Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Ben stepped into Cal Henderson’s office, not entirely sure of the reception they would receive, though the man was smiling and seemed happy to see them.
Cal was dressed casually in khaki pants and a gold shirt with his company’s logo.
Fit, trim, and tanned, he still looked like he could run the length of a football field.
The office was bright and cheery, the walls were filled with photos of Cal playing golf with friends, fishing, and, of course, his family.
If the pictures were any indication, Cal was a devoted family man with a wife and kids who liked to travel.
There were pictures of Disney, the beach, and the mountains, too.
Next to him, Kelly stood stiffly, the tension easy to see in the line of her shoulders and spine. Whether it was from seeing Lori's ex-boyfriend or anxiety about the conversation ahead, Ben couldn’t say.
"Come on in," Cal said, waving them toward the desk with an easy grin. "Can I get you anything to drink? Water, coffee, or a soft drink? Damn, it’s good to see you. How long has it been?
“We’re fine, but thank you. It’s been a while,” Kelly said, lowering into a chair across from the desk, and Ben did the same. “Too long.”
“Life gets busy, doesn’t it?” Cal replied. “I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
"This is nice," Kelly said, pointing to a photo on the credenza behind Cal’s chair. “You have a beautiful family.”
Cal sank into a leather chair behind the desk and picked up the framed photo.
"I’m a lucky man. You remember Emily from high school, right? When I told her I was meeting with you this afternoon, she said to tell you hello."
“Please say hello back,” Kelly replied. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see her today. And this is Ben Reilly, by the way.”
Ben and Callum shook hands over the desk. The vibe in the room was casual, easy, and positive. For the first time since arriving in Bergen, Ben didn’t feel any strange and unspoken undercurrents. It was a relief, to be honest, and made him feel like he could take Cal at face value.
I hope I don’t regret this thought.
“You’re here about Lori.”
Cal’s smile had dimmed slightly, and his hand shook as he reached for his coffee cup.
“Yes, we are. We’re not here to upset you,” Kelly said. “That’s the last thing we want to do.”
"We’re just trying to fill in some gaps in the story,” Ben explained.
“Of course,” Cal said with a nod. “When I heard you’d started a true crime podcast, Kelly, I knew it would only be a matter of time. I knew you’d want to bring Lori’s killer to justice.”
“I’m glad that you agreed to talk to us,” Kelly said, her voice soft. “Lori was like a sister to me. I can’t just turn my back on this.”
Cal looked down at his hands, resting on the edge of the desk. His expression had turned somber and bleak. Ben could see the pain in the man’s eyes even all these years later.
"I think about her sometimes, you know. Lori. What happened to her was terrible. Nobody deserves that."
“No, no one does,” Kelly agreed, glancing at Ben. “Someone killed Lori, and we need to find them. We thought you might remember something that could help us. After all, you were one of the closest people to her.”
"I was an asshole back then," Cal said suddenly, with a self-deprecating laugh that held no humor. "I thought I knew it all, and I didn't know shit. Just a dumb teenager who thought the world belonged to me. I thought I had it all figured out."
Ben could hear Kelly’s shaky breath and see her fingers tighten on the arms of her chair.
"We were young," she said. “We probably all thought that way.”
Ben could only think about what an arrogant douchebag he’d probably been right out of high school, and heading off to this dream college.
He’d had big dreams and big plans, and he’d made no secret that he couldn’t do any of it in his small hometown.
He cringed at how much he had hurt his parents and others.
"Yeah, but I was especially full of myself. Football star, college scouts coming to games. I had my future all planned out."
"And Lori?" Ben prompted. “Was Lori’s future planned out with you?”
Cal's expression softened as he shook his head.
"Lori was different. She didn't really know what she wanted. Or maybe she did, but not what everyone else wanted for her."
"What do you mean?" Ben asked.
"Kelly knows how it was for Lori. Her parents had her whole life mapped out," Cal said. "They were pushing her toward dental hygiene classes at the community college. Can you believe that? Lori hated the idea."
