“Aubrey could have something hidden in her old house. She might need to be there.”
“After so many years and all the police searches, I doubt it.” But there was one other thing. “I’m not sure if this is related but someone was skulking around earlier. Watching us.”
Lukas’s hold tightened on my shoulder, but he didn’t say anything.
“Over by the bushes. Could have been Aubrey, but why hide?” She sure had no problem confronting us or calling the police in.Not the expected conduct of a supposed family annihilator. If she’d killed them she’d want them to stay buried.
“Maybe it was her brother.”
Lukas was testing his theory. Throwing it out there a third time to see if I’d bite. “The author, Gabe, is really Noah? You’re still on that?”
Lukas shrugged. “If he was really an author working on a big story, wouldn’t he be here right now? And not sneaking around. Actually here. Asking questions.”
I hated when Lukas used logic to win an argument.
“We know Gabe is not who he claims to be. He also showed up in town right when Aubrey did.” Lukas said. “Is it that hard to believe both kids hid for years, possibly with Xavier’s help?”
“A few days ago, I would have said yes and told you the whole idea was ridiculous. But it’s pretty clear that Xavier had far more secrets than even I suspected.”
Lukas nodded in Aubrey’s direction. “Runs in the family.”
As if she sensed we were talking about her, Aubrey lifted her head and shot us a look. Her expression didn’t change but she started walking over.
“Shit.” I bit back a groan. “I don’t have the strength for more of her today.”
“I’ll handle this.”
He liked to use that word.Handle. I needed him to do some handling, whatever that might mean.
“Lukas.”
That’s all Aubrey said. No greeting for me.
Her tone suggested they knew each other. That was barely true. She’d been a teenager fifteen years ago. He’d attended family events as my husband. He also came around my home office a few times while she was there, but not more than once or twice. I’d been Aubrey’s informal therapist back then. A huge mistake that I paid for every single day.
“Should you be here?” he asked Aubrey.
She smiled at him. “Should you?”
The strange lilt to her voice sent my defenses spiking. “What does that mean?”
Lukas squeezed me tighter against his side, but his focus stayed on Aubrey. “You might not want to be on the property right now in case the police uncover something upsetting.”
Aubrey’s smile didn’t waver. “Like my dead parents?”
The way she said that. Like they weren’t people. Like they weren’t people she loved. “Are they dead?”
She snorted. Actually snorted. “They’d owe me a pretty big apology otherwise.”
What the hell?“I see you still try to get attention by being provocative.”
“Don’t we all?” Her gaze shifted to Lukas as she talked. “Lukas understands me. Don’t you, Lukas?”
If she planned to target him, she needed to stop. He was the one person who got dragged into the Tanner family drama and tried to help. He’d paid for that with our marriage. I wouldn’t let him lose his political future, too.
“You should tell whatever it is you know to the police.” I said it but silently wondered if she should. She was a wild card. She could say anything but her failure to speak felt far more fraught than her potential lies.
“That would be interesting, wouldn’t it? And dangerous.” Shedid it again. Her gaze moved from me to Lukas. “Imagine if I told people what I knew. What would happen then?”
