“Uh.” Mark cleared his throat. “What kind of shady stuff are you talking about?”
“I want to look at somebody’s texts.”
“Oh, that kind of stuff.” A short pause. “You, ah, wouldn’t be trying to hack into Ginger’s texts or anything, would you?”
“What if I am?”
“It’s better if you don’t. I don’t know what happened between the two of you that you left the States and ignored her, but you can’t have any meaningful relationship if you have to monitor her every move. Not even Dad did that with Mom. If you can’t trust her a hundred percent, then you should stop seeing her.”
“It’s not like that, Mark.”
A sigh. “You’re a smart guy, so I’ll quit nagging.”
“The person I should be calling?” Shane prompted.
“It should be on your phone. Listed under The Man, your nickname for Benjamin Clark.”
Shane thanked Mark and found The Man.
A cold, professional female voice answered. “Yes, Mr. Pryce?”
“I want Ginger Maxwell’s texts for the last three weeks sent over. Her number is…”
Chapter Nineteen
Debbie was a true friend. She didn’t wrinkle her nose at the mess that was Ginger’s apartment, she arrived in pajamas…and she came in carrying two cartons of chocolate ice cream and three boxes of Godiva truffles.
“I’m not letting you spend the night alone. We’re having a sleepover, just like back in high school,” Debbie said, explaining away her yellow Winnie the Poo pajamas. “You sounded absolutely wretched over the phone. What’s wrong?” She sat on the couch, giving Ginger a spoon and a carton.
Ginger took a bite of the sinfully rich ice cream. “The investigator your Dad referred me to came through.”
“Okay… That’s good, right?”
Ginger blinked as more tears came. “I don’t know. I wish I’d never tried to find out.”
“Why? What did he say?”
“Shane mailed the pictures.”
“What? Like your fiancé Shane?”
Ginger nodded as her face was too scrunched to speak.
“That rat bastard. Can I set him on fire?”
“No. I don’t want to see you go to jail.”
“If we get even one female juror at my trial, I’ll be acquitted.” Debbie ripped open a box of truffles and handed it to Ginger. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Ginger stuffed a piece into her mouth.
“I knew the Pryce family was messed up, but wow. Shane takes the gold medal for the fucked up asshole division. Who mails himself fake pics of his girlfriend? And for what reason?”
“That’s what I don’t understand. It wasn’t like we were married and he was trying to avoid paying alimony or something. All he had to do was break up with me. It would’ve hurt like hell, but I would’ve moved on.”
“Seriously.” Debbie started to spoon her ice cream up with more fury. “Just because he’s a messed up psycho doesn’t mean everyone else is.” Her face took on a pensive look. “Wow, you know…what he did almost makes Dane look normal.”
Ginger snorted, then sobered. She still couldn’t believe everything had been lies—his courage to be able to say he was sorry when he knew he was wrong even back in high school, and the way he’d been always so true to her. She still loved him.