Chapter Nine: Someone With an Axe to Grind
The world twisted and spiraled around her, thoughts of Jim, of their unborn child gnawed at the edge of her consciousness. It probably only took a few seconds, but to Trixie it felt like forever before she pulled the car out of its spin and brought it to a stop, facing the opposite direction from that which she’d been traveling. Heart pounding and mind racing, she took a deep breath, and watched with a mixture of relief and regret as the taillights of her tormentor disappeared into the night. For a moment she sat without moving, as the truth of what had almost happened washed over her. Then, with a hand that shook slightly, she started the engine, carefully negotiated a u-turn, and drove the short distance home.
Jim had immediately seen that something was wrong, and the look of fear and pain in his green eyes affected Trixie more than the incident itself.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she’d cried as he folded her into his strong arms, holding her close. Once he’d assured himself she was okay, he had insisted she call Honey. Trixie had wanted to check that nothing similar had befallen her partner and quickly agreed.
Although she’d told Honey she was fine, she could not prevent her friend from coming out to see for herself. Trixie was propped up on the sofa against a mound of pillows when her best friend came flying into the house.
“Oh my god, Trix. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Trixie wondered if it was possible to wear a word out.
“No thanks to the creep that was following you,” Jim said as he came in carrying two mugs of tea. He handed one to his sister and the other to his wife.
“I’ve already had one herbal tea. I was hoping this would be coffee,” Trixie protested.
“Too bad,” Jim said, taking a seat at the end of the sofa.
Honey dropped into the chair opposite and took a sip of the chamomile tea.
“Nice outfit,” Trixie said, determined to lighten the mood.
“What? Oh.” Honey glanced down at the oddly-paired faded, lightweight sweat pants and the half unbuttoned tailored business shirt. “I’d just started to change when you called. I ran straight out.”
“I guess we should be grateful you weren’t in the shower instead.”
“Don’t you try to distract me, Trixie Belden-Frayne! What exactly happened?”
“To be honest, I can’t tell you much. I didn’t notice another car until I was halfway down Glen Road. At first I thought it was just some tourist who didn’t have enough sense to dip their lights when they were behind another car. And then…”
“And then what?”
“They got closer and closer and…they hit me.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Honey saw Jim’s jaw tighten and his green eyes glint dangerously.
“Not hard,” Trixie added quickly. “Just a tap really.”
“You don’t just tap with motor vehicles,” Jim said grimly. It was taking every ounce of self-control that he possessed not to gather up his wife and lock her away for safe- keeping.
“I sped up and they tried to keep up with me, but there was some gravel on the road and I went into a spin.”
Honey gasped and Jim’s expression darkened even more—if that was possible.
“By the time I came out of it, he or she, whoever had turned around and was headed back to town.”
“Trixie, that’s terrible. Thank goodness you’re such a good driver. I don’t know what I’d have done.”
“You’d have been fine, Honey. You took the driving course as well.”
“I’m not as good a driver under attack as you are,” Honey said, then shook her head. “That sounded wrong, but you know what I mean.”
“The main thing is that I’m fine. That we’re both fine.” There it was again, that word.
Frowning, Honey leaned forward in her chair. “What are you saying? You think this is connected to the late night visits?”
“It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.”
“But the two things are nothing alike. There’s a big difference between knocking on a door in the middle of the night and trying to run someone off the road. You could have been killed.” Honey was not about to let her best friend dismiss what had happened.
“I don’t know that I was in that much danger.”
“Trixie!” Honey said despairingly while Jim ran his hands through his thick red hair.
“You always do that,” he chided, his face deadly serious. “Make light of the danger you’ve been in. Try to make it seem less important than it was.”
“I don’t do that,” Trixie sniffed. “Do I?”
“Yes!” Honey and Jim said together and in spite of the situation, they all laughed.
“Sorry, I don’t do it on purpose.” Trixie’s expression was penitent and so reminiscent of her teenage self that both her husband and friend found it hard not to be distracted.
Jim took a long hard look at the woman he loved, and focused. “Maybe not, but it isn’t just you anymore, Trix.”
“I know,” she said softly and her blue eyes blinked back tears.
“But you really, really are alright?” Honey asked, hating to see her friend upset.
Trixie nodded. “Honestly. I had a jolt and a fright, but I’m not hurt. I’m really not, Jim.” She turned to meet Jim’s steady gaze and he threw himself down next to her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight before getting to his feet again.
“Fine. So what next?”
“Look, maybe it was just random angry driver, but just in case…Honey?” Trixie knew she needed to make the most of the opportunity provided.
“Yes.”
“Please stay here with Jim and me tonight.”
“You’re worried about me going home?”
“No, yes—let’s just say that I’d sleep easier if you spent the night with us. I’m probably overreacting, but just to be on the safe side.”
“Fine,” Honey said. “I might go and wash my face.”
“Shower if you want, Hon. Your night stuff is in the top drawer of the guest room bureau, and I picked up some of that cleanser and moisturizer you like and popped it in your bathroom.” Both women kept clothes at one another’s places, partly because they still had the same physical differences they had as teenagers and partly because they’d developed their own distinctive style. Because they didn’t have “sleepovers” as often as they used to, Trixie had taken to calling the main guest room and bathroom at the farmhouse “Honey’s rooms”, and her friend appreciated the gesture.
“How did you know that what I most wanted to do was shower and wash my face?”
“I am a great detective, aren’t I?”
“That’s true.” Honey got up and sat beside her friend, wrapping her slender arms around her. “Oh, Trixie, I don’t know what I’d have done if something had happened to you or to my beautiful little niece or nephew.” Her hazel eyes glistened as she spoke.
“Ditto,” Jim said pausing in the doorway. “I know my wife can take care of herself, but our baby isn’t quite ready to do that yet.”
“I can, am looking after our baby,” Trixie said.
