A Stranger on the Beach(49)

I was in the bedroom at the vanity table, doing my eyes, when my phone rang. Every time it rang now, I jumped, terrified it would be Aidan. But it was Lynn. I declined the call, and she called right back, so I picked up.

“I’m getting ready to go out to dinner. Can I call you back?”

“He tried to run me off the road.”

She was breathing hard, her voice panicky. I knew instantly who she meant, but I couldn’t admit that—not to her, not to myself. What had I brought into the lives of the people I loved?

“Who did what?” I said. “Are you okay? You sound bad.”

“I’m still shaking. Your boyfriend tried to sideswipe my car. No joke. Thank God a car was coming the other way. He was going to collide with it head-on, so he had to back off. It must’ve freaked him out, because he stopped chasing me.”

“Wait, who?”

“Who do you think? That fucking bartender.”

“Aidan?”

“Yes, Aidan. He’s as crazy as you said, Caroline. We need to go to the police. I didn’t get the plate number, but I can describe the truck to a T. Red, rusted out, banged-up door.”

“Why would Aidan go after you? That makes no sense.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say that. But I do think you should calm down and ask yourself if it was really him, or some maniac who happened to look like him. Come on, what motive does Aidan have to go after you? How would he even know who you are?”

“He would go after me to get to you. And I don’t know how he knew. But he knew, and he said a lot of stuff. He claimed to be close to you, Caroline. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“He said this while he was chasing you in his truck?”

“No. Before.”

“He came to your house, and said these things?” I said, stunned.

My phone. Aidan must’ve found Lynn’s address on my phone, tracked her down, and attacked her. My worst fears were coming true.

“No, not my house,” she said.

“Then where did this happen?”

“Near the bar where he works.”

“Why were you at the bar where he works?”

“Because. I told him to back off.”

“Ugh, Lynn. What did you do?”

“You’re being so passive that I felt I had to step in. I went there, and I told him to leave you alone.”

“Are you insane? That’s guaranteed to set him off.”

“Well, it did. You should thank me, because now we have enough to go to the police.”

“But you created the situation. Don’t you see? Now Aidan has an excuse. The police won’t do anything.”

“What are you talking about? How does telling him to back off you give him an excuse to try to kill me?”

“The police won’t take it seriously.”

“Of course they will. You’re not making any sense. Are you covering for this guy, Caroline?”

I was about to tell her that Aidan’s brother was the chief of police. I heard a noise and turned to see Jason standing right behind me. When had he gotten there, how much had he heard?

“Who’s that?” he said.

I held the phone away from me and covered the microphone.

“It’s Lynn.”

“What does she want?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Did I hear you say something about going to the police?”

“Someone stole something from her. Or, she thinks they did. Hold on, okay?” I said, putting the phone back to my ear. “Lynn, listen. Jason and I are late to dinner. I’ll have to call you back.”

“What are we going to do?” she demanded.

“Let me think about it. I’ll call you later.”

I hung up, then I turned my back to him. “Zip me up, and let’s go,” I said.

The Uber was waiting downstairs, a black SUV. When we were buckled into the backseat, Jason asked me again if he hadn’t heard me talking to Lynn about going to the police over something.

“She can’t find a piece of jewelry, and she’s wondering if her housekeeper took it,” I said.

“Rosario? Hasn’t she been with them for, like, twenty years?”

“It couldn’t be Rosario, right? I told her to look around. She probably misplaced it. You know how people hide their jewelry, like if a workman’s coming or something, and then they forget where they put it? That’s probably what happened.”

Fifth Avenue was clogged with traffic. I felt bad lying to Jason when we were trying to find our way back into one another’s hearts. But I couldn’t tell him about Aidan without risking our reconciliation, especially not now that Aidan might be volatile, even dangerous. Jason would blame me for bringing this element of instability into our lives. He might even start thinking that we should separate again. I stared at the reflections of the buildings on the window of the SUV and felt so alone. I was keeping secrets from my husband. And I wondered what secrets he was keeping from me.

Peter Mertz was sitting alone in the dimly lit bar area at the restaurant, a martini on the table in front of him. Where was his wife? He stood up when we came in. But there was no smile of greeting on his face, no move to kiss or even greet me at all.