Page 97 of Little Dark Deeds

“Save it.Sorry won’t change anything.I want to know why you did it.”

“Thinking back on the last week, it’s all a blur.”

“You better find clarity, because I want answers.”

Foley gave me a look that indicated I should tone it down, but if I did what I wanted to do to Jordan, things would have been a lot worse.

“You can start by telling us why you killed Tiffany,” Foley said.

Jordan went quiet for a time, and I waited.

Then he blurted out something I didn’t expect.

“I’m having an affair with Jana,” he said.“It’s been going on for a while.One night, not long after Jana confronted Tiffany, I was over at Jana’s house.We’d always been cautious when we met up, but we knew Tyler was out of town that night, and we didn’t think much of it.As you know, Jana’s house sits way back from the road, so we assumed no one would see us.We were in the living room, on the couch, kissing and stuff, and I look over, and there’s Tiffany, outside, staring right at us through the window.”

“What was she doing there?”I asked.

“She had a box of Tyler’s things in her hands.She dropped the box and started running to her car.Jana went after her.Tiffany said she was there because she’d wanted to get Tyler’s things out of her house.But she didn’t want to see him, so she thought she could give it all to Jana.I think Tiffany also thought giving Jana the box was a way to assure her things were over with Tyler.”

“Then what happened?”

“Jana asked Tiffany if she was going to tell Tyler what she saw, and Tiffany said she wouldn’t if Jana agreed to tell him herself.Problem is, Tyler had Jana sign a prenup when they got married.”

“Why?”

“Tyler’s grandfather was going to leave him a large sum of money when he died, and he didn’t care much for Jana.His one condition was that Tyler get a prenup to protect himself, just in case.”

“Let me guess,” I said.“It included an infidelity clause.”

“It did.If Tyler ever found out Jana was stepping out on him, she’d get nothing.”

“So, Tiffany was murdered over money?”I asked.

“It was Jana’s idea.I didn’t want to do it.I swear.”

“But you did.”

“I regret it, now.Believe me.”

“You regretted it so much, you killed again.”

“You were right about me cleaning off in the sink after the murder.I didn’t know there’d be so much blood, and when I saw it all over my skin, all I could think about was getting it off.I realized the next day I must have dropped the lighter in Tiffany’s house, but I had no idea there was blood on it until I met Queenie.”

“And Tyler?What’s the real story there?”

Jordan shrugged and said, “I don’t know.You’ll have to talk to Jana.”

But he did know.

And now I knew the story she’d told me was full of holes.

She’d put on a good show, an impressive one—tears, drama, the whole nine yards.I doubted any of it was real.

“Knowing how cunning Jana is, you should give some thought to what she’s going to say when we talk to her,” Foley said.“I think she’ll turn on you.This might be your one shot at telling us the truth—all of it.”

We all went quiet, letting his words sink in.

I hoped it had.