Pretty Little Wife(15)

“Earlier than I do, yes.”

“Why did you leave law?” Ginny’s eyebrow lifted. “Or maybe you never practiced.”

The response wouldn’t lead to answers about Aaron, but let her dig. “I never practiced in New York. I’m not licensed here. I was a partner in a small firm in Greensboro, North Carolina.”

“And?”

“And a few years ago I grew tired of the work and the lying, and Aaron wanted to move back to New York, where he grew up, so we did.”

She’d repeated the lines so many times that she almost believed them. The truth was much more complicated than the glossy version she tried to sell. The criminal practice annoyed her, yes, and she’d craved a break, but she expected any leave of absence to be temporary. The relocation and need to take another bar exam, plus Aaron’s pleas that she switch to a less time intensive area of law, convinced her to abandon her path on a test basis . . . and that test had sputtered along for more than three years.

She left out the part about how unhappy Aaron had been in Greensboro. Not at first. When she’d met him, he loved his job and helped out after school with the debate team. He spoke with pride about his students and their achievements, which she found appealing.

She also appreciated his close bond with Jared. They visited each other often. Aaron would spend a chunk of the summer in New York with Jared and come back talking about how he wished they lived closer together. By the time the fall semes ter started, Aaron usually would move on and be back in the North Carolina groove . . . until that final year.

He generally got along well with coworkers. He turned on the charm and then came home and blasted them to her. The friction with another teacher who shifted to administration arose out of nowhere, and Aaron became obsessed with everything the guy did and said.

Looking back, seeing Aaron through a different lens, she wondered what that North Carolina school administrator knew that she didn’t know. What secrets he’d stumbled over.

“I didn’t love dealing with clients.” Lila didn’t like to give anything away, to let people have a peek inside her and steal it for themselves, to think they knew her when they didn’t, so she would bob and weave during conversations. Give away some, shade it a bit, but not all.

“Divorce work?” Ginny asked.

“Criminal defense.” Lila held up her hand. “And before you ask, felonies. Murder. Kidnapping. I was a trial attorney.”

“So you know how the system works.”

“Depends on what system you’re talking about.”

She could almost hear Ginny’s mind race. To a novice, it might sound like she spun around in circles, but Lila could see the bigger plan. Dodge in and out of topics, pepper personal questions with general ones. Jump from here to there. While that might be interesting to toy with on one level, Lila had no intention of having her life become the step someone with the smarts and drive might use to further their own career.

“Thanks for letting me look around.” The younger partner . . . or whatever he was . . . reentered the room.

He’d taken a long time in the bathroom, which Lila hoped meant he’d been experienced enough to search the place when she gave him the opening. She tried to remember his name. Paul . . . no, not that.

She made nonsense conversation while she mentally scrambled to recall the name on the card on the kitchen counter. “Nothing to see.”

He threw her a half smile. “Right.”

Pete Ryker. That was it.

She rushed to categorize him. Once she did that, she wouldn’t forget anything about him again. It was a memory trick and one she’d depended on forever. They’d spent only minutes in the same room, but she had a few thoughts. Thirtysomething and a mass of muscles that suggested he spent all of his off time in a gym. Expensive shoes. For some reason, that struck her as odd for a guy who likely walked through crime scenes.

“Unless we hear from Aaron, I’ll need you to come to my office tomorrow.” Ginny scanned the floor and the furniture as she stepped out of the living area and walked over to Pete. “Answer some questions. Look at some photos.”

“Of what?”

“People.” Ginny nodded. “Maybe seeing a face will help you remember something that doesn’t seem important right now.”

Spoken like someone who didn’t know her at all. “That’s hard to imagine.”

“Where are your husband’s wallet and keys?” Pete asked.

“Gone.” Lila shrugged. “With him, I’d guess.”

They both stared at her after that answer. Lila reran the sentences in her head but didn’t find a problem.

Ginny nodded in the direction of the coffee table. “Do you and Aaron share that laptop?”

“We each have one, plus we share a desktop.” She had their attention now. “I need them for work.”

“All three?” Pete asked.

“Yes.”

Ginny cleared her throat before talking again. “We’ll discuss that later. For now, does your husband’s car have GPS?”

“He said it was a waste of money. He uses the one on his phone, but even that is unusual. He’s one of those people who goes to a place one time and remembers the directions forever, unlike me.”

“And his cell phone is gone as well, I take it.” Pete glanced at Ginny after he delivered that statement. “That’s inconvenient.”