“Babe, you did it.” He lifted her to her feet and hugged her tight. Then pushed her back, looked at her face, her body. “Are you okay?”
She nodded slightly. “I am, but my scalp’s going to be sore for the next few days.”
“That bastard will never bother you again.”
She went back into his arms, rested her head gingerly on his shoulder. “No other woman, either. We’ll be able to have the pageant finale in peace, at least.”
“Bella!” Spencer was next to them, and Bella turned to him. Watching the siblings hug, a sense of deep longing hit him. He wanted to be part of Bella’s family. He wanted to be her family.
But she needed room to finish her exposé, and he had his own work to do. He’d disabled the threat but there would be a long after-investigation and reports to fill out. Law enforcement learned from each case and relied on accurate documentation.
More EMTs showed up, and escorted Bella away to check her over. Spencer turned to him. “You okay, buddy?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’ve never seen you cry at a scene, man.”
He wiped his eyes. “There’s a first for everything.” Including the realization that what you’ve been working for isn’t everything. Not even close.
Chapter 24
One week later Bella scanned the audience from her vantage point on a stage bleacher, during the opening number. MVPD had asked the pageant committee to delay the final night of the competition until the following weekend to allow for cleanup and investigation closure. She fingered the tiny owl charm on the silver bracelet that had arrived two days after the shootout. It had been gift wrapped with a note in bold print.
Hope you find peace again. Gio would be proud. Thanks for being such a great partner.
Holden
It was the last she’d heard from him. As each day passed she came to accept that it signaled the end of whatever they’d shared.
“Welcome to the thirtieth annual Ms. Mustang Valley Pageant and our final night of exciting competition!” Selina’s voice boomed over the sound system and the funky music she’d insisted upon and the crowd roared. As much as Bella had signed up for this for such different motivation than to win the crown of Ms. Mustang Valley, she couldn’t help but react to the adulation and enthusiasm from the audience. She waved from her bleacher spot onstage toward where she saw Spencer and Jarvis sitting, both hooting and hollering as they clapped. They still didn’t know what kind of exposé she was about to publish—no one did. She’d written it all last week. The pageant files from Becky had told her nothing about the pageant committee, except that they’d handed down nutrition and fitness plans to the contestants.
Becky had been afraid Bella would misconstrue the diet plans and make it look as though the committee had told Gio personally to starve herself. Bella wasn’t surprised by what she found and didn’t find. It had been a hard won conclusion, but the plain truth was that eating disorders and mental illness were complicated, rarely caused by one event or instance. Triggered, yes, but from what she’d read in the archival files, Ms. Mustang Valley hadn’t remained in the dark ages about beauty pageants and in fact had always called itself a scholarship contest. Bella had to admit she’d been too ready to find fault when she started this investigation, and had learned a valuable lesson to always keep an open mind, even when trying to justify a beloved friend’s untimely death. Bella knew she was lucky to be healthy and alive, and once she accepted what she’d really learned through this entire ordeal, the Ms. Mustang Valley pageant’s files had ended up fortifying the article she did write. There would never be enough attention given to eating disorders or mental illness. This report gave her a platform to shed more light on both, from a personal angle.
Holden remained MIA the entire time she worked on finishing her report. “He has so many loose ends to wrap up, you know,” Spencer had told her. But she knew there was more to Holden’s absence. Her worst fear was substantiated by him not showing up at all. She figured Holden realized that what had looked like a budding relationship wasn’t going to go any further.
Still, she searched the faces of the crowd, as many as she could see from her vantage point on the bleacher step and through the stage lights. Hoping against hard reality that Holden was here.
Leigh Dennings had her own cheering team in other Affirmation Alliance Group members who sat together in the first several rows. Micheline Anderson was in the center of the group and Bella wondered if Spencer or Holden had seen her. Holden didn’t appear to be present, but she knew Spencer would let him know Micheline had shown up.
The grief over losing the relationship she’d never had a chance to appreciate or enjoy without threat of immediate death threatened to make her sob onstage, in front of several hundred of her best friends.
Only for Gio did she hold it together. She may have lost Holden, but she still had her life to live. This wasn’t the time for self-pity.
* * *
Holden had the pageant streaming on his laptop as he took care of all the personal business he’d neglected over the past month. A month spent searching for, and finding and ultimately taking out a disturbed serial killer. Ben’s musings about his mother, before he’d died on the high school classroom floor, had proved true. She’d been a redhead with green eyes, and according to Ben’s elementary school records his mother had abused him repeatedly. He’d been in and out of foster care, always returning to her side and no doubt more abuse. He had no regrets about that, except for the surviving victims’ families who would never see justice carried out in a court of law.
Streaming from unclassified, insecure internet at the Bureau was strictly prohibited, so he’d saved his bills and personal correspondence until tonight.
The stream wasn’t as clear as he’d wished; while he knew which tiny figure was Bella onstage it was only because he’d witnessed all of the practices.
No, he had no regret over the case and how it had worked out. But he did wish he’d been able to express to Bella what she meant to him. It didn’t make sense to begin something he couldn’t follow up on until he closed the case.
Until he knew he was worthy to ask her to consider to be his partner.
The television sound was background as he double-checked utility bills, caught up on laundry. Vaguely he registered that the talent portion had begun. When he heard Selina’s voice, unmistakable even with a shaky internet connection, announce the next talent portion, he stilled.
“Ms. Bella Colton tells us what matters most to her in a very special personal essay.” Selina’s intro revealed none of the acrimony she’d shown to Bella during the rehearsal period. He had to give the ex-Colton credit; she earned her PR director pay grade in spades.