Honey looked from her friend to her brother. “If this is anyone’s fault it’s mine,” she said, focusing her attention on Jim. “I’m the one who’s been trying to make light of everything.”
“You are so not to blame, Honey,” Trixie admonished.
“Agreed,” Jim said, “Now go and have your shower, little sister, and when you come back we’ll all have apple pie with cream.”
“We will?” Trixie grinned as her friend dashed from the room. She was somewhat relieved by her husband’s comment—she hated seeing him worried. “I thought you told me that was for tomorrow night’s dinner.” Trixie’s mother had been baking and had delivered the pie that morning.
“I think we could all do with a treat after what’s happened this evening.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“That makes a nice change,” Jim said.
“I’m fine, Jim. We both are,” Trixie said softly.
Jim nodded. “I just want you to stay that way.”
*
God, that woman was a pain in the butt and a much better driver than he’d realized. The man slammed his hand against the counter and instantly regretted it— it hurt like hell. He’d known he was taking a risk, following her like that, but he felt he had to do it. Because, while he might resent them, they were not stupid and the two of them had been poking around, asking questions. Not that that was unexpected—far from it. He’d been prepared for that, he’d planned for it and had been proud of the steps he’d taken. But he had the distinct impression that they were heading towards an idea or a conclusion that might put him at risk and that was something he could not afford. A half-smile crossed his face, whatever else he’d done tonight, he’d given that over-confident curly-headed little troublemaker a good scare, and when her partner found out, well… her reaction was something he was counting on.
The following morning, Honey carried a platter containing scrambled eggs and bacon out onto the rear porch where the table had been set for breakfast. Jim followed her, a coffee pot in one hand, a plate of buttered toast in the other.
“This is kind of ridiculous, waiting on me. I am perfectly capable of getting my own breakfast,” Trixie said.
“Oh,” Honey said, and she and Jim exchanged looks.
“I suppose you and I could eat all of this,” Jim said to his sister.
“I am fairly hungry this morning,” Honey admitted.
They sat down side by side and Jim spooned scrambled eggs onto two plates.
“Funny,” Trixie said and held out her own plate.
“I could have sworn she just said—” Honey broke off and grinned at her friend.
“I suppose she could be confused,” Jim added with a knowing nod of his red head.
“I’ll confuse you in a minute,” his wife threatened.
Jim laughed and put a large spoonful of eggs on her plate, then followed it with a rasher of bacon. Honey added toast and then poured coffee for them all.
“I’m guessing it’s decaf,” Trixie said as she added milk, mainly because she knew they expected her to complain.
“No caf for you until after my little niece or nephew is born,” Honey ordered as she sampled her eggs. It was an ongoing joke and suggested to her that her best friend was fine.
“Isn’t she bossy?” Trixie appealed to Jim.
“It’s probably her turn,” he said.
“I’m surprisingly good at it.” Honey flashed a brilliant smile “Who knew?”
“Oh, we suspected.” Trixie sipped her coffee and grinned.
“Look, I won’t pretend that having breakfast with my two favorite ladies isn’t a blast, but I think we need to talk about what happened last night.”
“I can’t say much about the car, I didn’t get a good enough look at it,” Trixie said. “My best guess is a medium-sized sedan or small SUV, based on the position of the head and tail lights. As for color, dark—when I spun the car I managed to flip the high-beams on, I think I’d have been able to tell if it had been a light color. But let’s face it, I’m not sure and even if I was, it’s not much to go on.”
“No, but we can ask Dan to check the traffic cameras between the office and here,” Honey said. “If someone was following you, we might pick it up.”
“I thought you didn’t want to take advantage of our connections,” Trixie teased.
“That was before someone tried to kill you!” Honey cried.
“No, I don’t think they were trying to kill me. If they’d rammed me when I went into the spin who knows what would have happened. Instead, they hightailed it out of there.”
“That’s not going to make me offer them a good citizen’s award,” Jim said darkly. “Maybe they got scared, maybe they thought you were heading for a crash, maybe—”
Trixie shook her head, cutting him off. “They would have seen me right the car as they took off. I’m not making any excuses, and I’m not making light of what happened. I’m pretty sure it was deliberate rather than someone having a bad day, but my guess is they were just trying to scare me.”
“Then it was obviously someone who doesn’t know you.” Jim sighed and poured more coffee. Over the years he’d learned to live with the fact that his wife did not scare easily.
“Jim’s right,” Honey added. “You were in real danger, Trixie. Whoever it was couldn’t have known what a good driver you are. I don’t like this at all.”
“But you’re fine with some whacko dragging you out of bed in the wee hours of the morning?” Trixie raised her sandy brows inquiringly. Jim had had a very serious talk with her after they’d headed to bed the night before and she had no desire to revisit the topic. Luckily, she’d eventually found a way to distract him.
“No, of course not, but I think I’d convinced myself that was down to a conveniently disgruntled teenager.”
“And now?” Trixie asked.
“Now, I’m thinking you were right. Somebody has a grudge against us or the agency.”
“So what next?” Jim said, careful to keep his tone neutral. He might want to rant and pound his chest over what was going on, but he knew better. Expressing concern was fine; trying to take over was only going to land him in hot water. It had taken some time, but for the most part he knew not to try and control his wife—even when it was out of love.
“Now we go through every case—clients we’ve disappointed, people we’ve helped put away.”
“There are plenty of people we haven’t help put in jail who have reason to resent us,” Honey added. “People who’ve had to hand over money to a spouse or business partner. People whose shoddy practices have been exposed by our work.”
“And let’s not forget the recipients of your teenage exploits,” Jim said.
“You can’t really suspect anyone from more than a decade ago, can you?” Trixie frowned.
“I don’t know, Trix. You two girls, pardon the term, helped put away some serious criminals. It’s possible that some of them have been released recently.”
“The list is going to be endless,” Honey said, slumping in her chair.
