Chapter 20
AVA
Ava tugged the pajama top over her head, fighting through the fabric as quickly as possible to keep her eyes on her surroundings. She understood Alex’s impulse to want the gun at the ready. The images burned into their minds of Marianne Wells wouldn’t fade quickly.
And the realization that the woman had been murdered would haunt them until they solved this crime.
Someone had orchestrated a major financial theft and was willing to murder someone to cover it up…or take all the profits for themselves. Either way, it made the investigation far more dangerous.
Thankfully, they’d come back together at just the right moment. She’d have hated for him to face this alone.
She tugged her hair into a high ponytail, her eyes focusing on her reflection. Thankfully, they’d come back together, her mind repeated, stopping there without adding the qualifier.
Her eyes studied her features, the pajamas, the casual look of her hair as her mind went to a place she wasn’t ready to explore.
“It’s not the prom, babe, let’s go!” Alex’s voice sounded as he passed her room.
She giggled as she tore her eyes away, happy to leave the deep thinking behind. She pulled on her furry dog slippers and bounced down the stairs.
The fireplace cast a warm, comforting glow across the room, contrasted by the blue hue of the television screen. She settled on her cushion next to Alex as he toggled into the game.
A shiver shook her, and she reached for the blanket on the back of the couch, wrapping herself in it.
“You cold?”
She burrowed into the fabric. “I got a chill. Someone walked over my grave.”
“Ew,” he said with a wrinkled nose, his eyes never leaving the screen. “Don’t say that after what we saw today.”
“Sorry, terrible choice of words.”
“Ugh, now look what you made me do…I missed that jump because you were yapping about your grave.”
She grabbed her controller with a laugh. “I didn’t do it. You just stink at this game.”
“I don’t,” he answered. “And…guess what. I have an idea for how we can catch whoever did this.”
She paused the game, eager to hear the idea, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “What is it?”
He grinned at her. “I’ll tell you if you can crush three rounds straight.”
“Alex! This is serious.”
“And according to you, so are your gaming skills. Now, let’s see them.”
She clicked her tongue, trying to keep the amused expression off her features, but losing. “You are batting a thousand tonight, Ace. First, with the hack and now this.” She shook her head. “Mmm, see who holds your hand when you hear things go bump in the night tonight.”
His ringing phone interrupted their conversation. “Ah, it’s the police.”
She paused the game as he answered.
“Alex Stone…Yes, I do. How can I help?”
The doorbell rang, and she rose and hurried to the alarm keypad in the foyer, leaving the warmth of the blanket behind. She tapped in the code to deactivate the alarm before she crossed to door and pulled it open. “Ye–”
Her one-word inquiry cut off as her eyes went wide. She stood clinging to the door, her knees wobbling as her chest constricted.
Her heart raced, a tumultuous storm of emotions clashing within. As her eyebrows pinched together, words failed her as she teetered on the edge of the abyss, uncertain and overwhelmed.
Her eyelashes batted before she finally choked out one word. “Chris?”
“Hello, Ava.” His voice, even as always, sounded alien in the context of her tangled emotions and the chaos that had become her life.
His unexpected presence anchored her to her spot as she tried to make sense of it.
Footsteps shattered the charged silence, approaching from the living room. Alex emerged from the shadows.
“Hey, Sparky, that was the police. They wanted–”
His words cut off immediately as he stepped within the door’s sightline, his shock obvious. Another emotion flickered across his eyes, too, but she couldn’t read it. At least not now. Not while she was trying to process the most recent current event.
She pressed a hand to her forehead as she stepped back from the door, motioning toward the foyer. “Ah, come in.”
“Thanks,” he answered with a raise of his eyebrows as he stepped inside, his eyes rising to the high ceiling and the railing above. “Nice place.”
“Thank you,” Alex answered tentatively as he closed the distance to Ava.
She shut the door, locking it behind her as he pressed the button to alarm it. He twisted to her, his voice a low whisper, “Avs…”
She held up a hand. “I know.” With a step closer to Chris, she sucked in a breath. “What are you doing here?”
He fluttered his eyelashes as he pulled his eyes away from the architecture and scoffed. “Are you serious? What am I doing here? That’s the first question I have for you.”
She swallowed hard, her eyebrows pinching. “I…am…”
“Can’t answer that question? Yeah, I’m not surprised.”
She found her voice as the accusation slapped her. “What’s that supposed to mean? How did you even find me?”
