A Walk in Ashes
Gold and Belle profess their mutual attraction but they avoid consummation in deference to a pale semblance of professionalism on Gold's part. The next morning, Gold reviews his notes and decides to revisit acquaintances of Lacey Redfern, including Jefferson - one of Belle's designers, Gaston - Belle's ex-boyfriend, and Keith Nottingham - Lacey's boyfriend. There is growing evidence that Keith was abusive and, Gold suspects, likely the father of Lacey's baby. He notes some inconsistencies in Keith's story regarding an injured foot.
Spending some time with her girlfriends, Belle is distressed when Cora and Regina both warn her against Gold, Cora being particularly vindictive. Belle defends Gold and suggests to Cora that perhaps they should part company.
Gold rejoins Belle and begins to re-enact the murder as if he is the killer. He realizes the killer would be desperate to dispose of the murder weapon and finds himself standing in front of Belle's large ebony and porcelain clock.
Chapter 14
Full Disclosure
A.N. There's a fair amount of smut in the opening of this chapter (this is why this story has an M rating).
Gold looked around. He knelt down in front of the large wood and porcelain clock that Belle had in her foyer, the first thing a person would see when coming into her apartment.
"What are you doing?" Belle asked him, kneeling down next to him as he began to try to take out the bottom panel.
"Do you have a screwdriver?"
Belle went into the kitchen and returned with a purple-handled flat head.
Gold gave the uniquely colored tool and then Belle a brief glance. Belle caught a small smile on the policeman's face as he applied the tool to the panel. "Look there's only this one screw at the top that's fastened. The others are missing. The panel's just been propped in. Surprised that Mrs. Potts hadn't noticed – not to mention the forensic team that was supposed to have searched your place."
As the panel slide away, Gold peered inside the base of the clock and saw what he was looking for. He motioned for Belle to look deep inside the clock.
"Have you ever seen this before?" he asked her.
Belle peered inside the opened base of the clock. "No, I didn't know the clock would even open up. Oh my god! Is that . . . is that the murder weapon?"
"Could be. It looks to be the right type of gun. I hope I don't have to tell you not to touch anything. Fingerprints will be important. I'll have the clock and the gun picked up today."
He stood up and made a phone call. "Forensics will be coming up here and they can see if we can get fingerprints off the weapon and the clock," he told her. "If it comes up like I think it will, we may very well be able to make the arrest before supper."
"So you're sure that I was the target all along," Belle said. "I thought for a while there you thought that perhaps Lacey was the real target."
"I did, but no one, except Jones, knew that she was going to be in your apartment. So unless he was the killer . . . ," he shrugged, then continued. "My chief suspects all knew you were going to be out of town so they wouldn't have come here to kill you. The killer had to be someone who didn't know you were going to be out of town. Someone who came here to kill you in a rage, angry at you, blaming you for their problems."
Belle sat down in a chair in her dining area, her face solemn and sad. "So the murderer didn't really kill Lacey," Belle began. "I killed her."
"What? What are you talking about?" Gold sat down next to her.
"I did, Rumple. I did as surely as if I'd pulled the trigger myself."
"That's nonsense. Forget it."
"I made someone angry, very angry. If I hadn't, then Lacey would still be alive."
"I can understand . . . somewhat . . . how you feel, Belle . . . maybe. But you know, I can't understand why you've tried so hard to protect Jones these last few days."
"I was nearly frantic for fear you'd arrest him. I knew he wasn't guilty. He hasn't enough courage to kill a fly. And Regina was doing everything she could to incriminate him. It would be her way of getting rid of Jones, just as she did Gaston."
Gold shook his head, "I must say, for a charming, intelligent woman, you've certainly surrounded yourself with a remarkable collection of dopes." He stood up.
"What are you going to do?" Belle asked him standing up next to him.
"I can assign motive and opportunity. I just need to tie the killer to the weapon. Then I can make an arrest."
"Rumple?" Belle was not sure where he was going with this. She didn't want him walking out of her life. She decided to make a move.
"I can do this. I have a suspect." He reassured her and started towards the door. Belle reached out to him and pulled him to her. She held his face in her hands and gently began kissing him. After a moment of stunned silence, he began to kiss her back.
He pulled away. "It's . . . . it's the middle of the afternoon," he stammered.
