A Stranger on the Beach(51)

“Maybe you’re right. The cops in the city’ll say since it happened in Glenhampton, it’s not their problem.”

“Exactly. Nobody’s going to help.”

“What do we do, then?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Stop antagonizing Aidan, and hope he fades away.”

“Antagonizing? I almost get killed trying to get this maniac to lay off you, and you imply it’s my fault for antagonizing him?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did. That’s what you meant, anyway.”

I could hear Jason moving around in the bedroom now, mere feet away. I needed to get off the phone ASAP. But I didn’t want to leave things like this with Lynn. Not only was she worried about me, but she honestly believed that Aidan had tried to run her off the road.

“Lynnie, I’m sorry. Please, don’t get upset. Let’s discuss this in person, okay?”

“That’s all I’m asking. When and where?”

“I’ll drive out there. I’ll be there by lunchtime.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then. And don’t you dare stand me up,” she said, and hung up.

I’d been planning to talk to Jason this morning about where the hell he’d been last night, and what was going on between him and Peter Mertz. Peter clearly wanted to have it out with Jason over something, and I was brought along to dinner to prevent that from happening. When the dinner ended, Jason took me home in an Uber, then claimed he needed to go deal with a crisis in his office. Maybe that was true, or maybe he was back with the Russian woman. When I tried to track his phone, it was off. I was dying to hash things out with him.

“Jason, we need to talk,” I said.

“I’ve got an Uber waiting downstairs, honey. Gotta run,” he said, and kissed my cheek.

“Wait one minute,” I said, grabbing his arm as he tried to pass by me to leave. “You owe me an explanation. Where were you last night until three o’clock in the morning? If you have any hope of saving this marriage, and convincing me you’re not having an affair, you’ll tell me the truth.”

He looked me in the eye. “That is the truth. Maybe you could tell last night that Peter is upset with me.”

“Yes. What was that about?”

“There’s a problem with one of my funds. A big problem. He referred me to the SEC for investigation.”

I gasped. “Criminal investigation?”

“I’m afraid so, honey. But I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear it. I’m going to hire a lawyer and clear my name. I’m sorry I haven’t told you until now. I didn’t want you to worry. I may be hard to reach in the next few days because I’m busy with this. I hope you’ll understand.”

“I’m so sorry I doubted you,” I said, and threw myself into Jason’s arms.

He pressed his lips to my hair. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. I promise. Now, I have to go.”

After Jason left, I was at loose ends, fearful that he was in trouble, knowing there wasn’t much I could do to help. The most productive use of my time would be to face up to my other big problem—Aidan. I would go see my sister and try to convince her to stay out of that situation. Lynn’s interference would only stir things up, and I had to make her understand that.

I went to the garage where we parked, three blocks from the apartment, to get my car.

It was rush hour, and I hadn’t called ahead. When I got to the garage, the line of customers waiting for their cars to be brought up from the depths was five deep, and there was only one valet on duty. He was the older of the two valets who worked there, soft-spoken and slow-moving, with a shiny, bald head. Jason sometimes drove himself to work in the morning, and when he did, he made sure to call the night before to ask that the car be brought out by the night valet. Otherwise, he said, don’t even bother, because the old guy on duty was slower than molasses. Turned out Jason was right. I waited and waited. Half an hour passed. Finally, I was the next customer. The valet took my car number and went off in search of my car. More time passed. I saw my white Escalade nosing up the ramp. It came to a stop in front of me. I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle my cry. In the pearlescent paint of the passenger door, the words “DIE BITCH” had been scratched in deeply, presumably with a key.

The valet stepped tentatively out of the car, scratching his head.

“How did this happen?” I said, barely getting the words out, close to tears as I stared at my beautiful car in horror.

“I can’t say. Never seen nothing like it before in all the years I worked here,” he said.

I walked around, barely believing my eyes as I saw the same words scratched a second time on the driver’s side, with deep scoring scratches on the rear door and the tailgate.

“Who did this?” I asked, turning on the valet.

My voice shook with fear, because I knew who did it. Lynn’s visit to the bar had set Aidan off. He wasn’t just following me anymore, creepily confessing his adoration, begging to spend time with me, making ridiculous insinuations that my husband was a threat to me. The threat was Aidan himself. He’d turned to violence. He’d tried to run my sister off the road. And now, if this message was to be believed, he was coming for me.

“I don’t know. You got enemies? Maybe somebody’s mad at you, maybe it’s random. Either way, I didn’t see a thing.”