"But he's a suspect until we can rule him out?" Ben pressed gently, watching her carefully.
"Yes, but I don't know for sure," she said, meeting his gaze. Her eyes reflected conflict, uncertainty, and something that looked like guilt. "I guess. I hate to think it's anyone from our friend group, but I have to be realistic that it might be."
Ben understood her reluctance. To seriously consider that someone you knew, someone you shared memories with, could be capable of murder wasn't just disturbing. It was transformative. Once that thought took root, a person couldnever see someone else the same way again. Every interaction, past and future, became filtered through that terrible possibility.
Watching her expression, he could see the weight of what she was undertaking settle more firmly on her shoulders. This wasn't just about solving a crime anymore. This was about potentially unraveling the fabric of her past, dismantling the memories and relationships that had formed her. Even if she found the truth, even if she brought justice for Lori, there would be no going back.
The cost of truth might be higher than either of them had anticipated.
Chapter
Ten
Ben hada feeling that if Kelly could have come up with a halfway decent excuse, she would have used it to avoid having brunch with her family and the soon-to-be in-laws.
He wasn’t all that excited by it either, but after visiting the spot where Lori’s body had been dumped, Kelly needed something to take her mind off of the investigation. A few hours with her family, good or awful, would certainly accomplish that goal.
When they arrived at the restaurant, located in a nearby larger town about thirty minutes away, they were led to a private room in the back. Her parents, sister, and fiancé were already there and seated, along with a man and woman that Ben assumed were her brother and sister-in-law.
Kelly had warned him that Rob was a pompous ass who thought he was the smartest guy in the room. Ben had simply laughed and told her that she’d just described almost every guy he’d worked with when he was on Wall Street.
Those guys were experts at being condescending jerks. Rob Bateman was probably only an amateur at most.
Then she’d delivered the zinger right back at him.
“If you were on Wall Street with them, does that mean that you were a pompous asshole, too?”
“Probably,” he conceded. “I don’t think my siblings would argue the label.”
“The fact that you admit it means you aren’t,” she replied with a laugh. “But you still might have been a jerk.”
I might still be. The jury is out.
"Right on time," Jenny Bateman observed from her position at one end of the table, though her tone suggested otherwise. "Rob just got here a few minutes ago."
At the mention of her son's name, Jenny's entire demeanor transformed. The thin, tight smile she'd offered Ben and Kelly bloomed into genuine warmth as her gaze shifted to Rob, who was already seated at his father's right hand.
Kelly hugged her sister before they took their seats. There were still two empty chairs across from Celia and Trevor. Ben assumed those must be for the groom’s parents.
“Rob was just telling us about the Thompson account," David Bateman said, his voice carrying an excitement and approval that Ben hadn’t heard from him in their last meeting. "It seems our son saved them quite a bit in quarterly taxes."
"It wasn't that complicated," Rob replied with a self-deprecating chuckle that somehow managed to sound boastful. "Just a matter of recognizing the patterns in their expense reports that others had missed. The senior partners were impressed, though."
David and Jenny physically leaned toward their son, hanging on his every word as if he were dispensing rare Dalai Lama wisdom rather than accounting anecdotes. Kelly had warned him about the family dynamic, but seeing it in person was something else entirely. His parents had been careful to never have favorites.
Or maybe it was that they did have favorites, but they didn’t let it show.
Kelly took a gulp from her water glass and then turned to give him a tight smile. He could see that her knuckles were white, wrapped around the tumbler. He’d do all he could to get them through this and out of here relatively unscathed.
She'd been quiet since they'd returned from their early morning excursion to the site where Lori's body had been found. The unexpected encounter with Ethan Walters and her thoughts about her friend group had clearly left her with much to process. Ben, however, suspected her current discomfort had more to do with the company they were in than anything else.
"So, Ben," David Bateman said, his assessing gaze never quite warming. "I understand you spent the morning touring our little town."
"Not much to see, is there?” Rob said, before Ben could reply. “I always tell people Bergen is the kind of place you can explore in fifteen minutes and still have time for coffee."
His parents chuckled appreciatively, but Celia and Trevor were studying the menu.
"Actually, we had a productive morning," Ben replied, keeping his tone even and pleasant. He was determined to keep it light and cheery. "Kelly showed me some places that were important to her growing up."
