Finding Katie

Chapter 34

Katie

He just looked at me. He didn't move towards me. His tie was loosened around his neck, and his waistcoat and jacket undone.

My breath stuck in my throat.

"Hi," he said.

My lips parted, but no words came as I stared at the man I hadn't thought I'd ever see again. He looked as tired as I felt, with dark circles under his eyes, and his hair a rumpled mess on his head, his jaw covered with a thick scruff.

The door fell to behind me, and the dull click startled me into speaking. "How did you get in here?"

Ben rubbed a hand over his neck. A gesture of uncertainty I'd never seen him do before. "I pulled a few strings. My boss, Robert Darnell, asked around and learned that Ruth Faber is your lawyer. He knows her and asked a favour."

"Oh." Not eloquent, but it was all I was capable of. The anger I had last seen in Ben's eyes wasn't there now, it had been replaced by something that made my heart race a mile a minute.

But it would be wise to temper the hope before it ran away with me. It would only break my heart when it was crushed. I was probably only imagining the warmth in his eyes, anyway.

Chances were I was. Which made me turn away from Ben and walk to the other side of the room, as far away from the temptation of throwing myself at him as I could get. My first impulse was to run to him, put my arms around him and hold on tight, burrow deep. But I had lost all right to do so.

It was much more likely that Ben was here to find out how much I'd told Dave, how much damage I had done to his career and the firm. So he could fix it and then close that chapter of his life and move on.

I sat on one of the plastic chairs, and placed my hands on my knees. Dragged in a breath and didn't look at Ben. "I never told him anything," I said. "I swear, I didn't. I didn't want to..." My throat constricted, and I looked down at my hands. There was so much I wanted to say, but I wasn't sure of the right words or which of them would bring back his anger.

"I know, you didn't."

My eyes jumped to Ben. His voice was quiet, even, and it made all of me tremble. He hadn't moved away from the chair, but he hadn't looked away from me either. He was watching me as if he couldn't help himself. Then ran a hand through his hair, for a second clutched at the golden strands. "James told me about your ticket to Cambodia."

"James? The private detective?"

He nodded.

"That's how you found out?"

Something in his gaze shifted, but he still held mine as he nodded again. His arms spread wide, then fell limply to his sides. "I was worried about you. So I asked James to do a background check. It was he who called me last Sunday when we got back. He followed you to Heathrow."

I nodded slowly. I hadn't considered how Ben had found out the truth. It hadn't mattered, only that he had before I could tell him myself. But I couldn't find it in me to blame him for what he'd done. I had acted suspiciously, and Ben was no fool.

"I'm sorry, Katie– Vanessa."

"Katie." I looked up and stated, "I'm Katie."

He inclined his head the briefest bit as he sat on the chair behind him.

"Dave was getting impatient," I said into the quiet. This might be my only chance to explain. "I didn't know how closely he was watching me, and I wanted him to think I'd absconded as far away as possible so he didn't flee Britain before I had a chance to tell the police everything and they could get to him."