Pretty Little Wife(98)

Aaron Payne the serial teen girl abuser. Jared Payne the serial killer. A cabin in the middle of nowhere and a woman who stopped them both. The lines are open and . . .

Okay, I’m told we have a special caller. Folks, her identity has been checked and double-checked. This is Lila Ridgefield.

Lila?

I’ve followed your podcast. Thank you for keeping Karen, Yara, and Julie in the news.

Of course. I need to ask—

I wanted to say one thing first, if that’s okay. You’ve called me a hero, and that’s not true. The credit goes to your listeners who kept the pressure on. To the families of the missing women, who have to figure out how to survive such a horrible loss. To Samantha Yorke, for being so brave and coming forward. She exposed Aaron’s true self and made it possible for other girls to get help.

Okay, let me ask—

And to Ginny Davis, the senior investigator in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. She understood this case from the beginning. She knew her theories were right and never gave up. She’s exactly the type of person who should be in charge.

That’s great. Now, Lila . . . Lila? Okay, listeners. It sounds as if we got cut off. I’ll try to get her back on the line.

Lila hung up the phone. She’d covered every base and put the emphasis where it should be. Off the men who’d killed and on the women who’d made a difference.

No more talk about Aaron and Jared. Ever. She could leave town and start over. Erase her name and find a new life. Build something without a husband or father. Because she was in charge.

How long did it take to eliminate a family of monsters? Two months.

She won.





Acknowledgments


FIRST, APOLOGIES TO ITHACA, NEW YORK. YOU ARE STUNNING. I went to college nearby at Syracuse University. When it came time to figure out a setting for this book Ithaca jumped into my mind. The idea of setting something ugly in a place so bucolic appealed to me. But really, the story is from my imagination. It’s me, not you.

The tiny spark of an idea for this book was born during a lunch with my editor, May Chen, at a writing conference. We’d worked together on romantic suspense novels for years. Our usual conversation about our current reads turned into a “what if I wrote something totally different . . .” discussion. So, when I finally figured out what my domestic suspense would look like, she was the first person we called. The only one, actually. Because if I were going to try a new genre, I wanted May and the entire HarperCollins group on my team. I am grateful they wanted that, too.

A huge thank you to my agent, Laura Bradford, for listening to me talk about this book and work through my desire to pivot to try new things. When I need support, you provide it. When I need a kick, you gently deliver. Thank you for both . . . and for selling this book.

I happened to be on a writers’ retreat with friends (read: tax deductible vacation) when I got the book offer. Thank you to Lauren Dane, Shannon Stacey, Jaci Burton, Vivian Arend, Angela James, Megan Hart, and Sarah Wendell for being there, for celebrating with me, and for talking me out of the can I do this? panic. Also, thank you to Jill Shalvis who provides weekly encouragement via text.

Thank you to everyone who has talked about this book, been excited about the book, reviewed it, and bought it. I am grateful and humbled.

And, as always, thanks to James. I couldn’t have this career without you.