Page 31 of Betting on Lizzie

“That means all these are ex-boyfriends?”

She winked, and he tried but failed to contain an eye roll.

“I talked to Maya about last night,” Ben said. “She should be calling you to apologize today. Please let me know if she doesn’t.”

“That’s not really necessary, but whatever.”

“Lying’s not okay. There have to be some consequences.”

She shrugged. “All right.”

“You got a lotta junk in there, Audrey,” they overheard one of the men say to Lizzie’s grandma. She was apparently looking for something in her purse, pulling out all sorts of odds and ends and placing them on the table in front of her. Lipstick, pens, a stapler, a spoon, a scarf, more pens, a yellow rubber duck, one sock, a crazy straw, and more pens.

“Your grandma’s quite the pack rat,” Ben said, fascinated and distracted by each item she pulled out. Wondering what would come next, he found it hard to look away.

“That’s one word for it,” Lizzie mumbled. She sipped her coffee and then elaborated. “She ‘collects’ things. And not always things that are hers to collect.”

He raised both brows.

“I mean, she doesn’t steal, per se. It started a few years ago with little things—a spoon from Lucy’s old coffee shop or pens from Kate’s office—stuff like that. My mom would find random objects in Nana’s pockets while doing the laundry. There were a couple of times things got murky—a ‘forgotten’ bra in her pocket at a department store and a ‘lost’ wallet situation at my parents’ Halloween party last year. My dad has talked to her repeatedly, and no one’s really sure why she—”

Lizzie stopped midsentence, jumped up, and rushed over to her. Curious, Ben followed.

“Nana,” Lizzie said, picking up a furry purple chunk. “Where did you get this?”

The woman’s eyes widened and darted around the room furtively as if the answer was written on the walls.

“I don’t care where. I won’t get mad,” Lizzie said. “But I need to know.”

Her grandma snatched it from Lizzie’s hand. “I found it at your bar the morning after the fire. I figured it was ruined anyway, and no one would want it.”

“Seriously?” Lizzie hugged her hard. “This is fantastic. Thank you.”

Everyone shared looks of confusion, including Ben. Lizzie turned to him and dropped the ash-filled, plush, purple nugget into his hand. “You gotta check out Felix Bell. Hundred bucks says he’s your arsonist.”

“And this proves that how?” Ben asked.

“Felix used to work for me. He carried this ugly rabbit’s foot with him everywhere. He is very superstitious, and paranoid, and just plain weird. I had to fire him. That was five months ago. Nana found this in the rubble at The Drop. Which means he was at the bar that night. And since I worked until close and didn’t see him, it must have been after hours.”

Ben’s eyebrows shot up. A lead—just what he needed. “All right,” he said. “I’ll hunt him down today and see what he has to say for himself.”

He dumped his coffee into a to-go cup and returned to the office. Dispatch located an address for Felix Bell, and Ben tagged Hugh to accompany him.

Mr. Bell caved at the first question. Started crying and admitted everything. Said the guilt had been eating him alive, and he was glad to have the truth out. Ben and Hugh arrested him and took him to the police station for processing.

Back at his desk, Ben called the insurance company to let them know he’d made an arrest and that they’d cleared Lizzie of wrongdoing. Then he called Lizzie with the good news.

“He sang like a Carolina wren,” Ben told her. “Admitted to setting the fire and was glad he got caught. He’s in police custody now.”

“That’s great news,” Lizzie said. “Did he say why?”

“He was mad because you gave him a bad reference when he applied for a new job.”

“I remember that. I was surprised he listed me as a reference in the first place, but I thought I was pretty diplomatic, considering what a terrible employee he was.”

“He was certain we caught him because he didn’t have his lucky charm to protect him and kept asking when he could get it back.”

“Told you he was weird. Does this mean the insurance company will pay out?”

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