Page 41 of Little Dark Deeds

“How long have you known your wife?”I asked.

“Fifteen years.”

“Why did you wait so long to get married?”

“Our relationship was long distance for the first few years.Man ...you know something?You’re good.I’m not the kind of person who talks about my private life often, let alone to someone I just met.I don’t know what it is about you.I find myself wanting to tell you things.It’s an odd feeling.”

We cared about the same person.Maybe it created an instant bond for him, though I didn’t share the sentiment.

“I’ve had a lot of practice interviewing people,” I said.“Before I had my private detective agency, I was a police officer, then a detective.”

“Why’d you leave to start something on your own?”

“Too much bureaucratic tape.I prefer working for myself, making my own rules.”

“I get it.It’s why I like real estate.Set my own hours, work at a pace of my choosing.”

His career and why he’d chosen it was of no importance to me, so I steered things back in the right direction.

“I haven’t had the chance to talk to your wife yet,” I said.“What’s she like?”

“I wouldn’t say we’ve always had a great relationship, but we’ve always had a good one.Our marriage has had its share of ups and downs just like any other.No matter the issue, we always got through it.In the past, anyway.”

“If your marriage was good, why risk it by starting something with someone else?”

“Have you ever met a person who swooped in when you least expected it and changed your entire world, your entire way of thinking?”

I thought back to the moment I’d first met Giovanni, then to the time we’d reconnected five years ago.And now married.After so many years apart, it didn’t take long for me to realize I was meant to be with him all along.He’d “swooped” in on my heart from day one.

“I have someone like that in my life, but I didn’t cheat on anyone to get him,” I said.

It was harsh, and I knew it.

It was also true.

“I never planned to cheat on my wife,” he said.“It just happened, and I ...I’m not sure how to even put it into words.”

“Can you try?”

There was a long silence, then he said, “I have a feeling when our affair gets out, everyone is going to be looking at me, thinking I may have had something to do with Tiffany’s murder.All I can tell you is, it wasn’t me.And after meeting you today and seeing how tenacious you are, I’d rather have you in my corner than out of it.”

A wise choice.

I didn’t mind being in his corner for a time,ifhe was innocent.

If he was guilty, there would be a reckoning—swift and, perhaps, painful.

“You’ve told me more than I expected you would,” I said.“The more I know, the more open I’ll be to standing up for you, as long as you’re honest with me, and you don’t hold back.”

“You’d asked me to put my feelings for Tiffany into words.All I can say is, the more I saw her, the more I was convinced she was the one for me.It felt like we were born to find each other, as if we’d lived multiple lives, and in each one, she was in it, and no matter what the odds, we’d always found each other somehow.”

“When you realized how strong your feelings were, why didn’t you do the right thing and come clean to Tiffany and to your wife?”

He shook his head.“You don’t get it.”

“What don’t I get?”

“You don’t know what it’s like to be in this kind of predicament.You’ve never been through it.”