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She looked around for signs in a desperate attempt to spy buildings or something familiar. Frustrated, she checked the map on her phone for landmarks or schools. Nothing pointed to the existence of an athletic field nearby. She saw trees and greenery. Not another car or person, except for the few that passed by on the main road.
She toyed with the idea of following him down what looked like a quiet two-lane road. The type where it would be impossible for her to hold back far enough to hide the fact she was tailing him.
He’d see her and know. He’d stop and she’d never figure out why he’d done this drive on this day.
Concern ran both ways. Part of her feared what she’d see. The reality was she knew enough. She’d plotted the points for this drive as she went. She could lead the police back here. Let them see if there was anything to find.
She had a murder to plan.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Present Day
GINNY DREADED MORNING MEETINGS WITH THE BOSS. CHARLES,always “on,” shaking hands. He wore a big smile outside of the office that fell into a flat line every morning when he walked in the door.
She got it. He had political pressures and community pressures. That damn podcast tying three open cases of missing women together—something the police hadn’t announced publicly—added a crushing weight to all of their backs. The sheriff’s office only tangentially helped on those cases, but the outcry shot a bolt of electricity through the local law enforcement community.
Locals in charge fought not to lose control. All of that meant Charles was crankier than usual.
He stared at her over the top of his glasses from his oversize leather desk chair. “You’re telling me we have nothing on Aaron Payne.”
The file sat in front of him. Closed. That meant he’d read itand got ticked off... then ordered her to come in and give a verbal status report instead. He wasn’t paging through, picking apart the pieces. He silently fumed at the lack of anything he wanted to see in terms of progress.
“If Aaron or Lila were hiding something they didn’t use computers to do it.” As smart people would refrain from doing. Calls from Lila to the boyfriend, yes, but not an extreme amount, and none on the days leading up to the disappearance. Nothing at all during the time Aaron’s car left the house. Her phone appeared to have been at home, on, and not in use.
Charles shook his head. “It was too much to hope she’d have searches on how to dispose of a body.”
“Not just a body. A car and a phone, too.” Ginny stood with her hands linked together in front of her. “All missing.”
“She’s been busy covering her tracks, or she planned all this out, which is pretty devious shit.”
“Maybe.” Ginny wanted to jump there, too. Grab that conclusion and run with it, but not one piece of evidence supported that. What they had was circumstantial and supposition.
“Ginny.” He sighed at her. Something he excelled at. “We both know she’s in this. Add in the boyfriend and it’s looking like Lila wanted a way out.”
A boyfriend, but no motive. Odd behavior by Lila, but not odd in the sense of giving away what she’d done. She hadn’t sold his clothes or talked about him in the past tense. There was no evidence of blood or a fight. She’d gotten a lawyer immediately, but he was also a friend, and she was one, so even that choice wasn’t suspect.
“If this is about getting out of a marriage, why take the risk and go after Aaron?” That didn’t make sense to her.
“Men do it all the time.”
“Yes, to protect their money and their reputation. They replace the old wife with the younger and newer version. Get rid of the responsibility of kids.” She let her hands drop to her sides. Some of the tension inside her unwound. Charles wasn’t yelling at her this time or demanding more. He sounded as stumped and flailing as she was. “None of that fits here.”
“That leaves only a few explanations, and none are easy to tackle.” Charles tapped his pen against his calendar desk blotter—the one from three years ago that he’d never bothered to replace. “What about a lie detector test?”
“Her attorney told me he didn’t allow any of his clients to undergo them. Too suspect.”
“Convenient.” Charles grumbled something under his breath that sounded more like a string of profanity than an actual sentence. “Pete talked to one teacher here who had trouble with Aaron’s shiny reputation but claimed it wasjust a feeling.”
“The woman who owns the agency Lila works at gave the same impression.” That samefeelinghit Ginny. Something about Aaron didn’t sit right with her. People had sides and flaws, but so few people recognized or highlighted his. It was unnatural.
She worked with Pete and could name fifteen flaws withoutthinking very hard, and she mostly liked him. That was the point. Seeing the full person wasn’t about gossiping. Not always. Sometimes it was about how genuine the person was in revealing who they were. She believed, on that score, Aaron might be as closed off as his difficult-to-read wife.
Charles hummed. “Maybe he’s not squeaky clean after all.”
“No one is.”
“Turn his life inside out, here and in North Carolina, and see if you find anything.” He put down his pen and handed the file back to her. “In the meantime, put pressure on the boyfriend. He’s lying, and water problem or not, the calls between them could mean a conspiracy. Get a warrant. It’s possible whatever incriminates Lila is at his house.”
