought better of it, because he closed his mouth. He cleared his throat. “What kind of trouble?”

“Some idiot got killed and then stuffed into the walk-in refrigerator she has in her shop, the old one the caterer used. And now the cops think she did it. They even told her to stay in town. They don’t have any evidence other than where the guy was found, but they’re trying to pin it on her, saying they have a bunch of evidence that points right to her.” Phew! All in one breath.

“Not good.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck. I got a whiff of his special cologne and commanded my knees to stay firm.

“That’s why I called you. Can you talk to your friend down at the police station? Find out what kind of investigation they have going? And how the hell they managed to get things together so quickly? This murder case can’t be more than a few hours old. How did they manage to get so much on her in such a short time when they’ve had no idea previously how to do this on their own?” Once more in one breath. I was on a roll!

“I’m not sure, Ivy. I mean, I could call and talk to Dennis, but I don’t know what good it will do us. He’s already kind of ticked at me for interfering with another investigation they have going on, so I don’t know if he’ll give me any kind of information.”

“What other investigation?” This was news to me, and I admit it hurt a little to find out after the fact.

“It’s nothing, really, but it’s certainly better than that stupid humping dog thing from a few months ago, or the toilet paper thefts.” He gave a little chuckle, since that had been one of our adventures. He got right back on topic, though. “There have been several house burglaries lately. Weird ones. Marty wanted me to try to figure out what’s going on before the police can break it.”

“Sounds intriguing,” I said, not sure if I really meant it since I was still a little miffed that I was only now finding out about this assignment.

“Picture frames.”

“What?”

“Picture frames are being stolen.”

“You mean the guy is stealing paintings off the walls while leaving everything else in the house?” Bizarre, but not totally unheard of.

“No, like someone is going into these houses and taking picture frames, the kind that hold family portraits, things like that. He comes in, takes the frame, and leaves the picture it held right where it was hung before. He’s even tacking them up with fluorescent thumbtacks. The police are pretty baffled. Marty thinks it would kick up our circulation if I can figure out what’s going on first.”

“Huh.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed at me. I could almost see the tiny gears grinding away in his brain. Okay, that wasn’t fair. He really was smart, just not about the whole having a relationship thing, apparently.

“Are you mad at me?” Crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowed even more. I stifled a giggle because his eyes were almost closed at this point.

“I am not mad.” I crossed my arms over my own ample chest, waiting to see what he would do. We’d been at odds for almost a week a few months ago but hadn’t had an argument since then. I was interested to see if he was a dirty fighter, bringing up previous grievances when we fought.

“Oh, I think you are. So what is it? Let me guess, I forgot some big date or something you just now remembered.”

I snorted, hoping he wouldn’t bring up the fact that I hadn’t trusted him back near Christmas.

“All right. I didn’t tell you about this assignment when I first found out, so now you’re miffed because I’m not sharing, or some stupid shit like that.”

“Ha!” Yeah, call me the queen of the comeback.

“So that’s it. I didn’t tell you right away, and you’re pissed.” The arms uncrossed to hang loose at his sides—defensive posture effectively subdued.

Maybe he wasn’t as dumb about this relationship stuff as I thought. If he wasn’t going to yell at me, how was I supposed to yell at him? I’d feel like an idiot. Worse. A shrew. “This came out of left field, I guess.” Is this where I should be mature and share my feelings about how it made me feel to not have him confide in me right away? Ack!

“Look, I meant to tell you. I got the assignment this morning, I called Dennis, then you called. You told me to get over here right away. I thought you needed me, so everything else flew out of my head.” I got the full-fledged smile with his elusive dimple popping out. I was lost. Hard to argue with that dimple, and he knew it. Damn him.

“You do not play fair, Ben Fallon.”

“I know it, Ivy Morris. That’s what makes life so much better.” His arms came around me. He tugged me up his lean body for a swift kiss that turned into something a whole lot better.

I got lost in his lips, in the play of his tongue, his roving hands. Bliss was mine. I was contemplating throwing him down on the living room floor to have my way with him when someone cleared their throat behind me.

Shit! Bella. We popped apart like the front clasp on a bra I’d tried on once in a size too small. I’d almost fornicated (good word!) on someone else’s living room floor. Yikes.

