Pretty Little Wife(54)
She’d ignored the press line out front for as long as possible. The cameras and trucks. The crowd of field hockey parents holding signs and demanding she tell what she’d done to Aaron. If it weren’t for the garage connected to the house, she’d have to run the gauntlet of fury every time she moved. Even with the barrier, they still surrounded her car and banged on the windows when she left the safety perimeter and crossed into the street.
Christina flipped her sunglasses to the top of her head and glared at Lila. “You don’t need to do this.”
“You’re trying to run a business, and I’m a distraction.” More of a liability. The brick thrown through the real estate office window last night proved that.
“People are so disappointing.”
Lila grabbed the box containing the contents of her desk and gestured for Christina to come into the family room. “Thanks for bringing this over. I’m sorry I missed being there for the search. I just couldn’t.”
After unloading the box on the kitchen counter, she followed Christina to the couch. Even steamed and frustrated, she presented the perfect outward appearance in her navy-blue pantsuit and bright blue shirt. Everything about her said I’m in charge, so get out of my way, and smart people listened.
She dropped her oversize leather bag on the floor and crossed her legs. “It’s everything CID didn’t take.”
“They took stuff?” Lila had been careful about what she left behind. Gum. Pens. Some leads on possible future clients.
Christina waved off the concern. “Your computer and notepads. Nothing big, as far as I could tell.”
They fell into a comfortable silence. Lila made tea for both of them. They’d worked together long enough—shared stories about annoying clients and gossiped about other agents in the office—for her to know Christina’s preferences. The quiet company suited Lila.
She handed a mug to Christina and sat down across from her. “I know all of this is a pain in the ass.”
Christina shook her head. “Stop.”
She meant it. Christina never said anything she didn’t mean. She wasn’t the type to placate or ignore nonsense.
Lila appreciated the concern, but her life and her mess had leeched out and now infected other people’s welfare. “I’m really—”
“I mean it. Stop.” Christina froze as she stared at Lila over the top of the mug. “Your time away from the office is temporary until the pressure is off.”
On one level, they both knew this was the end. Her life would never be the same. It would never be easy to be the person who sided with her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Besides that, this is on Aaron, not you.”
Not totally true. “People blame me. Some people think he’s dead.”
“People think a lot of things. None of that nonsense has anything to do with me.”
Lila wrapped her hands around the mug and let the warmth seep into her skin. “I wish I could say that.”
“Hey.” Christina focused all of her attention on Lila. “You stay strong. You are one of the smartest women I know. Whatever happened, and what is coming at you, you have it handled.”
A laugh bubbled out before Lila could stop it. “Is that your subtle way of asking if I did something to him?”
“We’re not talking about that—or the call in.”
Everything inside Lila stilled. “What call?”
“The one that morning.” Christina cut off her response with a flip of her hand. “I was up working because, as usual, I couldn’t sleep. Someone had signed in from home to Dan’s computer. Since he’s been gone for a few months and since only the two of us knew his sign-in, I figured out it was you and tried to message you.”
An electronic message meant a trail. Ginny could eventually figure out Christina sent it because she thought Lila was awake, not asleep as she claimed. That kind of back-and-forth chat at four in the morning was the sort of thing that could be traced if they knew to check it, and now they would.
Silence filled the room as Lila struggled for the right thing to say. Come up with an excuse or deny? She went back and forth, but the bigger issue was Ginny. She needed the right excuse to throw Ginny off once she found the message, and she would.
“The problem is fixed. I deleted Dan’s computer from the system and erased the backup logs. All anyone looking at the office computer system will see is me being online, working. No attempts to communicate directly with you. No evidence of Dan’s computer being used. Eliminating Dan’s account is easy to explain since he left.”
Still, it was a potential hole. Lila had to double-check the street cameras that morning, the ones the county generously showed online so people could watch traffic and the weather. Two had been out, and she’d planned her return home from the school based on that but had a contingency if one or more had been fixed. Dialing in to the office meant the traffic check would be on Dan’s computer early that morning and not relate to her at all. Checking her computer or any of the computers actively in use wouldn’t show a thing.
“Christina . . .” But Lila still wasn’t sure what to say.
She shook her head. “It’s forgotten.”
That was a huge burden to ask someone to carry. “Okay, but—”
“Forgotten.”