CHAPTER TEN
Ben didn’t know why he’d suggested they meet. He could have easily received her list via email and called her for any follow-up questions. He kept telling himself meeting her for coffee wasn’t a date. Of course it wasn’t. She was his main suspect. Dating her, or thinking of her in any way that wasn’t completely professional, was out of the question.
A little before ten, he arrived at the coffee shop and ordered a cup. He felt a group of three men in the corner eyeballing him as he looked for an out-of-the-way table. When he made eye contact with one of them, the man called out.
“Hey! You the fire guy who’s harassing Lizzie Parker?”
Ben walked to their table. “Harassing?”
“No way Lizzie’s involved with the fire at The Drop,” one of the other men said.
“Okay,” Ben said. “And what makes you so sure of that?”
“Known the Parkers for years,” the third man chimed in. “All of ’em’s good people.”
Hm. They knew Lizzie and her family, huh? Might as well poke around for some information.
“Oh, yeah. You vouching for Lizzie then?” The three nodded in unison. “Any idea who might want to harm her or her business?”
They seemed to shift gears, interested in his train of thought now that it didn’t involve accusing Lizzie.
“We’ll have to think about that,” the bald one said, stroking his chin. “But we know just about everyone in this town and most people’s business. We should be able to come up with something.”
“That’s not us braggin’,” one said. “Just sayin’ we kill a great deal of time here and stumble upon a lot of information.”
As Ben was about to reply, an older woman with light pink hair glided in. The three men shifted in their seats, sat up straighter, and muttered for him to scram. Ben chuckled, sat a few tables over, sipped his coffee, and watched.
The pink-haired woman hugged another woman who’d come out from the back. Ben did a double take when he realized it was Lizzie but with blond hair. She must have gone home and dyed it straight after dinner last night. Or done it first thing this morning. He got up to greet her. But as he approached, another Lizzie rushed through the door, letting in a burst of cold air.
The dark-haired Lizzie noticed him looking from woman to woman and recognized his confusion.
“Didn’t know I had a twin?” she said with a smug smile.
A twin? How had he missed that? “Uh, no. That doesn’t usually come up in a background check,” he said, wiping the surprise off his face. “I’ll wait over there.” He pointed to the table he’d claimed.
He returned to his seat and watched as she interacted animatedly with her sister before greeting the trio of men. The older woman had joined them, and he overheard Lizzie call her Nana. She picked up the coffee she’d ordered, worked her way over to him, and sat.
“You’ve got quite a fan club over there.” Ben jerked his chin toward the group in the corner.
“The Three Musketeers,” she said. “And my grandma. What’d they say?”
“More or less threatened to kick my ass if I kept ‘harassing’ you?”
She laughed. “Sounds about right. They’re old but feisty. You better watch your back.” She handed him a long list of names and phone numbers. A couple had asterisks next to them.
“These more likely than the others?” he asked, pointing to the starred names.
“Honestly, I had a hard time coming up with anyone. I don’t feel like I’ve ever left a relationship on bad terms. The stars are former employees.”
“That means all these are ex-boyfriends?”
She winked, and he tried but failed to contain an eye roll.
“I talked to Maya about last night,” Ben said. “She should be calling you to apologize today. Please let me know if she doesn’t.”
“That’s not really necessary, but whatever.”
“Lying’s not okay. There have to be some consequences.”
She shrugged. “All right.”
“You got a lotta junk in there, Audrey,” they overheard one of the men say to Lizzie’s grandma. She was apparently looking for something in her purse, pulling out all sorts of odds and ends and placing them on the table in front of her. Lipstick, pens, a stapler, a spoon, a scarf, more pens, a yellow rubber duck, one sock, a crazy straw, and more pens.
“Your grandma’s quite the pack rat,” Ben said, fascinated and distracted by each item she pulled out. Wondering what would come next, he found it hard to look away.
“That’s one word for it,” Lizzie mumbled. She sipped her coffee and then elaborated. “She ‘collects’ things. And not always things that are hers to collect.”
He raised both brows.
“I mean, she doesn’t steal, per se. It started a few years ago with little things—a spoon from Lucy’s old coffee shop or pens from Kate’s office—stuff like that. My mom would find random objects in Nana’s pockets while doing the laundry. There were a couple of times things got murky—a ‘forgotten’ bra in her pocket at a department store and a ‘lost’ wallet situation at my parents’ Halloween party last year. My dad has talked to her repeatedly, and no one’s really sure why she—”
Lizzie stopped midsentence, jumped up, and rushed over to her. Curious, Ben followed.
“Nana,” Lizzie said, picking up a furry purple chunk. “Where did you get this?”
The woman’s eyes widened and darted around the room furtively as if the answer was written on the walls.
“I don’t care where. I won’t get mad,” Lizzie said. “But I need to know.”
Her grandma snatched it from Lizzie’s hand. “I found it at your bar the morning after the fire. I figured it was ruined anyway, and no one would want it.”
“Seriously?” Lizzie hugged her hard. “This is fantastic. Thank you.”
Everyone shared looks of confusion, including Ben. Lizzie turned to him and dropped the ash-filled, plush, purple nugget into his hand. “You gotta check out Felix Bell. Hundred bucks says he’s your arsonist.”
“And this proves that how?” Ben asked.
