“Lizzie messed with my head.” He crunched on a potato chip. “She was happy to sleep with me when Ali dumped her to marry you.”
Surprise rippled through me. “You and Lizzie hooked up?”
“But, after a couple of weeks, she decided it was a rebound thing. Apparently, I wasn’t good enough. Then she went off and married her professor.”
“She did have a right to marry whoever she wanted.” How many guys slept with girls for a couple of weeks and then dumped them?
“Now you sound like my therapist.” He swiped some crumbs off his mouth with a white paper napkin. “But you’re right. I let it go the first time.”
“The first time? There was a second time?”
He nodded. “After her marriage broke up, we started seeing each other again. So I think to myself, ‘This is finally our time. Lizzie finally sees it.’” His voice rose in anger. “And then she dumps meagain? Tells meyet again, ‘Oh, sorry, you’re just a rebound fuck.’”
“I’m sure she didn’t say it that way.”
“She might as well have.”
It took a moment to fully digest the fact that Lizzie and Ian had hooked up repeatedly. “Did Ali know you and Lizzie had gotten involved?”
“Nobody did.” He slurped soda thorough a paper straw. “Lizzie wanted to keep it quiet.”
“Do you know why?”
He shrugged. “No idea, but Lizzie insisted that she never meant to hurt me.” He stuffed several more chips into his mouth. “There I was, ready to marry her like a complete asshole while she was thinking we were just two old friends with occasional benefits.”
“What did you do after Lizzie said she didn’t want anything serious with you?”
“After she dumped me a second time, I started following her.” He held up a hand. “Before you say anything, I know it was wrong. And guess who she met up with? Good old Ali. Mr. Perfect screwing around on his wife.”
It hit me. “You’re the person who left threatening emails for Ali on the Channel Three website, aren’t you?”
He paused. “I’m not going to say anything to incriminate myself.”
“Do I look like a prosecutor to you?”
“You should thank me.” He crunched on another chip. “You didn’t want Ali seeing her, did you?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He flushed. “It wasn’t my finest moment. I was jealous.”
“He wasn’t having an affair with Lizzie,” I told him. “It was business. He just helped her buy the house.”
“Privately, right?” Ian said. “So that I wouldn’t know where she lived. I think she exaggerated her stalking accusations so that Ali would feel sorry for her.”
That wouldn’t surprise me. But I wasn’t about to let Ian off the hook. “You just admitted that you wouldn’t leave her alone.”
Ian’s eyes darkened. “That’s because I believed that Lizzie and I belonged together. Even though she’s a cocktease who’s jerked mearound since college. I can’t believe I wasted so many years waiting for that b—for Lizzie ... to realize I was the one. I’m an idiot.”
Anger radiated off him. I leaned back in my chair. “You found Lizzie because of me, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, it worked out great.” He finished off the first half of his sandwich and reached for the second. “I thought Lizzie would come to Ali’s funeral but she didn’t bother to show up. Luckily for me, your lawsuit helped me find the information I needed.”
That didn’t track. “The lawsuit never went to trial, and the settlement was private. That can’t be how you found the address to the Durham house.”
Ian flushed. “Listen, I’m not proud of my behavior—”
“Wait. Wait a minute.” The revelation burst through me. “You’re the person who’s been following me!”
