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“For the sake of your job, I’m going to ignore that.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
THE DINER IN DRYDEN, ABOUT FIFTEEN MILES AWAY FROMIthaca, sounded like the perfect meeting spot. It’s not as if Lila could go anywhere in the area, the state, or most of the U.S. right now without being noticed. Aaron’s face was all over the news. The serial killer high school teacher who liked to fondle his students. He’d gone from a missing person—the poor man was killed by his cheating wife—to the face of evil.
She’d become notorious. The woman who’d taken down her killer husband but refused to accept credit. Some saw her as a wounded victim who’d finally lashed out. Others saw her as a kick-ass vigilante heroine. Neither description was a comfortable fit.
In all the scenarios she’d run through in her head about Aaron being found, none had ended like this. She’d wanted him to pay. She’d hoped the car setup would point to suicide and she could blend into the background and fade way. None of that appeared possible now. This unwanted meeting proved that.
She dropped into the wooden chair with the deep red faux-leather seat and looked across the table at the person who’d requested they talk. “Samantha.”
“Happy you found the place.” Samantha played with a stack of sugar packets. Her chipped blue nail polish stood out against the pink paper.
In the videos, she’d worn heavy makeup and a tiny lace see-through bra. She came off as young and desperate to look older. Today, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a sweatshirt proclaiming the name of her college, she looked like what she was—a student. Pretty but able to easily slip into a crowd and hide among the other freshmen. Nothing so striking or so different about her that people would do a double take, except that her photo had been all over the news along with Aaron’s.
She didn’t resemble the brunette, more petite Karen Blue in any way. It was almost as if Aaron had a type he slept with and a type he killed.
More than a few people in the diner stared. So much for subtlety. Lila debated staring back, making them as uncomfortable as their gawking made her, but just then the waitress stepped up to the end of the table. The woman, about fifty with a pen tucked behind her ear and another in her hand, didn’t even glance up from her notepad as she asked about their order.
“Just coffee,” Lila said.
Samantha nodded. “Same.”
Lila watched the woman walk away. She nodded at a few patrons before slipping through a door that Lila guessed led to the kitchen.
The dining room staring contest continued, though a bit more subdued now. One couple pretended to be taking a selfie, but Lila could tell the camera was aimed at her.
Her gaze returned to Samantha and the way she balanced the sugar packets, as if building a house. She’d called and asked for the meeting. Lila didn’t see a reasonable way to say no, but she wished she had. “This is dangerous.”
“Anyone watching will see a survivor meeting with the woman who helped save her.” Samantha finally looked up. Her cold brown eyes flashed with anger. “It could be a heartwarming headline on that ridiculous podcast.”
At least they agreed on that one thing, or mostly.
“The same podcast where you called in to cast doubt on Aaron being a decent person.” Lila remembered hearing the familiar voice and freezing. So much rode on Samantha’s behavior.
“You’re the one who insists he wasn’t.”
And she was right, but the idea of having her freedom, her credibility, dependent on the romantic whims of a college student scared the crap out of Lila.
“Besides, a public meeting is better because it doesn’t look like we’re trying to hide anything. It’s easily explained away that I wanted to meet the other woman at the center of this mess.”
“It’s interesting you view me, the wife, as the other woman.”
Samantha waved her hand in front of her, knocking down the packet tower. “Cut the shit. We had a deal.”
“Keep in character. No anger or people will talk.” The last thing Lila needed was to have someone decide she was beating up on poor Samantha, and public opinion would swing against her once again.
Samantha leaned forward and tapped her fingernails on the table. “Are you worried someone will think you’re not actually a vigilante hero?”
Click. Click.The tapping sound grated against Lila’s nerves. She only had so much bandwidth and very little tolerance left. “You got what you wanted, Samantha.”
“No, I didn’t.” Samantha practically shouted the phrase. When people at the tables near them looked at her, she dropped her voice to a whisper. “You promised me the spotlight. That I’d be the hero and get my revenge on your shitty husband. But you went too far and now you’re the star. Everyone wants to interviewyou. Talk toyou. Poor little you.”
The snide comeback didn’t ease Lila’s anxiety.
Samantha had been a wild card from the beginning. A risk Lila almost didn’t take. When she approached Samantha that day at her college weeks ago, she’d tried to make amends for Aaron targeting her. Samantha insisted he’d loved her... It was pure nonsense, but convincing a vulnerable eighteen-year-old who didn’t even realize how vulnerable she’d been was not an easy task.
That led to the next phase. Samantha made it clear she wanted revenge, but she didn’t have the videos. Lila had ananswer for that. Her videos. Her testimony. Her teaming up with Samantha to bring Aaron down. Then she’d slink away and let Samantha take all the glory.
