Chapter Twenty

“What the hell is going on!” I yelled, running to the room in the back, not sure what I expected to find. I took it as a sign of encouragement that Bella was still screaming—it meant she was alive.

I probably should have been quieter, though. Now whoever was making her scream was fully aware she wasn’t alone, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

I skidded to a halt at the scene of the first crime. Bella stood with her hands on either side of her face, staring down at what looked like a trash bin outside the big door of the walk-in refrigerator where Trev had been found. I couldn’t tell what was so horrific about a trashcan, but I peered into it anyway.

Nope, nothing but a bunch of rust-colored towels. What was so scary about that? Unless they had been white like her other towels. Maybe they had been washed with a red towel and changed colors. I supposed that would have been worth being upset over, though I didn’t know if it was worth the blood-curdling scream that was still going on.

Then she started pointing and stuttering. “Bl-bl-blood. Blood on my t-t-towels. Those are mine and there’s bl-bl-blood. Oh, God.” And for the first time ever I had to catch Bella because she fainted.

I laid her down gently on the floor, then stepped closer to the wastebasket. On second thought, it looked like a tall barrel laundry bin, since the trash can stood right next to it. I peered over the lip, then stepped back immediately. On closer inspection it sure did look like crusted blood instead of laundry gone wrong. But how had the towels arrived? Who had brought them? What was the purpose? I doubted Bella had mopped up a customer with them from a little nick of the razor. No way would that much blood have accumulated from a shaving accident.

I put in a call to the police department immediately, fanning Bella’s face with the other hand. Who knew I could multitask so well?

A wailing siren filled the street outside as Bella slowly came to. “Oh, my God! How did they know? Why are they coming after me so soon? Ivy,” she said, gripping my arm so hard I almost fell over on top of her. “You have to help me get this cleaned up.” Her eyes were wild, but her hair was still perfect. How did she do that?

Gently—or at least I tried for gently—I pried her fingers off my bicep. Man, did she have some talons. Once I got her to let go, I grabbed her face to hold it still. Her eyes continued to roll all over the place. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I wondered briefly if I should slap her like you always see people get slapped in movies when they’re out of their head. But I figured I wouldn’t get thanked for that, so I decided to hold onto her for another second while the wailing outside grew louder.

“We are not going to try to clean this up. We’re going to let the police take care of it. You’ve done nothing wrong, Bella. Relax.” I bored my stare into her eyes, willing her to calm down. It wasn’t going to help any if she was hysterical when the police finally got here. The sirens were slowly growing louder from the street. Were they driving two miles per hour? They should have arrived already.

A crash and a bang accompanied someone forcing their way into the already unlocked shop. What the hell?

“What the hell?” Bella shouted, eerily echoing my thoughts. We were going to have to talk about her tendency toward mind reading, at some point. Obviously, it wasn’t going to happen right now. A deputy was standing over Bella as she lay on the floor, pointing a gun right into her face.

I put my hand on the floor, trying to push myself up from the linoleum, but got a gun in my face, too, for my trouble. Okay, then, I’d just sit right back down.

A major commotion started right outside the front door. Someone yelled, then another thud was heard and Jared came bounding into the front of Bella’s shop bellowing like a bull in full fighting force.

Wow. I could totally see how she thought Jared was the cat’s meow. If it weren’t for Ben, I’d crawl right up this he-man’s leg.

“Get away from her, you bastard,” Jared roared, pushing the deputy with the gun out of the way and kneeling down next to Bella in two smooth moves. He cradled the back of her head and lifted her slightly, bending down so he could put his mouth close to her ear.

“Just lie here. I’m going to take care of everything. I won’t let them take you away again.”

I didn’t think I was meant to hear what he was saying until he turned his head slightly to wink at me. Finally, he’d chosen her over his job. It should have been a moment of triumph, but we still had the bloody towels to contend with. I didn’t think it was going to go as easily as Jared was making out.

****

Back at her house later, Bella was waltzing around her kitchen. “Isn’t he lovely? Isn’t he wonderful?”

“Isn’t that a song?” Ben asked from his place at the table.

I nudged him, shaking my head slightly. He was not going to ruin her mood now that I had finally gotten her over being afraid of going back to jail. Apparently, she looked awful in bright orange while highlighted by the fluorescent overheads. Personally, I didn’t believe that would be my main concern if I were in jail, but I suppose to each his, or her, own.

“He tramped in there like he owned the place and told those guys off.” She hummed under her breath. “And he was so manly.” She heavily emphasized the last word. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes.

Ben didn’t have the same restraint. For his indiscretion, he got snapped with a kitchen towel. “What?” Like he was really that clueless.

Bella let the towel hang at her side with her hands on her hips. “At least he stood up for me this time instead of being the one to put cuffs on me. The bad kind.” She winked at me over her wide smile.

Okay, way too much information. We needed to get back on this investigation. My dad had already called three times today. I’d managed to avoid him, but I didn’t think I’d be able to do it for much longer. He was going to interfere if I couldn’t wrap things up quickly here.

Which reminded me. I pulled the pocket watch out of my, ha, pocket and put it down on the table in front of me. I waited for Bella to notice it. When she did, her hum cut off in mid-hum.

“Where did you get that?” She threw the towel onto the counter and stalked over to the table. “Where did you get this, Ivy?”

