Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

Author:Darby Kane [Kane, Darby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: 2020-12-28T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

Five Weeks Ago

NOW THAT SHE HAD A PLAN, SHE NEEDED TO FILL IN THE DETAILS. There was no good way to do this. Every minute of research made Lila heave. The first day, she choked and swore and broke two mugs before getting a bit more control.

All told, it took her four days of looking through high school yearbooks and studying social media to find the girls she’d seen in the videos. And those were only the girls she saw . . . she knew there were more. She suspected this went back to North Carolina, probably before.

Of the faces she recognized, one girl was still in school. A senior and not in Aaron’s class. She’d dropped out of field hockey, and Lila feared Aaron was the cause.

The other two women graduated from high school last year. One went to college out of state. She kept the photos from her time on the team and in Aaron’s class in her history online. Smiling photos, seemingly innocent. Whatever time Aaron stole from her appeared not to be problematic because she even referenced him in comments. All positive, with perky little emojis.

The third woman went to the community college nearby. Eighteen. That put her at seventeen when she made the video, maybe younger. Lila remembered being that age and not being nearly as savvy and wise as she thought she was.

This young woman recorded every moment of her life in photos and videos. Up until the month before, she showed off products she bought and modeled new clothes. She had big group photos and some with her and a few friends. None of her older high school photos or information suggested she was on the field hockey team. She never mentioned Aaron or popped up in photos with him.

There were comments on some of the clothing photos about going out with her “secret” boyfriend. She would have been a senior at the time. Last year. In her world, likely the equivalent of decades away from where she was now.

Over the last few weeks, the photo subjects changed. She posted inspirational quotes almost daily, along with pictures of her school apartment and complaints about the cost of textbooks.

Regardless of when the posts were dated, in every photo she wore her straight blond hair down, flowing over her shoulders. The realization made Lila wince. She could hear Aaron’s voice talking about how women should have long hair, not short. They should let it grow . . . as if their hair were for his pleasure only.

Lila tried to ignore that as she sat in the driver’s seat of her car with her hair pulled up in a bun. The college had a few visitor spots close to the admissions building, and she parked in one. The position gave her a front-row seat to watch.

Lila knew from the other woman’s posts that she often came here and sat by this tree. Today the surveillance worked. Sitting this far away, Lila couldn’t really make out her face.

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