Designed to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery) (20 page)

Darlene nodded. “Very good hiding place for valuables. So, do you need my help in deciphering what you found?”

“No. I need your help in letting me know if there was any more to the conversation before the thread got deleted.”

“The thread?” Darlene tilted her head and then her eyes widened. “Oh,
the
thread. I guess I know why you didn’t want to help me earlier.”

Actually, I wouldn’t have wanted to help her even without the thread. A thought I politely kept in my head.

“I got carried away. I was so angry about what Belinda did. She knew I wouldn’t want her submitting under her name. Someone had to encourage her...”

“Naturally, you thought it was me.”

Darlene smiled a little bashfully. “Considering how no one would ever mistake us for friends or even acquaintances it wasn’t a far stretch.”

I crossed my arms. “Didn’t I grant you a little favor during our last contest? I’m not out to get you.”

“I let my emotions get the best of me. Those women started coming after me...” Her hands splayed open, Darlene rested them under her throat. “...like I was lying about Belinda. Not that it’s important now. I hate the fact the last words I had with my cousin were cross ones.”

“I’m sure Belinda forgave you.”

Darlene lowered her hands to her lap and stared at them. “I’ll never know for sure.”

With her usual brusque and condescending manner, it was easy to overlook Darlene’s grief. Her cousin was murdered after they had a very public brawl and people now believed she did it. It was bad enough for people to think you killed a stranger, but a family member was a different kind of heartbreak.

Compassion welled up in me. I draped an arm over Darlene’s shoulders. “We’ll find out who did this and clear your name. I promise.”

“Really?” Steve’s angry voice drifted toward us.

We both jumped in our chairs. Darlene’s purse tumbled to the floor.

“I believe that’s called interfering in a police investigation, which I know you’ve both been warned about.” Steve’s angry tone floated around us.

And I’m sure down the hall. I kept my gaze to the front.

“Look at the time.” Darlene scrambled to her feet. “Mrs. Alwright was correct. We needed to have this little chat. I don’t need the court after all.”

“Me neither.” I shot to my feet and attempted my getaway.

Steve snagged an arm of mine and one of Darlene’s. “Not so fast, ladies. My office. Now.”

Darlene shot me a do-something look.

I stared at her with “what” in my gaze. Scream. Cry. Faint. Kiss him. How in the world did she expect me to get us out of this? I’d only prolong the inevitable. Steve would get his lecture in sooner or later. I preferred sooner, before the later happened in front of my grandmothers—or even worse, Detective Roget.

Besides, there might be something in Steve’s office useful to our investigation. I heaved out a defeated sigh. “I thought you were in court.”

“I’m sure you did.” Steve released our arms and made an “after you” gallant gesture.

“There goes the plan,” Darlene muttered under her breath. Steve trailed behind us.

Mrs. Alwright ducked down and fiddled with the cords under her desk. She ratted me out. Probably thought Darlene and I were too quiet. Or else Karen did. Mrs. Alwright wanted Steve and me together. Karen wanted her and Steve as the couple.

“Quit the pessimism. I can work with this.” I lowered my head, feigning shame.

“You better,” Darlene said.

I would. If nothing else, I’d find out exactly what Karen knew and told Steve. And why he’d been avoiding me the last few nights. After all, he was the one who wanted our relationship moving forward and once I said yes, he started running backwards.

I chased after answers, not a man who changed his mind based on rumors—or the truth.

TWENTY

Steve clicked the tip of the ballpoint pen. In and out. In and out. The noise scratched along my nerves. It felt like a torture device. He waited for us to crack. Kind of silly since he overheard us. He already knew what we were up to, why the need for our admission.

I wished he’d get the lecture over. I had places to go, snooping to do, and other people to avoid.

I squirmed in the chair. Darlene crossed her legs and clutched her purse to her chest.

“Are you two aware interfering in a police investigation is a crime?” Steve placed the pen down and steepled his fingers, tapping his index fingers as he glowered at us.

I rolled my eyes, finding no reason to answer an obvious, and a rhetorical, question. Of course I knew. He knew I knew.

“Since when is two women offering each other support interfering?” Darlene asked.

“When it’s based on them deciding the police can’t do their jobs and are going to investigate a murder on their own.”

I fixed my innocent-damsel eyes on Steve. “I didn’t say that. Neither did Darlene.” Or at least not to my recollection. “Did someone say we did?”

Darlene snorted then lifted her nose in the mock aristocratic way she had from watching and re-watching
Downton Abbey
.

“You did.” Steve centered a hard look on me. “I clearly heard you promise to find out who did this and clear Ms. Johnson’s name.”

