A Stranger on the Beach(94)

“Maybe you’re right,” Aidan said to Lisa.

“I am right. Tell me about that drink, and how you felt afterward.”

“The bourbon tasted funny. I passed out not long after drinking it. I woke up in my truck on the beach with my mind a blank and no memory of anything in between.”

“There you go. Put that together with the Ambien in your blood, and it’s obvious. But if you want to feel better about it, the prosecutor told me Caroline’s fingerprints are on the gun.”

“Seriously?”

Aidan’s spirits soared. If she killed him, then Aidan’s hands were clean. He hadn’t realized until that moment how much he wanted not to be guilty. How much he didn’t want to have another dead man on his conscience. He hated that Caroline would suffer. He wished he could carry that burden for her. But at least his own conscience would be clear.

“Though, you should know, your fingerprints were on the gun, too,” Lisa said.

Crap. Aidan hung his head and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t handle much more of this stress, of this crazy roller-coaster his life had become.

“Which is it, then? Did I shoot Stark or did she?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you what I think happened,” Lisa said. “Caroline drugged you. She shot her husband, and then she stuck the gun in your hand while you were blacked out. She made sure your prints were on it, then she planted it in your truck.”

“How did she get me to my truck? And dispose of Jason’s body?”

“Somebody helped her. But it wasn’t you.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to go in this direction.”

Caroline was still a beautiful dream, one he couldn’t give up. If she’d betrayed him that badly, it would be worse than anything Samantha ever did. He didn’t want to face it. And yet—

“After all the proof I laid out, you still don’t see that she set you up? I want to slap you, kid,” Lisa said.

“There is this one thing.”

He paused, afraid of what he was about to say, of where it would lead him.

“I’ll bite. What’s the one thing?” Lisa asked.

“Someone came to visit me the other day, and she told me a strange story. This girl Brittany? She works for Harbor Gourmet. She’s the person who hired me to work at Caroline’s party, the one where Stark’s mistress showed up and made a scene.”

“Okay, and?”

“Brittany says Caroline asked for me special, by name.”

“Asked for you—?”

“Brittany says Caroline knew my first and last name, and where I worked, and that she insisted that I be the bartender assigned to her party. Brittany says she’s willing to testify, to show that Caroline came after me. That I didn’t stalk her. But I don’t get how it’s possible. I only met Caroline once before that party, in passing on the beach. We barely spoke. I don’t see how she could’ve known my full name, or where I worked, and I don’t understand why she would ask for me.”

“You believe this woman’s story?”

“Brittany has no reason to lie. She’s not that good of a friend of mine. She says she’s one hundred percent sure that it happened the way that she says it did. I believe her. And yet it makes no sense.”

Lisa tapped her fingernails thoughtfully on the table. “Before Caroline requested you to work at the party, you say the two of you met once, on the beach?”

“Yeah. But just for a minute. I remember it was starting to rain. She was out for a run. She looked really beautiful. I remember she was wearing—”

“I don’t need to know what she was wearing, Aidan. Tell me the things I do need to know. Where exactly did this happen? Did you speak? What did you say?”

“It happened in front of her house. I was standing there looking up at it.”

“Looking at her house? Why?”

“I always look at it. That land used to belong to my family.”

“You always look at Caroline’s house? That isn’t good. Elaborate, please.”

“I go by there—I used to—to see how the house is coming along. To admire it.”

“How often did you do this?”

“Few times a week, maybe.”

“Was that the first time she saw you?”

“As far as I know. It was definitely the first time I saw her.”

“But she could’ve seen you on other occasions?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe she wondered who you were and why you were staring at her house.”

“It’s possible.”

“Maybe she thought you wanted to rob it.”

“I don’t know why she would think that. I never did anything. Well, maybe, occasionally if nobody was around, I’d—”

He paused.

“You what?”

“I’d go in. I’m talking about when it was under construction, and it wasn’t locked. I don’t think she could know that. And one time after the party, when I set off the alarm by mistake. I’m sorry. Is that a problem for the case?”

“Of course it is. But maybe the truth is more complicated. How well-known is your prior conviction?”

“What do you mean?”