Chapter 4 #2
He stormed toward the elevator, jabbing the button repeatedly as if the force of his finger could make it arrive faster. The doors remained stubbornly closed, the light above indicating it was several floors away.
Kelly watched, her amusement growing, as Kevin shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the dramatic impact of his exit diminishing with each passing second. He refused to look back at them, his shoulders rigid with indignation.
She had to suppress a giggle at his predicament. He loved to get the last word, but not this time.
When the elevator finally arrived with a cheerful ding, Kevin stomped inside, turning to face them with what he clearly intended to be a withering glare. Instead, he looked almost comical. He was a grown man having a tantrum because he didn't get his way.
"Are you okay?" Ben asked, his voice pulling her back to the present moment.
Turning to face him, she was keenly aware that she'd just had her relationship's death throes witnessed by the gorgeous guy across the hall. Not exactly the best impression she could have made on a neighbor.
Not that she was romantically interested. She wasn’t. But still…she could only imagine what he was thinking right now.
"No, I'm not," Kelly admitted with a frankness that surprised even her. "But I will be."
She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling oddly vulnerable under Ben's steady gaze. There was concern there, but not pity. A distinction she appreciated.
"I know it's not much," Ben said after a moment, lifting the grocery bag in his hand, "but I bought a bottle of wine and a frozen pizza. How about it?"
The offer caught her off guard. She barely knew this man, and yet there was something about him that felt... safe. There was really no valid reason to trust him, but a voice inside of her said that she could.
Maybe it was the way he'd stepped between her and Kevin without hesitation. Or maybe it was the earnestness in his expression now, free from any ulterior motive she could detect.
"That sounds perfect, actually," Kelly found herself saying.
A glass of wine sounded good. Better than good, it sounded great.
Ben's apartment was a mirror image of hers in layout, but the similarities ended there.
Where her place was cozy, filled with throw pillows, books, and the organized chaos of three women living together, his was minimalist and orderly.
Expensive furniture, tasteful art on the walls, but with a certain emptiness to it, as though it were a showroom rather than a home.
If she’d hoped to learn something about him from his apartment, she’d be disappointed.
"Just moved in?" Kelly asked, following him to the kitchen.
Ben's laugh was self-deprecating as he set the grocery bag on the counter. A completely cleaned off counter, too. No stack of mail. No keys. Nothing. He certainly kept an organized and tidy home.
"I've been here three years. I just never got around to making it feel lived in. I’m usually working or traveling. Or both."
He pulled out a bottle of red wine and a frozen pizza in a box, promising "authentic Italian taste." She didn’t believe it for a moment, but she was hungry, so it wouldn’t matter. She was simply grateful for a meal she didn’t have to cook or shop for.
Kelly leaned against the counter, watching him preheat the oven and search for a corkscrew with practiced efficiency. She still couldn’t figure him out. He could have walked right by her and Kevin, ignoring them as he entered his apartment. That’s what most people would have done.
But…he hadn’t. He’d stopped to help her.
"Thank you," she said, the words feeling inadequate. "For stepping in back there."
Ben shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
"I don't like bullies. And that guy? Definite bully vibes."
"I've been meaning to end it for weeks now. Just waiting for the right moment, I guess,” she replied, accepting the glass of wine he offered her.
The wine was rich and fruity, warming her from the inside as she took a sip.
"He was supposed to be my date to my sister’s wedding next week." She paused, swirling the wine in her glass. "I know it sounds terrible, but that's why I hadn't dumped him before now."
Ben's eyebrow quirked up as he slid the pizza into the now-heated oven.
"Because you wanted him to be your date at a wedding?"
"I know, I know. It's awful," she admitted, heat rising in her cheeks.
"But you don't know my family. I needed a decoy to keep them from torturing me with a million questions about how I'm wasting my life, and when am I going to be like my brother and sister and settle down.
Have a family." She took another sip of wine, finding it easier to talk now that Kevin was out of the picture.
"I told Kevin about my family, and he agreed to go with me.
Be a buffer of sorts. Now I have to face them alone. "
Ben leaned against the counter opposite her, his own wine glass cradled in his hand. In the kitchen light, she could see the stubble along his jaw, giving him a rugged appearance that contrasted with the crisp, clean lines of his apartment.
He smelled good, too. Spicy with a touch of citrus.
"Are they really that bad?" he asked.
Kelly let out a short laugh. "No, they're worse, but I won't bore you with the details.
" She hesitated, then added, "My parents have very specific ideas about what constitutes success.
My brother is an accountant. My sister's a teacher who is marrying a banker. And then there's me. I’m the podcaster who talks about murders and disappearances. You could say I’m the family black sheep. They like to remind me of that."
"That sounds fascinating to me," Ben said with a genuine smile. "Much more interesting than banking, at least."
For some reason, his easy acceptance made her throat tighten with emotion. It had been so long since someone had validated her career choice without qualification.
"It's not just about the wedding," Kelly found herself saying. "I was hoping Kevin would distract them because while I'm there..."
She trailed off, suddenly uncertain if she should share her real plans with this virtual stranger.
And yet, he wasn't entirely a stranger anymore. They were having wine and sharing a meal. He knew what she did for a living, and he didn’t care or judge. Plus, there was something about Ben that made her want to trust him.
"While you're there, what?" Ben prompted gently.
"I'm going to look into my friend's murder,” she admitted. “She disappeared during my senior year in high school and was found a few days later, murdered. She was one of my best friends.”
Ben's expression remained neutral, encouraging her to continue.
"They never found who did it." Kelly's voice grew quieter, the memory of those days still painful after all these years. "She's the reason I started looking into cold cases. I haven't made much progress, though."
The oven timer beeped, startling them both. Ben moved to retrieve the pizza, the domestic normalcy of the action at odds with the weight of what Kelly had just shared. He placed the hot pizza on a cutting board and began slicing it with efficient movements.
"Have you told your family what you're planning to do while you're home?" he asked, sliding a few slices onto a plate for her.
Kelly shook her head. "They'd just tell me to let it go. The town doesn't like to talk about what happened to Lori. It's like they'd rather pretend it never happened than face the fact that her killer might still be living among them."
She accepted the plate, but didn't immediately eat. A sudden idea struck her. One that seemed both impulsive and perfectly logical.
"Wait. Maybe you could look at the file?" The words tumbled out before she could second-guess herself. The fact was, she’d do anything to find Lori’s killer. Anything. “You were pretty good with the case file yesterday. You said you had a lot of free time on your hands."
Ben's expression shifted from surprise to interest. "You want me to look at the case?"
"If you wouldn't mind. I've been staring at it for years. Maybe a fresh perspective would help. See something I've missed. I’m desperate here, and I don’t know which way to go. My friends say that I’m too close to it, so I can’t step back and see the whole picture."
For a long moment, he didn’t answer. She was sure he was going to turn her down, but then he smiled slightly and nodded.
"Of course, I'll look at it," Ben said without hesitation, and Kelly felt a rush of gratitude at his willingness to help.
"I'll be right back," she said, setting down her wine glass. She didn’t want to give him a chance to change his mind. "Let me grab it from my place."
As she crossed the hallway to her apartment, Kelly felt a flutter of something unfamiliar in her chest. Hope, maybe. Or perhaps it was simply the relief of sharing a burden she'd carried alone for too long.
Could her bored next-door neighbor help her solve a murder? It was worth a shot.