Tying the Knot by Elizabeth Craig

before she said, “Yes. Trevor and I did have an affair. But I ended it. I realized it was foolish to jeopardize everything in my life that I cared about. I ended things with Trevor.”
    Beatrice saw that several people were starting to move to their cars from the cemetery. “Trevor didn’t want it to end, though, did he?”
    Lyla ran a hand through her windblown hair, which did nothing to help smooth it down. “No, he sure didn’t. I’d known he cared about me, of course. It was very flattering, actually,” she said, raising her chin. “I’ve been married for twenty years, so I was veryfoolishly flattered by his attention. Trevor fell very hard, though, and I didn’t realize it was happening. When I tried to break it off, he started making my life miserable.”
    â€œIn what way?” asked Beatrice.
    â€œBy being completely indiscreet. Somehow, he’d become totally obsessed with me,” said Lyla, shaking her head in bewilderment as she remembered. “He was ringing my doorbell during the day, when he should have been over at the hospital. He knew Julian would be gone at work then, so Trevor would skip work, show up at my front door, and keep banging on the door until I’d let him in.”
    â€œDid you open the door to him?” asked Beatrice. “It almost sounds as if he was a little dangerous in those moods.”
    Lyla said quickly, “He was. He certainly was. That’s because he didn’t care at all about anything but what he wanted and himself. He became completely absorbed with me and completely self-centered. He didn’t care if I was afraid the neighbors were going to see this man pounding on my door and call the police. I let him in to shut him up and to try to keep our secret—the secret that he didn’t care about anymore.”
    â€œAfter you let him in, did he settle down?” asked Beatrice.
    â€œNot a bit. I could always tell he’d been drinking, too, which definitely didn’t help things. Alcohol made him aggressive and loud. It was a bad combination. As soon as I’d let Trevor in, he’d start begging me to continue our relationship. He’d promise that he’d leave Eleanor and assure me that I could easily leave myhusband. My answer was always the same: that the affair was over. That I needed him to leave, or else I was going to call the police.” Lyla pressed her lips together tightly.
    â€œWould he leave?”
    â€œMy response to him would sort of take the wind out of his sails . . . for that day. He’d leave with this hangdog expression on his face. But the next day he’d show up at my house or my work and start harassing me again. He’d follow me around. He’d call the house and my cell number until I ended up having to block him. But then he’d call from another phone at a business or at a pay phone. He was driving me crazy,” said Lyla.
    â€œAnd you think Eleanor found out,” said Beatrice.
    â€œThere was no way she
couldn’t
find out,” said Lyla, spreading out her palms in front of her. “Trevor was acting so erratically. He was drinking, not going into work, spending all his time following me around Dappled Hills. She went from being my friend to giving me the most frigid looks you’ve ever seen. And you know what? I can’t really blame her. I never meant to hurt Eleanor. I didn’t think it through. I wish I had.” She gave a bitter laugh.
    â€œYou told all this to Ramsay?” asked Beatrice intently.
    â€œI did once he started asking questions about Trevor and me. I don’t know how Ramsay knew about it . . . Maybe the neighbors talked to him. Of course, I realized right away that this gives me a huge motive, doesn’t it? Every day I was worried that my husband would find out about Trevor’s and my . . . indiscretion.Every day, Trevor’s erratic behavior escalated.