“Oh, well, that’s a great question, Ava. Really great question.” The irritation lacing Chris’s voice sliced through her.
“See, when your fiancé tells you she’s going to the Hamptons to get a divorce, you naturally assume she’s staying at a hotel. And when I thought of driving out here last night, I wondered how I’d find you.”
He waved a finger in the air as he pushed out a mocking laugh. “And then we ended the call.”
Ava crossed her arms. “You wanted to end the call. You needed time.”
“I did. And then I texted you that I loved you and got no response. I figured maybe you were asleep. But I called and I texted all morning. Nothing. I got worried that you were mad at me. I tried to ease my mind and headed on to social media to blow off some steam.”
He shook his head. “Imagine my surprise as I scroll through and hit the ‘People you may know’ section and find a picture of my wife with another man. And not just any man. Alex Stone. Tech billionaire.”
He threw his arms in the air as he spat out the words. “So, I click on the picture, wondering why he’s got a picture with you, and I read the caption.”
With his phone in front of him, he dramatically read it aloud. “Dinner with hashtag wifey.”
Heat washed over her as she slid her eyes closed before she opened them, shooting Alex an unimpressed stare. He winced and rubbed the back of his neck.
“And then another. Frontier Tech Conference with hashtag wifey.” He shook his head as he let his arm fall, his voice filled with tension and restraint. “So, you tell me, Ava…what is going on here?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “I can explain.”
“I wish you would because right now…I don’t know what to think.”
She heaved a sigh. “Why don’t you come in and sit down?”
“Avs,” Alex whispered.
She held a hand up to stop him, praying he wouldn’t go further until she could settle Chris’s nerves.
Chris flicked his gaze between them before he focused on her and bobbed his head. “Fine. Lead the way. Seems like you know it.”
She let the statement roll off as she led him into the living room.
He shuffled behind her, a scoff escaping him as he stared at the flames leaping in the fireplace, and the cushions and blanket on the floor. “Wow, this looks…cozy.”
She flicked on the lights with a sigh. “That’s not at all what’s going on.”
“Could have fooled me,” Chris said as he frowned down at the setup before he flicked his gaze up to her, his brows furrowing. “Are you wearing Scooby Doo pajamas?”
She tugged her lips into a wince and shrugged. “That’s beside the point.”
“Well, it’s not. It’s not exactly your best look, Ava. And coupled with the hairstyle…it’s not a great image. But you’re right. The point is…you said things were complicated, and you weren’t kidding. Is the complication that you’re not quite ready to get a divorce from your long-time husband?”
Alex hovered in the shadows of the room, rubbing his chin, his eyes avoiding them both. She recognized the signs of his nervousness well, but she couldn’t worry about that now.
“Hey, Geek Squad, you want to give us some privacy?”
“No,” Ava said, her voice a warning and a threat.
Chris tugged his chin back to his chest, surprise etching his features. “What?”
“I said no. This is his house. You are not going to speak to him that way, nor are you going to ask him to leave. I don’t want him to.”
“Wow. I really expected you to at least play a little more penitent here.” His eyes fell to her hands, his features twisting as he stared at the large rock on her finger. “How fast did you take my ring off after you got here?”
She raised her right hand. “I didn’t.”
His features pinched. “What? What is that? What…how can you…what kind of sick game is this, Ava?”
“It’s not a game,” Alex shot back as he stalked closer to Ava. “This is very serious.”
“No kidding,” Chris answered. “Cheating is very serious. I just can’t figure out which of us she cheated on. Did you know the entire time? Was this some kind of…weird ploy? What?”
“No,” Ava answered as she shook her head. “No, Chris. It’s not a game or a ploy. There is something very serious going on at Alex’s company. We’re working on it, but…”
“But what?”
“But things just got a lot more complicated.” She wrapped her arms around herself as the image of the murdered woman flitted through her mind. Alex’s hand slid onto her shoulder. “And a lot more dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Chris asked, his eyes falling onto the physical contact between her and Alex.
“Someone was just murdered. There’s no way I can leave town right now, and even if I could, I wouldn’t,” she answered.
“Murdered? So…what? Are you a suspect?”
“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “But we found the body. It wouldn’t look very good if I left town. Though more than that, I’m not leaving Alex alone to deal with this.”
He stood silent for a moment. “So, where does that leave us?”
“Nothing has changed,” she answered. “I just…need some time to sort this out.”