AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ginny’s eyes closed for a second as if she were absorbing the words as she heard them. “Depression can—”
“Stop. No lectures. Not on this topic.” Lila wasn’t interested in granting her mother absolution. “I know what depression is. I get that a kid can’t see the difference between a mother’s pain and her own, and that as an adult I need to understand mental illness and not take her choices personally.”
“But?”
“But we still end up at the same place. My parents both had a choice to make about what mattered to them, and in neither case was I the answer.” They left, and her life spiraled. They gave up and she was supposed to take it and be fine. Well, she’d never been fine or complete... or forgiving.
People thought silence meant the absence of noise, and sometimes it did, but other times it screamed so loudly she had to fight not to cover her ears.
Not one to stand still for long, Pete shifted. He held out for a few more seconds before talking again. “What does this have to do with Aaron and his students?”
“I didn’t help my father groom and then kill Amelia. I was totally blindsided and confused by what happened.” Lila spoke directly to Pete then switched back to Ginny. “The same is true with Aaron. I didn’t know about whatever sick needs he had, and if I did, I wouldn’t have helped him.”
Ginny’s gaze wandered over Lila’s face, studying her. “But would you kill Aaron for doing the same thing that ripped your family apart?”
“Okay, wait.” Tobias sat up straighter in his chair. “That’s a big jump.”
Pete snorted. “Is it?”
Ginny appeared to ignore both of them. “You couldn’t punish your dad. You were young and vulnerable. But you’re an adult now. You know the flaws in the justice system. You understand that some men lie and get away with it.”
Lila nodded. “All true.”
“You couldn’t help Amelia, but youcouldpunish Aaron.”
Lila had been wary of Ginny’s brain and instincts from the beginning. She always was the smartest person in the room, constantly watching and listening. While the men preened and fought for the mic at press conferences, she hung back. Glory and election wins didn’t motivate her. Justice did.
Her concepts of right and wrong were naïve and simple. Lila wanted to poke holes in the logic and laugh, but Ginny had an air about her that demanded respect. Lila had givenit to her from the beginning because she was the one person Lila feared in all of this.
Lila shot back with the only bullet she had—a mix of misinformation and subterfuge. “You’re looking at this the wrong way. Knowing what we know now, it’s clear Aaron hurt the very children he was tasked with protecting. That would have caused a lot of anger. Created suspects. Ones you never would have thought to look for because you’ve been focused on me.”
“You sound like a lawyer,” Pete said.
Lila didn’t break eye contact with Ginny. “I am.”
“And she’s right.” Tobias put his hand on Lila’s thigh in a subtle gesture to rein it in. They’d used the unspoken communication during countless cases and in numerous meetings. The signal saidlet me handle this one. “You’ve pointed this investigation in one direction only, Ginny, and ended up missing Aaron’s true nature and his crimes. I doubt people in this county are going to take that well.”
“Is that supposed to be a threat of some kind?” Pete asked.
Ginny crossed her arms in front of her. “Or, Tobias, people might think Lila hid the evidence about Aaron’s misdeeds to protect her comfortable lifestyle. Husband with a trust fund. Beautiful house. No pressure to work unless she wants to. Enjoys time with a hot professor on the side.”
Pete whistled. “It’s not a bad setup.”
The openness that usually radiated from Tobias dried up. “Try suggesting any of that fantasy in the press, and I’ll sue everyone in this building.”
Ginny made a noncommittal sound before turning back toLila. “What was that big fight about? The one that happened a few weeks back that had Aaron sleeping at his brother’s house?”
A good shift. Lila had to give her adversary credit for never taking the easy way out of a conversation. “I didn’t like how much time he was devoting to the school.”
“You, who likes her time alone, wanted more attention?” Ginny scoffed. “Nah. Don’t think so.”
“Even I have limits.” And Aaron had found them.
THE QUESTIONING WENTround and round for another twenty minutes. By the time Ginny and Pete stepped into the hallway, Ginny needed a glass of wine and something to kill the headache spreading down her neck and through every limb.
Ginny tipped her head back against the wall and closed her eyes for a second. They stood just out of range of the main room and the view from Charles’s office. She needed the quiet to mentally untangle the discussion. The part about Lila’s upbringing and feelings on abandonment from her parents struck her as genuine. The most real thing Lila had ever said. Her voice had shaken and her eyes had turned glassy as she’d spilled the personal details. Every cell inside Ginny told her that Lila had revealed a bit of honest weakness in those moments.
She’d offered a confession wrapped in a therapy session. Nothing Ginny could use in court, but almost as if, on some level, Lila wanted her to know she killed Aaron for a valid reason. For the girls he’d gone after. For making Lila relive thathorror and be unable to stop it. Not for the sex or the weirdness or for any other reason, but for the girls.
