Page 23 of Little Dark Deeds

It was a lie, of course.

He hadn’t asked me yet, though I expected he would.

It didn’t matter to me one way or the other.

He knew me well enough to know I would be conducting my own investigation, with his permission or without it.

Ron turned toward me.“That true?You working together on the investigation?”

“We are.”

The way I saw it, the invitation had just been extended, and I was all too happy to accept.

“You sure you can handle it?”he pressed.

“I’m not sure of anything right now, but for Tiffany’s sake, and yours, no matter how I’m feeling, I’ll work through it.”

He nodded, satisfied.“If there’s one thing I know for certain, if anyone can figure out what happened to my daughter, it’s you.”He tipped his head toward Foley, adding, “No offense, but you know I’m speaking the truth.I mean, you’re good.Georgiana’s ...well, it’s like she was born to do this work.”

“No offense taken,” Foley said.“Working together will make it all go a lot faster, I hope.Like you, we want answers.The sooner, the better.”

Ron nodded.“That’s why I’m here, to offer my help.”

“The best thing you can do right now is to focus on taking care of yourself.Go home.Get some rest.We got this, Ron.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he insisted.“Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter.I can’t eat.Can’t sleep.Perhaps if I contribute to your investigation in some way, it’ll help.Doubt it, but it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

Foley may have wanted him to leave, but Ron was resolute.

He wasn’t going anywhere, not until we gave him what he wanted.

Why not give the man just that?

“I have a question,” I said.

“Now we’re talking,” Ron said.“Go on.”

Foley shot me a warning look, which I ignored.

“I had lunch with Tiffany a few months ago, and she mentioned a new guy she was dating,” I said.“She was supposed to bring him to the wedding, but then she texted me last week saying something came up, and he wouldn’t make it to the wedding.Do you know why their plans changed at the last minute?”

“I ...yeah.It’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you.She didn’t want you to know what happened.She feared it might put a damper on your nuptials.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The real estate guy she was seeing, Tyler Seymour ...he’s married.”

Married?

I couldn’t believe it.

“The way Tiffany talked about him, she thought they had a future together,” I said.

“Yeah, she had high hopes for the relationship.When she found out he was married ...well, devastated isn’t even the right word to describe how she felt.For a few days, she didn’t even go to work.And you know Tiffany, she was somewhat of a workaholic.She lived and breathed her job.”

“How did Tiffany find out Tyler had a wife?”

“In the worst of ways.Tyler’s wife figured it out, and she went to Tiffany’s workplace and confronted her while she was in a work meeting with one of her colleagues, Everett.”