"Okay," she said."I trust you."
Ben's eyes closed, relief softening the lines of pain on his face."Thank you."
She stayed beside him while he slept, watching the monitors track his heartbeat and his breathing, and wondered what secrets he was keeping—and why.
CHAPTER FIVE
A week felt like a year.
Kari had never been good at waiting.It was one of her flaws, she knew—the impatience that drove her to push harder, dig deeper, chase leads that more cautious investigators might have let go.That impatience had served her well over the years, had helped her close cases that others had written off as unsolvable.But it had also gotten her into trouble more times than she could count.
Now it was eating her alive.
Ben had stuck to his story through seven days of recovery, seven days of doctors and nurses and the occasional FBI follow-up, seven days of Kari sitting beside his bed and biting her tongue every time she wanted to demand answers.He'd told her to trust him, and she was trying.
But trust was hard when the man she trusted was clearly hiding something, clearly carrying a weight that she could see pressing down on him every time he thought she wasn't looking.
Today, finally, the doctors had cleared him to go home.
Kari pulled her Jeep up to the medical center entrance and watched Ben emerge through the automatic doors.He moved stiffly, his body still healing from the abuse it had suffered, but he walked under his own power.That was something.A week ago, she hadn't been sure he would walk again at all.
He climbed into the passenger seat and pulled the door closed.For a moment, they just sat there, neither of them speaking.
"Thanks for the ride," Ben said finally.
"Did you think I was going to make you walk?"
A ghost of a smile crossed his face."Wouldn't have been the worst thing I've done this month."
She put the Jeep in gear and pulled away from the medical center.The drive to Ben's house took twenty minutes—twenty minutes of silence that felt heavier than any conversation.Kari kept her eyes on the road, her hands on the wheel, her questions locked behind her teeth.
Trust him,she reminded herself.He said he'd explain when he got out.Give him a chance to keep his word.
Ben's house was a modest place on the southern edge of the reservation, a single-story structure with a small yard and a porch that he'd been meaning to repair for as long as Kari had known him.She pulled into the driveway and cut the engine, but Ben didn't move to get out.
"Come inside," he said."There's something I need to do first.Then we'll talk."
She followed him into the house, watching as he moved through the familiar space with an unfamiliar wariness.He checked the windows, examined the door frames, ran his hands along the edges of light fixtures and behind picture frames.In the kitchen, he opened cabinets and peered beneath the sink.In the living room, he pulled cushions off the couch and examined the seams.
"What are you doing?"she asked.
He put a finger to his lips.Kari shivered.She knew what he was doing—looking for bugs, cameras, any indication that they would be under surveillance here.
It took him nearly thirty minutes to check every room, every closet, every potential hiding spot.When he had finally finished, he stood in the middle of his living room, his shoulders sagging with a mixture of relief and exhaustion.
"Nothing," he said."Either they didn't bother, or they're using something too sophisticated for me to find."
"Or they're watching some other way."
"Yeah."Ben lowered himself onto the couch, wincing as his bruised ribs protested."Or that."
Kari sat in the armchair across from him.The moment had arrived—the conversation she'd been waiting a week to have.But now that it was here, she found herself almost afraid to begin.
"You said you'd tell me everything."
Ben nodded slowly."I did.And I will."He took a deep breath, then met her eyes."I lied to the FBI.I lied to the doctors and nurses who kept asking questions.I've been lying to everyone for seven days, and I need you to understand why before I tell you the truth."
She studied him, waiting for him to go on.
