Page 15 of Pretty Little Wife

Jared snorted. “Is there a difference?”

“I guess we’ll see.” She’d gone out of her way not to know anything about the intricacies of New York law enforcement, both because she didn’t plan to take another bar exam and because she didn’t intend to ever return to a courtroom.

“Okay.” He stood up and adjusted the waistband of his dress pants on his waist, trim from hours of running each morning. “I’ll do a quick drive with Brent then circle back here to help out and make some calls. I’ll have my cell. Text if you hear anything.”

The second kiss landed in her hair. It was quick and brotherly and comforting in a way she never expected. She wasn’t exactly one to relax and let someone else share the load, but from the moment she’d met Jared they’d clicked. They understood each other and never needed to verbally vomit their life details to each other.

They were reluctant survivors. Angry and unwilling to open up and invite more pain. Aaron bonded them, but most days—and especially recently—she preferred spending time with Jared over Aaron.

She glanced at the tablet and the podcast site. “Jared?”

He turned around in the doorway to the hall and stopped. “Yeah?”

The hopeful expression, all wide-eyed and waiting, pulled at her, but she let it go. She wasn’t even sure what she intended to say when she’d called out to him. It wasn’t as if she had anything encouraging to offer. No hope. No empty words about finding Aaron safe.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Aaron wasn’t coming back. But if he did, she’d finish what she started.

Chapter Seven

GINNY CALLED TO SAY SHE’D LEFT THE OFFICE AND WOULD BEthere soon. That was thirty minutes ago. She showed up with a younger man. No uniform on him either. Just dark pants and a bright white shirt. When he asked to use the bathroom, she directed him to the one down the hall and told him to do whatever he needed to do. She had nothing to hide. There was no reason to pretend she did.

“This is a big house. No kids?” Ginny ran her finger along the fireplace mantel, hesitating only when it landed on the frame of the one photo sitting there.

Lila standing between Aaron and Jared. The picture was a little more than a year old and captured a rare moment in time when all three of them looked genuinely happy. It was taken only a few minutes before they headed out on a boat on Cayuga Lake. The bright blue sky and late-summer sun had them looking tan and rested.

“No.” Kids or no kids was the one marital decision she and Aaron had made together.

Ginny set the photo back on the mantel and turned to face Lila. “Walk me through this morning again.”

This was a game. Lila didn’t feel like playing. She sat down in the middle of the couch and opened the laptop she’d carried into the room after Jared left. “I got up, and he was already gone. That’s normal, by the way.”

“Normal?”

She didn’t look up. Just kept typing. “Do you object to the word?”

“What are you doing?”

“Checking Aaron’s bank accounts.”

Ginny sat down next to her, leaving only a sliver of space between them. As far as pressure moves went, it had its benefits. It likely worked on some. Lila appreciated the intimidation tactics, but she’d learned in her old legal life when to jump and when to ignore.

“Joint or individual accounts?” Ginny asked as she took a pair of glasses out of her jacket pocket and put them on.

“Both.” Lila glanced over. “You should wear them. They look good.”

“I’d fall on my face. They’re just for reading.” Ginny never broke eye contact with the screen. “And what are you finding?”

“Nothing. He last took cash out two days ago.”

“How much?”

“Sixty dollars.” Lila shifted the screen toward Ginny. “He’s not a big spender.”

“Your house suggests otherwise.”

Lila closed the laptop and sat it back on the table in frontof her. “He bought this as a fixer-upper. We updated it a little at a time.”

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