Oh! I did say that. Now I needed a good reason for saying it.

Darlene bumped my elbow while she dug around in her purse. She pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes.

“Great. Now, I’m going to have to admit this in front of Darlene.” I heaved out a long sigh adding a little moan on the end. “I said it to make her feel better. She told me how distraught she was over the argument her and Belinda had in Scrap This. What she said during the fight were the last words they spoke to each other. I wanted her to know that someone knew she wasn’t that horrible of a woman, to kill her own family member.”

“You don’t believe me!” Darlene wailed. She squashed the handkerchief against her face.

Okay, she was going a little over the top. Steve wasn’t going to believe this display. If she didn’t want to help, she should at least not hamper my work. 

“I never thought you did it, I just don’t want to hunt down a killer. I’m not fond of jails.” I tapped Steve’s desk. “That’s for the record, so don’t forget to write it down. I was talking about finding out who was spreading vicious rumors about her being a murderer. No one’s been charged—”

“This is so embarrassing.” Darlene broke in, whispering out of the side of her mouth.

“You should be ashamed. Believing I’m accusing you of murder.”

“Not that,” Darlene said between clenched teeth. She glanced down at her lap then shot me a wide-eye look. “I think that I need to leave.”

Steve looked from Darlene to me, a frown etching itself onto his face. If he wasn’t careful, the scowl would stick there. “This conversation isn’t over.”

“We’re not dense. We get it. We’re not police. We shouldn’t be investigating crimes. Fine. I won’t. But, I will help Faith find her photographs someone swiped. I don’t think the police really care about those.”

Concern grew on Steve’s face. “Someone took your photos.”

About time I got some sign he still cared about me. I nodded while pouting. “Also deleted all the ones I had on my computer.”

“Why?” Steve tugged a sheet of paper toward him and scanned over it.

Was that the police report from last night? What had Ted written on it? If he wrote down what had been stolen from the box, I’d... Well, I wasn’t sure what I’d do yet but I’d think of something. Maybe start with calling his brother and then his mother.

Darlene opened her purse and glanced inside. She groaned. “I’ll never get over this trauma.”

“I have no intention of mentioning to anyone what I overheard you and Faith discussing.” The shift of Steve’s tone when he said “discussing” told me it wasn’t his first choice of word.

Darlene shot an exasperated look at me. “He really does not get it.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a man, of course he doesn’t.”

Steve’s eyebrows rose. “Now it’s my turn to ponder if I should be offended.”

I let out a small laugh. “It’s not being offended you’re going to have to worry about. Darlene needs to leave. It’s an emergency.”

“Someone sent you the news telepathically.” He looked over the top of the sheet of paper.

“No. Women kind of know.”

Steve’s quizzical expression reminded me of a puppy being told “no” when they tried chewing on a tempting leather shoe.

“Trust me. You. Don’t. Want. To. Know.”

Darlene clutched a cylinder shape in her hand.

His face reddened then whitened. He finally got it. “You can go.”

Darlene gingerly got to her feet. When she opened the door, she fired off a wink at me.

Well played. I avoided fixing my admiring gaze on her as she skedaddled out of the room lest Steve pick up on the fact he’d been had.

I stood.

“I have something I still need to discuss with you.” Steve placed the paper on his desk.

“Who says I want to hear it?”

“Please, Faith.” Steve pointed at the chair.

“I thought you weren’t talking to me.”

Steve placed an elbow on the desk then dropped his face into his hand. He rubbed at his temples. “It’s not what you think.”

“Doesn’t matter what I think, or what the truth is. You made some lame excuse the other night then didn’t even acknowledge me yesterday. It’s rude and hurtful. You had to have known something happened with Ted showing up.”

“Why would I think Ted showing up meant someone broke into your house?” Jealousy weaved around his words. “You guys seem to spend a lot of time together.”

It made me a little glad but more annoyed. Not that it mattered. I could take Steve or leave him.

Who was I kidding? Now that I decided I wanted Steve, I wanted him to want me. I wasn’t good at pretending to myself his aloofness didn’t bother me. Silence enveloped the room. Not the warm, companionable silence we usually shared, but the awkward kind when a couple ran out of stuff to say.

“I didn’t want anyone accusing you of something terrible,” Steve finally said.

“Like insinuating I was playing two men against each other.” I spun toward the door.

“Someone in this office leaked confidential information that might be the basis for a crime.”

I froze. “They think it was you. That you told me something?”