“Well, the two of you shouldn’t be so good at what you do.” Jim held his wife’s hand and smiled at his sister.
After a moment Trixie giggled and they both studied her uncertainly.
“What?” Honey asked.
“Normally when we get compliments you rush in saying: ‘It’s mainly Trixie, I just helped.’”
“And?” Honey said.
“You’re not doing it now because Jim’s talking about something that’s landed us in trouble and you, of course, want to assume equal responsibility for that. I just think it’s kind of funny and typical you—share the blame and wave away the praise.”
“I’m glad you find it amusing.” Honey made a face, but truthfully she was relieved. Trixie was being her typical self, and after what had happened that was reassuring. “Besides,” she added. “By your own reasoning so far, until last night this has been directed more at me than you, so I’m guessing I’m not on this person’s Christmas list either.”
“Am I going to get yelled at or glared at if I suggest we bring Dan in on this?” Jim looked from one woman to the other. “I’d like to let all of the Bob-Whites in, but Dan is the obvious one to start with.”
“Actually, that’s a good idea,” Honey said. “And it reminds me that I have a missed call from Dan. I saw it just as I got home last night and then you rang, Jim and…well, you know the rest.”
Trixie reached for her purse and pulled her own cell phone out. “That’s weird,” she said. “I have a missed call from Dan too. I didn’t even think to check my phone before I went to bed.” She hit his number and waited while the phone rang. “Hey, Dan,” she said when he picked up. “I’ll put you on speaker. I’m with Jim and Honey and we have some stuff we want to run by you.”
“I have something for you too,” Dan said. “I’ve spoken to Honey’s neighbor and her nephew, and unless my instincts are completely shot, he is not responsible for what’s been going on at the apartment.”
The three listeners exchanged looks.
“Thanks, Dan,” Trixie said. “I think we’d pretty much come to the same conclusion. Someone followed me home from work last night and almost ran me off the road.”
Dan uttered a single word response that made his friends smile.
“Yeah, well, I think we’ve accepted it was no accident. Honey had a call from a new client to meet at the office at eight last night but they never showed up. After what’s been going on, we’ve agreed not to meet new clients alone, especially at night, so I’d come back into town.”
“Trix, this is getting serious. You need to let me write up an official report. It will make it easier for me to do some digging.” Trixie looked at Honey, who nodded.
“Fine. We’d appreciate it. We’re just in the middle of breakfast. Do you want to come out to Ten Acres now or would you rather us come to the station?”
In the end they agreed to meet at the agency. Dan, who appeared to be thinking more clearly than anyone else, had pointed out that it made sense to have access to their client records if they wanted to make a list of people with possible grudges. To that end, the four of them—Jim had insisted on coming along, for moral support— sat in Honey’s office, sipping freshly brewed tea and coffee and preparing to comb through the brief history of Belden-Wheeler Investigations.
“So, how did you track down Honey’s neighbor?” Trixie asked as Dan settled his lean frame into the chair opposite Honey. She and Jim were ensconced on the sofa and she had pen and notebook ready.
“It was pure luck,” Dan admitted. “I was getting nowhere with the rental agent, so I decided to call the tenants I hadn’t spoken to the other day. One woman knew the Cardelinis a little better than anyone else seemed to, and that the nephew’s name was Tyler, but that was all.”
“How did that help?” Honey asked. “Unless his name was Tyler Cardelini and you tracked him that way? Which still sounds difficult to me.”
Dan smiled. “It would be so easy to let you two think it was my superior investigative prowess at work, but Lisa Cardelini called your other neighbor to ask her to keep an eye out for a piece of mail she’s expecting and she told her I’d been asking questions. I’d left my details so she called me.”
“That was luck,” Trixie said.
“It was still smart to have checked with our other neighbor,” Honey said.
“So,” Jim put in. “Not to take away from your talents as a detective, Dan, what exactly did they say?”
“I talked to her and told her what had been happening, and she said she doubted her nephew was responsible. It’s a small apartment, she’s a light sleeper and she was sure if he were slipping in and out she’d have heard something. She also said that generally speaking, he’s a pretty good kid and she didn’t think he would play a prank like that.”
“Well, no offence, but she would say that, wouldn’t she?” Trixie knew Dan was too good at what he did and had seen too much not to have a better reason for clearing the boy.
“Agreed. I asked her if I could speak to him and she put him on and we had quite a chat. I can see he might be a bit of a smart mouth, but when I mentioned the incident with the skateboards, he actually sounded a bit embarrassed. He said they’d been fooling around and hadn’t noticed the little kids playing at first and when the mother told him off, he didn’t want to look weak in front of his friends—I’m paraphrasing here.”
“Saving our delicate sensibilities,” Trixie said with a sniff.
“He went on to say,” Dan continued with a smile, “that when Honey came over and showed her stuff, he was kind of impressed and he realized they should just take off.”
“And that convinced you?” Trixie’s blue eyes narrowed.
“I’ve interviewed a lot of kids, young adults his age. When he said Honey impressed him, I don’t think he was kidding. He thought she was…cool.”
Jim raised his brows. “He did, did he?”
Dan nodded, grinning.
“I don’t see why that’s funny,” Honey said, looking from one man to the other.
“I think Dan’s paraphrasing again and by cool he means hot, and to me that would indicate an interest that might make him seem more likely to act out than less,” Trixie said.
“He’s just a kid,” Honey said, blushing.
“He’s older than Brian was when you thought of him as an adult in every way,” Dan observed.
“That’s different,” Honey protested. “For a start, I’m almost three years younger than Brian, so naturally he felt older to me than someone who is nearly ten years younger,” she caught their amused expressions, made a face and continued on, “and secondly, Brian’s Brian and he’s always been more mature than most people.”
