The Neighbor - Lisa Gardner [77]
“Don’t be yanking my chain,” Miller was saying now. “Because I can look up what aired Wednesday night. You get this wrong, we’re gonna be calling you down to the station, and this time, we won’t be friends.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Aidan exploded.
“Woman vanishing on your block is entirely coincidental?”
“She’s a grown woman. Come on, you’ve seen my record. What the hell would I want with a mom?”
“Ah, but she’s a young, pretty mom. Same age as yourself. Lonely, too. Husband that works nights. Maybe she just wanted to talk. Maybe it started out with you two as friends. Did she learn what you had done, Aidan? Find out about your first love and freak out?”
“I never spoke to her! Ask anyone. If that woman was outside, she was with her kid. And I stay clear of kids!”
“You lost your job, Aidan. Must make you mad.”
“Hell yeah!”
“Everyone thinks you’re good for this. Got a garage full of guys who want to make an example of you. I don’t blame you for being agitated.”
“Hell yeah!”
“Wrist hurt?” Miller asked abruptly.
“What?”
“Wrist hurt? You’ve been snapping away for ten minutes now. Tell me about the elastic, Aidan. Is that part of your program? Snap the elastic every time you’re thinking impure thoughts involving little kids? My, my, you’re having an impure day.”
“Hey, knock it off! You don’t know nothin’ about nothin’. I’m not into kids. I was never into kids.”
“So a twenty-three-year-old mom isn’t out of the question?”
“Stop it! You’re putting words into my mouth. I fell in love with the wrong girl, okay? That’s all I did wrong. I fell in love with the wrong girl, and now my life’s shit. Nothing more, nothing less.”
D.D. came out of the bedroom. Her sudden reappearance startled Aidan, and she could tell that for the first time he realized she’d left the room and where she must have gone. His gaze dropped immediately to the floor. She liked it when liars were predictable.
“Hey, Aidan. How ’bout giving me a tour of your room?”
He gave her a bitter smile. “Looks to me like you already got one.”
“Yeah, but I’m curious about something. How ’bout we look together?”
“No.”
“No?” She feigned surprise. “Now, Aidan, you were doing such a nice job of cooperating. Like Miller said, sooner we clear you on this, sooner we can pass the word along in the community. I’m sure Vito’d love to hear his favorite mechanic can return to work.”
Aidan didn’t reply. He’d stopped snapping the band. His gaze was zipping around the room instead, around and around and around. He was looking for the out. Not physically. But the lie, the excuse. The magic words that would make his problem go away.
He couldn’t come up with any, and she watched his shoulders hunch as if steeling for the blow.
“I want you to go now,” he said.
“Aidan—” Miller began.
“You’re not going to help me,” the kid interjected bluntly. “We all know you won’t, so cut the bullshit. I’m a pervert to you, too. And it doesn’t really matter that I’ve served my time or that I’ve stuck with the program and the terms of my parole. Once a pervert, always a pervert, isn’t that how it goes? I didn’t touch the woman. I told Vito that, I told the husband that—”
“You told the husband that?” D.D. interjected.
“Yeah.” Aidan raised his head belligerently. “I had a little chat with the husband. He seemed mighty interested that a registered sex offender lived down the street. In fact,” now the kid’s gaze was calculating, “I bet he told you all about me.”
D.D. didn’t answer.
“It’s pretty convenient for him, don’t you think? Why, you being here, questioning me, means you can’t be there, questioning him. Yeah, I’d say my presence is the best thing that ever happened to Mr. Jones. Wonder how long before he tells the press about me, hmmm? That’ll get them good and excited.”
“So, come to think about it, it’s not just in my best interest to be cleared of these ugly accusations, it’s in your best interest as well, isn’t it? ’Cause as long as you’re looking at me, you can never move against him. And I bet he knows that. Cool cat, Mr. Jones. I bet he knows