A Stranger on the Beach(48)

Right?

In the parking lot, the sea air hit him in the face and cleared his mind. Lynn was getting into a BMW. He ran toward her, waving his arms, and saw a look of alarm blossom on her face.

“No,” he said. “Wait.”

He came up to her car and reached for her door handle. She put the car in gear, backed up, and stepped on the gas. The car lurched forward, barreling toward him. He stood his ground till the last minute, then sprang out of the way, hitting the ground and rolling, the wet pavement tearing at his skin. Jesus, she could have killed him. She seemed like she wanted to. The knee of his jeans was ripped and bloody.

He jumped in his truck and screeched out of the parking lot. Five miles down the road, he saw her taillights, and floored it. She didn’t recognize his truck, didn’t know it was him closing in on her, didn’t speed up to get away like he expected. When he was right on top of her, she looked in the rearview mirror and saw him. Her eyes bugged out in terror. It was a two-lane road, narrow and curving. He pulled alongside her, lowered the passenger window. They were both doing sixty in a thirty-five.

“Pull over,” he yelled, over the roaring wind. “I have to talk to you.”

Her mouth moved frantically behind the tinted glass of her window, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. A horn blared. A car was coming at him head-on, its headlights blinding against his wet windshield. He swerved, slotting back into the right lane, deciding not to kill the person in the other car just because Caroline’s sister was a goddamn liar. Deciding not to die for fear that what she said was true.

He could kill the sister for what she said. For her lies. But was she lying? What Lynn had said had the awful ring of truth. He hit the brakes and let her pull ahead, then watched her disappear around a bend. He pulled into a turnoff and sat there with his head in his hands. Warm blood from his knee trickled down his leg. It was like his heart bleeding. He’d had such faith in Caroline. He’d put his trust in her, believed she wasn’t the kind to say one thing to his face and another behind his back. Yet he’d felt something from Lynn. He could tell that she believed her own words as they came out of her mouth. She was telling the truth as she knew it. What could that mean, except that Caroline was lying to one of them? But which one?

If the barista had never given Aidan the cup with Samantha’s name on it, he might believe that Caroline was true to him, and that it was her sister she’d lied to. But the cup was a vivid reminder that the people you love most in this world are the very ones you should never trust. They will cheat on you and use you. They will ruin you, even kill you, if they can. He’d hoped he’d found something different with Caroline, but had he? Would she betray him, the way Samantha had, the way Matthew had? He needed to know. But how, when she refused to see him? Screw it, he was done listening to that. He would try to storm her apartment. But no, she had doormen. They’d stop him and call the police. He could try to follow her on the street. But if Lynn was to be believed, Caroline planned to rat him out for that.

No. It made no sense. Why would she turn on him?

He had to see her. Had to warn her. Had to get to the truth. And yet, if she called the police and claimed he was harassing her, he could get in trouble. In his situation, a call to the police could land him back in jail on a probation violation. And Aidan was terrified of going back to jail. Of course, there was also the possibility that the sister was lying, and that Caroline had never said that. He couldn’t stand the confusion. He needed to know what was real. He needed to see Caroline, to talk to her. And more than anything, he needed to warn her about the possible hit on her—and her daughter.

Maybe the right way to handle this was through Hannah.

If Lynn was right, and Aidan showed up unannounced at Caroline’s apartment, there was at least some chance, much as he hated to admit it, that Caroline would call the police and inadvertently end up sending him to jail. But Caroline’s daughter didn’t know him from Adam. He could sneak up on her. Not in a sketchy way. But make contact, make sure she was safe. Try to find a way to warn her that she was in danger. He knew where she went to school, and it was less than an hour’s drive from his apartment. He would be doing it out of love for her mother. If Aidan could protect Hannah, that would show Caroline how much he cared, and bring her running back into his arms.





33


Jason came home from work and announced that we were meeting Peter Mertz and his wife at a restaurant in Midtown for dinner in twenty minutes.

“I’m sorry for the short notice, but this is important,” he said. “You need to get changed, and wear something nice.”

He wouldn’t look at me. His eyes shifted as he spoke, and there was something tight and forced in his manner. I couldn’t help but remember Stacey Allen’s mysterious insinuations that Jason was in trouble at work. I’d tried to get him to discuss that with me, but to no avail. At the housewarming party, Peter had seemed so skeptical when I told that white lie about Jason’s whereabouts, almost like he was on to Jason’s lies himself. At the time, I’d assumed that was about the Russian woman, but was it?

“What’s going on, Jason? Are you in trouble at work?”

“Honey, there’s always trouble at work. It’s not worth bothering yourself over. The car’s waiting downstairs. We need to leave in five minutes. Please.”