Overkill (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Four) Read online

  Jonas ran toward the danger with Bennett right behind him. “Stay here,” he yelled back at her.

  Belinda waded in, ignoring his instruction, with Ardith right next to her. Bennett and Jonas swam out, corralling something hovering around the wave line. Belinda and Ardith pushed out farther, catching up. A rogue wave caught what was out there and rammed into Belinda’s chest. She plunged under water, coming face-to-face with the lifeless eyes of a man. They floated together for a moment until another surge pushed him past her.

  A hand caught her arm and dragged her up, coughing and blind. Ardith stabilized her, slapping her back to get the water out of her lungs.

  “Dead…man,” Belinda spluttered.

  Once she rubbed water and salt from her eyes, she could make out the man’s figure floating facedown. He was fully clothed in jeans and sneakers and a plaid shirt, which ballooned out from the water with pops of white skin peeking out. Another wave rode under him, lifting him up and forward.

  She stared, unaware of the growing number of onlookers as the rumor spread that something went down on that part of the beach. Or of the lifeguards running into the water to help or yelling at people to stay out of the water and away from that area. Belinda didn’t feel Ardith pinching her arm or notice the water pushing her to shore as she automatically started walking that way.

  The scene became clearer once her feet sunk into the wet sand and the body that had floated above her like on air hit the ground solidly. Jonas told the lifeguards he was a police officer, and snapped into action. She made eye contact with one of the younger lifeguards, who’d pulled the body onto shore, his face drained of color. An older lifeguard took charge, asking Jonas what they needed to do. Regardless of the fact that Jonas was shirtless in a pair of striped trunks, he listed orders to the lifeguards with all the authority of a uniform. The older lifeguard delegated duties, mostly consisting of controlling the crowd and creating a wide berth for the police when they arrived, which happened in minutes.

  People up and down the beach tried to see what was happening as on-duty police officers taped off the area and stood guard. Belinda saw one guy on the town beach end standing on the rocks with binoculars. People closer to the scene tried to snag video and photos…as souvenirs? Even Jonas was sidelined with them after he spoke to one of his colleagues. “So much for a day off,” he muttered, taking a stance next to them. Energy radiated off him, and Belinda could tell it took all his self-control not to dive under that yellow tape and do something.

  A hand rubbed her back and Bennett slid his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She let him support her weight, realizing she had goose bumps in the breeze. His skin was warm and she rested a cheek against his chest, his steady breathing a comfort. “Are you okay?” he said into her hair.

  Belinda evaluated herself before replying, “I feel…numb. Do you think he drowned?”

  His arms tightened around her. “It’s possible.”

  Belinda shivered. Growing up around the water, she’d always feared drowning on some level. Most people on the beach glanced up as a helicopter flew overhead. “We’ve got news crews,” Bennett said. He nudged her. “Your friend’s here.”

  Belinda followed his gaze and whispered, “Oh no.” Colleen Maguire of the local news station was plowing into the fray with her crew to report. For a second, Belinda froze, thinking Colleen was staring at her. After her recent news escapades, and finally shedding the social ostracism it brought, Belinda was in no hurry to be interviewed. But then she saw Colleen’s face fall a little, even from a distance, and turned to notice Jonas and Ardith whispering to each other, their bodies and faces in close proximity. When she looked back to Colleen, she was focused on work again, setting up with her cameraman like nothing had happened.

  “Should I wave?” Belinda said to lighten her own feelings more than anything.

  Bennett rubbed her shoulder. “I think we should slip into the crowd and get out of here before she sees you.” They’d already given their statements to the police, and there was nothing else they knew, so they tapped Jonas on the shoulder and the four of them grabbed their stuff and went out to the parking lot. Even if they couldn’t drive off yet, they could at least hide from Colleen.

  Belinda’s face fell when she opened the trunk. The painting. She frowned up at Bennett. “We should give this to them. It may be more than a curiosity now.”

