recorded us without my knowledge.” She swallowed back the bile rising in her throat and shook off the eerie chill that raced through her. “We only had sex a couple times.” Not that it mattered, but she wanted Tate to know . . . Oh, who cared. That wasn’t important right now.
She wanted to put it all behind her, but Clint wouldn’t let her. He kept coming back into her life and mucking it up.
She shook off the past and tried to stick to the here and now. “Aubrey warned me away from Clint, then left. I appreciated that she said something even though I’d already decided that Clint and I were never going to be a thing again.” She sucked in a breath. “After she left, I tossed my lunch and went back to work and tried to put Clint out of my mind until I came home to . . . this.”
The detective replaced his no-nonsense look with a sympathetic one. “Have you heard from Clint since then?”
“No.” I hope I never do again. “Do you think Clint killed Aubrey?”
“Her mother received a text message around twelve forty. ‘I’m sorry. I love you.’ She left her car at a trailhead at the lake and it appears she walked up to Lover’s Leap and . . .” The detective left it to her to fill in the blank.
“Do you seriously think she left the deli and killed herself?” Liz didn’t buy it. No way.
“Did she seem distraught or upset?”
“It was obvious she feared Clint. Enough that she warned me. She seemed determined to make sure Clint didn’t hurt anyone else. But distraught? No. Nothing about the way she acted makes me think she wanted to hurt herself or jump off a bridge.” She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe it.”
The detective nodded like he felt the same way. “After things got really bad with Clint and the video went out to her coworkers and friends, her mother said she did attempt suicide. Pills. But she called her mom to say goodbye. The paramedics arrived in time to save her.”
Liz felt so sorry for Aubrey and all she’d endured. “Sounds like a desperate cry for help after a traumatic event.”
Tate pressed the detective. “You think Clint saw Aubrey talking to Liz, kidnapped her, and pushed her off a bridge?”
It sounded so farfetched. And yet, she didn’t know how far Clint would go.
The detective closed his notebook. “I can’t prove it, but yes, I do. Her mother said things were good in her life. Aubrey liked her new job and had made several new friends. Nothing about her recent history gives even the slightest sign she was depressed or contemplating suicide. I went through the events of Aubrey’s day. Everything seemed routine. She showed up to work on time, did her job, then went to lunch. Her mother swore to me that Aubrey wouldn’t kill herself that way. She was terrified of heights.”
Liz thought out loud. “Clint probably found it poetic, tossing his lover off the bridge and convincing himself she deserved it for not loving him enough.”
Anger and disgust drew lines across Tate’s forehead. “Have you spoken to Clint?”
The detective shook his head. “I wanted to start with Aubrey’s day, make sure there wasn’t anything else going on in her life and make sure I didn’t reach the wrong conclusions by getting caught up in her past.” He fixed his gaze on her. “It appeared you were the last person to speak to her today. As soon as you mentioned Clint, I knew my suspicions were correct. I’ll track him down and talk to him, but I don’t anticipate it going anywhere. The guy is careful. I doubt we’ll find any evidence of him in her car or at the bridge, but you never know. The car was wiped down, but they found a few prints. We’ll see if anything comes back from the lab. Until then, I’d stay away from Clint from now on. If he’s targeted you as his next obsession . . . well, I can only say it won’t end well. If he does anything to you, call the police. Make sure there’s a record of it. Don’t let him get away with hurting you the way he got away with all the others.” Detective Valdez fished a card out of his pocket and held it out to her.
“That’s it. That’s all you’ve got for her?” Tate snatched the card and held it up. “How