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The shaking started in Lila’s hands. The jangling of her watch as it hit against the table. She clamped her fingers together and moved them to her lap.
Tobias covered her hands with his. “Did he say why he had all of this intel?”
“It looks like he’s writing a book. About Lila and her family. One that focuses on her dad and all that happened years ago.” Ginny’s gaze moved over Lila’s face. Whatever she saw there had her eyebrow lifting. “You didn’t know?”
“You’re assuming,” Tobias said.
“Educated guess, but you can see that it’s the most obvious explanation for collecting that sizeable stack. Taking those notes about Lila’s behavior and the things she said.”
At Ginny’s urging, Tobias opened the cover and paged through. His frown deepened with each sheet he turned.
The life drained out of Lila. She forced her body to still, redirecting her energy to lifting her hands. She pretended to look over Tobias’s arm at the file. “I didn’t know.”
She lost sensation in her fingers. Papers passed by her in a blur.
Tobias glanced at her. “He has information in here on Aaron and your life now.”
“It looks like he was following you, talking to people about you, when you weren’t around.”
The steady drum of Ginny’s voice echoed in Lila’s head. The words bounced off her, refusing to process. “I can read.”
Ginny reached over, paging through the pile and pulling one sheet out. “There’s even a diagnosis in there for you, though that might not be the right word since he isn’t that sort of doctor.”
“Let’s not—”
Lila pulled the page closer, cutting off Tobias’s argument. The note jumped out at her.PTSD. Anxiety disorder. Possible attachment disorder and dissociative state.
The meetings. The meals. The laughter. Time with him let her step outside her life and experience a taste of normality. A peek into how others lived.
Memories tumbled through her. The park. His office. That hotel in Syracuse. None of it was real. He’d used her. Lied to her. One more man who’d disappointed her.
A scream rumbled up inside her. It pushed against her chest and battered her throat. Every muscle ached and strained to keep it in.
“You were work to him, Lila,” Ginny said.
Yeah, she got it. He viewed her as a case study. As a way to make money and prove whatever point he intended to make in a new book. It was all about tenure. His work. His research. Money or fame.
The message blared in Lila’s head: he viewed her as some sort of crime statistic.
She’d never played the role of girlfriend and never wanteda boyfriend. They didn’t share a great love. She didn’t even know what that meant, but they’d been clear their relationship operated on a different level. But she expected respect. She believed in comfort, in bed and out. Wanting and desire, listening and caring on a fundamental level of at least human decency.
It had all been a lie.
She talked over and around the unexpected body blow, refusing to let Ginny see any reaction. “And? I’m assuming you have some grand point in showing this to me.”
“If he was watching you so closely with the idea of writing about you, making money off your life, I wonder what else he knows.”
A headache thumped through Lila. She tried to find the right answer through the thoughts and worries swimming around in her brain. “I don’t know where Aaron is.”
Ginny smiled for the first time that afternoon. “But maybe Ryan does.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
THE SCREAMING IN LILA’S HEAD WOULDN’T STOP. SHE COULDhear Ginny’s taunting voice and see the panic in Tobias’s face when she told him about Ryan’s research. After the meeting, Tobias gave her a long lecture about talking to Ginny alone then stayed at the sheriff’s office, trying to get some information about what else they’d pulled out of Ryan’s house.
She wanted to march over and burn Ryan’s office down. She called and used their emergency signal, but he didn’t call back. Not that she could stay rational and focused if he did pick up.
Seeing the old newspaper clippings about her father and Amelia in that damn folder had set her off. He even had a copy of her name change paperwork, which was supposed to be sealed. He’d likely sweet-talked some clerk into giving it to him. She’d told him about how she could no longer be connected to her old name and old life but never suspected he would go hunting.
