Page 55 of Run for Her Life

“I guess you’re right.” She bit her lip. But Zoe didn’t like being messy. She was unfiltered but she wasn’t a trainwreck. She made good decisions.

“I have a question for you…”

“What’s that?”

“If Simon and his wife get a divorce, would you date him again?”

The thought hadn’t crossed her mind. She hadn’t even considered the possibility. Now she toyed with it. She imagined a world where she was with Simon and didn’t care about what happened to Rachel. The lightness with which she would float about her day was tempting. But was Simon just a remnant from her past offering her a false chance at freedom?

“I don’t know. I mean… we did share something special but it was so long ago, Gina. I haven’t thought about him that way in years.”

“Is there anyone you think of?” she teased. “Not that I’m someone to put pressure on anyone to have kids, but I’d like my boys to have cousins! My husband is an only child, remember?”

Zoe caught a glimpse of Aiden outside, heading toward her. The image of him shirtless when he opened the door flashed through her mind. She blinked it away. What was that about?

“I have to go, Gina. I’ll talk to you later.” Her voice came out shrill and she hung up.

“Who was that?” Aiden gripped the edges of the doorway.

“My sister.” She cleared her throat and willed herself not to blush.

“Jim Gray is here.”

“Oh.” She stood up. “Does Lisa know?”

He faltered. “Nope.”

“You didn’t tell her. Why?”

He shrugged. “I want to see her reaction.”

Zoe didn’t fully understand the way Aiden worked. And she was rudely reminded that this was who he was—methodical and shrewd. He was always testing people like he was prodding and disassembling a toy to decipher how it functioned.

Stepping outside, she saw a tall, heavy man with unkempt dark blonde hair, wearing a hoodie, being brought in by Ethan. His eyes were round and puzzled. Lisa was coming out of the break room and frowned.

“Jim? What are you doing here?”

Ethan leaned to whisper something in Lisa’s ears. Her mouth dropped open and her eyebrows pulled together. Her eyes flew to Jim, who shrugged helplessly. Voices overlapped, chairs scraped against the floor, and the steady hum of conversation filled every inch of space.

“I would say she’s genuinely surprised,” Zoe murmured.

“I agree.”

“We’ll take this one,” she said, raising her voice. The laughter in the room stopped, the chatter thinned out. Everyone was acutely aware of the silence as Zoe headed to one of the rooms in the back to interview Jim.

“What do we know about him?” she whispered to Aiden.

“Software engineer. Unemployed for the last seven months after getting laid off. That’s all Ethan told me. And no priors.”

“In here, Mr. Gray.” Zoe ushered him into a room.

A simple metal table, scuffed at the edges, and three chairs sat in the middle of the room. The walls were a dull, muted brown. A single fluorescent light buzzed overhead, casting a cold, flat glow.

There was no window, no clock. Nothing to give a sense of time passing. Just four walls and stale air.

Jim sat down gingerly, across from Zoe and Aiden. His face was crumpled and teeming with worry. “Please, can I talk to Lisa first?”

“I’m afraid this is more important,” Zoe said. “How did you know Jackie Fink?”