Pretty Little Wife

by Darby Kane

  “Yeah, he stopped by the office twice yesterday.”

  “He’s panicked that Aaron is hurt somewhere and we’re not looking for him.” Little did Brent know they’d been poking into his background. The man had significant debt, but unless Aaron promised to give him money, that debt likely wasn’t relevant to the disappearance.

  Pete looked out over the trees and toward the lake. “We’ve driven all over this area looking for Aaron’s car.”

  “The hope is to find a body, not a car.” Ginny scanned the crowd. She recognized some faces of teachers who had been interviewed. A few other from business owners of places that either Aaron or Lila frequented. A bunch of kids, likely his students or from his team, showed up as well. She counted only one obvious absence. “I don’t see Lila.”

  “Unless I missed her, she’s not here.” He snorted. “Big surprise.”

  For Ginny, it was. Lila didn’t make mistakes, and missing this event and the chance to cry on camera counted as a misstep. “That’s going to cause problems for her.”

  “People are already talking. I’ve heard about her not supporting Aaron’s coaching a million times.” Pete ticked off her list of supposed sins. “Not having people over to the house to celebrate wins or the end of the season.”

  As a parent who had to drag her tired butt to sporting events to cheer on her son, she could understand why someone who didn’t have to attend would skip. “Which, of course, means she killed her husband.”

  “You know how people gossip. If they thought she was quirky before, now they’ll think she’s a dangerous psychopath.”

  Ginny remembered Brent’s pleading yesterday. His not-so-subtle jabs at Lila and her lack of urgency in getting answers about Aaron. “And Aaron has been elevated to near saint status by some.”

  “I somehow doubt he’s earned that. Even Jared seems to recognize his brother’s faults. But let’s not forget that Lila’s attitude toward Aaron being missing can be described as lukewarm, at best.”

  She watched as Charles, with the help of the road patrol and police officers who didn’t even work for him, organized the volunteers into groups. People stood around, some playing on phones. But they’d showed up and she admired that.

  Outcry and theories were fine for others. She followed evidence. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of that. All they didn’t have ran through her brain. “She doesn’t financially benefit from him being gone. As to happiness or urgency, Jared and Lila describe the marriage as—”

  “‘Not a great love affair,’ which sounds like an understatement.”

  She didn’t comment on the state of the marriage. She wasn’t convinced the way Lila approached it now was any different from how she discussed it before Aaron went missing. “The only impressive thing is the lack of evidence. The forensics team didn’t pick up any signs of blood or cleaning solutions in the house or her car. Both of their prints were everywhere, as you’d expect, but that means Lila didn’t have a need to clean those up either. She doesn’t have an alibi for that morning, but being asleep at four in the morning seems logical, and her phone was at the house. No pinging off cell towers.”

  Pete nodded. “I showed the video the forensic team made as they walked through the house to Jared and he didn’t see anything missing or out of order in the house.”

  Whether he’d know or not about missing items wasn’t clear, but the point was nothing jumped out. Nothing soaked Lila in a spotlight or pointed to another explanation for his absence.

  “The home computers checked out. No signs of troubling searches or attempts to dump programs and documents. Every number on her cell phone and office phone records is accounted for.” That one frustrated Ginny. With all those computers she’d hoped to find something interesting.

  Pete smiled. “But . . . Ryan Horita.”

  “She has a logical explanation.” Then again, she had an explanation for everything. It wasn’t that she’d scrubbed her records clean. It was more that she was careful not to create troubling records in the first place.

  “You think there’s really nothing happening with Lila and Ryan?” Pete asked.

  “I think they’re having an affair.” Ginny smiled at Pete’s stunned expression. “But does Lila strike you as a woman who would have trouble divorcing a husband to run off with a boyfriend? No kids. She has money of her own. She doesn’t stand to inherit much from him.”

  “But Aaron is still gone.”

  “Which means we’re missing something.” The reality of that kicked around in her gut, keeping her up at night.

  “Her father?”

  “It’s not her fault he’s a killer.”

  The volunteers started to spread out in a line through the park. “I wonder if this crowd will agree once they find out Daddy is in prison for killing a young girl.”

  Ginny knew people, so she knew the answer. “Not likely.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  LILA STOOD AT HER KITCHEN COUNTER, DEBATING WHAT TO DO next. She’d searched the area around the lake. Every place Aaron had gone fishing. Every open field and secluded street. Before the police came with the search warrant, she’d turned the house inside out, even looking in air-conditioning vents and under loose floorboards. There wasn’t a single stray piece of paper or evidence in this house that pointed to where Aaron might be now.

  She even forced herself to watch those damn videos again, hoping she’d see something in the background, that maybe the girls were sitting there, filming in a location she could identify. And nothing. He’d brought one young girl to their bedroom and the others to what looked like a cheap motel. The stingy asshole.

  She refused to sit around, waiting for Aaron to stumble back in and upend everything. Being reactive was the wrong strategy. Proactive. She was done letting life happen to her.

  The front door slammed, making her jump. She shifted and stared down the hall, ready to yell at Tobias for scaring the crap out of her on his way back from the coffee run.

