Chapter 3
Twenty minutes later the B&B manager walked me to the security room.
It was small. One desk, one computer, two monitors.
He pulled up the footage from the day Lily checked in.
I sat down and watched.
Day one.
Lily came through the front door pulling her suitcase, checked in at the desk, smiled and chatted with the staff. She was wearing a blue dress and her hair was down.
My eyes stung.
In the corner of the frame, at the entrance.
A man pushed through the door.
Black polo shirt. Baseball cap. Sunglasses.
The build. The way he moved.
Ethan.
He didn't go to the desk. He sat down in the seating area near the lobby and picked up a magazine.
But his eyes followed Lily the entire time.
From check-in to room key to the stairs.
He watched all of it.
My back went cold.
"Fast forward," I said.
The manager sped up the footage.
Day one, afternoon.
Lily left the B&B to walk around.
The exterior camera showed her stepping out. About three minutes later, Ethan came out the side door.
Same cap. Same sunglasses.
Thirty feet behind her.
Day one, evening.
Lily had dinner at the restaurant next to the B&B.
Ethan sat outside at a table with a cup of tea.
From where he sat, he had a clear view of her table.
Lily never noticed him once.
Day two.
Lily went to the lake.
Ethan followed.
Lily walked through a small market district.
Ethan followed.
Lily stopped at a street stall and crouched down to take a photo of something she was buying.
Ethan stood in a bookshop doorway across the road, pretending to browse.
Every frame. Every shot.
He was there.
My hands started shaking.
This wasn't an affair.
People having affairs walk side by side. They eat together. They touch.
He hadn't spoken a single word to her.
He stayed back. He kept distance. He wore a disguise.
From start to finish, Lily had no idea he was there.
This wasn't an affair.
He was tailing her.
"What happened the next day?" I said. "Please, show me."
The manager pulled it up.
Day two, afternoon. Lily left the B&B. She had her bag, her phone, and she looked relaxed.
The camera showed her walking out the front and heading north along the road.
Three minutes later.
Ethan came out the side door and walked in the same direction.
Then the footage ended.
The B&B's cameras only covered the building and the immediate street. Fifty feet out and the world disappeared.
"Do you have anything else?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Just these. The road cameras would be with the police."
I sat there for a moment.
Then I stood up, thanked him, and walked out.
Outside on the front step I opened the map on my phone.
The direction Lily had walked was north.
North along that road took you past a few small neighborhoods, some open land, a parking area.
And then, at the end of it, the base of the mountains.
Undeveloped terrain. No trails. No markings.
I stared at that spot on the map and my fingers went cold.
She walked there.
He followed.
And then she was gone.