The morning after Lynn’s run-in with Aidan on the road, she called my phone. I hesitated before picking up. I knew she’d be mad that I hadn’t called her back last night to address what she perceived as a major crisis. I couldn’t handle an argument right now. After that strange dinner with Peter Mertz and his wife, Jason had gone “to the office,” and hadn’t come home till three o’clock in the morning. I’d pretended to be asleep when he came in. But in reality, I’d barely slept all night.
“You never called me back last night,” she said, and she sounded genuinely angry.
“I’m sorry,” I said, flustered. “Our dinner went late. It was a business dinner, so I couldn’t get away to call back. I’m on my way out now, so—”
“Whatever you’re doing can wait. I’m going to the police about your bartender, and you’re coming with me. No excuses.”
I was in the bedroom. Jason was in the shower in the master bath. As Lynn spoke, I heard the water turn off. He’d be standing right behind the door next to me, drying off. I couldn’t let him overhear this conversation. Jason still hadn’t found out about my fling with Aidan, and I wanted very much to keep it that way.
I walked out into the hall.
“Lynn, it’s not a good time,” I said, in a low tone. “Can I call you back?”
“No. What’s the problem? Don’t you want to get this guy?”
“Jason is here,” I whispered.
“Come to my house as soon as you can. We’ll go to the police station in Glenhampton, together. We don’t have to say a word to Jason about any of this.”
“It won’t do any good to go to the police. I wanted to explain to you last night, but we got interrupted. His brother is the chief.”
“The chief of what?”
“Aidan’s brother is the chief of police in Glenhampton.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I’m not. If we go to his brother, it’ll get back to Aidan for sure, and piss him off more. That’s why I talked to the police in the city. But they told me I had no case. I don’t think that what happened to you last night changes that.”
“Maybe you’re right. The cops in the city’ll say since it happened in Glenhampton, it’s not their problem.”
“Exactly. Nobody’s going to help.”
“What do we do, then?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Stop antagonizing Aidan, and hope he fades away.”
“Antagonizing? I almost get killed trying to get this maniac to lay off you, and you imply it’s my fault for antagonizing him?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did. That’s what you meant, anyway.”
I could hear Jason moving around in the bedroom now, mere feet away. I needed to get off the phone ASAP. But I didn’t want to leave things like this with Lynn. Not only was she worried about me, but she honestly believed that Aidan had tried to run her off the road.
“Lynnie, I’m sorry. Please, don’t get upset. Let’s discuss this in person, okay?”
“That’s all I’m asking. When and where?”
“I’ll drive out there. I’ll be there by lunchtime.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then. And don’t you dare stand me up,” she said, and hung up.
I’d been planning to talk to Jason this morning about where the hell he’d been last night, and what was going on between him and Peter Mertz. Peter clearly wanted to have it out with Jason over something, and I was brought along to dinner to prevent that from happening. When the dinner ended, Jason took me home in an Uber, then claimed he needed to go deal with a crisis in his office. Maybe that was true, or maybe he was back with the Russian woman. When I tried to track his phone, it was off. I was dying to hash things out with him.
“Jason, we need to talk,” I said.
“I’ve got an Uber waiting downstairs, honey. Gotta run,” he said, and kissed my cheek.
“Wait one minute,” I said, grabbing his arm as he tried to pass by me to leave. “You owe me an explanation. Where were you last night until three o’clock in the morning? If you have any hope of saving this marriage, and convincing me you’re not having an affair, you’ll tell me the truth.”
He looked me in the eye. “That is the truth. Maybe you could tell last night that Peter is upset with me.”
“Yes. What was that about?”
“There’s a problem with one of my funds. A big problem. He referred me to the SEC for investigation.”
I gasped. “Criminal investigation?”
“I’m afraid so, honey. But I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear it. I’m going to hire a lawyer and clear my name. I’m sorry I haven’t told you until now. I didn’t want you to worry. I may be hard to reach in the next few days because I’m busy with this. I hope you’ll understand.”
“I’m so sorry I doubted you,” I said, and threw myself into Jason’s arms.
He pressed his lips to my hair. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. I promise. Now, I have to go.”