  Not Tobias.

  Jared shouted as he stomped toward her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Anger deepened his voice. Fury pulsed off him and into the area around him. The air went still, and a red haze filled the room.

  She’d never seen him like this and didn’t like it. “What are you talking about?”

  “There was a search for Aaron today.” He tugged down his coat zipper and tore at the material until he had it off and threw it over one of the bar stools.

  The whole time, he watched her. Concern gone. Distrust and disappointment floating through every word.

  She sat down on the stool closest to him but didn’t touch him. “Brent got a bunch of people together to walk around the lake. That’s not a search. It’s not even a thing.”

  He paced next to the stool. “He’s missing, Lila. Aaron. Your husband is gone and no one has heard from him. You have to admit that’s terrifying.”

  In ways he couldn’t possibly imagine, but she couldn’t say that. “If I thought he fell down while jogging around the lake, I would have been there. It’s busywork. Not real. He went to school that morning.”

  “We don’t know that!” His yell vibrated against the walls.

  For a few seconds, she didn’t say anything, hoping the silence would calm him. “Do you think he left me?”

  “No.” He shot the answer right back, but his voice sounded more like his usual tone.

  She debated the best way to say the pieces she knew were true. “He’s missing. His car is missing. His phone is missing. His wallet is missing. Something happened between our house and the start of school.”

  “Please . . .” He braced a hand against the kitchen island. “Just tell me if you know something.”

  “I have no idea where he is.” She stretched her hand out. So close to his on the counter but still not touching. “That’s the absolute truth.”

  It took another minute of silence before his shoulders fell. “Okay.”

  She watched the anger drai
n out of him. The fight left him in inches. His whole body relaxed as he slumped onto the stool next to hers.

  His eyes remained closed, but her gaze searched his face. “People are going to say things. Ask questions about our marriage. Draw conclusions.”

  He slowly opened his eyes and stared at her. “Are you worried I’ll believe them?”

  Stark pain lingered there. It was almost as if he’d been emotionally running and had finally fallen. His worry. His doubts. They all floated to the surface and seemed to overwhelm him, pushing him down and sucking the life out of him.

  She’d heard the whispers. Some were far louder than that. People knew Aaron had left in the morning and disappeared, and they’d started talking. All of it was about her and how she couldn’t be trusted.

  She’d expected this, but she’d expected cover. The incriminating evidence she’d planted in the car should have been the main focus after finding his body. Without his body, the spotlight fell on her. Burned right through her.

  “We’re not a warm and publicly affectionate couple.” She’d planned but not for that long or far back. “Hell, if I’d known that was some sort of test I would have faked it.”

  Jared’s hand covered hers. “That’s all bullshit. If that’s the test, then everyone should be whispering about me. You’re married. I’m perpetually not and don’t see it ever happening.”

  She thought about all he’d lost. He’d known so much pain, and this time she’d caused it. “That’s not—”

  “I feel nothing.” He shook his head. “I like seeing someone and feeling that ping. I love the chase. The initial being together. But after that . . .”

  She’d never heard him talk about his romantic life in depth. In passing, or in response to jokes from Aaron, sure, but the words now, so simple and plain, sounded like they were being ripped out of him. A lack of connection. Loneliness.

  Understanding wasn’t the same thing as offering hope, but she tried. “At least you feel a ping.”

  He laughed, but there was no lightness in the sound. “God, maybe we are broken.”

  “That’s a big word.” She turned it over in her head. She wanted to deny it. A survivor. That’s how she saw herself.

  He gave her hand a final squeeze then let go. “Ginny used it when she asked about you.”

  No shock there. Lila could almost hear her say it. To be fair, Lila had thought about Ginny’s life, too. About what happened when she put down the gun and went home. “I imagine she has a nice house and nice husband and they have nice dinners together.”

  Jared made a choking noise as he stood up and headed for the refrigerator. “That makes me want to walk into traffic.”

  “Oh, hell. Same.” The last bit of tension left the room. She welcomed back the ease. Fighting with Jared, hurting him, made her sick. She didn’t need many people, but her life would be so much sadder without him. The significance of how much he meant to her compared to his brother was not something she wanted to assess right now.

  Jared stood across the island from her and slid a water bottle in her direction. “l get you.”

  “I get you, too.”

  He looked at her right before he took a drink. “I’ll take care of you.”

  “I can take care of myself, but it’s sweet you want to.”

  He froze before slowly lowering the bottle to the counter. “He’s not coming back, is he?”

  God, she hoped not. “I don’t think so. No.”

  Chapter Thirty

  THE NEXT MORNING LILA CALLED TO RECONNECT THE SECURITY alarm and changed the code. She gave the new one to Jared and Tobias, but no one else. It would be up and running this afternoon. If Aaron breezed back into her life, he’d have to ring the bell or break down the door to do it.

  Good luck, asshole.

  Maybe she’d sleep again, but she doubted it. The calls had started. Threats and yelling. With the public search splashed all over the news and the podcast, her private life ripped open to expose a malformed core. People who claimed to be horrified by violence and what she might have done to Aaron promised to hurt her. She guessed they didn’t get the irony.

