“Copy that. I won’t hurt her, Spencer.” Holden couldn’t say any more without betraying what he and Bella had shared. No matter how it ended, how it had to be now, what they’d made together was special, private. Sacred.
Sacred? He’d gotten in deeper than he’d thought.
“I wasn’t referring to Bella, Holden. I meant your heart. Bella’s been a heartbreaker since middle school.” Spencer laughed. “In case you haven’t noticed, she can hold her own against almost anything. I don’t want her to have to do that, though, not with a killer.”
“We’re on the same page, then. Listen, I called to give you what our office found on the Affirmation Alliance Group and its leader, Micheline Anderson.”
“You know MVPD got the charge to stick against Harley Watts, right? He’s been charged with threatening the Colton Oil structure by sending a classified email over the dark web.”
“Yes, my handler mentioned that. Another thing that’s come up that I think you’ll be interested in is that there are indications that Micheline might be planning some kind of mass-destruction event, like a mass suicide.”
Spencer’s low whistle pierced their connection. “You mean like a Jim Jones poisoned-fruit-drink kind of thing?” Holden wasn’t surprised that Spencer recognized the reference. Law enforcement officers often studied the mass suicide orchestrated by the cult leader Jim Jones in Guyana, in 1978.
“Yes, exactly. And an eerie connection is that Jim Jones’s spouse was named Marceline. It seems awfully close to Micheline, especially as neither are common names.”
“You don’t think she took this name on purpose?”
Holden sighed. “No clue. I’ve learned not to put much stock in coincidence, though. Not in our line of work.”
“I hear you. Thanks for this, Holden, and please thank your office colleagues, and your supervisor. This saves me a lot of digging, and we’ll be sure to keep Micheline and AAG under tight surveillance.”
“Good to hear.” He saw Bella walk back into the kitchen through the sliding patio door. “I’ve got to go. Ms. Mustang Valley waits for no one.”
Spencer’s chuckle reached him before he disconnected. Eager to get his head back in the game, he took a moment to remind himself why he’d come to Mustang Valley. To apprehend a killer. To prevent further murders. But Bella’s safety had become priority number one. Long before Spencer had requested it.
Holden shoved aside anything tha
t remotely felt like an emotional response to Bella and focused on the case.
Both of their lives depended upon it.
Chapter 19
“You’re off by a half beat, Bella! Marcie, Delilah, stop letting her mess you up, ladies.” Selina’s voice cut through the soundtrack, a disco tune that required everyone to do three turns in a row, followed by a quick two-step. After their second week of evening rehearsals, it was the pageant’s third all-day Saturday practice.
Bella clamped her mouth shut to keep from responding with some very unpageantlike words. But that made her even more out of breath, and she felt her face heat with the effort.
“Don’t let her get to you. We’re almost done with all of this.” Marcie spoke through several more steps, her face flushed, too.
“She’s not. Trust me.” The number ended and Bella took the opportunity to walk off to the side of the stage to where Holden stood.
“How can anyone think I’m going to receive extra points from her?” She gulped from her water bottle and didn’t miss how his gaze drank her in. Her body reacted by sending heat everywhere she’d tried to shut down these past two weeks as he’d slept on her sofa each night. She’d had to deal with him being around all the time, including following her to the Mustang Valley Gabber headquarters a few times. It was fortunate from a security perspective that she was able to work from her laptop, and remain at home for much of her imposed “exile” from independent living. To be fair, she enjoyed Holden’s company and they’d gotten to know each other better.
It wasn’t a stretch to realize they’d indeed become friends, as she’d hoped.
But they’d avoided a repeat of their one night together. She was relieved and frustrated by their mutual agreement to avoid any further bedroom activities. They were adults, after all. Yet a big part of her wanted to bring that up, remind him that they could enjoy a physical relationship without worrying they’d expect too much from one another when it ended.
At least, that’s what she’d thought before she got to know him so well.
“Keep your cool and remember to not let them see you sweat.”
“Funny.” Her clothes were soaked with perspiration and had been all day. “At least this is the last bit of today’s rehearsal.”
“Still, we can’t take any chances. Be aware.”
“Got it.” She didn’t want to be short with him but each night Holden had gone over what he thought she needed to do, to survive any possible attack by the killer. Stay alert, aware and always ready to run.
“I know you do.” His confidence in her buoyed her when she would have wondered just why she was doing this in the first place. So far she’d uncovered nothing nefarious about the Ms. Mustang Valley Pageant, and in fact had learned that it took a lot of work and dedication for the competition to continue year after year.