"The better to see you," Belle slowly told him. "Come," and she led him back into the hallway that led to her bedroom and pushed him against the wall. She smashed herself against him. "I think if you've caught the killer, we don't have to wait anymore," she told him.
"Wait for what?" he asked, a might confused.
"For this," she told him between kisses. "My biggest regret is that I didn't meet you sooner." And she began to pull off his jacket and, succeeding, dropped it to the floor. Then she began to work on the two button vest, jerking it down his arms and having it follow the jacket to the floor. She began to unfasten his shoulder harness.
Gold had always been a bit slow when it came to women, but Belle's invitation was unmistakable.
"I'm not a suspect any more, right?" she pulled back and asked him, affirming her suspicions.
"No, but I . . ." he was a bit confused and struggled to formulate an answer. Her intentions were clear but he wasn't sure why . . . why she would want him? She wasn't tired. She wasn't scared. She wasn't drunk.
His body, however, was not confused and had had an immediate response. After the merest moment of hesitation, he moved quickly to begin to tug and pull off her clothes - his hands, like hers, moving in a flurry of motions, both helping to remove his own clothes while attempting to remove hers. He stripped off her skirt and very nearly tore off her blouse, all the while finishing the battle to remove his shoulder harness, his gun clunking to the floor. Belle was left in a lacy little bra and matching lace cotton panties. Abruptly, Gold reversed positions, turning Belle so that her back was against the wall.
She reached up and pulled his tie off, then leaned in and bit a button off his shirt, spitting it out to the side. Her small hand then managed to reach down to unfasten his belt and she slid the leather out of the loops.
"I think my knee will be up for this. You're just a mite of thing," he told her and he reached to pull down her sodden panties. No mistaking her interest in him. He then reached down to unzip his own pants and he was able to pull himself out¸ already engorged and hardened for her.
"You are sure about this?" he had to ask, just to be completely convinced his attentions were welcomed, desired.
"Of course, I'm sure," she told him and assisted him as she could when he began to lift her. She was able to wrap her legs around him. Her arms were set on his shoulders, bracing herself as she could, her back against the wall.
Caught up in the heat of passion, he dropped her just enough so that he could enter her, claiming her without preamble, slamming her against the wall, driving into her, pulling back and pushing hard into her again. The immediate sensation was totally consuming and Belle felt her body tighten and respond, pulsing around him without benefit of foreplay. She cried out as the orgasm abruptly washed over her.
Gold pulled back enough to look at Belle face, tilted back, her eyes closed, her mouth opened. He'd been surprised but couldn't fail to recognize her quick, intense reaction. He managed to whisper, "Nice." Another time he would smile about this.
Slightly stunned, Belle still managed to hold on for all she was worth, her hands fisted into the shoulders of his shirt. Now with each hard push she began to feel that familiar coiling beginning to roil in her stomach. Somehow he was still able to kiss her, his mouth turning slightly to the side to press against hers. Her breaths began to shorten, catching onto the timing of his thrusts, driving her, pounding her into the wall, the solid, unyielding wall. He felt her begin to shiver and grow rigid before splintering in his hands. There was a short ragged cry and he knew she had tipped over and lost herself to him. He gave a few more thrusts and with a groan and a muttered, "Fuck!" he released himself in several long enormously satisfying sprays of his seed. His leaned forward, his head resting on the wall. Belle slowly began to slip out of his grasp.
They rested on each other, both breathing heavily. Belle slowly became aware that she was nearly naked except for her bra and her shoes. His body still covered hers and he was stroking her hair and murmuring soft nonsense words into her ear.
"Are you all right? That was a bit rough and . . . unexpected," he asked.
"I'm fine," she shook her head. "I'm great," she corrected. "That was the most intense experience I've ever had . . . twice. Oooo," she said, looking down. "I'm leaking."
"Oh lord, Belle, I didn't think . . . are you using birth control?" He was all contrition and concern.
She smiled at him, "I am."
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm clean. It's been a while for me," he confessed. "I'm sorry, though, I should've thought before I jumped you."
"I thought I jumped you," Belle told him.
