Pretty Little Wife

by Darby Kane

  She bent over, intending to splash water on her face and revive her body before she broke down. She got as far as resting her elbows on the sink. Her head fell forward; the cold water trickled down the side of her hair and dripped onto her arm.

  She felt nothing. Her mind protected her by going blissfully blank. She doubted she could conjure up a rational thought if she had to.

  Aaron . . .

  Her knees buckled, and her body slowly sank. Her butt hit the tile, and she turned around to lean her back against the cabinet. She could hear the running water but didn’t have the energy to turn it off.

  The buzzing started in her pocket. Her phone. More news or some reassurance from Christina. Either way, Lila ignored it. So few people knew her private cell number but she didn’t want to speak with any of them. Not right now.

  She’d married a twisted man. Slept with him. Vowed to stay with him. She’d missed every sign and skipped every opportunity to stop him.

  This was Amelia all over again. Some piece of her missed seeing the worst in men.

  Unable to keep her eyes open, she tipped her head back and rested it against the cabinet. Desperate to drift off to sleep but unable to because of the self-loathing running rampant through her, she just sat there. The cool tile numbed her, and the need to throw up passed, but she wasn’t sure how she’d get up without help. All of her reserves were used up and dried out.

  Her phone buzzed again, reminding her of the unread text. She reached for her cell and opened her eyes just long enough to read the screen.

  We need to talk.

  She was wide-awake now.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  GINNY STARED AT JARED ACROSS THE INTERROGATION ROOM table. He sat by himself, insisting he didn’t need a lawyer. He had motive—the trust. He might have money, but they were talking about millions more as Aaron’s heir. Ginny also suspected his feelings for Lila weren’t quite as brotherly as he pretended. His rush to defend her seemed ingrained.

  As they sat there, Pete and Charles watched from the other side of the two-way mirror. That added a level of pressure that only made her more determined. Jared had always been rock solid, said and did the right thing. She wanted to test him now.

  “Your brother slept with students. The evidence suggests he hunted and killed Karen Blue. We now know the DNA under her fingernails is his. There’s also evidence of other victims.” When he opened his mouth to say something, she talked right over him. “You really expect me to believe all of this is news to you?”

  “He’s not . . .” Jared exhaled as he dropped his arms on the table and leaned on them.

  “What, Jared?” He could deny, but the facts of Aaron’s culpability were difficult to challenge. Witnesses to the school victims. Personal testimony by one of those victims. DNA and a deed that tied him to Karen’s murder.

  Jared slowly raised his head. “Other victims?”

  “We found personal items and jewelry he likely took from other victims.” She slipped the envelope with the photos out from the bottom of her file but didn’t open it yet. She wanted his full attention. There weren’t any fingerprints on any of the items and someone killed Aaron, so she needed more.

  He blew out a long breath. Looked like he was fighting to keep from falling over. “I can’t believe this.”

  The shock playing on his face reminded her of Lila. She went pale at the sight of the photos. The more Ginny had talked about bracelets and victims, the more hunted Lila had looked.

  “The two of you were very close. You went hunting and hiking on weekends.” The prime times for Aaron to stalk his victims. “You can see why it’s hard for me to believe you didn’t have at least a hint about what he was doing in his free time.”

  “Never,” he shot back.

  “He didn’t talk about the girls at school?”

  “No.”

  “A stray comment about going away for a few days.” It was a small opening, and she hoped he’d take it.

  He slapped his palm against the table with a whack. “That’s not who he was.”

  The raised voice amounted to more emotion than he’d shown since Aaron went missing. She dug in a little more. “It is, Jared. We have the evidence. He owned the cabin.”

  He scoffed. “He’s being set up.”

  “By who?”

  “The person who killed him.”

  That piece stumped her every time. She wished Karen had taken Aaron out, gotten her revenge before she died, but the tests suggested otherwise. Karen died first, days before Aaron. They were still waiting on Aaron’s cause of death.

  “Tell me who, Jared. You’re the one who insisted most people liked him.” She pretended to flip through her notes. “Who would set him up?”

  “That Ryan guy had his phone. He was sleeping with Lila. That sure as hell sounds like motive.” Jared moved his hands around in the air. “Wasn’t he some sort of killer expert?”