  She turned the alarm system back on for one reason. The cameras. The person leaving the notes—getting close enough to make sure she knew she wasn’t safe—had to be Aaron. Maybe with some help, but Aaron. All she needed was for him to shift one inch too far and show himself. Then she would unleash Armageddon on his reputation. Too soon and he might not reappear, and then the focus would stay on her, not the pedophile.

  No, she needed to wait. Hold on. Bide her time, just as she’d done through her entire marriage.

  She mentally ran through the possibilities of who could be helping Aaron, keeping him hidden and quiet, which had to be tough, as she ran to her car. Ginny and her team had shown up at the real estate office with a search warrant, and she wanted to be there to keep Christina calm. Getting wound up and defensive wouldn’t be helpful, and those were Christina’s two go-to moves.

  Lila got within five feet of the car and stopped. The telltale corner of white paper peeked out from under her windshield wiper.

  She’d park in the garage from now on. Let him come up to the house and risk being seen.

  Without bothering to look around and see which neighbors were watching, she swiped the card off the glass. For a second she held it, refusing to read the taunting message.

  The temptation to scream Aaron’s name, to challenge him to come get her, swamped her. She fought against the tide, but the waiting was killing her. She’d bet that was his goal.

  She turned the paper over and looked at the message.

  YOUR TIME IS ALMOST UP.

  “Lila.”

  She jumped at the sound of Brent’s voice. She’d been so lost in her head that she’d missed him driving up behind her, blocking her easy exit.

  The visit likely meant bad news. He hadn’t been to the house since that first morning, but he called numerous times each day. He’d been interviewed on television. Very busy.

  She met him as he got out of his car. “What’s going on?”

  “That’s my question.” He slammed the door.

  More anger. His rage didn’t reach Jared levels, but close.

  His hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “Where is he?”

  He’d turned some sort of mental corner and blamed her now. She could see it in the rigid line of his body and in the frown dimpling his forehead. “I don’t know.”

  “You do.” He leaned in. His gaze held hers as his mouth twisted in hate. “You did something to him.”

  He sounded so sure that it threw her off. She mentally searched through every conversation she’d had with Aaron about Brent. Remembered the number of times they’d gone off fishing, staying out all day. When Brent’s marriage collapsed, he’d leaned on Aaron for support. They spent a lot of time sitting on the couch, watching football and bitching about his wife.

  Now it was her turn to deal with him. “What are you talking about?”

  “You had that fight a few weeks back. He was devastated.”

  She refused to let that nonsense stand. “He wasn’t.”

  If he was devastated about anything, it was about being caught for being a piece of garbage, and even if that did bother him, he hid it well. But he was still garbage, and even though she had to fake-worry about him being gone, she had a limit. Brent pressed right up against it.

  “He said you wouldn’t let it go. He tried to reason with you.” Brent’s eyes narrowed. “What was it about?”

  She came so close to spilling the truth about his great buddy, Aaron. The timing was wrong, or she’d have him in a puddle from screaming the facts at him. “That’s none of your business.”

  “Tell that to the investigator.”

  “She knows all about it!” The minute she raised her voice, she fought to bring it back down again. Cassie was already out on her porch, pretending to water plants. “It was a fight, Brent. He wouldn’t listen, and I got angr
y. Typical marriage stuff.”

  “Bullshit.”

  True, but that wasn’t the point right now. “Did you and your ex get along fine all the time? Now things are supposedly settled. But does that mean you never argue or disagree?” It was a low blow, and she saw when it landed. “Don’t pretend, because I know better.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I was here for the end of your marriage. Your wife spent every day in tears, and you don’t hear me making accusations and blaming you for her misery.”

  He grabbed her arm. She felt the bruising grip through her coat. “Be careful what you say next and who you say it to.”

  The surge surprised her. She’d always thought of him as weak and easy to run over.

  She put her face close to his, not backing down. “Let go of me or I will call the police.”

  “Do it.”

  With her free hand, she slipped her cell out of her pocket, careful not to dislodge the note tucked in there. She didn’t want to come up with a fake explanation for that. Not when Brent was in a heightened state she’d never seen before. Just as she started dialing, he let go.

  “That’s right. And for the record, you do not have my permission to touch me.” She funneled her anxiety into fury and aimed it right at him. “Do you hear me?”

  He blinked a few times, as if he just realized how much control he’d lost. “That was . . . not right.”

  She wasn’t ready to let it go. “Ever.”

  “Look, I’m worried about Aaron. Come on. He wouldn’t just disappear without a word. He’d at least tell me or Jared, probably both.”

  No apology. So many men who wandered in and out of her life sucked. “None of what is happening right now makes sense, but turning on me isn’t the answer.”

  “You know more than you’re saying about Aaron.” He blew out a long breath. “I can feel it.”

  “What you feel is impotent.” She hurled that word at him on purpose. Aaron had shared a bit about that part of Brent’s marriage. At the time she’d told him to stop because he sounded almost gleeful about his friend’s bedroom failures, but now she used the information to her benefit. “You want to find Aaron but can’t.”