Gold gave her one of his almost smiles, twitching the corner of his mouth, "Let's say it was a mutual jumping." He pulled her over to him, reaching behind her to unfastened her bra, leaving her naked but for her shoes. She instinctively put her hands across her breasts but he gently put his hands on hers and pulled them down. "You don't need to hide yourself from me. You are perfect. Absolutely beautiful." He kissed her on the nose and traced his fingers along the curvature of her breasts. "What just happened was great, fantastic, but it was altogether too fast. Let's say we adjourn to that bedroom of yours and try it again, a bit more slowly."
Belle nearly skipped leading him back to bedroom. "We need to finish getting you undressed," she told him.
"By all means, lady," he told her.
# # # # #
Belle relaxed, snuggling down in her soft cotton sheets, relishing the warm body of the man next to her.
A moment before, with some eager assistance from Belle, Gold had removed his remaining clothes. She had been able to gaze on his slender compactly muscular form. There were scars aplenty, especially on his knee which had been bashed into an unrecognizable knob of bone and flesh. He was obviously uncomfortable with her looking at it, but when she rested her hand on the knee, her face reflecting her concern, he was able to look her in the eyes.
"This still hurts?" she asked him.
"Yes, I'm missing cartilage and it's bone against bone. It's been mangled so badly they can't do a replacement."
"You're so brave," she whispered.
"I'm so lucky," he told her. He had joined her on the bed.
"You're also very pretty," she told him. this time her fingers tracing down his chest.
He snorted. "I'm not but if you want to think so, I'm fine with that." He placed her on her back, halfway sitting up on some pillows. He had turned on his side so that he could run a hand down her arm and then . . . slowly . . . up her body, lingering on her breast. "I think that first time was rather primal. I'd really like to do it again, a little more slowly and . . . softly."
Belle ran her hand along his arm. "Considering I've never, ever come even close during sex, I suspect that maybe, just maybe, I might like it rough."
"Maybe, we'll have to do some experimentation to see. Although right now, I'd like to lick every inch of your body," he grinned at her.
"Really?" she squeaked.
"This smooth, perfect skin. I want to taste you all over," he nipped at her playfully. "You must know that you smell delicious." He lent his attentions to one of her breasts, circling it with his fingers and teasing the nipple into a hard little nub. "Do you like hard pressure here?" he asked her, his fingers gently holding onto the nipple while he intently watched her face.
"I don't know," she told him. "Like what do you mean?" She really didn't know. Her previous lovers had been more in and out and gone.
"Like this," and he rolled the nipple, applying firm pressure with his fingers until he reached a point that he was pinching her.
"Ow," she said and he immediately released her.
"Sorry, just trying to learn what you like," and he leaned in and kissed her right on the nipple, suckling on it and pulling it into his mouth.
"Ow," Belle said again, her hand settling on the back of his head.
He stopped but Belle pulled him back down to her. "Those were good 'ow's,'" she told him in a breathless voice.
"Really?" He wanted to be sure.
"Yeah," Belle sounded just a little desperate and Gold could not help but feel a surge of satisfaction.
"All right. So maybe we can try this," and he re-addressed his mouth to one nipple and his clever, knowing fingers to the other nipple.
Listening to the mewling sounds that the lady was emitting, he felt like he was hitting a spot . . . maybe not the spot but a spot.
Belle's doorbell rang.
It was like being doused in cold water.
"Damnation! It's probably the forensic group come for the clock and the gun." He started up.
"Why don't you stay here and think about what you might want to do to me," she suggested. And she slipped out of bed to slip on a simple knit tunic that reached mid-thigh.
"I can see your nipples," he told her. Belle pulled a face at him and reached into her closet to grab a lightweight jacket.
"Better?" she asked him.
"I know you're naked underneath that," he told her, pretending to leer at her, well, perhaps not really pretending.
"That should keep your motor running," she told him on the way out to answer the door.
The doorbell rang again.
And suddenly. . .
Every hair on Gold stood on end. . .
Every antennae sprang to attention. . .
The little voice that every police officer had, began to scream.
"NO! BELLE, NO!" he cried out and vaulted from the bed.
Without pausing to even wrap a towel around himself, he burst from the bedroom to see that he was too late. Belle had answered the door.
Keith Nottingham stood in the door holding a gun on Belle. He glanced over at Gold and sneered. "Bad time?"
