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“I mean it. Stop.” Christina froze as she stared at Lila over the top of the mug. “Your time away from the office is temporary until the pressure is off.”
On one level, they both knew this was the end. Her life would never be the same. It would never be easy to be the person who sided with her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Besides that, this is on Aaron, not you.”
Not totally true. “People blame me. Some people think he’s dead.”
“People think a lot of things. None of that nonsense has anything to do with me.”
Lila wrapped her hands around the mug and let the warmth seep into her skin. “I wish I could say that.”
“Hey.” Christina focused all of her attention on Lila. “You stay strong. You are one of the smartest women I know. Whatever happened, and what is coming at you, you have it handled.”
A laugh bubbled out before Lila could stop it. “Is that your subtle way of asking if I did something to him?”
“We’re not talking about that—or the call in.”
Everything inside Lila stilled. “What call?”
“The one that morning.” Christina cut off her responsewith a flip of her hand. “I was up working because, as usual, I couldn’t sleep. Someone had signed in from home to Dan’s computer. Since he’s been gone for a few months and since only the two of us knew his sign-in, I figured out it was you and tried to message you.”
An electronic message meant a trail. Ginny could eventually figure out Christina sent it because she thought Lila was awake, not asleep as she claimed. That kind of back-and-forth chat at four in the morning was the sort of thing that could be traced if they knew to check it, and now they would.
Silence filled the room as Lila struggled for the right thing to say. Come up with an excuse or deny? She went back and forth, but the bigger issue was Ginny. She needed the right excuse to throw Ginny off once she found the message, and she would.
“The problem is fixed. I deleted Dan’s computer from the system and erased the backup logs. All anyone looking at the office computer system will see is me being online, working. No attempts to communicate directly with you. No evidence of Dan’s computer being used. Eliminating Dan’s account is easy to explain since he left.”
Still, it was a potential hole. Lila had to double-check the street cameras that morning, the ones the county generously showed online so people could watch traffic and the weather. Two had been out, and she’d planned her return home from the school based on that but had a contingency if one or more had been fixed. Dialing in to the office meant the traffic check would be on Dan’s computer early that morning andnot relate to her at all. Checking her computer or any of the computers actively in use wouldn’t show a thing.
“Christina...” But Lila still wasn’t sure what to say.
She shook her head. “It’s forgotten.”
That was a huge burden to ask someone to carry. “Okay, but—”
“Forgotten.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
TOBIAS WAS RIGHT. LILA DIDN’T FLINCH. GINNY REALIZED THATas she watched Lila play with the glass in front of her. They’d put her in a room and left her alone, and she sat there, one leg crossed over the other, swinging back and forth in the air.
Ginny said they would wait for Tobias to arrive, but Lila said to go ahead and he could join them. An interesting choice, but Ginny didn’t question her luck.
Minutes ticked by, and Ginny waited on Pete’s report. She’d expected it an hour ago, and still nothing. But she needed Lila here. Out of the way, with or without Tobias.
When Ginny reentered the room, she took her sweet time sitting down and pretending to read through her file. She knew the contents by heart, but this wasn’t about preparation.
After a few seconds she glanced up to find Lila staring at her. “Is there anything you want to say to me?”
Lila lifted the glass. “The water tastes funny.”
Smooth as always. Not a hint of worry in her voice. No panic. Also, no sign of concern about her missing husband.
There was a game to play here, one that would make her life easier and dim the spotlight glaring on her, but Lila refused to join in. Her personality telegraphed a level of disconnectedness that Ginny hadn’t seen before. She’d handled sociopaths. Dealt with people with a host of issues, toxicity, and illness. Lila didn’t fit neatly into any box. She wore the emptiness inside her like a badge of honor.
Finding a road in proved almost impossible. Ginny had tried flipping the questions and throwing her off, and none of it worked.
She aimed for the one potential weakness in the shell Lila had created. “We’re conducting a search of Ryan’s house right now. I’m guessing something there will point to you and provide more than a hint of a relationship.”