  “Give them what?” Jonas strolled over, peeking into Bennett’s trunk. “What’s that?”

  “It washed up on the beach,” Belinda said.

  Jonas’ eyebrows arched. “When?”

  “This morning. Before you guys came down. We were walking and I stepped on it.” Belinda shrugged. “It just seemed weird at the time,” but maybe it belonged to the dead man, she added to herself. She moved over so Jonas could get a better look. He propped his sunglasses on his head and squinted down, keeping his hands off like he’d been trained, though with what it had been through in the salt water, it didn’t matter much. “I don’t know if it helps, but I know the artist.”

  Jonas smiled up at her. “Naturally.” Belinda bumped him playfully with her shoulder. “But, yeah. You should turn this in.” Jonas’ face went flat again, like he was filing things away in his mind. Belinda figured he’d get involved one way or another.

  Belinda pulled out her phone and took several photos of the painting. If she had to give it up, that didn’t mean she had to forsake her find completely. She still knew the artist, and now this painting could have special significance. Satisfied, she looked to Bennett. “What’s the safest route around Colleen?”

  “Who’s Colleen?” Ardith stood next to Jonas, also fascinated by the painting, or maybe Jonas’ manly demeanor as he morphed into his Super Detective persona.

  “You don’t want to know,” he said without emotion. Belinda had been tempted to ask Bennett about the Jonas and Colleen situation, but she’d shied away from it. That might be a topic better left closed.

  Belinda picked up the torch when Ardith gave her a curious look. “Colleen’s a news reporter who nearly ruined my life.”

  Ardith nodded sympathetically. “Oh.”

  “But she didn’t,” Belinda added, “and we’re on okay terms now. Doesn’t mean I want to see her, though.” After taking out the painting, they threw their beach chairs and umbrella inside.

  Bennett picked up the painting, and he and Belinda hurried back to the center of activity, her momentary worry about other matters dissipating when she caught sight of a white sheet over the body in the middle of the beach. She could still see his sneakers poking out at the end. Bennett squeezed her hand and they marched toward the officers guarding the crime scene.

  Chapter 3

  After almost one day off, Jonas was back in his suit and tie (a nice suit and tie, thanks to Belinda’s fashion skills, but still) the next day, interviewing friends of the beach victim. Even with a dead man floating in the water, meeting his friends at the beach had been worth it. More to the point, meeting Ardith Coelho had been worth it. He figured the victim on the beach business would completely kill the vibe, but miraculously, he and Ardith talked alone for a while longer once Belinda and Bennett left, and he scored her phone number. All in all, not bad.

  He knew the murder could mean work that week, but he’d make time with Ardith one way or another. It had been a while since he met a woman he wanted to know better, and he was never one to pass up those opportunities. Just ask Bennett. Regardless of how brutal work was, if there was a beautiful, intelligent woman to date, Jonas was there. Before he got out of the car to attend to more depressing tasks, he texted Ardith about meeting for coffee. It wasn’t much, but probably all he could squeeze in right then. He tucked his phone away in his inside jacket pocket and mentally prepped for what lay ahead.

  The dead man on the beach was Kevin Pratt, a college student vacationing in Portside. He was renting the house with a few other college boys. It was difficult to say for sure, but Pratt was probabl
y killed by the internal hemorrhaging from the blunt force trauma to the back of his head, and not his time underwater. And that detail–the salt water–made it tough to know when he died, though the medical examiner felt safe to say he couldn’t have been in the water too long, based on the fact that he wasn’t nibbled up yet by ocean scavengers. On the other hand, they didn’t know how much time had lapsed between his murder and his body being dumped. Jonas hoped his roommates could help narrow that down.

