Belinda blinks at me a few times, then looks up at Dad as if she’s asking him if she should.
“You were strong enough to leave, so be strong enough to fight for that freedom,” I remind her.
Belinda’s face scrunches up for just a moment before she hardens her features and gives me a slight nod.
“Good, now tell me what really happened.” I don’t tell her I know she used magic on the body. I need to know if she’s telling the truth, and that’s the one thing I know for certain in all this.
Belinda’s fingers shake as she brings them up to blot the fabric under her nose. “I’m not sure if he was waiting for me or if he followed me inside after lunch. After I put my bag in the office, he was just there.”
“Did he try to hurt you?” Dad interrupts.
I give him a look that I hope respectfully tells him to shut the hell up. “As soon as I saw him, I ran,” Belinda admits.
“So you did know him, or at least of him.” I really pegged her wrong. That was one part of her statement I believed.
“No, I’d never seen him before, but I knew William sent him the moment I laid eyes on him.”
I’m not sure if she’s telling the truth, but if that man was anything like the one we have in custody, I can believe she would know his type on sight. “What happened next?” I prompt.
“He was blocking the door, but I’m not even sure if I thought about going out it at the time, I just wanted to get away from him, so I ran. I ended up in the mezzanine upstairs—so stupid.” She shakes her head. “He wasn’t far behind me, but I was able to hide behind the stacks. There was nowhere else to go, so I climbed on top of the shelf. I thought if I hid long enough, he would go back downstairs and I could escape.”
Silent tears begin racing down Belinda’s cheeks.
“I didn’t mean for it to fall. Honestly, I didn’t even know he would be standing there.”
“Are you saying you were climbing one of the bookshelves to hide and it fell and crushed his skull?” My first thought is instant karma, but secondly, I wonder if it really is possible it was an accident.
Belinda nods and lifts her arms at the elbows, her palms facing out. She uses her left hand to drag down her sleeve, exposing a wide bruise across her wrist and another black line right near her elbow. Hexes, she must have still been climbing when it fell. “The buffer charm I use to move the shelves must have still been engaged when I climbed up it…” She uses her hand and makes a motion of something tipping over. “I didn’t even know it landed on him at first. Not until I saw…”
This is almost too insane to be made up. Who could come up with a story like this? “How could there be no evidence of the books or shelf having been in the blood pool?”
“Once the shelf tipped, the buffer charm engaged, keeping the shelf and all the books from the floor by an inch or two.” Belinda demonstrates the space with her fingers, but it’s more like a quarter of an inch. No wonder there was nothing left of the SOB’s head. “The books on my side were a bit scattered, but that’s a simple replacement spell. I do it five times a day, that was just on a bigger scale. After that, I used magic to right the shelf and a little more to clean the books and shelf.” She makes it sound simple. All the spells she used were so mundane, it didn’t even tip my radar that they could all be combined and make one grizzly outcome.
I look over at Dad. “That’s why we couldn’t find any dust on the books.” I bite my inner lip to keep my face straight. This is too fucking bizarre for words. I must admit, I lost a little sympathy for the guy when I found out he was an errand boy taking a woman back to her abusive husband, so that might be why I can find the humor in the situation.
“Are you willing to be put on a truth probe to verify this?” I ask Belinda, and she nods immediately without hesitation. “It’s intrusive, but I’m going to be honest. Without that as a tool, I don’t know if anyone is going to believe this story.”
She’s telling the truth,Percival speaks through our connection. I nod, agreeing with his statement.
“I’ll do it, I don’t have anything to hide anymore.” Belinda looks over at my dad with wide, hopeful eyes. He reaches forward and pats her knee softly, making me think this might turn out okay after all.
Chapter 27
I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.
After talking with Belinda for a few more minutes, Dad takes her to his office. I don’t have the heart to remind him this is far from over. It may have cleared things up for him, but there’s still a lot Belinda needs to answer for, not to mention there’s also the threat of her husband. If he’s as dangerous as she seems to believe, I don’t think he’s going to give up so easily.
I close the door to the breakroom and make a call. Lewis offered resources, and now I need to find out if she’s going to make good on that.
“Lo,” she mumbles, giving her trademark greeting.
“It’s Bishop.” I never know if she’ll know who’s calling, like if I’m programmed into her phone.
“What’s up?” I hear chattering in the background, but I have no clue where she is.
“New developments and a request. This is a strange one.”
“Hit me with it,” Lewis tells me.