After Jason left, I was at loose ends, fearful that he was in trouble, knowing there wasn’t much I could do to help. The most productive use of my time would be to face up to my other big problem—Aidan. I would go see my sister and try to convince her to stay out of that situation. Lynn’s interference would only stir things up, and I had to make her understand that.
I went to the garage where we parked, three blocks from the apartment, to get my car.
It was rush hour, and I hadn’t called ahead. When I got to the garage, the line of customers waiting for their cars to be brought up from the depths was five deep, and there was only one valet on duty. He was the older of the two valets who worked there, soft-spoken and slow-moving, with a shiny, bald head. Jason sometimes drove himself to work in the morning, and when he did, he made sure to call the night before to ask that the car be brought out by the night valet. Otherwise, he said, don’t even bother, because the old guy on duty was slower than molasses. Turned out Jason was right. I waited and waited. Half an hour passed. Finally, I was the next customer. The valet took my car number and went off in search of my car. More time passed. I saw my white Escalade nosing up the ramp. It came to a stop in front of me. I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle my cry. In the pearlescent paint of the passenger door, the words “DIE BITCH” had been scratched in deeply, presumably with a key.
The valet stepped tentatively out of the car, scratching his head.
“How did this happen?” I said, barely getting the words out, close to tears as I stared at my beautiful car in horror.
“I can’t say. Never seen nothing like it before in all the years I worked here,” he said.
I walked around, barely believing my eyes as I saw the same words scratched a second time on the driver’s side, with deep scoring scratches on the rear door and the tailgate.
“Who did this?” I asked, turning on the valet.
My voice shook with fear, because I knew who did it. Lynn’s visit to the bar had set Aidan off. He wasn’t just following me anymore, creepily confessing his adoration, begging to spend time with me, making ridiculous insinuations that my husband was a threat to me. The threat was Aidan himself. He’d turned to violence. He’d tried to run my sister off the road. And now, if this message was to be believed, he was coming for me.
“I don’t know. You got enemies? Maybe somebody’s mad at you, maybe it’s random. Either way, I didn’t see a thing.”
“Well, don’t try to tell me it didn’t happen here. This car was not like this when I brought it in.”
“I believe you,” the valet said.
“How would somebody even get in here to do this?” I asked.
“To be honest, that’s not hard. I’m the only one working days. At night, it’s only José. Somebody comes in when we’re down below getting a car, we don’t see them. They could hide, sneak around, do some damage. I told management we need more staff, but they don’t listen. You should complain.”
“Oh, I plan to. The least you could do is help me figure out who did this. Is there a surveillance camera?”
“The only camera we got is outside where the buzzer is. It shows who comes and goes, but only if they go legit. If they sneak in, you won’t see nothing on the tape. When José comes on duty at four, I’ll ask him if he saw anybody sketchy hanging around. If he knows something, I’ll give you a call. Otherwise, you can fill out the form to claim damages. The garage got insurance. They’ll pay to fix your paint, no worries.”
No worries. If only this were as simple as a new paint job.
I took the form and got behind the wheel, feeling queasy. I was completely overwhelmed at the thought of driving to Lynn’s house right now. This was her fault. I’d told her to stay out of it, but no. She had to go and provoke him. She couldn’t help herself; she was a hothead, like our father. I could only imagine how she’d react when she saw “DIE BITCH” scratched all over my car. She’d do something crazy and wind up getting us both killed.
I wouldn’t be like Lynn. I would stop and consider my next step.
In order to get the police to take me seriously, I needed proof. I’d blocked Aidan’s calls and ignored the ones that had managed to sneak through from other numbers. But I should call him now and do my best to trick him into confessing that he was stalking me. If I recorded the phone call and got him on tape admitting to anything—following me, following Lynn, trying to run her off the road, damaging my car—then I’d have proof. Would it be enough to arrest him? I wasn’t sure, but it was worth a shot.
I got out of the car and walked around it, photographing the damage with my phone. The pictures would help make my case to the police.
I handed my keys back to the valet.
“I changed my mind. I’m not taking the car out now. I’ll call when I want it.”
And I walked back to my apartment, looking over my shoulder every step of the way, terrified of seeing him behind me.