“What did Lori want?”
“She wanted to settle down,” Cal said with a loud sigh. “She wanted us to get married and start a family. She talked about how the campus had housing for married students. She talked about what we’d name our kids. She even knew what she wanted to name the dog.”
“And you didn’t want to get married?” Ben probed gently. “You wanted to wait.”
Groaning, Cal leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his chin.
“Wait? Hell, I didn’t want to get married. Period. I loved Lori and all, but…shit, I didn’t want to get married back then. And I sure as hell didn’t want to have a baby. I wanted to have fun and party. I wanted to—”
Cal broke off, shaking his head again.
“Sow some wild oats?” Ben suggested.
“As many as possible,” Cal said with a chuckle.
“I’d told Lori that, but she wasn’t listening.
She didn’t want to hear it, even when I said that she needed to experience life, too, before getting married and having kids.
You know how she was, Kelly. When Lori got an idea in her head, she wouldn’t shake it easily.
It was getting harder and harder to shut down all the plans she was making about us after graduation, and she was doing it without any input from me.
Eventually, she dropped the whole subject.
We had a big fight the summer before our senior year, and she finally seemed to get it.
She stopped talking about our wedding and what kind of honeymoon she wanted. ”
Ben watched Kelly's face absorb every word. There was a subtle shift in her expression, although he couldn’t readily identify all of the emotions.
"I didn't know that," Kelly said quietly.
"She didn't tell you?" Cal looked genuinely surprised. "I figured you knew everything about each other."
Kelly shook her head slightly. "We talked about a lot, but... I guess not everything."
Ben found this interesting. The Lori that Cal described seemed at odds with the confident, settled person in Kelly's stories. The disconnect was worth exploring.
And if Kelly didn’t know that Lori was planning her wedding to Cal, what else didn’t she know?
"She was under a lot of pressure," Cal said. "Her parents, cheerleading, keeping up appearances. Bergen isn't kind to people who don't fit the mold."
"No, it's not," Kelly agreed, her voice tight.
"After my football injury, I understood better what she was going through. When your whole identity is tied to one thing, and then that thing changes. Shit, it’s hard,” Cal replied, taking another sip of his coffee.
Ben noted the unexpected depth from someone Kelly had described as a "cocky jock." People changed, of course. The arrogant teenager had grown into a thoughtful adult.
He wouldn’t bet the farm or his life, but this guy didn’t seem like a killer who would strangle someone he cared about and then dump her body in a ditch.
But what do I know? Ted Bundy was charming, too.
"We weren't right for each other," Cal admitted. "I was too focused on myself, and she was trying to figure out who she was. But I cared about her. When she died..."
"It hit everyone hard," Kelly finished for him.
"What was she like those last few weeks?" Ben asked, keeping his tone casual.
"Different," Cal replied after a moment. "Quieter. More serious. I thought maybe she was just stressed about classes and Homecoming."
Ben glanced at Kelly, wondering if this matched her recollections.
The restless, uncertain girl Cal described wasn't quite aligned with the Bergen royalty Kelly had talked about.
People were complex, of course, presenting different sides to different people in their lives. But the discrepancy was worth noting.
"Do you think she was hiding something?" Ben asked.
“What would she be hiding? There aren’t any secrets in this town."
There were always secrets, some could be hidden for a long time, and others for barely a few hours.
"Did she tell you about any issues before she died?" Kelly asked, her voice cutting through the friendly chatter. "Was she worried about anything?"
"She was worried about her health. You remember, right? She quit drinking or eating junk food. Wouldn't even have a beer at parties." Cal shrugged. "Said she needed to take better care of herself."
"I remember that. She’d had that horrible stomach flu that she just couldn’t shake,” Kelly remembered, nodding in agreement. “She was always queasy and tired.”
“She kept canceling plans on me,” Cal said. “She was always saying she was exhausted and didn’t feel good. But I don’t think that’s why someone killed her.”
