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Lila could see him winding up to ask a series of questions. She couldn’t blame him. If this spun out, he’d need as much information as possible to defend her. There was a limit on what she would say. She refused to drag anyone deeper into her decisions, but she could divulge the things that had put her on her current course.
“Ryan Horita’s name came up more than once in my meeting with Ginny.” Tobias flipped the pages of his notepad and seemed to be silently reading from it.
“She’s had him in for questioning.”
“You know what I’m saying, Lila.” Tobias glanced up at her. “What do I need to know about this guy?”
In every way, Ryan had been irrelevant to her thinking on Aaron. She didn’t start her plan because she wanted out of her marriage or a divorce. She’d plotted and researched because she wanted to stop Aaron. It was that simple.
She thought about the affair and the videos. Tobias needed to know about the existence of both. What he did with theinformation or how he spun it in her defense would be part of the legal dance they’d do later. Hopefully never, but she suspected later.
“I need to tell you about Ryan and about some evidence I found.”
“When?”
“The evidence? Weeks ago. Before Aaron went missing.” She knew the explanation sounded ridiculous. “They’re unrelated, but together might make it look like I did something to Aaron.”
He stared at her for a few seconds before saying anything. “Do you know where he is right now?”
“No.” She needed him to believe her on that. “I really don’t.”
“Okay, good.” He nodded. “I was going to tell you not to tell me, if you did.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his practical way of dealing with this case stress. He rarely judged, not even clients. Other lawyers would trade stories once the trials ended or talk in hypotheticals. Tobias never did. He insisted good people could be driven to do horrible things, which was why he was the first person she called.
“Tell me the worst.” He flipped his notepad to a blank page. “So we can plan.”
He intended to protect her just like he did with the secrets about her past. But this time, she’d tell only part of the story.
She’d made her decision about Aaron, and she’d face the consequences alone.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Five Weeks Earlier
LILA DID NOT SNOOP. SHE DIDN’T GO THROUGH HIS JACKET ANDpants pockets. She never listened in when he talked on the cell or when he hung out with a visiting friend. She’d never so much as stumbled over a hidden Christmas present, because she never went to places in the house where someone might hide something.
That all changed after she found the videos. With the trust shattered, any and all violations of Aaron’s privacy seemed like fair game. If he didn’t like the intrusion, he never should have acted like a piece of shit.
If he’d kept his bastard tendencies from her, they’d be in the same place, stuck in a revolving cycle where their marriage switched from mundane to tolerable and never reached higher. He’d pushed them into a new cycle.
But now she had a purpose. There were things about Aaron she needed to know. Her plan to expose who and what hereally was depended on her gathering as much intel as possible. He’d lied and cheated his entire life. When slammed against the wall and hanging on the edge of being outed for what he’d done, he’d come out swinging. She needed to lessen his leverage. Take away part of that arcing swing.
That was the only reason for her being up before six and in a car on an overcast Saturday morning. He mentioned checking out a field. Field hockey session started early in the school year and ended with the state championship in November. He suggested the team had a chance this year, at least at playoffs, but that he needed more information on the opposition.
In other years, his excitement would have made her smile. Coaching gave him somewhere to go and guaranteed her some alone time. But this year his schedule filled her with dread. Road games. Time after and before school. Coach and player training sessions. Every aspect of the game sounded suspect to her now.
She rubbed her eyes, sorry she hadn’t managed to drift off to sleep last night. The steady thump of the tires against the road lulled her into a calming sense of exhaustion. The miles passed as she followed Aaron’s car. Him in his SUV. Her in a rental he wouldn’t recognize. She hoped the baseball cap she wore hid her face but decided the slight distance between the vehicles and Aaron’s own ego that reassured him he was getting away with it all would protect her from being found out.
But where the hell was he going?
The double yellow line passed by as they drove around Cayuga Lake and kept going north. They drove deeper into thetrees and away from residential areas. Cars passed them, and a refrigerated truck separated their vehicles right now, giving her a slight buffer.
After two hours, her mind wandered to more sinister options for this trip. They skirted Canada and drove north, then east. Through wooded areas and near streams. Objectively picturesque, but knowing what she now knew about his needs, she found the remote area scary and obscene. A place to take someone when you didn’t want to be seen.
The idea that he could be out here, where no one knew him, scouting other girls, ran through her head. This spot, so far away from where they lived and worked, might provide enough distance for him not to worry about being found out.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed him turning off the main highway. He cut to the right, onto a side road that dipped deep into a wooded area. She slowed just on the other side of the entrance then stopped. She could see the top of the sedan as he drove into the distance.
