He pressed his lips together. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you sure?” I prodded. “You know, it won’t be hard to find out if you own a vintage orange sports car.”
“It could have been a coincidence that we ended up at the same place at the same time.”
“I was right.” Anger rushed through my veins. “It is your car.”
He gave me a wary look. “I don’t need any more trouble with the cops.”
“You scared the hell out of me! My husband died five minutes ago and you decide it’s a good idea to freak me out even more by following me all over town?”
A sheepish look came over his face. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I swear.IfI followed you, I might have hoped you’d lead me to Lizzie.”
I thought back to the moments when I’d felt someone was watching me. “You were at the cemetery.”
He was silent.
“Have the decency to tell me the truth,” I snapped.
“I happened to be there to pay my respects to Ali.”
What an obvious liar. “How lucky for you that Lizzie happened to be there when I got to the cemetery. You followed her after that, didn’t you?”
“I might have lost her in traffic when she drove away.”
“Did you follow me to Durham when I went to see Lizzie?”
“Maybe,” he said, still being cagey. “But then she vanished again.”
“Did you tail me to the eldercare facility? And eventually from there to Lizzie’s hotel?”
“Again, I’m sure you appreciate that I can’t say anything that might incriminate me.”
“You’re a creep.” I spat the words.
His expression softened. “I never meant to hurt or scare you. I’m truly sorry.”
I was quiet for a moment, processing this new information. “Did you break into my garage and my house?”
“What?” He frowned while he chewed. “Why would I? Someone broke into your house? What were they after?”
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t think of a good reason for Ian to want to get into my house. I wanted nothing more to do with this lowlife, but I still had questions that needed answering.
“So,” I continued, “after you followed me to Lizzie’s hotel, what happened?”
“She called the police on me. I have to stay away from her now.”
“And will you?”
“I’m definitely not going to jail for that”—his lips twitched—“person. Did you know that Ali and Nasser always got all the girls at school? They used to come in and out of the apartment at all hours. Lizzie wasn’t Ali’s first, but I wanted her the minute I saw her. I knew it wouldn’t last between her and Ali. I just had to wait.”
“What made you think Ali and Lizzie wouldn’t go the distance?”
“Ali said once that the only reason he slept with Lizzie was because he got hammered out of his mind at some fraternity party. He didn’tfeel like he could break up with her after he slept with her. He laid off the sauce permanently after that night.”
My world tilted. Lizzie was the reason Ali stopped drinking? “Are you sure that’s how they got together? They did know each other in high school.”
“They went on a couple of casual dates his senior year, from what I heard. That was it.”