“True, but you’re missing my point. When you’re almost eighteen—his birthday is in three months, you feel grown up, and people in their twenties don’t seem that much older. He thought you were—let’s call it cute, shall we?”
“I can live with that,” Jim said.
“But with the gun and all, he sort of took you seriously, and he asked his aunt about you and she gave him a little of the Belden-Wheeler history. After all, you two do have a reputation around here. He decided upsetting you wasn’t a good idea. It’s not him, guys. I’d stake my reputation on it.”
“So who does that leave us with?” Trixie asked, assuming a business-like tone.
“How long do we have?” Dan asked. “You two have been responsible for taking out more than a few bad guys.”
Since this wasn’t the first time someone had pointed this out to them, Trixie and Honey chose not to comment.
“Let’s start with any recent issues we might have had,” Honey said in her practical way. “Almost everything has happened in the past few weeks, so it makes sense to start with more recent cases.”
“Good idea,” Dan said. “I mean this might have taken some planning, but let’s look at the past six months and then go from there.”
“You can put Connelly and Chambers at the top of the list, though Chambers was more than six months ago,” Trixie said. “I can tell you that much without looking anything up.”
“I remember Connelly,” Dan said. “He was one guy I had a word to months ago when he was making slanderous remarks about two of my closest friends. He’s got a record, too. But Chambers…isn’t he the guy Honey dated for a while?”
“Three dates,” Honey said hotly. “Three dates is all we went on and the first date was coffee and a movie and that hardly even counts—and it was ages ago.”
“He has to be on there, especially after turning up in your local coffee shop twice in the past week or so,” Trixie insisted.
“Does he live near you, sis?” Jim asked, his expression concerned.
“No, not really, but he might have been on the way to a job. He’s in commercial real estate, so he works all over,” Honey explained.
“And he has an axe to grind?” Dan raised a dark brow. “Apart from being dumped by Honey.”
“We didn’t go out long enough for it to be a dumping,” Honey said. “But we did do some work for him. He thought his partner was ripping him off and asked us to look into it, but…”
“But nothing,” Trixie finished. “The guy was clean. There were a couple of things that looked suspicious, but once we really checked them out there was nothing to them. Chambers was not a happy camper. And no matter what you say, Honey, he wasn’t happy about you…whatevering him. He has a pretty healthy ego, and my guess is he is used to getting his way with women.”
“Who else?” Dan asked, as the frown on Honey’s face deepened.
“There’s a few people we’ve upset while working for clients recently,” Honey said.
Trixie wrinkled her brow in concentration. “I’m trying to come up with some of those names. Give me a minute. My brain hurts.”
“I’ve got it on a spreadsheet,” Honey said throwing her friend and partner an affectionate look.
“Got what on a spreadsheet?”
“Whenever we either assist with an arrest or a conviction or get a result where someone has to pay up, I always record the case file details in a spreadsheet.”
“That is…good news?” Trixie sounded uncertain. “It’s not a little paranoid or overly…structured?”
“Do you want to keep making your brain hurt?” Honey demanded. “I also have a spreadsheet of people we’ve helped and one where we haven’t effectively resolved the case.”
Trixie shook her sandy curls. “There are times when I think prolonged exposure to my oldest brother has affected you more than we realized.”
Honey raised her well-shaped brows. “As far as I’m concerned I haven’t had anywhere near enough exposure to Brian.”
Her best friend made a face while Dan and Jim laughed. “Let’s just say that Honey’s habits, however we might view them, are sure coming in handy today?” the latter suggested diplomatically.
“Fair point—continue.” Trixie waved an approving hand at her friend, who merely rolled her eyes.
Pulling the sheet up on the screen, Honey began to read the names aloud. If Trixie’s brain had been struggling previously it was in full detective mode now. She nodded, shrugged and dismissed names as her partner went through the list. She had no trouble recalling exact details of each case, and while a couple of times the two went back on forth on the likelihood of the person or persons concerned being involved, they soon had a short list to work with.
During this time, Dan had interjected questions and comments, forcing them to consider and analyze carefully. A couple of names had jumped out at him and he underlined these on the notepad he was using.
“Now,” he said. “I need to add to this some of the people you two put away in your misspent youth. I can easily check whether any of them have recently been released from jail or been in any trouble—I know the Thompsons have been paroled. I’ll put the word out with a couple of my informants too, tell them to keep an ear to the ground.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Honey asked. “Surely it’s more likely to be someone from the present than the past? A lot of them weren’t even in this state.”
“Can’t hurt to eliminate them then,” Dan said. “Though I do agree it seems to be someone fairly familiar with your current whereabouts and movements.”
“Someone dangerous though,” Jim said as evenly and casually as he could.
“Trixie seemed to think that whoever followed her was just trying to scare her, not seriously hurt her.” Honey sounded as if she didn’t quite believe this.
Dan shrugged. “I don’t care what they were doing. Playing around on the road like that is no different to running around with a loaded gun and saying you were careful about where you were aiming.”
“I agree with Dan,” Jim said. He’d done a great job of sitting back and letting the professionals handle things, but there was no way he was going to let anyone write off what had happened to his wife as harmless. “Even a really good driver could have had an accident. What if a car had come along? What if a tire had blown?” He shook his red head. “You were lucky last night, Trix. Whoever this is, they did not care if something bad happened to you or—” He broke off and lapsed into silence.
Trixie took his hand in hers and squeezed it, knowing what he wasn’t saying. “You’re right. But I am fine and our baby is fine, and Honey’s fine too.”
“It does seem more likely that this is to do with the agency, doesn’t it?” Honey said, straightening things on her desk without really looking at what she was doing.
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Dan agreed.
Trixie nodded, but didn’t say anything. She still couldn’t connect the dots and was not willing to commit yet. Vandalism, hang-ups, hassling someone one in a car and hanging around a person’s apartment in the middle of the night didn’t all feel like the same thing to her. The question was—if they were different, did it matter?
