Page 47 of Little Dark Deeds

“Wait, I didn’t mean to—”

“I no longer care what you meant or didn’t mean.I’m tired of everyone running me in circles today when all I’m trying to do is get justice for my friend, therealvictim in this situation.She didn’t deserve any of this, and she didn’t deserve to die.”

Rant over, I bolted off the porch toward my car, coming to an abrupt halt when she shouted, “I liked Tiffany, you know.I saw what he saw in her.She had soft edges and a tender way about her, something I know I lack.”

“You don’t know the first thing about her.Don’t pretend like you do.”

“I may have only met her once, but she drew me in from the start.I went to her office that day thinking I was going to unleash on her, maybe even smack her around a little.Within the first minute, she defused the bomb that is me—and the havoc I wreak when things don’t go my way.Takes a certain kind of person to do that, a special person, and I’m sorry you lost her in the way you did.”

Part of me wanted to give her the middle finger and get out of there.

Then I thought,she could have let me leave without saying a thing.

So why had she?

Turning to face her, I said, “Tiffany was one of the good ones.All she wanted in life was to find someone she could be happy with, and that happiness was taken from her before she even got the chance to find it.”

We locked eyes, and she said, “Hey, don’t leave yet.Can you wait there for just a moment?”

“Why?”

“It will all make sense if you can just give me a minute.I’ll be right back.”

Jana scooped up the dog and disappeared into the house.Walking toward me a minute later, she shoved a manila envelope in my hand.

“What is this?”I asked.

“When you got here, you asked me how I knew Tyler was having an affair.I was being honest when I said no one told me ...well, not in the traditional sense.”

“Then how did you know about it?”

“I came out of the hair salon one day, and this envelope was beneath one of the windshield wipers on my car.”

I glanced at the envelope, then back at her, narrowing my gaze.“You didn’t seem interested in helping me before.In fact, you did the opposite.What changed?”

“I don’t have a friend like you, someone who would go to the lengths you have for Tiffany.No matter how I feel about being dragged into the middle of this mess, I believed Tiffany when she told me she didn’t know Tyler was married.And ...well, I want you to find the person who killed her.Not just for her, but for you too, because I get the sense you’ll never be able to move on until you do.”