  Alec Luca sat at a round wood table by the kitchen, gripping his cell phone with one hand, while the rest of him hung limp in his chair. He looked like a lot of other kids in the area: tan, brown hair, average build. He was a good looking kid with soft facial features, though the way he slumped in his chair with his bare stomach scrunched up and hairy legs sprawled out, you wouldn’t think he had much of a love life waiting for him. He’d apparently known Kevin the best of any of the guys staying there, and definitely took the news the hardest, though the other boys were in shock that Kevin was murdered. He wasn’t sure any of them quite believed it. Jonas sat across from Alec. One chair leg was shorter, so every time he moved, the chair rocked.

  “When was the last time you saw Kevin?” Jonas made the mistake of glancing down at the kitchen linoleum. And he thought his kitchen was gross.

  “Oh…um…” There was a prolonged silence, during which Jonas thought the kid forgot the question, but then he came to and answered. “Yesterday…Yep, yesterday.”

  Jonas held in a sigh. How long would this interview take at this rate? The whole day? He wanted to be patient, understanding. But if Kevin had been dead for any length of time, the trail was growing cold quickly. “Can you narrow it down to the time of day? Morning? Afternoon?”

  “Afternoon. A few of us drove into town, Kevin was with us.”

  “And you’re saying he didn’t come back with you?”

  “No.”

  “You just left him in town to get back on his own?” Kevin could’ve walked, but they were staying several miles outside of that area.

  “He told us to go on without him.”

  “So he didn’t hang out with you in town?”

  “Not for long. I mean, he did at first, but then he said he had something to do and left and that was the last time I saw him.” It looked like the words held a strange taste in his mouth, and Alec swallowed.

  “He was alone?” Alec nodded in response. “Did he call one of you to say to go on?”

  “I think I called him, but he texted back.”

  “He didn’t happen to say where he was or why you should go ahead without him?”

  Alec shrugged a shoulder. “We didn’t babysit each other. He might’ve met a girl. When he didn’t come back, I just figured he hooked up with somebody. And I was busy. We all were.” The sudden clarity in his speech didn’t match the zombiefied expression on his face, and Jonas tried to decipher if it was put on or just a random moment of lucidity.

  “Do you have a name for this girl, a description?”

  “I wasn’t paying that much attention.”

  That wasn’t going anywhere, so Jonas figured it was time for a topic change. “Does Kevin own any artwork?”

  Alec lifted his eyes from the crumb-infested linoleum, no longer fuzzy or dazed, and stared at Jonas like he asked if Kevin was from another planet. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “This is a murder investigation. I’m perfectly serious.” They weren’t divulging the painting information yet until they were positive it was connected.

  Alec switched from stretching out his right leg to his left. “That’s a weird question to ask.”

  Jonas filed that response away. “Well, this is a weird circumstance. I’m taking it you don’t know if Kevin did own any art?”

  “He didn’t, trust me. Kevin was a marine bio major. Underwater microorganisms were his life.”

  That could explain Kevin landing in water, except for being fully clothed. Jonas studied his interviewee, now alert and on guard. What had caused the switch? It happened when Jonas asked about the art. So was it just because it was a curious question or because Alec knew something he didn’t want to tell?

  “You at school together?”

  “URI.”

  “Same major?”

  Alec scoffed. “Not a chance. I’m in business.” And, Jonas thought acidly, you look the type.

  “Does Kevin have a lot of friends, girlfriends?”

  “I guess. Friends, I mean.”

  “No girlfriend?”

  “He spends most of his time studying.”

  Ah. Maybe Kevin was the Bennett in the relationship. Bennett studied while Jonas dated. “How do you know Kevin in the first place? You don’t seem to be on the same page.”

  “We shared a dorm room.”

  “That’s close quarters. You know of any trouble he’s been in? Enemies he may have?”

  Alec grinned. “Kevin doesn’t make enemies or get in trouble. He gets good grades, makes his parents proud. That sort of thing.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Get good grades, make your parents proud. That sort of thing.”

  Alec’s smile lessened. “I do okay.”

  “What about around here? What’s Kevin been up to in Portside?”

  “Same as the rest of us. Parties. Hanging out at the beach.”

