Was Gio’s mother right? Had Gio’s talk near the end been delusional, brought on by her advanced disease?
“You’re frowning. Need to talk about it?”
“Not here. Maybe later.” But what would she tell Holden? He’d take her admission that there was nothing the pageant could do to prevent Gio’s illnesses as surrender. She wasn’t going to ever claim being a reporter was in vain.
“Bella.”
“Yes?”
“You’re doing great. You’ll get your story, don’t worry.” His smooth tone hid the depth of thought and intuition its accuracy required.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Know what I’m thinking, what I need to hear?”
He gazed at her thoughtfully. “With you, it’s easy.”
“Break time’s over!” Selina’s command was her bidding, at least for another week. The ex-wife of Payne Colton still commanded a room as if she still was married to the state’s richest man. Bella wondered how Payne’s current comatose condition, affected Selina personally. It had to be difficult to be on the Colton Oil Board of Directors and not have the chairman present, knowing he might never return. Payne had been her husband once, after all. But as much as Bella had tried to talk to Selina alone, or asked others if they knew more about her, she hadn’t been able to dig up any more dirt on the Colton Oil empire’s current situation. Spencer had told her in the strictest confidence that there was big drama going on as to who the eldest biological heir to Payne’s legacy was, but she wouldn’t be able to use that for a report unless she heard it from a different source.
Which left her with doing what she came here to begin with—Bella needed to find the original records of the Ms. Mustang Valley Pageant that had been in the file cabinet.
“Okay, ladies, thank you for such a great day. I’m going to leave you with Dawn Myers, Mustang Valley’s own winner of several pageants and the winner of Ms. Mustang Valley ten years ago. Please welcome her and follow her lead on how to get through your talent portion.”
Crap. Bella had written on the original application that she’d be presenting a verbal essay on why reporting mattered in today’s world of insta-news and social media. But she’d done nothing to prepare in the meantime. While many of her competitors were staying up late working on their talents, she’d been writing assigned articles for her paying job.
And lying awake too late, wondering what Holden was doing in the other room besides guarding her and laying his long, sexy body on her poppy-red sofa.
“Bye, Selina.” Dawn was a perky blonde whose hair was in a twist, her figure still perfectly trim in white capris with a slinky sleeveless pale pink silk top. Bella wondered how she stayed looking so cool in the heat. Air-conditioning made life bearable in Arizona year-round, but it was still roasting outside in the sun.
For the next hour, the contestants were each grilled on their talent portion. Bella mentally prepared as much as possible, but when it was her turn to walk on and stand center stage without her colleagues she felt every bit the ingenue.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Bella Colton, and I am so fortunate to be able to earn my living doing what I’m most passionate about—bringing the truth to you, the reader, no matter how difficult it may be. Since I’m used to public speaking, I’ve picked poetry reading as my talent. I’ve chosen a poem—”
“Stop, stop!” Señora Rosenstein ran up to the edge of the stage, her cell phone in hand. “There’s been a terrible accident!”
Bella looked around for Holden, and met his gaze with trepidation. Was this another distraction from the killer?
“What is it, Ms. Rosenstein?” Marcie stepped forward.
“Selina’s car has flipped off the highway at the bend just out of town, on the way to Rattlesnake Ridge Ranch.”
A collective gasp made the hairs on Bella’s nape raise, and she fought to keep her feet planted. All she wanted was to run to Holden’s arms as she had the night she’d received the crank call. It’d been easy to think the killer had changed his mind, that’s how quiet the pageant had been.
“Is she okay?” Becky, who was still watching the pageant activities albeit with crutches and only as an observer, spoke from a theater seat in the front row.
Holden walked forward down the main right aisle. “I’ve just spoken to MVPD Sergeant Spencer Colton. Selina appears to be completely fine, just shaken up a bit. She walked away from the crash. She’s being evaluated by EMTs.”
“What caused the accident?” Bella asked.
“We won’t know until a full investigation is completed.”
Murmurs turned to panic amongst the women.
“This is crazy. No scholarship is worth this.”
“What’s going on, really?”