Pretty Little Wife(39)

She turned off the light and shimmied back down the ladder. As her foot hit the hallway floor again, she heard a noise. She spun around, flashlight raised as a weapon as a scream raced up her throat.

“Stop!”

Lila blinked at the sound of a female voice, trying to figure out what she was seeing. “What the hell?”

But she knew. Cassie. Her nosy neighbor stood in the hallway with her hands raised in panic. One held a plastic-wrapped bundle that looked like banana bread.

“It’s me.” Cassie repeated the phrase over and over.

“Get out!” Lila knew there were other things she should have and could have said, but that came out first.

“I . . . you . . .”

“What?” Lila finally let the arm with the flashlight drop to her side. “What could possibly explain your breaking into my house and scaring the shit out of me?”

“I knocked and—”

“I did not answer.” Tension and frustration whipped up into a full, frothing fury now. “That is the universal way of saying you’re not welcome.”

“I knew you were home and tried to call first.” Cassie bit her bottom lip. “I was worried.”

She had to be kidding. “Worried?”

“Your husband is missing. Your lawyer friend is out.”

Lila stared because she honestly had no idea what to say. The sheer bullshit this woman was spewing to justify coming into her house uninvited had Lila sputtering. She couldn’t think of a single coherent sentence that wasn’t a profanity-laced tirade.

“Lila?”

“Get out.”

More lip crunching. “I know I should have—”

“Now, Cassie.” Lila found her voice and was fully prepared to use it.

“You don’t—”

“You know what, Cassie?” Lila started walking, which forced Cassie to back her way down the hallway or get mowed over. “I’m sick of people walking all over my life, thinking they can do whatever they want, when they want.”

“I get that. I really do.” Cassie glanced behind her as she headed for the door.

All the years of Cassie peeking in the windows and showing up unexpectedly backed up on Lila. At least before this Cassie honored the sanctity of the door and didn’t walk inside unannounced. This time she’d gone too far. Her nosiness butted up against Lila’s need for privacy in the worst possible way.

“Hear me, Cassie. You aren’t welcome in my house.” When Cassie held up the bundle in her hand and started to say something, Lila talked over her. “No. You may not speak or explain. You may not come inside my house unless I escort you. I don’t even want your feet to touch my driveway unless I call and ask you to come over.”

Cassie’s back hit the front door. “I can help you.”

“I don’t want your help.” Lila reached around Cassie and tugged on the doorknob until the door opened a bit. “Ever.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m leaving.”

Lila let Cassie scurry out with the bundle before slamming the door in her face. “Damn right you are.”





Chapter Twenty-Four


GINNY SHUFFLED THE PAPERWORK PILED IN FRONT OF HER ON the desk. She looked through bank statements and phone records. Reread the statements from Brent and Jared, the neighbors and the people at school. They all echoed the same refrain—Aaron was not a guy who would run away from his responsibilities. And Lila, well, she was different, but Aaron never complained.

She glanced up at Pete on the other side of her desk. “Did you get through to anyone from Aaron’s last job?”

He shuffled his notes. “The good people of North Carolina aren’t being very forthcoming. All my calls to the school were rerouted to the school district’s attorney, who gave me a one-liner about Aaron being a highly regarded teacher, but they understood his preference to be closer to family.”

She sat back in her chair. “That’s interesting.”

“Something is wrong there, and no one is talking.” Pete flipped the page in his notebook. “I talked with a Greensboro neighbor who said they were quiet but fine. Aaron more friendly than Lila. So, the usual.”

“Nothing helpful or new.” It had only been a few days, and Ginny had hit a wall of frustration. “There’s no sign of a girlfriend or someone he might have run off with in the credit card or bank records.”

“No motive for anyone to kill him.” Pete shrugged. “Money, I guess. That would point toward Jared, not Lila.”

“And that ticks you off because you think the answer is Lila?” She understood but she also knew that jumping to conclusions was a huge job danger and Pete needed to learn that before a career-ending disaster happened.

“Don’t you? She’s the only one who doesn’t seem to care that he’s gone.”

She couldn’t argue with that, so she didn’t try. “Her being odd isn’t evidence.”

“You sure?”

“We have Jared, who was at a conference when his brother went missing.” She closed a file in front of her containing Lila’s cell phone records. “But he could have left or come in and out, so it’s not airtight. Do some more digging on that.”

“Okay.” He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. “Lila was at home sleeping. Brent was alone at his place doing the same. Those are pretty shaky alibis, too.”