Deceiving Bella: Book Eleven In The Bodyguards Of L.A. County Series Read online

  DECEIVING BELLA

  BOOK ELEVEN IN THE BODYGUARDS OF L.A. COUNTY SERIES

  CATE BEAUMAN

  Deceiving Bella

  Copyright © October 2016 by Cate Beauman.

  All rights reserved.

  Visit Cate at www.catebeauman.com

  Follow Cate on Twitter: @CateBeauman

  Or visit her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CateBeauman

  First Print Edition: October 2016

  Print ISBN-13: 978-1539333968

  Print ISBN-10: 1539333965

  eBook ISBN: 978-0997064117

  Editor: Jennifer Stimson & the E-book Formatting Fairies

  Proofreader: Editing by Kimberly Dawn

  Cover: Demonza

  Formatting: Rachelle Ayala

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are a work of fiction or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Also By Cate Beauman

  Bodyguards of L.A. County Series

  Morgan’s Hunter

  Falling For Sarah

  Hailey’s Truth

  Forever Alexa

  Waiting For Wren

  Justice For Abby

  Saving Sophie

  Reagan’s Redemption

  Answers For Julie

  Finding Lyla

  Table of Contents

  Also By Cate Beauman

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Thank you!

  Also By Cate Beauman

  About The Author

  Dedication

  To my favorite Life Coach Brenda Fahn. Without your great humor and wonderful wisdom, I’m quite certain Reed and Bella’s story never would have been finished. Thank you for helping me find my way out of the dark.

  Chapter One

  Clinton, Ohio

  April 1995

  Bella drew a heart on the back of a pale pink envelope while she sat at the small table tucked in the corner of her room. Smiling, she set down her lilac crayon, pleased that the shape of this heart hardly looked wobbly at all. She studied the assortment of stickers Mommy had given her to decorate her invitations with and picked the glittery fuchsia ones for the corners. Locking her ankles, she kicked her legs back and forth and hummed along with the music on the CD player, trying to ignore her parents shouting in the living room. “Here is my handle, here is my spout,” she muttered, sealing the envelope closed with a puffy star sticker. “Tip me over and pour me out.”

  The yelling suddenly stopped, and footsteps stormed down the hall. Bella jumped when Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom door slammed shut. Pausing, she listened to the quiet, then picked up the next envelope and smiled again when she recognized the letter ‘M.’ “Mary Rose.” She snatched up the sheet of silly smiley faces and put one right below Mommy’s pretty handwriting, certain her best friend would love it.

  “Bella Boop,” Daddy called, giving a quick knock on her door.

  “I’m in here.”

  The knob turned and Daddy walked in dressed in jeans and one of the grease smeared white T-shirts he always wore to work.

  Bella picked up a sky-blue crayon. She paused as she met Daddy’s gaze and realized his brown eyes were red, the way hers looked when she scraped her knees or got shots at the doctor’s office and cried. “Are you and Mommy mad at each other?”

  Daddy sat on the bed, wrinkling her Hello Kitty comforter with his weight. “No. We’re not mad at each other.”

  “Mommy yelled at you. Did you leave the toilet seat up again?” She frowned, remembering the cold water she’d fallen into the other morning. “I don’t want my tushy to get wet again when I sit down.”

  He closed his eyes as he laughed, but it wasn’t his regular laugh that always made her giggle. “No, I didn’t leave the seat up.”

  “Good,” she said with a decisive nod and got back to work.

  “What are you doing in here?” he asked.

  “Coloring my invitations. Mommy said we can bring them with us to school in the morning. Everybody gets to have one—even the boys—so we don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.”

  “That’s my girl.” He winked.

  She handed over one of the envelopes in her finished pile for Daddy to admire. “This one is for Clara. See how it has a letter ‘C’? That’s how I know.”

  “What’s this?” Daddy pointed to the next letter in Clara’s name.

  “An ‘L.’”

  “Smarty-pants.”

  She grinned, always loving it when he called her that. “Clara’s going to be five too. Her mommy’s bringing brownies to school next week when it’s her birthday—just like you brought in the cupcakes for me to share yesterday. Everyone liked them. Pink frosting is the best kind.”

  “With purple sprinkles, right?”

  “Right.” She took the invitation back and continued decorating Mary Rose’s.

  “I can’t believe my girl’s almost five. You’re not a baby anymore.”

  “I’m a beautiful young lady now, right?”

  He sighed. “Somehow you are. Not all that long ago, I was rocking you to sleep.”

