Pretty Little Wife(8)
Brent nodded. “She wanted to come to the school to see for herself.”
The conversation struck Lila as obvious and not half as interesting as Ginny’s intense stare suggested.
“When did you last see your husband, Ms. Ridgefield?”
Now the questions would start. The need for explanations. The digging into her marriage. Taking apart every sentence, every choice, every piece of her life with Aaron. He’d gone missing, and the spotlight would shine on her, casting shadows everywhere. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and she would pay.
She’d prepared for so many contingencies, but not this one. All of them depended on Aaron being found.
Lila took a long breath. “Last night.”
“Not this morning?”
The verbal dance annoyed Lila. The detective or whatever she was had a job to do. Lila needed to find her husband and didn’t believe someone who didn’t know him, who might get sucked in by his outward charm, could find him faster than she could. “No, which is why I said last night.”
Ginny’s gaze bounced from Brent to Lila. “Is Aaron the type to take a day off without warning?”
That question was easy to answer because it was a point of pride to Aaron, which Lila found ridiculous. “Not at all.”
“He’s had perfect attendance for the almost four years he’s been here,” Brent said as he shook his head. “Hasn’t missed a day. Even comes in when he’s sick, which is against the rules, but we make an exception. His record and personality are why we called your office immediately rather than waiting to see if he showed up.”
“That’s who he is.” Lila wasn’t sure if that fact helped her or not, but she wanted the lead role in shaping that vision for any and all law enforcement who stumbled into the case.
“Okay.” Ginny’s gaze lingered on Lila before she turned to Brent again. “I understand what you’re both saying, but is there anywhere—?”
“On a weekday during the school year he goes to work. That’s the point.” The thumping in Lila’s head kicked up, threatening to swallow the last of her attention.
Ginny’s gaze snapped right back to Lila. “Except today.”
The noise from inside the school spilled out. Two boys yelled with hands raised as they stumbled outside and stepped in and out of each other’s personal space. No one crowded in or joined them in their amateur fight, but faces appeared in the door’s glass and a rapt audience formed.
Brent’s focus shot to the door. “If you’ll excuse me.”
He was off, with those long legs chewing up the feet between them and the brewing fight. The second he stepped in, the shouts of juvenile retribution cut off. After some finger-pointing, the chaos moved back inside the building.
“May I call you Lila?” Ginny asked.
If this were a game, then Lila would play, too. “May I call you Ginny?”
“Sure.” The older woman dropped the clipped response before launching into a new topic. “Is there anyone you can think of who might want to hurt your husband?”
Yeah, her.
At any other time, under any other situation, Lila might admire Ginny’s style. She verbally zigged and zagged. Asked what she needed to ask, the usual initial questions, most likely, but Lila sensed Ginny didn’t care much about the answers. Fact-finding was not the purpose of this trip, at least not in the sense of hearing the one thing that might explain how a thirty-seven-year-old man vanished on his way to work.
No, this back-and-forth was about sizing her up. Ginny’s gaze assessed every stray move and every swallow. She pinned Lila under an unseen microscope and gently poked around.
Lila’s senses screamed at her to be careful. To cut this short before the anxiety crawling through her burst out of her like a bad horror movie. “He’s a high school math teacher.”
“Teachers have enemies.”
Lila refused to take the bait.
“I’m trying to understand what we’re looking at here.” Ginny’s soothing voice, deep and calm, had a hypnotizing effect. “There were no car accidents in the area this morning with his make of car. No John Doe fitting his description at any local hospitals.”
“Aren’t you thorough?”
A tiny smile broke over Ginny’s lips. “Always.”
Lila forced the sensation rushing through her back—the one that shouted to pick flight over fight—as she watched the woman who might feign friendship and support but would likely become her adversary. And a worthy one.
Ginny took out a small notebook and scribbled a few things down. She handled the situation with the confidence of a person who’d fought and clawed her way into the position she held and refused to relinquish it. As a black woman high up in law enforcement, she likely both earned respect and spent most of her day demanding it from men who would prefer to ignore her.
“May I go home?” Lila asked, because the house would ground her as she tried to reason out what happened this morning.
Ginny nodded. “If Aaron doesn’t show up by this time tomorrow, I’d like you to come to my office and—”
“You can come to my house and ask whatever you want. Now or later, doesn’t matter to me.” When Ginny didn’t jump on the offer, Lila fell back on reason. “Isn’t that better? I’m inviting you in. You can walk through and look around. No need for probable cause or a warrant.” Lila found her first smile of the day. “Did I forget to mention I’m a lawyer?”