The fierce light in her eyes would have scared me if I didn’t know she was on my side and was as innocent as I was. “I found it at Trev’s. I take it you recognize it?”

I had thought it would be too much to hope for, but the look on Bella’s face told me I had been right on target.

“This was Jackson’s. I gave it to him on our first anniversary. You found it at Trev’s?” She reached out her fingers to touch it.

I put my hand over the timepiece right before she made contact. “I don’t want your fingerprints on there. Mine I can explain, but I don’t want to mess with yours.”

Her eyes widened. “Do you know what this means? We have to call the police back right now. They have to take this and look at someone besides me.”

“I also overheard Jackson saying that once his old lady kicked the bucket, he could get some money. Do you know if her dying was imminent?” Good word, sorry circumstances.

The baffled look on her face did nothing for my squiggly insides. “Jackson’s mom has been dead for two years.”

Then maybe he was talking about… But that was too horrible to contemplate. Wasn’t it? “Could he have been talking about…you?” I dreaded saying the words, but the idea wouldn’t let go.

“Well, I don’t have to worry about that now, do I?” she said fiercely as tears came to her eyes.

Ben put a hand on her arm. “You knew he was a treacherous bastard, sweetie.”

She didn’t shake him off, though it looked like she wanted to. “Yeah, well. This just adds another layer to his scumminess. Personally, I don’t care who killed him, but I still have to clear my own name.”

If what we thought was right, I would have to figure out how those towels had gotten into Bella’s shop when Jackson was already dead. Life was never simple.

****

I snuck into the coffee shop’s office and studied Detective Bartley’s back before announcing my presence. I hoped she would do the right thing. Although she’d shown she was willing to think outside the box sometimes, especially by coming to me again, I still didn’t know how much she trusted me. But I’d found out Carrie, the owner, was Bartley’s sister. Someone related to a kitchen goddess couldn’t be all bad, right?

When I cleared my throat, she whipped around.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she said.

I was simply glad she hadn’t pulled the gun currently making a bulge on her back and didn’t have its snub nose up against mine.

Note to self: do not ever sneak up on a detective, or any police person. Bad, bad idea. I’d seen my life flash before my eyes. It was decidedly lacking in a few departments.

“The condition of the body pretty much confirms Trev was not killed at the shop.” She held up her hand when I opened my mouth to say duh. “I’m aware you never thought it was. We hadn’t found blood there, either, but we had to be sure. Now we are. We’re also over at Trev’s apartment looking for blood there. He might have been killed in his home and then moved.”

Again, duh. But I held it in. I had a feeling my sentiment would not be welcomed. Instead, I took the watch out of my pocket and handed it to her. “Bella confirmed this is the watch she gave Jackson for an anniversary.” And how sad it must have been for her to stare at it and see the death of that marriage all over again.

“Where did you find it?”

“At Trev’s.”

“And you didn’t bring it to me immediately? I thought that had been the purpose of me giving you the key.” She stomped around the room, running a hand through her red hair. “What else have you found that you aren’t sharing with me?”

I thought that was pretty rich, coming from her, but then really, what could I say? She was with the police; I was merely a nosy busybody.

“I don’t have anything else. Ben said he got some numbers from Trev’s place and was going to check out his finances. My understanding is Trev had a lot more money than he was supposed to, and Jackson had been looking for money. Maybe they were in on some kind of deal that went bad.” I shrugged but went on when she didn’t say anything. “And you mentioned another guy was looking for him earlier this week, saying he owed him money. I overheard Jackson talking about getting a windfall to pay someone after his old lady kicked it. Bella said his mom was already dead, so we assume he had something up his sleeve to kill Bella, too, eventually. Two and two is four. Could it all be about the money? Some kind of scam?”

She stared at me. While she took her time looking me over, another thought popped into my mind. Could the frame thing be a scam, too? But I shunted that aside. I might get answers to that this afternoon. Perhaps an explanation from the person who wanted to buy all my excess picture frames.

Instead, I concentrated on the detective, watching her face flush. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, turning her back on me, again.

“It’s not ‘nothing’ if you’re blushing like that. What?”

“There’s no need to worry about the guy looking for Trev. I already took care of him.”

“How and why?” Pretty soon I’d be through all the English questions my old teacher had pounded into my head. And I wanted answers, since I had done quite a bit of legwork and was getting nothing back.

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I’d rather we did.”

Her eyes went slitty, but I stood my ground. I’d done the whole investigating thing without knowing what the hell was really going on. I had no intention of experiencing that horror ever again. She could tell me, or I could just walk out the door and not help her anymore. Of course, I told myself that, but I really wasn’t going to leave Bella dangling.

“I said I took care of it.”

“And I will say, again, that I’m not operating this way. I want answers, and I want them now. I’m not going to run around blind anymore, if you know something I need to know.” I had a feeling I might have gone too far over the line, but I’d said it (how cool was that?) and I wouldn’t back down now.

She huffed out a breath and tried to give me the beady eye again. I’m very happy to report it wasn’t working on me. Woo-hoo!

“Fine.” She threw herself into a chair, then waved her hand at the other one.

I sat, too, leaning in toward her as I expected to hear they’d had their eye on Trev for running drugs or laundering money.

What I didn’t expect was, “Trev wrote romance novels on the side, under the name Mary Trevors.”