  “Beautiful young ladies have pierced ears and paint their nails.” She beamed at him, thrilled that she had both after a trip to the mall and a visit to the nail painter woman Mommy knew. “And young la
dies go to kindergarten when the leaves fall off the trees, right after the summer is over.”

  “I guess they do.” He blew out another breath. “Will you come sit with me for a couple of minutes?”

  She hesitated as she glanced from the stickers to Daddy’s sad eyes. “Okay.”

  He grabbed her under the armpits of her favorite Hello Kitty pajamas and boosted her up, settling her on his thigh. “Here we go.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight.

  She returned his embrace, breathing in the familiar oil smell of the garage where he fixed cars. “Is your tummy sick?”

  “No, baby.” He played his hand through the curls Mommy had made at the end of her long ponytail this morning.

  “Did you get a boo-boo at work?” She picked up his stained black fingers, checking for a cut.

  “No, honey.” He clenched his jaw. “I have to go on a trip.”

  She gasped her excitement and clapped. Daddy always took her on the best adventures. “Can I come?”

  He shook his head. “Not this time.”

  “We could get ice cream at the Dairy Stop,” she said in a singsong voice, hoping that would convince him to change his mind.

  “I wish we could, Bella. I have to go on this trip by myself.”

  She pressed her cheek to his chest. “I don’t want you to go unless I get to come too. I always come too, Daddy.”

  His fingers moved through her hair again. “I know.”

  “You can stay right here with me.” She leaned forward and picked up her favorite book from the pile on the nightstand. “We can read instead.”

  He nuzzled his chin on top of her head, keeping her close.

  She clung to him as her stomach started to hurt. Daddy never went away. He and Mommy always read her books together and took turns bringing her to school after breakfast. “Will you come back soon?”

  He shook his head. “Not for a long time. Not till you’re an even bigger young lady.”

  Her lips trembled as her eyes filled. “But I’ll miss you so much.”

  “I’ll miss you too. I’ll think of you every day.”

  “Daddy.” She sniffled. “I want you to stay.”

  “I have something for you.” He grabbed something from behind his back she hadn’t noticed when he walked in and held up a small snow globe.

  She took the delicate glass and studied the pretty two-story house surrounded by pine trees in the center—much bigger than the home she lived in now. “It’s so nice.”

  “When you look at it, you can think of me.”

  “You’ll live in there?”

  He looked at the ceiling as he swallowed. “Something like that.”

  She stared at the lights on in the cheerful home as the snow fell to the ground. “Will you come out for my party in a couple of days and sing ‘Happy Birthday’?”

  “I can’t.”

  Her shoulders sagged. “But you can come out at night and read to me and tuck me in?”

  He shook his head.

  Her lips trembled again, and she blinked as tears fell.

  “Don’t cry, Bella.” He wiped her cheeks with his thumbs, like he always did. “If there was any other way… If I could be sure you and your mom would be safe, I’d take you with me.”

  “We could call the policemans. They’ll make us safe.”

  “That’s an idea.” He swiped another tear away. “How about I tuck you in and we’ll read?”

  She nodded. “Can I sleep with this?” She gestured to the globe.

  “How about we put it right next to you on the table? I don’t want it to break and cut you.”

  “All right.” She leaned over and set it next to her lamp. “There.”

  Daddy stood, lifting her with him, and pulled back her covers, then settled her in bed. “Here we go.” He tucked the blankets around her and read the story she and Mommy had picked out at the library.

  She giggled when the silly puppy got into mischief and yawned, struggling to keep her eyes open as Daddy turned to the last page.

  “The end.”

  “That’s a good one.” She yawned again. “Maybe we can get a doggy like the girl in the book.”

  “Someday.”

  “I love doggies.”

  “I know you do.”

  She rubbed her tired eyes. “Let’s read it some more.”

  “You need to get some rest.” Daddy stood from his chair. “Snuggle up.”

  She rolled on her side and nestled her cheek on the pillow. “Night-night, Daddy. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” He knelt down and hugged her tight, his breath shuddering in and out next to her ear. “I love you, Bella.” Clearing his throat, he eased back and smiled. “I love you.”

  She smiled too. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He shut his eyes, swallowing several times. “Okay.” Standing again, he turned off her light. “Bye, baby.”

  “Bye, Daddy.”

  Chapter Two

  Los Angeles, California

  March 2016

  Reed took the stairs in twos, bringing one of the last storage containers to his new master bathroom. He set the plastic on the granite countertop and turned in the doorway, glancing around at the half-dozen boxes in his bedroom and the bedframe lying in pieces on the solid wood floor. Now appeared to be as good a time as any to put things to rights.