“I’m not the suspect, and I’m also not in the clear. I didn’t want you dragged into it. This office is looking for a person to blame. Jobs will be lost. If not charges filed.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

Steve collapsed into his chair. “It is.”

I sat in Steve’s lap and drew him into a hug.

“If someone comes in...”

I saw the reluctance in his eyes and in the half-hearted attempt he made in pushing me away. I tightened my hold. For once, I wanted to make him feel better. Show him I cared about him as much as he cared about me.

Steve would do anything for me. Stand by me. He showed it when Ted and I went toe-to-toe when Marilyn was arrested. Steve didn’t like me getting involved. His feelings were all about my safety rather than ‘keeping me in my place’.

He gave me the benefit of the doubt. Always. Even—and especially—when I didn’t deserve it or acted like I wanted it. I knew what I had to do. It was time. Tell Steve about Adam. Fear churned my stomach.

“I’m sorry for giving you a rough time.” I repositioned myself so we looked into each other’s eyes. We needed the air cleared between us for us to move forward.

Steve locked his hands around my waist. “How are you giving me a rough time?”

“Arguing with you the other day and all the days before. I just don’t want you to tread carefully around me so I don’t blow up.”

“I want to tread carefully, as you say, because I care about you and it pains me when I hurt your feelings. I don’t like it when my words, or actions, make you feel bad about yourself. I’ve never wanted to be that type of person.”

“You never are.” I hugged him tight, pressing my cheek into his chest. The cologne tingled my nose and the rest of my body. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

“You’re not making me feel that way.” Steve stressed the word “making.” “It’s something I want to always be aware of. I want you to feel safe with me. Trust that I believe in you and know you’re nothing less than amazing.”

I heard the pain in Steve’s voice. I knew that pain. It came from experience. From fighting the demons others created inside of you because of their treatment. A tightness began in my chest and spread across my whole body. Someone had hurt Steve, made this honorable, decent man question himself and his worth.

“I feel the same way about you,” I said.

“You should probably get going before your grandmothers send out a search party.” Steve’s voice was a little rough around the edges.

“Mrs. Alwright wouldn’t tell anyone on me.” I grinned at him. “She helped me see the light when I wanted to take a restraining order out on Darlene.”

All traces of playfulness left his eyes. Steve went to stand with me still in his lap.

“It’s time for you to go.”

Oh no! Mrs. Alwright. She was the suspected leak. She walked in and out of everyone’s office, had access to all places. Knew where everyone went. No one thought anything of speaking in front of her because she was a fixture of the courthouse, like the Lady of Justice Statue guarding the entrance to the courtroom.

“Will she be fired?”

Remorse clouded his dark brown eyes. “Firing is the least of her worries.”

“She’d never mean any harm. Mrs. Alwright likes being helpful. She hates seeing people going after each other, even through the court—”

“It’s not her place. She’s not a counselor. Consequences to others overrule good intentions at times.”

I drew in a sharp breath and gripped the edge of Steve’s desk. His eyes said it all. I wasn’t the only one who was talked out of filing a restraining order against someone. But unlike Darlene and I’s being a ruse, the other person had a valid concern.

And was now dead.

I stumbled to my car. Mrs. Alwright wanted to help. How could she have predicted such a horrific event? I covered my eyes, blocking out the sun and the world. My thoughts spun out of control.

Question after question. Fact after fact. Belinda had seemed so happy and carefree Saturday. Not like a woman who was afraid of someone. Then again, how did a woman fearing for their life act? No one knew how scared I started becoming of Adam. Everyone saw the hero. The good guy. The officer and the gentlemen. Not the Hyde lurking behind Jekyll.

Belinda had been a little hesitant at the class but I chalked it up to her having borrowed the class idea from Darlene. Had she been afraid of someone in the class? Someone she expected to take the class? When the fight started, Belinda had pulled back and half-hidden behind her mother. Did Hazel know who her daughter feared?

If Hazel’s behavior indicated anything, I was the person Belinda feared. I was darn certain I had never threatened Belinda or acted in a hostile manner toward her. Now, if Darlene had wound up dead, I could understand the finger pointing at me.

My mind drifted toward Leslie Amtower. Had Belinda worried about the possibility of the editor-in-chief of
Making Legacies
finding out and feared the woman’s reaction? Or did she want to stop the woman from finding out, kind of expecting the blow-up with Darlene, and wanted to keep the woman away by using a restraining order.

Or hoped a restraining order would keep Darlene away. I had to find out. I reached for the handle of my car and groaned. Tucked up under my windshield was a ticket. Could this day get worse? Scratch that. I didn’t want to know.