"Cheerleading, school, games. It was a lot,” Kelly replied. “I think that stomach flu just took everything out of her, and she didn’t let herself take enough time to really recover.”
Ben kept looking back and forth between Cal and Kelly, waiting for one of them to come to the same possible conclusion that he already had, but so far neither of them had gone there.
Maybe I’m out of order here.
Ben's mind had connected a few dots. Lori’s sudden health focus. Fatigue. Nausea. He filed this information away, careful not to jump to conclusions but recognizing its potential significance.
"When exactly was this?" Ben asked.
"Maybe a month before she..." Cal trailed off, unable to say it. "You know."
"Did she see a doctor?" Ben asked.
"I don’t know,” Cal said. “Kelly, do you remember Lori going to the doctor?"
“She did,” Kelly replied. “When her nausea wouldn’t go away, but nothing came of it. He told her to rest more and eat better.”
“She was definitely doing that,” Cal declared with a chuckle. “She even stopped smoking.”
Kelly’s head whipped toward Ben, her eyes wide with panic.
“She only smoked when she drank beer. That’s it. Lori wasn’t a smoker, like you’re thinking.”
She didn’t want him to think badly of her best friend.
“No judgment here,” Ben assured her. “We all push boundaries in our youth.”
Cal appeared to realize that he’d perhaps said too much, upsetting Kelly.
“Right. I mean, she wasn’t a smoker. None of us were, really.
But, every now and then, we partied. You know?
It wasn’t a big deal. Lori was a good girl.
She always made sure I took her home before curfew, and she never drank to get drunk.
But she was fun to be around, all the same.
” He smiled suddenly, the expression warm with memory.
"She had this laugh, you know? It would just fill up a room. She was one of a kind."
"She really was."
Kelly was smiling, too, completely unaware that Ben’s brain was going a mile a minute.
"Did you ever tell the police about Lori’s health changes?" Ben asked.
Cal’s brows pinched together in confusion, clearly unsure why he’d been asked the question.
"They never asked. Just wanted to know where I was that night and whether we'd fought recently. Basic stuff. Why would a stomach flu be of interest to the police?”
"We should probably get going," Kelly said. “We’ve taken up enough of your time. If something else comes to me, can I reach out again?”
“Absolutely,” Cal replied. “Anytime, day or night. And I mean that. I want you to find who did this as much as you do. I doubt I’ll be any help, but I’ll try. Just let me know what you need.”
“I appreciate that. Not everyone feels the same.”
“It’s hard for some people,” Cal said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Things like this don’t happen in Bergen.”
Ben didn’t point out that it had happened in Bergen. And it could happen again. The citizens weren’t immune from crime and evil, even if they thought they were. It didn’t work like that.
Cal walked them to the door, the three of them exchanging pleasantries that carefully avoided the real topic between them. At this point, there wasn’t anything left to say.
"You're quiet," Kelly observed as they reached the car.
"I’m thinking," Ben replied, sliding into the driver’s seat. “Today has given me a few things to think about.”
"What are you thinking about?" Kelly asked as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the condo.
He wasn’t sure if this was the moment to discuss it. In fact, he was positive this wasn’t a good time. He needed to think about how to even broach this subject.
"Let's talk about it over dinner," he suggested. “I still need to think this through before I say anything.”
“This enigmatic stuff is a new side to you,” Kelly teased.
“What can I say?” Ben joked back. “I’m a Renaissance man. So many layers to my personality.”
Sadly, he didn’t think that was a true statement at all. He had basically two sides, and they weren’t all that mysterious or exciting. He had a business mode and a non-business mode. That was it. He wasn’t complicated in the least.
He had experience giving bad news in business, but not in his everyday life with people he cared about.
And he did care about Kelly. Probably more than he was ready to admit.
But he didn’t have any experience telling Kelly that her friend, who was like a sister to her, might have been keeping a secret. A big one.
Had Lori been pregnant when she died?