  “He claims someone planted the phone at his house and he’s never seen it before.” His prints weren’t on it, and Aaron’s were. Ginny knew a criminal defense attorney would jump all over that evidentiary loophole.

  “Of course.” Jared’s voice got louder. “Because he wouldn’t lie about framing someone.”

  “There’s an easier solution.”

  “Nothing about this is easy.”

  He sounded so much like Lila. That fact hit Ginny again and again while he talked.

  “Let’s say Aaron had an accomplice. Someone who helped him hunt and kill those women.” This option made sense to her, except that she couldn’t figure out a way to believe in Lila’s absolution in all of this, and she didn’t see Lila as a serial killer accomplice, so . . . “Maybe someone who got tired of Aaron’s antics and killed him. Someone who financially benefitted from his death.”

  Jared dropped back in his seat. “You’re looking at me for this?”

  He acted as if the idea had never crossed his mind. She couldn’t decide if this was a case of rabid denial or something else. “You are the most likely candidate.”

  “Because we’re blood related?”

  Because no one else made sense. As far as the accomplice theory went, the two she could see were Brent and Jared. No one else got close enough or spent enough time with Aaron to make it work, but both of those men did.

  She opened the envelope and pulled out the photograph that had given Lila pause. “Have you ever seen this bracelet?”

  “No.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He gave the photograph another glance before shaking his head.

  She tapped on the corner of the photo. “Take a longer look.”

  “I don’t need to.” But he did pick it up and study it, then threw it down again. “You clearly think I should see something.”

  “You mother’s name was Anna.” She tapped the edge of the photo. “‘A’ as in Anna.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That’s a leap. How many words start with that letter?”

  He wasn’t wrong, but the possibility was too important to drop without at least poking around a bit. “Is it her bracelet?”

  The theory carried horrific connotations, but she had to ask. Even the FBI agents had looked stumped when she’d told them the old story and shown them the photo of the bracelet. The idea that Aaron could have been killing that long, leaving bodies in his wake, shook them all.

  “She’s been dead for decades.”

  “But do you remember if she wore jewelry?” To be fair, she didn’t know if her son could identify her jewelry, but then he wasn’t a killer who collected trophies.

  “What does all of this have to do with Aaron?”

  “The bracelet was in with what we think are the souvenirs from Aaron’s other kills.”

  “My mom was shot by a hunter, not hunted down by a killer in training who happened to be her son.” Jared glanced at the mirror before looking back at her again. “You can look it up. It was all over the news back then. She was hanging the wash out on the line. It
was set off from the house in a spot that got more direct sun, and this group mistook her for a buck they were tracking.”

  “And you and Aaron have the trust fund as a result of the accidental shooting.”

  Some of the shock faded from Jared’s expression. “I’m going to ignore how you phrased that.” His voice took on an angry edge. “Look, I was out of town when Aaron went missing.”

  “I’m aware of your alibi. That conference was an hour and a half away. Plenty of time to go back and forth and not miss a session.” They’d checked traffic cameras for his car, but he could have used a rental they hadn’t found, or borrowed a car.

  “You’re reaching, don’t you think?” He shook his head. “Ask me about the date this woman went missing.”

  “You gave us your calendar going back two years.” A fact that always intrigued her. Most people didn’t give more information than was requested. “You were at a conference then, too.”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Okay, well. That’s your answer.”

  “Is it?”

  “I don’t get what you want from me here. A confession?” His emotions seemed to bounce as he moved around in his chair. He shifted from shocked to pissed off. “Are you asking Lila these questions?”

  Now, that was interesting. He’d always come off as her strongest ally . . . until right then. “You think she killed your brother and then came up with an elaborate plan to frame him for the murder of a woman he didn’t know?”

  “I know she was having an affair with a serial killer expert. That is a fact and the rest of what you’re asking is based on wild assumptions.”

  He sounded fully in control now, acting like she’d expect from a suspect. Shifting blame off of him to others he viewed as less likely to have alibis. “And?”

  “She’s the only person I know who hated Aaron.”

  There was nothing supportive or brotherly in his tone now. “Hated?”

  “Did that strike you as a happy marriage?” He’d calmed down, and his voice stayed steady.

  “Most people don’t kill to get out of a marriage.”

  He nodded. “But some do.”

  THE INTERROGATION WENT on for another half hour before Ginny gave up for the day. She walked out of the room and into the adjoining one, where Charles stood. Pete had left to escort Jared out of the building.