“Felix used to work for me. He carried this ugly rabbit’s foot with him everywhere. He is very superstitious, and paranoid, and just plain weird. I had to fire him. That was five months ago. Nana found this in the rubble at The Drop. Which means he was at the bar that night. And since I worked until close and didn’t see him, it must have been after hours.”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up. A lead—just what he needed. “All right,” he said. “I’ll hunt him down today and see what he has to say for himself.”
He dumped his coffee into a to-go cup and returned to the office. Dispatch located an address for Felix Bell, and Ben tagged Hugh to accompany him.
Mr. Bell caved at the first question. Started crying and admitted everything. Said the guilt had been eating him alive, and he was glad to have the truth out. Ben and Hugh arrested him and took him to the police station for processing.
Back at his desk, Ben called the insurance company to let them know he’d made an arrest and that they’d cleared Lizzie of wrongdoing. Then he called Lizzie with the good news.
“He sang like a Carolina wren,” Ben told her. “Admitted to setting the fire and was glad he got caught. He’s in police custody now.”
“That’s great news,” Lizzie said. “Did he say why?”
“He was mad because you gave him a bad reference when he applied for a new job.”
“I remember that. I was surprised he listed me as a reference in the first place, but I thought I was pretty diplomatic, considering what a terrible employee he was.”
“He was certain we caught him because he didn’t have his lucky charm to protect him and kept asking when he could get it back.”
“Told you he was weird. Does this mean the insurance company will pay out?”
“I just got off the phone with them,” he said. “Told them we arrested someone unaffiliated with you, so I don’t see why not. I’m sure there’s some red tape and all that, but you should be good to go.”
“Feel bad you suspected me now?” she asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.
“Not one bit,” he retorted. “Like I said when we met. Nine times out of ten, it’s the owner.”
“Yeah, well. Thanks, Mansfield. Come by the new bar next week, and I’ll give you one on the house. Catch ya later.”
He hung up with a smile on his face. She was so unlike the other women he knew. That wasn’t saying much. He didn’t know many, but still, there was something about her that intrigued him. Made him want to know her better and figure out what made her tick. And now that he’d ruled her out as a suspect, those feelings were multiplying and intensifying.
A couple of nights later, he was out walking Jasper and spotted Lizzie’s monstrous mini horse. The dog had just pooped, and Lizzie was hunched over, dutifully picking it up.
“You need a backhoe for the poop,” he said.
She stood hastily and almost looked embarrassed. Ben didn’t think that was possible.
“Ha,” she said. “That’s true. They did tell me—big dog, big turds—but I didn’t listen. This is my only complaint.”
She tied off the bag, threw it into a nearby trash can, and used some hand sanitizer. Charlie was leashed but needn’t have been. He stayed within a foot of Lizzie at all times. After an initial butt-sniffing greeting, he’d deemed Jasper a non-threat and ignored him, but continued to give Ben the side-eye.
Lizzie started out onto the pier.
“Mind if we tag along?”
“Free country,” she said, turning her back on him.
So, she wasn’t going to make this easy. It only took a couple of long strides to catch her, and they walked side by side to the end of the wooden pier. This far out, the wind wasn’t blocked, and her hair fluttered around her face. She used a hairband from her wrist to tie up a ponytail—a move he’d seen Maya make a thousand times.
“I’m sorry I suspected you,” he said to break the silence.
She smiled and shrugged. “No worries. I understand why you did.”
They looked out over the river while he summoned the courage to do something he hadn’t done in ages.
“Look, I’m too old to play games. Do you want to go out with me? On a date?”
She stared at him for a second. Possibly just to see him sweat? Perhaps it wasn’t the smoothest of invitations, but he thought she felt the connection too. Was he so out of touch with women that he’d misread the situation?
“Sure,” she finally said.
“Great. It’s either this or have my daughter set me up with someone online.”
“You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”
He barked out a laugh. “Sorry. I guess I need some practice.”
They started the walk back, and as they approached the base of her building, she spoke again.
“Where and when?”
“Oh, geez,” he said. “I didn’t think that far in advance. It took all my brain power and gumption just to ask. Can I get back to you on that?”
This time when she laughed, she ran a hand down his arm. The light touch of a woman shouldn’t have affected him so much, but it had been a while.
“Yes. That’s fine. The grand opening for The Tipsy Twist is next Thursday. Why don’t you stop by for the drink I promised you?”
“Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”
He had a week to get his act together. Bumbling idiocy would only be charming for so long.
When he returned to the condo, Maya was on the phone. After she hung up, she asked if she could go to UNC with Bella and her aunt and uncle the following weekend.
“What about UT?”
“It’s still in the running, but it won’t hurt to check out other options too. Plus, it just sounds like a fun trip.”
“You’re supposed to be grounded.”
“Maybe you could make a tiny exception?” She batted her eyelashes and stuck her lips out to pout.
“Don’t give me that puppy dog eye routine.”
“Please, Daddy.”
“Daddy?” She hadn’t called him that in years. “You’re pulling out the big guns.”
He could tell she really wanted to go, and if he let her, she wouldn’t find out about his date with Lizzie. It was selfish, and bad parenting to grant clemency regarding her punishment, but what the hell?
“All right,” he said.
She jumped up, squealing, and ran to hug him. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Now, he had to figure out where to take Lizzie. The woman who’d been on more first dates this year than he’d been on in twenty. No pressure.