  “What parties?” Parties usually meant other people, which could mean Kevin had got involved in something he shouldn’t have or ticked someone off.

  “One of the guys knows someone from another school that’s staying down here. They’re in a big house.”

  “I don’t suppose this girl you think Kevin met was there?”

  “Might’ve been. I don’t really remember.”

  Jonas could imagine why. It was a college party after all. His phone vibrated against his chest, indicating he had a message, and he had to stop his impulse to yank it out of his pocket to see if Ardith had replied. “Is there a chance any of you remember who threw the party or where it was?”

  “I don’t remember. I told you one of the guys knows them.”

  On that helpful note, Jonas excused himself to talk with a colleague and see if any of the other boys were more useful. From the combined interviews, it sounded like Alec was right, and the previous afternoon was the last time they saw Kevin. And Alec was also telling the truth about Kevin’s text message. Kevin didn’t specify where he was, what he was doing, who he might’ve been with, or why he wanted them to go on. And Kevin’s smartphone was damaged by the salt water, so that was no help, though they had tech guys trying to salvage anything they could from it. So if Kevin had texted or called a girl, he had kept that information to himself.

  There was the party. Not that the hosts would even know who was there, but maybe someone saw Kevin, or was willing to say more about him than his friends.

  Jonas watched Alec from afar, still sitting at the rickety table. If there was a girl in the picture, maybe Alec wasn’t happy about it. And maybe Jonas’ art question brought that into focus somehow. Could Belinda’s painter friend be the girl? Nah. Jonas scrapped that immediately. Maybe that painting meant something else. A present? Jonas would need to talk to Belinda to get her expert opinion on that end of things.

  He moved upstairs and snapped on a pair of clear latex gloves and entered Kevin’s room. Not in any better shape than the kitchen. T-shirts and shorts and sneakers littered the bed, the floor, and the back of a chair in a corner by the one window in the room. The hardwood floor was scratched and scuffed and layered with sand and pebbles. A twin bed was pushed into one corner with a blue oval rug beside it that had seen much better days.

  Jonas bent over the small wicker trash basket by the door, picking up a paper thrown on top. It was a flyer for a yard sale in town, and the top of the page was torn like Kevin had ripped it off a light pole or something. It seemed random, out of place. Maybe it wasn’t Kevin’s. Jonas looked underneath the paper and
found candy wrappers and a paper soda cup, along with some tissues and other trash. He handed the paper off to an officer to log, mentally logging it himself.

  Jonas marched down the stairs and out through the side screen door into the narrow yard to think. There was a high wood fence, also in rough shape, and some trees offering privacy. He took out his phone, his heart beating rapidly, and checked his messages. One was from Ardith. She said yes to meeting for coffee. With an exclamation point.

  He exhaled and texted back a time and place to meet. If he had to investigate a murder, at least he could dot it with more pleasant experiences. Relieved and excited about that, Jonas went back to check the other message he had. He stopped smiling, his mouth pinching together. Colleen Maguire had texted him.

  Hey there! she wrote. Long time, no see. She sounded awkward, which wasn’t like her. Jonas read on, his brain starting to fuzz out as she undoubtedly wanted info on the murder case. I’d like to meet. Yep. Mm-hm. I’d like to talk about us. Jonas froze. Wait. What? He rewound and read it again, then once more just to be certain. Yes, she’d said us. You name the time and place. I’ll work around your schedule. And that was the end of the message. Work around his schedule? Wow. She must really be desperate.

  “Parker?”

  Jonas nearly tossed his phone in the air, gripping it to his chest so his colleague wouldn’t see the message. That whole thing with Colleen was under the radar, so to speak.

  “You ready to go, bro?” Soto said. “I’m starvin’.”

  “Yeah. Let’s get back to the station.” Jonas returned his phone to its pocket, his heart pulsing against it now for an entirely different reason. Getting that kind of a message from Colleen Maguire only meant one thing. He was either in trouble, or he was about to be.

  Chapter 4