  Grabbing the safety blade from his back jeans pocket, he went after the tape on the small box labeled ‘Hangers’ as his phone started ringing. He paused, looking at Joey’s face filling the screen, and debated whether or not he wanted to answer. Sighing, he pressed talk. “Yeah.”

  “It’s moving day,” Joey boomed in his New York accent.

  “Thank God.”

  “You officially out of your mother’s place?”

  “Finally.”

  “She’s a good lady.”

  “No man wants to live with his mother, Joe, even temporarily.”

  Joey chuckled. “How’s it going?”

  “Not too bad. I’m pretty much moved in.” He swiped at his dripping brow with his forearm. “Sweaty work, though.”

  “Shoulda stayed in the Big Apple. It’s colder than shit here.”

  “I like that I’m wearing shorts.” He lifted the hem of his white T-shirt and wiped at the perspiration more thoroughly, going after the drops tickling his temples.

  “Sunshine’ll get boring after a while. You’ll get twitchy sooner or later.”

  He doubted it. He’d been in LA for almost seven months and liked it just fine. “What’s up?”

  “Big stuff. Fuckin’ big stuff, buddy, that’s what. You’re never gonna guess what just happened.”

  Wincing, he held the phone away from his ear as his former partner got louder. “With you, that could be just about anything.”

  “You better believe it. I’d be losing my touch if I couldn’t keep you on your toes.”

  Reed grunted his agreement as he grabbed a bunch of the hangers and walked to the closet, waiting for Joey to swing around to his ‘big news.’

  “So, twenty minutes ago, I’m at Walter Hodds’s funeral, and I get the break we’ve been looking for.”

  Reed thought of the US Marshal they’d worked with occasionally over the last several years—a good guy gone too soon. “That was today?”

  “Yeah, I told you I was going when I talked to you on Monday.”

  “I forgot. I hope you gave his wife my condolences.”

  “I took care of it. It was like a greeting card: heartfelt, fucking poetic.”

  Joey rarely spoke a sentence without some sort of expletive in it. “I bet.”

  “You’re going to go crazy when you hear the rest. I’m telling you, this is our big break, buddy. We can blow our investigation wide open with this one.”

  “Last time I checked, I wasn’t looking for any big breaks, and we don’t have an investigation. You keep forgetting I’m not a cop anymore.” He went back for another handful of hangers, g
lancing out the windows at the palm trees blowing in the breeze.

  “Once a cop, always a cop.”

  He slammed more hooks on the rod. “Nope.”

  “So, I’m at Walt’s funeral—the thing afterward—the reception or whatever,” Joey went on despite Reed’s denial. “We’re at his house and I spill a fuckin’ glass of red wine down my pants.”

  Reed rolled his eyes. Joey had huge hands to go along with his linebacker-size. “What a surprise.”

  “Melanie grabs my arm and we start toward the bathroom, ‘cept the line’s a mile long. We decide to try the master bathroom ‘cause I can’t wait forever, you know? I look like I pissed myself. We go in, kinda close the door, and I take off my pants while Melanie tries to figure out how she’s gonna get the mess out of my clothes without staining the white washcloths Walt’s missus keeps on the towel rack. One thing leads to another and I’m kissing Mel’s neck, giving her a little grope—getting fresh.”

  Reed attacked the tape on the box holding his shoes. “At a funeral?”

  “Hey, nobody wants to feel alive more than when they’re among the dead.”

  “Jesus,” he scoffed, shaking his head.

  “That’s what Melanie said.”

  “So, we’re making out, and we hear these guys as they walk into the bedroom. I got a fuckin’ boner and someone’s coming.”

  Reed laughed. Had it really been almost a year since he’d sat in an unmarked car, listening to one of Joey’s insane stories?

  “I grab my pants and Mel’s hand and yank her into the shower stall with me—quietly close the curtain and pray that no one finds me with my pecker hanging out of my boxers.”

  Reed cringed. “I don’t need to know this.”

  “Ends up that it’s Peter Salada from FBI and Corey Upshaw from the Marshals. I’d recognize their voices anywhere.”

  Reed frowned as he tossed a pair of flip-flops next to his boxing shoes. “What were they doing in Walter’s bedroom?”

  “That’s what I wanted to know. Of course it piqued my interest, so I’m listening real close when I hear Upshaw telling Salada how he was with Walter at some diner downtown when Walter fell out of his chair dead. They were talking and the poor bastard just croaked.”