Despite his appearance, Gold didn't hesitate, "Keith, we already know that you were the one who shot Lacey. You came here to shoot Belle that night, not knowing she was out of town, not knowing that Lacey was here. You blamed Belle for taking her away from you and you wanted to get her back." Gold spoke in soft, low tones.
"I didn't mean to kill Lacey. I loved her," Keith protested.
"I know you did," Gold told him slowly circling back and forth, moving like a snake charmer, gradually getting closer to Keith, his own nudity not hampering him in the least. "You didn't know she was pregnant, did you? You thought she was sleeping around on you, sleeping with Killian Jones. And you thought that Belle was helping her, helping her get away from you."
"She was mine!" Keith shouted. "She belonged to me! And then," he swung on Belle, "This bitch started telling her she was too good for me! She started getting ideas that she didn't need me anymore. You ruined everything!" And Keith, his arm shaking, raised the gun, pointing it towards Belle's head.
Gold knew he had one and only one chance. He launched himself at Keith, springing across the room in a flying tackle. Belle took that moment to duck down and out of the way.
Keith and Gold rolled on the floor, one tall and burly and the other wiry and determined. Keith had a history as a bar fighter but he relied on his size and brute force. Gold, being a smaller man yet more experienced, was more scientific in his approach to a fight, hitting Keith in his ears, his neck, his kidneys, all vulnerable places. Yet neither one could gain an advantage over the other, both grappling with the gun. Belle watched in fear but was unable to see how she could help Gold, not when there was a loaded gun between them.
At that moment, two plain-clothed officers showed up at the door. They pulled their guns on Gold and Keith.
But the two combatants continued to roll on the floor.
"Freeze!" one of the officers shouted attempting to get the attention of the two assailants.
Then everyone in the room heard the gun go off.
"NO!" Belle shouted, immediately throwing herself onto Gold.
There was groaning.
"No, no, no, please, please, please be all right," she was near crying,
"I'm all right," he managed to tell her.
"Hey, this other guy's bleeding," one of the officers said examining Keith. "I'm calling an ambulance." At the same time, the officer retrieved the gun.
The other officer trained his gun on Gold.
"It's all right guys, I'm Lieutenant Gold, Special Crimes Unit. My badge is in my pants in the bedroom."
The officer looked suspicious but his partner spared a moment from making his call and took a good look at Gold. "That is Lieutenant Gold, although he's out of uniform."
"Thank you for stating the obvious. You," Gold pointed to the officer who was not on the phone, "Come with me while I get my badge. . . and my pants," he added.
Gold's authoritative tone caused the officer to pause. He was clearly not used to being told what to do by a naked man.
Belle spoke up, "He really is a police officer. This man," she pointed to Keith. "killed a woman in this apartment. He thought he was killing me. Lieutenant Gold was the one who called you to come and get my clock for forensics to go over," she explained
"Yes ma'am," the officer who'd called for the ambulance nodded.
Gold had made it back to the bedroom, found his pants, found his badge and showed it to the officer. "Mind if I get dressed?" he asked.
"Please do so, sir," the officer said. "Please."
"The man out there is Keith Nottingham. Assuming he survives, I'm arresting him for the attempted murder of Belle French. If the forensics come back on the gun in the clock like I think they will, then I'll make a second arrest for the murder of Lacey Redfern."
Keith had come to and was groggy. "I'm shot?" he muttered.
Belle had come over to him and knelt by him. "Keith, I'm so sorry. I was trying to help Lacey. She loved you but couldn't live you, not when you kept hurting her. She didn't deserve that."
"But I loved her. She shouldn't have tried to leave me."
"She wouldn't have tried to leave you if you had quit hurting her."
"I didn't know she was pregnant," Keith managed to whisper.
Belle continued to kneel by Keith, removing her jacket to staunch the freely bleeding wound in his side, then actually holding his hand until the ambulance got there. The medics looked him over and shook their heads. They did some immediate first aid and loaded him up and took him away.
The officers managed to load the clock onto a dolly and hauled it away with the gun still inside.
Belle collapsed into Gold, her hands still stained with blood.
"Woman, you are a good soul. That guy would have killed you if he'd had the chance. He made two attempts," Gold told her reeling in disbelief that she had offered comfort to the man. He would have poured salt in the asshole's wounds.
"Keith was pretty screwed up, judging by some of the things that Lacey told me," Belle cried into his shoulder. "I feel sorry for him but . . . I don't want him wandering around on the street."
