Pretty Little Wife(60)
What she’d had with Ryan had been real . . . for her. At least at the beginning. Then, when she needed a little expertise, the relationship turned out to be convenient. She’d thought it was happenstance, but now it seemed more like he’d been the one stalking her, going after her for the information he needed.
His eyes narrowed. “I looked at the books that grabbed your attention.”
“Say it.” Challenge rose in her voice. “Stop playing and make whatever accusation you’re dying to make.”
“I don’t think I have to.”
The knock came as he finished his sentence.
“Ignore it,” she said. Because they were not done.
The door opened, and Ginny stepped inside with two sheriff’s deputies Lila recognized from the same office where Ginny questioned her. They stood just behind her, on either side. As a team, they made a formidable one.
Ginny’s gaze fell on Lila, and she shook her head. “What a surprise to find you here.”
“Are you still following me?” It made sense. With Aaron missing and no new clues, they had to be desperate. But dragging her to the station again?
“Should I be?” Ginny shot back with her usual take-no-shit style.
“Lila is only here to ask about my notes. Thanks to you.” Ryan’s voice ratcheted down to a normal level as he spoke with Ginny, his affect calm and in control.
Ginny appeared less than impressed. “She admitted you’re having an affair.”
His gaze shot to Lila. “She did?”
Lila hadn’t gotten to that point yet. If he’d responded to her, this wouldn’t have been a shock. “You’re not the only one with surprises you forgot to share.”
“Nice of you to give me a heads-up.” He looked at both women as he delivered the comment.
Ginny snorted. “Do I work for you now?”
“My point about Lila being here was to say nothing else is going on.” He waved his hand in the air. “We were just talking.”
For a man who handled twentysomethings with ease, his defensiveness came off as conspiracy fodder. He had to know that. Lila couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “The panic in your voice suggests otherwise, so maybe tone it down.”
“She’s not wrong, but you can explain why everyone is where they are when we get back to my office.” Ginny gestured for her underlings to step aside and for Ryan to step out of the office.
Not her. That thought ran through Lila’s mind. She was here for Ryan, not her. Lila had no idea what that meant, but she appreciated the front-row seat to the action because it would save her from guessing what happened later. Nia and the podcast would know, but this time she’d know first.
Instead of moving forward, Ryan retreated closer to the window. “What are you talking about?”
“We have questions for you.” Ginny stood there, in a face-off, not giving one thing away with her body language.
When she reached for Ryan’s arm, he shrugged away from the hold. “No. You know what? I’m done. No more. I don’t even know the guy. Ask someone else about Aaron Payne.”
“We found his phone in your house.” Ginny’s gaze traveled from Ryan to Lila then back again. “Aaron’s phone. The one that went missing when he did.”
Ryan’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“What?” Lila asked at the same time.
“We found it in your house.” This time Ginny grabbed for Ryan’s arm and held on. “So, no, you’re not done with questions.”
Chapter Forty
LILA MET TOBIAS AT THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE. SHE WASN’T ALLOWED near the room where Ginny had Ryan in for questioning . . . again. Tobias left to get some intel on what was happening and confirm that the phone was the only surprise they had to survive tonight.
Her fight with Ryan had come at the worst time. She’d just tipped off his memory of her paging through the books in his office then aimed him directly at Ginny. He might right now be scrambling to protect his ass by offering up hers. The move would be typical, not surprising.
Ryan had operated from an agenda the entire time, and she’d missed it. Her instincts had misfired. The last thing she needed or wanted was to have her upbringing split open for everyone to pick at and dissect. Reliving those empty years was not an option.
But a much bigger mess loomed. One she could not explain. Aaron’s phone. Nothing about the location in which it was found made sense. Ryan never had it. Despite Ginny’s assumptions, the two men never met, or if they did it was so secret they hid it from her. She couldn’t figure out why that would ever happen.
A wayward thought. A little pinching at the back of her neck raised the possibility that the men had colluded without her knowing. They could have met. Might have fought. If Ryan was desperate enough to find fodder for his book, he could have reached out to Aaron for background. But the jump from there, which sounded tenuous at best, to the idea of Ryan helping Aaron disappear seemed too broad to bridge.
That last possibility, regardless of how remote it might be, made her stomach flip. Fighting one of them sucked. Going up against them both had her brain scrambling to come up with new options and plans.
But the Ryan-as-accomplice idea sounded so unlikely to her that she forced her mind not to focus on it. That left her back in the confusing mire. The cell should have been where she’d left it: in Aaron’s jacket pocket. She flipped through each step of the plan in her mind. She’d struggled but gotten through them all.