  Before she could say anything, Charles handed her a file. “The FBI found Yara James’s body an hour ago. It was buried about twenty feet from the cabin, deep in a thicket.”

  “They know it’s hers?” She opened the cover and saw the photos. Lights set up to spotlight the ground. Mud and earth dug up to reveal bones wrapped in a disintegrating cloth of some sort.

  “Dr. Timmons has the medical records. Yara had knee surgery and an arm broken in two places from a skiing accident when she was younger. The doc said the injuries match the ones on the body. She’s working on time of death.”

  “Was that body frozen, too?”

  “I don’t know. The official verification will come later.”

  She closed the file and said a little prayer for the unfathomable loss for Yara’s family. “I fear Julie is not the only other victim out there.”

  “Probably, but we don’t get much of a say anymore. The task force is taking over. You can sit on it, prep them, but we both know we won’t be lead.”

  “What?”

  Charles plucked the file out of her hands. “We’re dealing with multiple murders here, probably a serial killer case. The FBI is all over this.”

  “I get that, but someone still killed Aaron, and the evidence tying him to these women is not significant.”

  “So far, but Doc Timmons might find more on the new body.”

  “Yara James’s body.”

  “No one cares about Aaron’s death right now. They’re more focused on his victims.” He said it out loud. Didn’t even try to hide it.

  She couldn’t understand the pressures he shouldered, but he did have a job to do, and he was ignoring it. “We should care.”

  He closed the door, shutting them inside the small space and outside of easy hearing range of anyone walking by. “The prosecutor is not going to crack down on the woman who everyone credits with stopping Aaron. Not without evidence that she’s involved in the other killings.”

  “She didn’t stop him—or maybe she did. We don’t know who killed him.” When Charles stared at her, Ginny tried again. “But if she did kill her husband, she just gets away with it?”

  A part of her had assumed Lila would walk away. She’d tried to convince herself she’d be okay with that, and she still thought that was true. That didn’t mean she’d sit back and watch it happen. She had a job, and she’d do it until the end. If Lila emerged as the victor, Ginny vowed she’d move on, because she refused to let the death of Aaron Payne become her life’s obsession. But she’d exhaust every lead first.

  He shrugged. “It’s not a terrible solution. The important thing is we’ve found two of the missing women and have every reason to believe we’ll find the third.”

  “Abandoning Aaron’s murder now, before it’s finished, sends a message to every victim and every perpetrator.” She tried to imagine the county, filled with people already on edge, taking the law into their own hands. “We can’t condone vigilante justice.”

  He winced. “Don’t be dramatic.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “And don’t raise your voice to me.” He didn’t blink as he spoke. “We both know I gave you a chance here. Don’t test me.”

  Fury raced through her, heating every inch and every cell. Denials and arguments shot up her throat, but she choked them back. She loved this job, which meant suffocating on all the things she wanted to say but couldn’t.

  She swallowed a few times before speaking again. She refused to be accused of yelling or listen to the whispers about her being an angry black woman. She would not give him or anyone the ammunition to get rid of her. The idea of him and Pete being in charge chilled her from the inside out. “We don’t know if Aaron was set up, which I doubt, but he very well could have had an accomplice, and we haven’t explored that yet. We’re talking about a second killer.”

  “The official line will be that there is insufficient evidence to prove Lila Ridgefield killed her husband but, while we don’t condone vigilante justice, the important thing is that a serial predator and active serial killer has been stopped and the victims’ families can now find peace.”

  Political doublespeak. People were dead and he was feeding her a PR line. “Charles—”

  “We’ll be turning the evidence over to the task force tomorrow. The FBI will report directly to the governor’s office from here on out.” He held the file to his chest. “Everyone is happy with our contribution, and we’re going to keep it that way.”

  “But the official line about Lila is their line, not ours.” She tried for a direct hit to his ego. “You’re in charge here, not them.”

  He sighed. “Go home to your husband, Ginny. You’ve earned a night off.”

  He fell back on his usual condescending attitude, which ratcheted up her anger. “Talking to me like that is bullshit, and you know it.”

  “For the sake of your job, I’m going to ignore that.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  THE DINER IN DRYDEN, ABOUT FIFTEEN MILES AWAY FROM Ithaca, 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.”