Page 33 of Pretty Little Wife

“Let’s put the brakes on for a second.” Tobias leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table. “How is any of this relevant? It happened more than a decade ago, before she and Aaron even met, let alone got married.”

Pete met Tobias’s smile with one of his own. “An overachiever would know the answer to that question.”

As usual, Ginny took a more reasoned approach. “Right now the motive for the name change seems to be a secret, and all secrets are suspect when someone is missing.”

Tobias scoffed. “That’s kind of a broad rationale, isn’t it?”

The question seemed to put a ticking clock on Ginny’s patience. Her neutral expression morphed into exasperation. Everything about her demeanor said she’d sooner throw them both in a cell than continue with the questioning.

“She changed her name as an adult. Is she running from a juvenile crime? I don’t know, but I sort of doubt it. And the point is I can ask that the records be unsealed.” Ginny looked at Lila now. “It will take longer, but maybe that’s the goal. Put distance between the question and Aaron going missing. Make the investigation that much harder.”

Tobias shifted as if he wanted to answer for her, but Lila put a hand on his arm and went first. This was her part to tell. Her life. Her shame. “When I graduated from college I wanted a new start.”

“Okay.” Ginny blew out a long breath. “From what?”

“Life. My background. The family I left behind.”

“Be more specific.”

Lila understood the frustration in Ginny’s voice, but she actually wasn’t trying to evade the other woman’s questions this round. Everything inside her clenched in a desperate need to bat the words back. The topic chipped away at the life she’d made, at the progress she’d fought so hard to achieve. The urge to get in her car and not look back hit her so strong that it shook her.

You should be more like your friend, Carina. Look at Amelia in her pretty dress. Dance for me, sweetie.

Lila tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling to keep from throwing up. The memory of her father’s deep voice echoing in her head always touched off a roiling in her stomach. He’d make excuses to see Amelia. It happened for years. The way he would hover in the doorway whenever Amelia came over. He’d hug her and run a hand through her hair.

As a kid she’d been jealous.Why doesn’t Daddy like me as much as he likes Amelia?Now she knew the answer and it made her physically sick.

For a few minutes, no one said anything. The only sound in the room came from the air vent on the far wall. The slight whistle breaking through the silence.

“My... father...” She stumbled over the word. She hadn’t said his name in years or thought of him as a father for even longer. “He’s in prison. His name is Grant Fields.”

Ginny looked at Pete until she made eye contact. She then nodded toward the door. The chair legs screeched across the floor as he got up and silently left the room.

Lila got it. Pete would now race around and find the information about what happened. Every hideous detail.

She debated waiting for him to return and let him divulge the facts. The computer search couldn’t take that long, and maybe a few extra minutes would make the telling easier, though she doubted it.

When he didn’t immediately return, she started explaining. “It happened when I was fourteen. Though, really, I think the touching and leering had been happening for years. My father waited to make his big move.”

Pete eased the door open and stepped inside just as Lila finished the sentence. He held a handful of papers and placed a few in front of Ginny before sitting down.

“My father became obsessed with a girl named Amelia. He’d watch her. Acted like a father figure to her and claimed he needed to because her parents were divorced and her dad lived out of state. My father would go to Amelia’s events. I didn’t know that then, but found out later when I looked at the trial transcript as an adult.”

She stopped long enough to catch her breath. To see the concern on Tobias’s face and the resigned, knowing look on Ginny’s.

“My father was deluded, or so his attorney said. He talked about how once he figured out I’d had my period that Amelia likely had hers, which meant she was ready for him.” Lila blewout a long breath, trying to hold steady and get through this. “He said he was in love with Amelia and was convinced she felt the same about him.”

“I assume he acted on his sick feelings,” Ginny said in a quiet voice.

“He kidnapped her. Picked her up from school and, of course, she got in the car like she had a thousand times before.” The police said he admitted he told Amelia they were going for an early dinner. She was his secret weapon in teasing Amelia along. He promised they were going to get her then eat. “He owned a construction company and brought a trailer to sites. He kept her hidden in the back of one of the older trailers at the lot. Raped her repeatedly.”

Tobias put a hand on her arm and squeezed. “He put her through some sort of fake marriage ceremony first, which he took photos of. Had her dressed up as a bride.”

He’d actually tried to explain to the prosecutor that the fact he waited to force her to have sex until after his bizarre wedding ritual made him the good guy. Lila could never forget that part of reading the testimony. Any part of it.

“After eleven days, all while he was out with the search teams pretending to try to find Amelia, she tried to escape. When he got back, she was screaming. He panicked and hit her with a crowbar to get her to stop. The hit killed her.” It was all an accident, he claimed. He loved her and would never hurt her. He totally ignored the horrible things he did to her, how he’d hurt her and scared her.

Tobias cleared his throat before offering the rest. “He duga hole to bury Amelia. He was found a day later, lying in the hole and holding her body, saying he couldn’t let her go.”

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