Close | A Spencer Reid Story

52. In the Hall

Spencer's POV

In the hallway, Ben stood, his eyes glued to his phone. His appearance was prim and proper considering that it was the early hours of the morning, and he evidently hadn't made it home yet. He didn't look like he had been to a party. Rather, he looked fresh. His shirt was crisp. Shoes polished. Hair in place.

Ben looked up once he heard our footsteps, immediately pocketing his phone, and turning his body towards us.

"Detectives," he greeted Will and Dani. "Agent Reid." There was a smugness to his face that irritated me.

"It's doctor actually." JJ clattered down the hallway from behind Ben, the door she entered through slamming in the distance.

Ben's head jerked back, catching sight of JJ. He seemed even more amused by JJ's presence. "Right sorry." Ben held up his hand. "Dr Reid."

JJ winced at the sarcasm in his voice. She stopped behind him, politely nodding at Will and Dani, but averting her gaze away from me. It felt like Ben knew something we didn't

I stayed back. This wasn't my fight. Plus I had more pressing issues on my mind. It was more necessary that I stand back and observe. But when I saw Ben, my blood boiled. Keeping calm was taking all my energy.

Was I jealous?

I definitely was.

It's true what people say, you don't know what you have until someone else wants what's yours.

I couldn't even fathom that someone could have her love. That someone else could be the cause of her smile. That someone else could hold her whenever they wanted.

"What brings you here Mr Kingsley?" Dani sliced through the tension.

"Just Ben is fine. Weren't you looking for me?" Ben asked innocently.

"We were trying to reach you." Dani agreed. "But we didn't manage to. So, how is it that you ended up here?"

"Bethan called and told me that you had come to speak to her. She seemed quite worried."

"And..."

"And she mentioned you asked about me. So, I figured you would want to speak to me too."

"Where is it that you came from?"

"Oh... just a party." Ben tussled his hair.

We all said nothing waiting for him to say more.

"My friend, he's getting married. It was just a little pre-bachelor party."

My eyebrows shoot up. What's a pre-bachelor party? That was irrelevant though.

"What's exactly is the problem?" Ben gaze kept flickering over to me.

"Your sister didn't mention anything?" Will queried.

Ben thought for a moment. "She just said that you indicated that there was some type of disturbance and that you were asking questions about Y/F/N Y/L/N."

"That's right. Are you familiar with Y/N?"

"Yes, well a little. I own this building and she lives here so I've run into her..."

"Right. You see we are under the impression that you might know her a little more than you are letting on."

"You are?"

"Maybe you saw her recently?"

"Er... yeah." Ben frowned. Maybe he thought this was going to be a friendly encounter. "I saw her recently."

"How recently? When was the last time?" Dani was pushing as hard as she could.

Ben tensed up. "What's going on here?"

"Just answer the question." I didn't even realise that the demand ripped from my throat.

Ben was equally as surprised. "I... I saw her today. Well, I guess it's yesterday now." Ben tapped his watch face. "I saw her twice actually."

"Twice?" Will prompted

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "In the morning and then again in the evening."

"Did you notice anything any you would consider strange?" Dani took the lead again.

"Strange?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. Anything unusual that you saw. Any odd behaviour?"

"No. Not really. Y/N seemed just like herself."

HERSELF! What does he mean? He doesn't know her. How would he know whether she was like herself?

"What were your reasons for seeing her?"

"Huh? Brain scratched the side of his eyebrow. "Oh, I just wanted to discuss a property matter with her."

"Were you seriously still pestering her about buying the apartment?" Faye disapproved as she strolled to a stop beside me, giving me a concerned look.

I frowned. Was Ben bothering her? Why was he bothering her? How long had this been. going on? How had I not noticed? That is quite literally my job. I had been so caught up in. my own mind, I had disregarded completely disregarded anything that was going on with her.

The days when she had been quieter than normal. The days she seemed unhappier. The days she didn't hum a tune as she pottered around the apartment.

"No," Ben quickly denied.

Will pressed to get more details. "Buying her apartment?"

Ben sighed as if he had gone over this same story too many times to recount. "My company has bought all the apartments in this complex. Apart from Y/N's. That's actually how I came to know her. I tried to persuade her. But I had come realise that she wouldn't sell. That was until yesterday morning."

"What changed yesterday morning?" Will asked.

"I'm not sure. I woke up and checked my phone and the head of my contracts department had sent me a celebratory email detailing the Y/N had agreed to consider negations on her property. I was surprised to say the least. That why I came to see her at her apartment yesterday morning on the way to work to ask her what changed her mind."

I was the only one in the room who knew what had changed her mind. She was trying to get away from me. Did being in the same city as me make her hurt that much?

"Alright. I think that's all we have for now. Obviously, we'll have to corroborate the facts. We may need to contact you," Will went on.

"Ah yeah." Ben produced his wallet. "I'll give you my card. It's the best way to contact me." He opened his wallet and cling drew my attention. The shiny object rolled along the hardwood floor, stopping at my feet. I bent town taking the familiar circle in between my thumb and index finger. It glinted in the light. I looked through the hollow centre of the ring toward Ben.

"Oh. That's... That's why I went back to the apartment yesterday evening." Ben pointed at the ring. "To return that."

"Why didn't you?" I accused. "Why didn't you then?"

Around me, everyone else had the same question.

"I must have gotten distracted."

Will seemed unconvinced. "We are going to have to keep this." Will pointed at the ring on a chin that I had clenched in my fist.

"Of course," Ben gritted through his teeth.