Aidan called Caroline’s phone to warn her, but the call went straight to voicemail, and he worried that she’d blocked his number. She wouldn’t do that, would she? But she’d been so insistent that he not contact her. He understood the concept of hiding their affair to protect her reputation for the divorce proceeding. That was the least of their worries right now. Her husband posed a real, imminent threat. He left a message telling her so. But if she’d blocked him, she would never receive it. In order to warn her, he’d be forced to visit her in person, which she’d specifically told him not to do. It was goddamn frustrating.
He was late for work at the Red Anchor, where he was on shaky ground for missing several shifts in the last month. Aidan went to work and called her from the phone there, which she hadn’t blocked. When she didn’t pick up, he left another voice mail. Hopefully, this one she would get.
“Hey, Caroline, there’s something important I need to tell you. I’m worried your husband is—well, that he’s a danger to you and your daughter. I have some specific information. It’s too much to go into on a voicemail. Call me back. Please.”
At the bar that evening, Aidan tried to act like nothing was off. He poured and mixed, he smiled and cracked jokes and bickered with Nancy, the waitress. The whole time, he was obsessing about Caroline, and Hannah, and the thug from the auto parts store.
The woman sat alone at the far end of the bar. She’d been there a few minutes, watching him from the corners of her eyes. He didn’t think much of it. Women like that—middle-aged, overdressed, flashy—they hit on him all the time. Tonight, he had no patience. He let her sit longer than normal. Then he took a swig of Johnnie Walker to fortify himself and went over to her.
“What can I get you tonight?” he said. But he couldn’t a muster a smile.
“I’m not here to drink,” she said.
“The restaurant’s in the back, ma’am,” he said warily.
He was on high alert now. He recognized her, but he couldn’t place her. In Queens this afternoon he’d seen that nondescript Ford and felt like he was being followed.
“Are you Aidan Callahan?” she said.
What the hell? Involuntarily, he took a step backward.
“Who’s asking?”
“Never mind that. I’m here to deliver a message. Stay away from Caroline Stark.”
“You were in that Ford today, weren’t you?”
She looked at him like he was crazy.
“What are you talking about? I don’t drive a Ford.”
“Yes, you do. You followed me,” he said.
“Listen, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. You’re obviously mentally disturbed. But you don’t scare me. You stay away from my sister, or you’ll regret it. You hear?”
Sister.
Of course. He recognized her now—Caroline’s sister. She’d been in the tent at the party when he was tending bar. And he’d seen her picture in Caroline’s phone. He’d wanted to meet her. But now he’d screwed it up by accusing her of following him. It was an honest mistake, though, and he couldn’t let her talk to him like that. Aidan glanced down the bar. It was still early, and they were half empty, but that was a mixed blessing. Not as many ears to hear, not as much noise to cover up the sensitive things he needed to say.
“You’re Lynn, right?” he said.
She reeled back in surprise. Not expecting him to know her name, surprised that he was on the inside already? But he was, and he wanted to make sure that she understood that.
“Look, not to be disrespectful, Lynn. I appreciate your concern for Caroline’s welfare. But you’ve got it all wrong. She and I are together, we’re involved. She cares for me.”
He wanted to say, “She loves me,” but he ought to take that slow, out of respect for Caroline’s position.
“That’s a lie,” Lynn said.
“I’m not lying.”
“She said she told you to get lost, but you’re harassing her, following her around like some crazy stalker. She wants you gone.”
“She doesn’t. If Caroline wanted me gone, she’d tell me that herself.”
“She did tell you. She threatened to go the police. Now it’s time for you to listen.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Caroline loves me.”
Lynn’s expression morphed from shocked to horrified. Aidan thought his face must look the same way. What this woman was saying could not be true. Yet, judging by her expression, she believed it was.
“Wow, she wasn’t kidding,” Lynn said. “You really are crazy. She told me you two had a one-night stand, and she regrets it. She loves her husband. She wants you out of her life, forever. But you won’t listen. I’m here to tell you that you better.”
“Lies. You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. I’m telling you the truth. Get it through that messed-up head of yours and leave my sister alone. You understand me? Or I’ll get somebody to teach you a lesson. I can, you know. My husband has connections. Back off.”