MPD:MAIN NEXT
Word Count: 3585
Author's Notes: Dana had quite a task in this one. I needed to add some stuff so there are bound to be errors she could not possibly have caught. I learn something every time. I can only hope I learn to apply it, too. Trixie Belden et al belong by law to Random House and emotionally to all of us. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
Jim had immediately seen that something was wrong, and the look of fear and pain in his green eyes affected Trixie more than the incident itself.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she’d cried as he folded her into his strong arms, holding her close. Once he’d assured himself she was okay, he had insisted she call Honey. Trixie had wanted to check that nothing similar had befallen her partner and quickly agreed.
Although she’d told Honey she was fine, she could not prevent her friend from coming out to see for herself. Trixie was propped up on the sofa against a mound of pillows when her best friend came flying into the house.
“Oh my god, Trix. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Trixie wondered if it was possible to wear a word out.
“No thanks to the creep that was following you,” Jim said as he came in carrying two mugs of tea. He handed one to his sister and the other to his wife.
“I’ve already had one herbal tea. I was hoping this would be coffee,” Trixie protested.
“Too bad,” Jim said, taking a seat at the end of the sofa.
Honey dropped into the chair opposite and took a sip of the chamomile tea.
“Nice outfit,” Trixie said, determined to lighten the mood.
“What? Oh.” Honey glanced down at the oddly-paired faded, lightweight sweat pants and the half unbuttoned tailored business shirt. “I’d just started to change when you called. I ran straight out.”
“I guess we should be grateful you weren’t in the shower instead.”
“Don’t you try to distract me, Trixie Belden-Frayne! What exactly happened?”
“To be honest, I can’t tell you much. I didn’t notice another car until I was halfway down Glen Road. At first I thought it was just some tourist who didn’t have enough sense to dip their lights when they were behind another car. And then…”
“And then what?”
“They got closer and closer and…they hit me.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Honey saw Jim’s jaw tighten and his green eyes glint dangerously.
“Not hard,” Trixie added quickly. “Just a tap really.”
“You don’t just tap with motor vehicles,” Jim said grimly. It was taking every ounce of self-control that he possessed not to gather up his wife and lock her away for safe- keeping.
“I sped up and they tried to keep up with me, but there was some gravel on the road and I went into a spin.”
Honey gasped and Jim’s expression darkened even more—if that was possible.
“By the time I came out of it, he or she, whoever had turned around and was headed back to town.”
“Trixie, that’s terrible. Thank goodness you’re such a good driver. I don’t know what I’d have done.”
“You’d have been fine, Honey. You took the driving course as well.”
“I’m not as good a driver under attack as you are,” Honey said, then shook her head. “That sounded wrong, but you know what I mean.”
“The main thing is that I’m fine. That we’re both fine.” There it was again, that word.
Frowning, Honey leaned forward in her chair. “What are you saying? You think this is connected to the late night visits?”
“It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.”
“But the two things are nothing alike. There’s a big difference between knocking on a door in the middle of the night and trying to run someone off the road. You could have been killed.” Honey was not about to let her best friend dismiss what had happened.
“I don’t know that I was in that much danger.”
“Trixie!” Honey said despairingly while Jim ran his hands through his thick red hair.
“You always do that,” he chided, his face deadly serious. “Make light of the danger you’ve been in. Try to make it seem less important than it was.”
“I don’t do that,” Trixie sniffed. “Do I?”
“Yes!” Honey and Jim said together and in spite of the situation, they all laughed.
“Sorry, I don’t do it on purpose.” Trixie’s expression was penitent and so reminiscent of her teenage self that both her husband and friend found it hard not to be distracted.
Jim took a long hard look at the woman he loved, and focused. “Maybe not, but it isn’t just you anymore, Trix.”
“I know,” she said softly and her blue eyes blinked back tears.
“But you really, really are alright?” Honey asked, hating to see her friend upset.
Trixie nodded. “Honestly. I had a jolt and a fright, but I’m not hurt. I’m really not, Jim.” She turned to meet Jim’s steady gaze and he threw himself down next to her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight before getting to his feet again.
“Fine. So what next?”
“Look, maybe it was just random angry driver, but just in case…Honey?” Trixie knew she needed to make the most of the opportunity provided.
“Yes.”
“Please stay here with Jim and me tonight.”
“You’re worried about me going home?”
“No, yes—let’s just say that I’d sleep easier if you spent the night with us. I’m probably overreacting, but just to be on the safe side.”
“Fine,” Honey said. “I might go and wash my face.”
“Shower if you want, Hon. Your night stuff is in the top drawer of the guest room bureau, and I picked up some of that cleanser and moisturizer you like and popped it in your bathroom.” Both women kept clothes at one another’s places, partly because they still had the same physical differences they had as teenagers and partly because they’d developed their own distinctive style. Because they didn’t have “sleepovers” as often as they used to, Trixie had taken to calling the main guest room and bathroom at the farmhouse “Honey’s rooms”, and her friend appreciated the gesture.
“How did you know that what I most wanted to do was shower and wash my face?”
“I am a great detective, aren’t I?”
“That’s true.” Honey got up and sat beside her friend, wrapping her slender arms around her. “Oh, Trixie, I don’t know what I’d have done if something had happened to you or to my beautiful little niece or nephew.” Her hazel eyes glistened as she spoke.
“Ditto,” Jim said pausing in the doorway. “I know my wife can take care of herself, but our baby isn’t quite ready to do that yet.”
“I can, am looking after our baby,” Trixie said.
Honey looked from her friend to her brother. “If this is anyone’s fault it’s mine,” she said, focusing her attention on Jim. “I’m the one who’s been trying to make light of everything.”
“You are so not to blame, Honey,” Trixie admonished.
“Agreed,” Jim said, “Now go and have your shower, little sister, and when you come back we’ll all have apple pie with cream.”
