A Stranger on the Beach(50)

“What’s this?” he said to Jason, but he was looking at me.

“Did I misunderstand?” Jason said. “I thought wives were included.”

“We never said that.”

I saw what was going on, and my stomach cratered. I had not been invited to this meal. There was something very serious going on between Jason and Peter that was meant to be discussed tonight, and whatever it was, it was bad enough that Jason was trying to avoid it. I was being used. My presence here was a shield.

“My mistake,” Jason said. “I do apologize. But since Caroline is here, why don’t we sit down and eat? Pete, you and I can talk at the office tomorrow.”

I had to hand it to him. Jason was smooth under pressure. The guileless expression, the even tone of his voice. Every word out of his mouth sounded so reasonable that the listener would ask themselves if they were the crazy one. I’d taught Jason well. The student had become the master, and now he used his powers of persuasion to keep me in the dark about what increasingly seemed like very important matters. First the Russian woman, now whatever this discord was between him and Peter. Maybe I was the one who should reconsider our reconciliation.

“If you two need to talk, I can always go home,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t mind.”

“Or, Pete could call Donna, tell her to hop in a car and come join us,” Jason said.

“I believe the reservation is only for two people,” Peter said.

“It’s for four. My secretary made it,” Jason replied.

Peter looked back and forth between Jason and me, presumably weighing his need to have it out with Jason against his reluctance to be rude to me.

“This isn’t really the place to have our business discussion,” Jason said.

“Yes. I said that when you suggested it.”

Jason shrugged.

Peter took out his phone.

“Fine, let me see if she can get down here.”

The four of us ended up having a lovely meal, despite a discernible undercurrent of tension between Jason and Peter. I’d put my phone to silent, so I didn’t know until later how many times Lynn had called, in a frenzy of anxiety, asking what I planned to do about Aidan. Nor did I know that Aidan had called me several times from an unfamiliar number, one I hadn’t blocked, demanding to speak to me right away. He claimed he had information that Jason was a danger to me in some way, and even a danger to Hannah. Not only was that ridiculous, it was a downright creepy thing to suggest. Luckily, I didn’t listen to that voicemail until the next day.

The four of us—the Starks and the Mertzes—sat together in the exquisite, airy dining room, under glittering chandeliers, toasting and chatting like the old friends we supposedly were. I ordered the duck, and drank two glasses of a fine cabernet, and had what appeared on the surface to be a roaring good time. I admired my husband’s good looks, laughed at Peter’s jokes, gossiped with Donna, commented on the elegant outfits of the women at the next table. It was a night I’d look back on like it belonged to a distant, untroubled century. Because the reckoning was coming for all of us. I could feel it.





34


The morning after Lynn’s run-in with Aidan on the road, she called my phone. I hesitated before picking up. I knew she’d be mad that I hadn’t called her back last night to address what she perceived as a major crisis. I couldn’t handle an argument right now. After that strange dinner with Peter Mertz and his wife, Jason had gone “to the office,” and hadn’t come home till three o’clock in the morning. I’d pretended to be asleep when he came in. But in reality, I’d barely slept all night.

“You never called me back last night,” she said, and she sounded genuinely angry.

“I’m sorry,” I said, flustered. “Our dinner went late. It was a business dinner, so I couldn’t get away to call back. I’m on my way out now, so—”

“Whatever you’re doing can wait. I’m going to the police about your bartender, and you’re coming with me. No excuses.”

I was in the bedroom. Jason was in the shower in the master bath. As Lynn spoke, I heard the water turn off. He’d be standing right behind the door next to me, drying off. I couldn’t let him overhear this conversation. Jason still hadn’t found out about my fling with Aidan, and I wanted very much to keep it that way.

I walked out into the hall.

“Lynn, it’s not a good time,” I said, in a low tone. “Can I call you back?”

“No. What’s the problem? Don’t you want to get this guy?”

“Jason is here,” I whispered.

“Come to my house as soon as you can. We’ll go to the police station in Glenhampton, together. We don’t have to say a word to Jason about any of this.”

“It won’t do any good to go to the police. I wanted to explain to you last night, but we got interrupted. His brother is the chief.”

“The chief of what?”

“Aidan’s brother is the chief of police in Glenhampton.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not. If we go to his brother, it’ll get back to Aidan for sure, and piss him off more. That’s why I talked to the police in the city. But they told me I had no case. I don’t think that what happened to you last night changes that.”