“Hello, Bella. Done so soon?” I tried to surreptitiously (nice! I love big words!) rearrange my shirt from where it was hooked under my armpit in the back—that Ben sure was fast—and not give Bella an involuntary peep show at the same time.

“Yes, I’m back and apparently right in time. What, may I ask, are you doing?” Her scowl was fierce, but it made her look like a terrier instead of a bulldog. I tried not to laugh. I mean, come on, I was twenty-five years old, and a guy—my guy—had his hand up my shirt. Not exactly something you want anyone walking in on, but certainly not the end of the world. Then again, her name, her very freedom, was at stake. I wouldn’t be happy, either.

“We were just getting started, so back the hell off.” No, I didn’t actually say that, but a small part of my brain thought it.

“Ben and I were discussing your situation.” That was better.

“With his hand up your shirt and his tongue down your throat?” Why had I thought Bella wouldn’t be rude and jaded when her own relationship was not going so well right now?

Ick! Obviously she’d seen more than I originally thought. Who knew how long she had stood there before she cleared her throat? Man, Ben’s hands had been on my rear end there for a minute, too. How to get out of this? And why was I even worried about explaining myself to Bella? We had other things to discuss.

I didn’t have time to answer those internal questions before Ben jumped in. “I apologize. I got carried away.”

No, no, no! Don’t apologize! I wondered where the nearest place to bang my head could be found. “Actually…”

But I didn’t get a chance to explain.

“Very well. But from now on keep your hands to yourself. I have serious crap going on here, people! I don’t need to see the two of you chomping on each other every time I turn around.”

Huh? Who was Bella to say anything? She had gotten caught in much more compromising situations several times. I had barely said a word at the time. When had she become such a prude? I opened my mouth to defend myself but was cut off, again.

“Beyond that,” Mistress Prudey said, “I seriously hope you and Ivy are cooking up some ridiculous scheme to figure out this murder. I will not go back to jail, where I could be someone’s bitch. We’d better get hopping so that doesn’t happen. Terrible things occur when I don’t get regular manicures.”

An hour later, I was still trying to figure out how to go about this. Ben and I had gone out to Mad Martha’s Milk and Munchies to get some gossip with a bite to eat. We left Bella to rest, and when she was done resting she was supposed to make a list of anyone she could think of who might want Trev dead. Ben got beeped and sent out on an assignment in the middle of some heavenly pie a la mode. His loss.

Since I’d driven home and then he’d driven me to Mad Martha’s, I was left to either walk around town some more or go home. I wanted to check up on Bella, but I’d still have to go home first, since I needed my car. Her house wasn’t far, but these legs weren’t made for a whole lot of walking. And I couldn’t see myself strolling over to her house and then hoofing it back when we were finished gabbing. Although maybe I could spend the night there.

Might not be a bad idea. Earlier, Ben had said he planned to be gone all night. Besides, Bella would probably need a shoulder to lean on. I knew I would have. Not to mention the fact that she had to be scared to stay by herself with a killer on the loose, again.

But I’d still need to go home to pick up clothes for tomorrow. My store opened at ten; I couldn’t be late. I had been thinking about hiring a new assistant, to help out with opening so I wouldn’t have to get up early. I know, a new helper. On the one hand, I was ecstatic at the thought of finally having someone to help me now that Kitty was incarcerated. But training someone—ugh! Plus, as witchy and evil as Kitty was (trying to poison me was not one of her better ideas), she had been a whiz with the customers. And that stupid old cash register was still giving me fits.

A block from home I started thinking about what I’d say to my dad if he called again about Ben and marriage. I knew what I wanted to say, but what would actually come out of my mouth was certainly not going to be as filled with four-letter words as what was in my thoughts. I’d have to be firm and mature, tell him to butt out of my life.

No, no, that wouldn’t work. Too defensive. Okay, I’d tell him I was old enough to make my own decisions. And as much as I appreciated his input on most things, this was not one of those things. Much better.

Arriving at my glass-paned door, I took a really deep breath, held it while counting to ten, and got a nice little unintended buzz going on. When I looked through the window from the front porch, I saw my dad’s wavy image through the glass. I turned the doorknob, bracing myself for the inevitable talking to I was about to get. Oh, if I had only known.

Two steps into the foyer and I went down like the Titanic as something heavy hit me on the back of the head. The sound of running footsteps reached my ears only seconds before everything went black.