Lynn rapped her knuckles on the bar to underline her words. Then she got up and marched out the door. Aidan’s breath was coming fast. He staggered out from behind the bar. He could feel people’s eyes on him, but he didn’t care. What Lynn had said was so wrong. It had to be. He needed to convince her of that, or else he’d start to worry it was true. And he couldn’t believe it. He refused. He would not accept that Caroline felt the way her sister claimed. Caroline was not Samantha. This relationship was beautiful, it was the real deal.
Right?
In the parking lot, the sea air hit him in the face and cleared his mind. Lynn was getting into a BMW. He ran toward her, waving his arms, and saw a look of alarm blossom on her face.
“No,” he said. “Wait.”
He came up to her car and reached for her door handle. She put the car in gear, backed up, and stepped on the gas. The car lurched forward, barreling toward him. He stood his ground till the last minute, then sprang out of the way, hitting the ground and rolling, the wet pavement tearing at his skin. Jesus, she could have killed him. She seemed like she wanted to. The knee of his jeans was ripped and bloody.
He jumped in his truck and screeched out of the parking lot. Five miles down the road, he saw her taillights, and floored it. She didn’t recognize his truck, didn’t know it was him closing in on her, didn’t speed up to get away like he expected. When he was right on top of her, she looked in the rearview mirror and saw him. Her eyes bugged out in terror. It was a two-lane road, narrow and curving. He pulled alongside her, lowered the passenger window. They were both doing sixty in a thirty-five.
“Pull over,” he yelled, over the roaring wind. “I have to talk to you.”
Her mouth moved frantically behind the tinted glass of her window, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. A horn blared. A car was coming at him head-on, its headlights blinding against his wet windshield. He swerved, slotting back into the right lane, deciding not to kill the person in the other car just because Caroline’s sister was a goddamn liar. Deciding not to die for fear that what she said was true.
He could kill the sister for what she said. For her lies. But was she lying? What Lynn had said had the awful ring of truth. He hit the brakes and let her pull ahead, then watched her disappear around a bend. He pulled into a turnoff and sat there with his head in his hands. Warm blood from his knee trickled down his leg. It was like his heart bleeding. He’d had such faith in Caroline. He’d put his trust in her, believed she wasn’t the kind to say one thing to his face and another behind his back. Yet he’d felt something from Lynn. He could tell that she believed her own words as they came out of her mouth. She was telling the truth as she knew it. What could that mean, except that Caroline was lying to one of them? But which one?
If the barista had never given Aidan the cup with Samantha’s name on it, he might believe that Caroline was true to him, and that it was her sister she’d lied to. But the cup was a vivid reminder that the people you love most in this world are the very ones you should never trust. They will cheat on you and use you. They will ruin you, even kill you, if they can. He’d hoped he’d found something different with Caroline, but had he? Would she betray him, the way Samantha had, the way Matthew had? He needed to know. But how, when she refused to see him? Screw it, he was done listening to that. He would try to storm her apartment. But no, she had doormen. They’d stop him and call the police. He could try to follow her on the street. But if Lynn was to be believed, Caroline planned to rat him out for that.
No. It made no sense. Why would she turn on him?
He had to see her. Had to warn her. Had to get to the truth. And yet, if she called the police and claimed he was harassing her, he could get in trouble. In his situation, a call to the police could land him back in jail on a probation violation. And Aidan was terrified of going back to jail. Of course, there was also the possibility that the sister was lying, and that Caroline had never said that. He couldn’t stand the confusion. He needed to know what was real. He needed to see Caroline, to talk to her. And more than anything, he needed to warn her about the possible hit on her—and her daughter.
Maybe the right way to handle this was through Hannah.
If Lynn was right, and Aidan showed up unannounced at Caroline’s apartment, there was at least some chance, much as he hated to admit it, that Caroline would call the police and inadvertently end up sending him to jail. But Caroline’s daughter didn’t know him from Adam. He could sneak up on her. Not in a sketchy way. But make contact, make sure she was safe. Try to find a way to warn her that she was in danger. He knew where she went to school, and it was less than an hour’s drive from his apartment. He would be doing it out of love for her mother. If Aidan could protect Hannah, that would show Caroline how much he cared, and bring her running back into his arms.