“We will?” Trixie grinned as her friend dashed from the room. She was somewhat relieved by her husband’s comment—she hated seeing him worried. “I thought you told me that was for tomorrow night’s dinner.” Trixie’s mother had been baking and had delivered the pie that morning.
“I think we could all do with a treat after what’s happened this evening.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“That makes a nice change,” Jim said.
“I’m fine, Jim. We both are,” Trixie said softly.
Jim nodded. “I just want you to stay that way.”
*
God, that woman was a pain in the butt and a much better driver than he’d realized. The man slammed his hand against the counter and instantly regretted it— it hurt like hell. He’d known he was taking a risk, following her like that, but he felt he had to do it. Because, while he might resent them, they were not stupid and the two of them had been poking around, asking questions. Not that that was unexpected—far from it. He’d been prepared for that, he’d planned for it and had been proud of the steps he’d taken. But he had the distinct impression that they were heading towards an idea or a conclusion that might put him at risk and that was something he could not afford. A half-smile crossed his face, whatever else he’d done tonight, he’d given that over-confident curly-headed little troublemaker a good scare, and when her partner found out, well… her reaction was something he was counting on.
The following morning, Honey carried a platter containing scrambled eggs and bacon out onto the rear porch where the table had been set for breakfast. Jim followed her, a coffee pot in one hand, a plate of buttered toast in the other.
“This is kind of ridiculous, waiting on me. I am perfectly capable of getting my own breakfast,” Trixie said.
“Oh,” Honey said, and she and Jim exchanged looks.
“I suppose you and I could eat all of this,” Jim said to his sister.
“I am fairly hungry this morning,” Honey admitted.
They sat down side by side and Jim spooned scrambled eggs onto two plates.
“Funny,” Trixie said and held out her own plate.
“I could have sworn she just said—” Honey broke off and grinned at her friend.
“I suppose she could be confused,” Jim added with a knowing nod of his red head.
“I’ll confuse you in a minute,” his wife threatened.
Jim laughed and put a large spoonful of eggs on her plate, then followed it with a rasher of bacon. Honey added toast and then poured coffee for them all.
“I’m guessing it’s decaf,” Trixie said as she added milk, mainly because she knew they expected her to complain.
“No caf for you until after my little niece or nephew is born,” Honey ordered as she sampled her eggs. It was an ongoing joke and suggested to her that her best friend was fine.
“Isn’t she bossy?” Trixie appealed to Jim.
“It’s probably her turn,” he said.
“I’m surprisingly good at it.” Honey flashed a brilliant smile “Who knew?”
“Oh, we suspected.” Trixie sipped her coffee and grinned.
“Look, I won’t pretend that having breakfast with my two favorite ladies isn’t a blast, but I think we need to talk about what happened last night.”
“I can’t say much about the car, I didn’t get a good enough look at it,” Trixie said. “My best guess is a medium-sized sedan or small SUV, based on the position of the head and tail lights. As for color, dark—when I spun the car I managed to flip the high-beams on, I think I’d have been able to tell if it had been a light color. But let’s face it, I’m not sure and even if I was, it’s not much to go on.”
“No, but we can ask Dan to check the traffic cameras between the office and here,” Honey said. “If someone was following you, we might pick it up.”
“I thought you didn’t want to take advantage of our connections,” Trixie teased.
“That was before someone tried to kill you!” Honey cried.
“No, I don’t think they were trying to kill me. If they’d rammed me when I went into the spin who knows what would have happened. Instead, they hightailed it out of there.”
“That’s not going to make me offer them a good citizen’s award,” Jim said darkly. “Maybe they got scared, maybe they thought you were heading for a crash, maybe—”
Trixie shook her head, cutting him off. “They would have seen me right the car as they took off. I’m not making any excuses, and I’m not making light of what happened. I’m pretty sure it was deliberate rather than someone having a bad day, but my guess is they were just trying to scare me.”
“Then it was obviously someone who doesn’t know you.” Jim sighed and poured more coffee. Over the years he’d learned to live with the fact that his wife did not scare easily.
“Jim’s right,” Honey added. “You were in real danger, Trixie. Whoever it was couldn’t have known what a good driver you are. I don’t like this at all.”
“But you’re fine with some whacko dragging you out of bed in the wee hours of the morning?” Trixie raised her sandy brows inquiringly. Jim had had a very serious talk with her after they’d headed to bed the night before and she had no desire to revisit the topic. Luckily, she’d eventually found a way to distract him.
“No, of course not, but I think I’d convinced myself that was down to a conveniently disgruntled teenager.”
“And now?” Trixie asked.
“Now, I’m thinking you were right. Somebody has a grudge against us or the agency.”
“So what next?” Jim said, careful to keep his tone neutral. He might want to rant and pound his chest over what was going on, but he knew better. Expressing concern was fine; trying to take over was only going to land him in hot water. It had taken some time, but for the most part he knew not to try and control his wife—even when it was out of love.
“Now we go through every case—clients we’ve disappointed, people we’ve helped put away.”
“There are plenty of people we haven’t help put in jail who have reason to resent us,” Honey added. “People who’ve had to hand over money to a spouse or business partner. People whose shoddy practices have been exposed by our work.”
“And let’s not forget the recipients of your teenage exploits,” Jim said.
“You can’t really suspect anyone from more than a decade ago, can you?” Trixie frowned.
“I don’t know, Trix. You two girls, pardon the term, helped put away some serious criminals. It’s possible that some of them have been released recently.”
“The list is going to be endless,” Honey said, slumping in her chair.
“Well, the two of you shouldn’t be so good at what you do.” Jim held his wife’s hand and smiled at his sister.
After a moment Trixie giggled and they both studied her uncertainly.
“What?” Honey asked.
“Normally when we get compliments you rush in saying: ‘It’s mainly Trixie, I just helped.’”
