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“—but everyone is spread thin enough already.” It was a good argument. Ginny refused to believe her stance had anything to do with Lila or wanting to win. For a safe area of the country, law enforcement was crawling all over the place. Fighting off public dissatisfaction only added to the load.
“Ever since the video of the police bringing in Karen’s ex-boyfriend for questioning got out, that podcaster has been digging up information,” Pete said.
The line between public and private information grew blurrier each day. Ginny did not want private citizens getting in the way in Aaron’s case. “There’s huge pressure on everyone to find her before the podcast blows up into a vigilante mess.”
Charles swore under his breath. “Armchair investigators.”
“They’re not all bad.” She believed that. Sometimes a person sitting in their living room held that one piece of information that tied everything together. She didn’t care if they came forward as a result of police pleading or a podcast, solong as they came forward... and didn’t mess up her case. “But as to bringing in the state police or FBI or whatever, I’d prefer to handle this in-house until we know more. Lila and Aaron lived outside of Ithaca, which makes this our case.”
“For now, but get something, and do it fast. I don’t want to get into a jurisdictional pissing match over a high school teacher.”
“Yes, sir.” She responded to an empty space because Charles had already headed back to his office and closed the door.
Pete stared after him. “Does he want us to make up evidence?”
“He wants us to find some, which means it’s time to put a lot of pressure on Lila.” Phone records and search warrants. Pick her life apart. Inadvertently, or maybe on purpose, put a target on her back.
“Sounds like she’s used to being under the microscope.”
Ginny remembered Lila’s blank expression and emotionless stare as she talked about her friend from childhood. “That doesn’t mean she welcomes it.”
Chapter Nineteen
GINNY USHERED JARED INTO THE EXAMINATION ROOM HOURSafter Lila and her lawyer left. Pete followed a second later with coffee for everyone.
This was the informal talk. The getting-to-know-you part where she tended to shake loose information that would lead her where she needed to go. Her boss had given her the greenlight to press hard and demanded she make progress.
They’d started putting together profiles and timelines. Collecting security videos and records. But Jared was the brother, the one with the most intimate details about Aaron and, hopefully, some insight into Lila. He was a commercial real estate developer with a pristine reputation. No criminal record. No debts or addictions that anyone could tell.
Bottom line, he knew people, and none of them offered a negative word about him, except to suggest the man had an obsessive streak when it came to work. That likely also explained his lack of a meaningful personal life outside of his brother and sister-in-law.
He was also the one to benefit financially from Aaron’s death, though Jared seemed to have enough money without needing to stockpile more from his brother. Still, it was a possible motive she couldn’t ignore.
She smiled at Jared across the table as Pete sat down. “Thanks for coming in.”
Jared cradled the coffee cup in his hands. “Have you found anything?”
“Honestly, it’s as if Aaron walked out of his house and disappeared.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Not his style?” Pete asked.
“Not remotely.” Jared’s attention flipped back to Ginny. “Do the security videos show when he left the house? Can you see if he was okay?”
“We’ll check those.” They’d run into a bit of a roadblock when the closest neighbor admitted that he’d turned off his alarm weeks ago due to a malfunction and hadn’t used it again. Lila and Aaron had done the same.
There were transcripts of calls between both couples and the alarm company. A technician visited both houses. Nothing turned up, which made the malfunction convenient and suspicious.
Jared stared into his black coffee. “This is unbelievable.”
After only a few minutes, Jared had shown more emotion than Lila had in all of their meetings. Lila was exactly the topic Ginny wanted to discuss. “Let me ask you a few questions.I need to start with an obvious one we ask everyone. Where were you between four and seven in the morning on the day Aaron went missing?”
“Four?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t about to go into a detailed explanation of the video intel they’d found. Not yet.
“At a conference in Rochester. It was about discount pricing for companies who improve properties.” He took a sip of coffee. “In other words, mortgage strategies for property flippers. I left two days before Aaron went missing and was there until about ten in the morning on that day. I came home as soon as Brent called me.”
