Another pause, then: "It's fine. You told me when you were ready."
There was no judgment in Chase's voice, just that steady acceptance that had always been his brother's hallmark. It made the next words easier.
"I'm not sure I'm ready now," Ben admitted. "I don’t know anything about anything, and before I thought I had it all figured out, which of course, is bullshit. But I just read this case file, and it's such a mess, and I needed to talk to someone who would understand."
"Case file?" Chase sounded genuinely bewildered. "A crime case file? Are you planning on becoming a cop now? Following in Dad's footsteps? Because if so, I think Lulu might have some thoughts about that."
Despite everything, Ben found himself smiling. "No, nothing like that. It's my neighbor's file. Kelly. She's a podcaster who investigates cold cases, and she asked me to look at her friend's murder file. A high school girl was killed over a decade ago."
"And you said yes?" Chase couldn't quite keep the surprise from his voice. "That doesn't sound like the Ben Reilly I know. The Ben I know plans his entire year in advance and has backup plans for his backup plans."
Okay, maybe I’m wound a bit tight. But there’s nothing wrong with being organized.
"I know, I know. But I was curious. And honestly, Chase? The investigation was a joke. The whole thing was mishandled from start to finish. And Kelly's been carrying this around for years, trying to get justice for her friend when everyone else seems determined to forget it ever happened. She’s going back to her hometown for her sister’s wedding, and while she’s there, she plans to look into the case again."
There was a long pause, and for a moment, Ben thought the phone connection had been lost.
"Kelly sounds like quite a woman."
"She is," Ben agreed, thinking about how she'd stood up to Kevin in the hallway. What a douchebag. "You should have seen her with her boyfriend yesterday. Ex-boyfriend now. He was trying to bully her, acting like he owned her time, and she just... she didn't back down. She's ballsy, Chase. I'll give her that."
"Ballsy," Chase repeated, amusement evident in his voice. "High praise from you. So you like her?"
Ben paused, caught off guard by the question. He hadn’t put any thought into how he felt since it didn’t matter. He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend who lived across the hall.
"Like? I don't know about that. I admire her gumption."
"Gumption? What are you, ninety? People don't say gumption anymore, Ben."
"Fine. I admire her courage, then. Her determination." Ben sat on the edge of his sofa, pushing the file further away. "She reminds me of Mom, actually."
"Mom?" Chase sounded genuinely surprised. "Well, that's... interesting."
"Not physically," Ben clarified quickly. "But that same stubbornness. That same refusal to let something go once she believes in it. Mom knew what she wanted and went after it."
"And Kelly knows what she wants, too?"
"Justice for her friend. Answers." Ben sighed. If he was thinking about it this much, how did Kelly feel every day? "It's not a bad thing to want."
"No, it's not. And neither is having someone to help you look for those answers. Especially when that someone has seen more than his fair share of crime scenes thanks to Dad's career choices. I daresay you’ve absorbed more knowledge than you realize.'"
Their father hadn't exactly kept them in a bubble during the Bryson cases, but he’d tried his best to shield them from it as much as possible.
Ben, as the oldest of his siblings and his cousins, had been aware of far more than the others. He’d been old enough to realize that something was wrong, and his parents weren’t acting like normal. The younger kids, including Chase, had been blissfully unaware.
Or so Ben had thought. Had his brother known more than he’d let on?
"It's not that I can actually solve a murder," Ben said after a moment. "But I can at least see the holes in this investigation. And Kelly's been looking at this for so long, she might be missing things just from familiarity. Sometimes you need fresh eyes."
"And your eyes are very fresh these days," Chase observed. "What with all that free time you've suddenly acquired?”
Ben grimaced. "Don't remind me. I feel absolutely useless."
"I think," Chase finally said after a long pause, his voice measured, "that you called me to get some sort of permission to work on this murder case. I think you want to go with this girl to the wedding and help her. So just go. You don't need anyone's permission, least of all mine."
"What?" Ben nearly choked on the word. "Where did that come from? I wasn't thinking that at all."
The denial came automatically, almost reflexively. And yet, even as he spoke the words, some part of him acknowledged that Chase might not be entirely wrong. The idea hadn't consciously occurred to him, but now that Chase had suggested it…