“And?” Honey said.
“You’re not doing it now because Jim’s talking about something that’s landed us in trouble and you, of course, want to assume equal responsibility for that. I just think it’s kind of funny and typical you—share the blame and wave away the praise.”
“I’m glad you find it amusing.” Honey made a face, but truthfully she was relieved. Trixie was being her typical self, and after what had happened that was reassuring. “Besides,” she added. “By your own reasoning so far, until last night this has been directed more at me than you, so I’m guessing I’m not on this person’s Christmas list either.”
“Am I going to get yelled at or glared at if I suggest we bring Dan in on this?” Jim looked from one woman to the other. “I’d like to let all of the Bob-Whites in, but Dan is the obvious one to start with.”
“Actually, that’s a good idea,” Honey said. “And it reminds me that I have a missed call from Dan. I saw it just as I got home last night and then you rang, Jim and…well, you know the rest.”
Trixie reached for her purse and pulled her own cell phone out. “That’s weird,” she said. “I have a missed call from Dan too. I didn’t even think to check my phone before I went to bed.” She hit his number and waited while the phone rang. “Hey, Dan,” she said when he picked up. “I’ll put you on speaker. I’m with Jim and Honey and we have some stuff we want to run by you.”
“I have something for you too,” Dan said. “I’ve spoken to Honey’s neighbor and her nephew, and unless my instincts are completely shot, he is not responsible for what’s been going on at the apartment.”
The three listeners exchanged looks.
“Thanks, Dan,” Trixie said. “I think we’d pretty much come to the same conclusion. Someone followed me home from work last night and almost ran me off the road.”
Dan uttered a single word response that made his friends smile.
“Yeah, well, I think we’ve accepted it was no accident. Honey had a call from a new client to meet at the office at eight last night but they never showed up. After what’s been going on, we’ve agreed not to meet new clients alone, especially at night, so I’d come back into town.”
“Trix, this is getting serious. You need to let me write up an official report. It will make it easier for me to do some digging.” Trixie looked at Honey, who nodded.
“Fine. We’d appreciate it. We’re just in the middle of breakfast. Do you want to come out to Ten Acres now or would you rather us come to the station?”
In the end they agreed to meet at the agency. Dan, who appeared to be thinking more clearly than anyone else, had pointed out that it made sense to have access to their client records if they wanted to make a list of people with possible grudges. To that end, the four of them—Jim had insisted on coming along, for moral support— sat in Honey’s office, sipping freshly brewed tea and coffee and preparing to comb through the brief history of Belden-Wheeler Investigations.
“So, how did you track down Honey’s neighbor?” Trixie asked as Dan settled his lean frame into the chair opposite Honey. She and Jim were ensconced on the sofa and she had pen and notebook ready.
“It was pure luck,” Dan admitted. “I was getting nowhere with the rental agent, so I decided to call the tenants I hadn’t spoken to the other day. One woman knew the Cardelinis a little better than anyone else seemed to, and that the nephew’s name was Tyler, but that was all.”
“How did that help?” Honey asked. “Unless his name was Tyler Cardelini and you tracked him that way? Which still sounds difficult to me.”
Dan smiled. “It would be so easy to let you two think it was my superior investigative prowess at work, but Lisa Cardelini called your other neighbor to ask her to keep an eye out for a piece of mail she’s expecting and she told her I’d been asking questions. I’d left my details so she called me.”
“That was luck,” Trixie said.
“It was still smart to have checked with our other neighbor,” Honey said.
“So,” Jim put in. “Not to take away from your talents as a detective, Dan, what exactly did they say?”
“I talked to her and told her what had been happening, and she said she doubted her nephew was responsible. It’s a small apartment, she’s a light sleeper and she was sure if he were slipping in and out she’d have heard something. She also said that generally speaking, he’s a pretty good kid and she didn’t think he would play a prank like that.”
“Well, no offence, but she would say that, wouldn’t she?” Trixie knew Dan was too good at what he did and had seen too much not to have a better reason for clearing the boy.
“Agreed. I asked her if I could speak to him and she put him on and we had quite a chat. I can see he might be a bit of a smart mouth, but when I mentioned the incident with the skateboards, he actually sounded a bit embarrassed. He said they’d been fooling around and hadn’t noticed the little kids playing at first and when the mother told him off, he didn’t want to look weak in front of his friends—I’m paraphrasing here.”
“Saving our delicate sensibilities,” Trixie said with a sniff.
“He went on to say,” Dan continued with a smile, “that when Honey came over and showed her stuff, he was kind of impressed and he realized they should just take off.”
“And that convinced you?” Trixie’s blue eyes narrowed.
“I’ve interviewed a lot of kids, young adults his age. When he said Honey impressed him, I don’t think he was kidding. He thought she was…cool.”
Jim raised his brows. “He did, did he?”
Dan nodded, grinning.
“I don’t see why that’s funny,” Honey said, looking from one man to the other.
“I think Dan’s paraphrasing again and by cool he means hot, and to me that would indicate an interest that might make him seem more likely to act out than less,” Trixie said.
“He’s just a kid,” Honey said, blushing.
“He’s older than Brian was when you thought of him as an adult in every way,” Dan observed.
“That’s different,” Honey protested. “For a start, I’m almost three years younger than Brian, so naturally he felt older to me than someone who is nearly ten years younger,” she caught their amused expressions, made a face and continued on, “and secondly, Brian’s Brian and he’s always been more mature than most people.”
“True, but you’re missing my point. When you’re almost eighteen—his birthday is in three months, you feel grown up, and people in their twenties don’t seem that much older. He thought you were—let’s call it cute, shall we?”
“I can live with that,” Jim said.
“But with the gun and all, he sort of took you seriously, and he asked his aunt about you and she gave him a little of the Belden-Wheeler history. After all, you two do have a reputation around here. He decided upsetting you wasn’t a good idea. It’s not him, guys. I’d stake my reputation on it.”