"Listen, why don't we get properly dressed and go out for something to eat. I can call someone who can get this cleaned up." He positioned himself between Belle and the blood on the carpet.
"Maybe, we . . . would you mind . . . could we go back to your house for tonight?" Belle asked him. "I don't feel . . . right here anymore." She looked up at him, "I feel safe at your house."
He looked at her. "Why don't you wash off and get a bag together and we can do that."
"You don't mind?"
He had to smile at her. "I hate it's under these circumstances, but I welcome you to my house."
He took her to Farm Burger for supper, figuring the wholesome, familiar food would provide some comfort.
"You were incredible," she told him sitting down at their table. "Coming out Full Monty to face down Keith."
He grimaced. "I didn't think I had time to grab anything and I had to get out there to distract the man."
"Well, you certainly were distracting," she commented blushing.
"I figured being accosted by a naked man would throw him off his game for a moment."
"Not something you see every day," Belle confirmed.
"Just a little something I could do," he told her.
Belle smiled at him and put her hand on his. "Not so little," she assured him.
Gold ordered the Number 6, a burger with a fried egg, bacon and cheese, while Belle ordered their Number 1 Farm Burger with added lettuce, tomato and pickles. At Gold's urging they both ordered beer, a Fat Tire for Belle and a Pisgah Pale Ale for himself.
"You knew it was Keith all along, didn't you?" she asked him sipping on her beer.
"Not a first. I'd eliminated both Regina, who knew you would be out of town, and Jones, who I didn't think would have the balls to do cold-blooded murder. At first I thought it was Cora. She didn't know you were going to be out of town. She had motive, if Jones could be considered a motive. But a shot gun . . . just didn't fit her style."
"You thought she would be more likely to stab somebody or poison them."
"Yeah. I also didn't think she'd risk Jones being implicated. In her own way she cares about him."
"For now," Belle finished for him.
"But Keith. He didn't know you were going to be out of town. He had motive, thinking you were breaking up his relationship with Lacey. He had opportunity, leaving his best friend drunk and passed out, driving over to your apartment and . . . . He obviously had means, with access to at least two guns and he knew how to use them. I had him checked out. He's got a history of assault. He also regularly carried a variety of screwdrivers in his pocket." Gold took a drink. "There were also inconsistencies. There were two stories of how he'd hurt his foot – tripping over something and dropping something on it. No reason to lie about something so trivial. I think, after stashing the gun, he went down the stairs, and not wanting to be seen leaving the building, he opened the window on that first landing, unfastened the screen and jumped down behind this building. He hurt it in the fall. He also lied about seeing Lacey on Saturday morning. He thought he had killed you and didn't realize that it was Lacey he'd shot."
"I get why he would lie about his foot injury, although you'd think he'd stick to one story. Why would he say he'd seen Lacey?"
"I guess he figured that she was still alive and assumed she had gone to visit her mother. He didn't know he'd killed her and no one else had seen her after Friday. He likely thought that saying she'd left Saturday would look less like she was running away from him."
Gold's phone rang. He frowned. "I don't recognize the number," he said.
Belle looked at it. "It's Regina," she told him.
"Damn," he said, clearly debating answering it.
"Go ahead. She won't give up," Belle told him.
He answered it. "Yeah?"
"Darling. Just want to remind you to listen to my podcast. I think you'll like it."
Belle smiled and pulled out her own phone. "Let me find it," she told him. They came in on the tail end.
"And thus, as history has proved, love is eternal. It has been the strongest motivation for human actions throughout centuries. Love is stronger than life."
"Well that's nice," Belle said.
"Are we going to have to replay the whole thing?" he asked.
"I'll do it and give you a quick synopsis, in case she grills you on it," Belle promised him.
Thx so much to all those reviewers for sticking with me to the Big Reveal: Grace5231973, cynicsquest, RaFire, Tinuviel Undomiel, Wondermorena, kagi-chan2, Erik'sTrueAngel, Too Nice (Guest), jewel415, Robin4. onlyinyourdreams77, deweymay, OneMagician, and orthankg1 (chapters 12 & 13)
NEXT: It's the last chapter. I'll be tying up some lose ends:
Belle and Gold come to a mutual understanding
Belle has a special surprise for Gold