“So who does that leave us with?” Trixie asked, assuming a business-like tone.
“How long do we have?” Dan asked. “You two have been responsible for taking out more than a few bad guys.”
Since this wasn’t the first time someone had pointed this out to them, Trixie and Honey chose not to comment.
“Let’s start with any recent issues we might have had,” Honey said in her practical way. “Almost everything has happened in the past few weeks, so it makes sense to start with more recent cases.”
“Good idea,” Dan said. “I mean this might have taken some planning, but let’s look at the past six months and then go from there.”
“You can put Connelly and Chambers at the top of the list, though Chambers was more than six months ago,” Trixie said. “I can tell you that much without looking anything up.”
“I remember Connelly,” Dan said. “He was one guy I had a word to months ago when he was making slanderous remarks about two of my closest friends. He’s got a record, too. But Chambers…isn’t he the guy Honey dated for a while?”
“Three dates,” Honey said hotly. “Three dates is all we went on and the first date was coffee and a movie and that hardly even counts—and it was ages ago.”
“He has to be on there, especially after turning up in your local coffee shop twice in the past week or so,” Trixie insisted.
“Does he live near you, sis?” Jim asked, his expression concerned.
“No, not really, but he might have been on the way to a job. He’s in commercial real estate, so he works all over,” Honey explained.
“And he has an axe to grind?” Dan raised a dark brow. “Apart from being dumped by Honey.”
“We didn’t go out long enough for it to be a dumping,” Honey said. “But we did do some work for him. He thought his partner was ripping him off and asked us to look into it, but…”
“But nothing,” Trixie finished. “The guy was clean. There were a couple of things that looked suspicious, but once we really checked them out there was nothing to them. Chambers was not a happy camper. And no matter what you say, Honey, he wasn’t happy about you…whatevering him. He has a pretty healthy ego, and my guess is he is used to getting his way with women.”
“Who else?” Dan asked, as the frown on Honey’s face deepened.
“There’s a few people we’ve upset while working for clients recently,” Honey said.
Trixie wrinkled her brow in concentration. “I’m trying to come up with some of those names. Give me a minute. My brain hurts.”
“I’ve got it on a spreadsheet,” Honey said throwing her friend and partner an affectionate look.
“Got what on a spreadsheet?”
“Whenever we either assist with an arrest or a conviction or get a result where someone has to pay up, I always record the case file details in a spreadsheet.”
“That is…good news?” Trixie sounded uncertain. “It’s not a little paranoid or overly…structured?”
“Do you want to keep making your brain hurt?” Honey demanded. “I also have a spreadsheet of people we’ve helped and one where we haven’t effectively resolved the case.”
Trixie shook her sandy curls. “There are times when I think prolonged exposure to my oldest brother has affected you more than we realized.”
Honey raised her well-shaped brows. “As far as I’m concerned I haven’t had anywhere near enough exposure to Brian.”
Her best friend made a face while Dan and Jim laughed. “Let’s just say that Honey’s habits, however we might view them, are sure coming in handy today?” the latter suggested diplomatically.
“Fair point—continue.” Trixie waved an approving hand at her friend, who merely rolled her eyes.
Pulling the sheet up on the screen, Honey began to read the names aloud. If Trixie’s brain had been struggling previously it was in full detective mode now. She nodded, shrugged and dismissed names as her partner went through the list. She had no trouble recalling exact details of each case, and while a couple of times the two went back on forth on the likelihood of the person or persons concerned being involved, they soon had a short list to work with.
During this time, Dan had interjected questions and comments, forcing them to consider and analyze carefully. A couple of names had jumped out at him and he underlined these on the notepad he was using.
“Now,” he said. “I need to add to this some of the people you two put away in your misspent youth. I can easily check whether any of them have recently been released from jail or been in any trouble—I know the Thompsons have been paroled. I’ll put the word out with a couple of my informants too, tell them to keep an ear to the ground.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Honey asked. “Surely it’s more likely to be someone from the present than the past? A lot of them weren’t even in this state.”
“Can’t hurt to eliminate them then,” Dan said. “Though I do agree it seems to be someone fairly familiar with your current whereabouts and movements.”
“Someone dangerous though,” Jim said as evenly and casually as he could.
“Trixie seemed to think that whoever followed her was just trying to scare her, not seriously hurt her.” Honey sounded as if she didn’t quite believe this.
Dan shrugged. “I don’t care what they were doing. Playing around on the road like that is no different to running around with a loaded gun and saying you were careful about where you were aiming.”
“I agree with Dan,” Jim said. He’d done a great job of sitting back and letting the professionals handle things, but there was no way he was going to let anyone write off what had happened to his wife as harmless. “Even a really good driver could have had an accident. What if a car had come along? What if a tire had blown?” He shook his red head. “You were lucky last night, Trix. Whoever this is, they did not care if something bad happened to you or—” He broke off and lapsed into silence.
Trixie took his hand in hers and squeezed it, knowing what he wasn’t saying. “You’re right. But I am fine and our baby is fine, and Honey’s fine too.”
“It does seem more likely that this is to do with the agency, doesn’t it?” Honey said, straightening things on her desk without really looking at what she was doing.
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Dan agreed.
Trixie nodded, but didn’t say anything. She still couldn’t connect the dots and was not willing to commit yet. Vandalism, hang-ups, hassling someone one in a car and hanging around a person’s apartment in the middle of the night didn’t all feel like the same thing to her. The question was—if they were different, did it matter?
MPD:MAIN NEXT
Word Count: 3585
Author's Notes: Dana had quite a task in this one. I needed to add some stuff so there are bound to be errors she could not possibly have caught. I learn something every time. I can only hope I learn to apply it, too. Trixie Belden et al belong by law to Random House and emotionally to all of us. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
