Page 16 of Little Dark Deeds (Georgiana Germaine #12)

A s more customers and real estate agents slipped in and out of the office, Tyler’s discomfort level grew.

To keep the conversation going, I suggested the two of us finish talking within the safe confines of my car.

He hesitated at first, but he also seemed to understand I wasn’t leaving until my questions were answered.

He slid into the seat beside me, downing a bottle of water he’d brought along, which he tossed on the floor like he hadn’t been raised with a stitch of manners.

I wasted no time digging in.

“Where were you when Tiffany died?” I asked.

“Taking down a couple real estate signs and putting a new one up at one of my listings.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“I’m sure they did. If I need an alibi to prove my innocence, I shouldn’t have a problem getting one.”

I switched subjects.

“I’m unclear about what your intentions were with Tiffany,” I said.

“In what way?”

“In all ways.”

“Can you be more specific?”

I could.

I just wasn’t sure he was ready for it.

“Not disclosing the fact that you’re married means you deceived her from the start,” I said.

“Tiffany was a charming, wonderful woman, but sometimes she could be a bit too trusting, a trait certain men picked up on when they dated her. She’d been taken advantage of more than once by the guys she dated— including you . ”

“It was never my intention to deceive her. I felt awful about it from the start.”

“I did an internet search of your name this morning. It took me all of three minutes to find something that confirmed you’re married.

It would have been easy for Tiffany to do the same.

I’m guessing she didn’t because she trusted you.

She believed in you. Whether you’re guilty or innocent of her murder, you let her down, and I can’t forgive you for that. ”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I know I wasn’t straight with her. I’ve agonized over it for months.”

“If you’ve been in agony, you brought it on yourself. In the end, she would have figured it out, and if she didn’t, I would have figured it out for her.”

“It’s not like I didn’t want to tell her the truth. I couldn’t .”

“I disagree.”

“I thought if I told her, she wouldn’t give me a chance, give us a chance.

So, yeah, I withheld that information. Days turned to weeks and then months, and the weight of it kept getting bigger.

I’d wake up each morning fearing it would be the day she’d discover my secret.

I’d say to myself, ‘Today is the day you’re going to tell her.

’ The day would come and go, and at the end of it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. ”

It felt like we were running circles around the same topic—a past that couldn’t be changed—and there were far more pressing questions I still hadn’t gotten to yet.

“How did the two of you meet?” I asked.

“In the grocery store of all places. I was walking by, and I noticed she’d grabbed an armful of oranges.

When she went to put them in her basket, most of them slipped out of her hands and onto the floor.

I bent down to offer my help. We both leaned over at the same time and butted heads.

After we had a good laugh about it, she stuck a hand out and told me her name.

I gave her mine, and we shook hands. Then we started talking about what I did for a living. ”

It would have made an adorable story.

Kismet.

If he wasn’t married.

Tyler drummed his fingers along the dashboard, then looked at me. “If the two of you were such good friends, why didn’t she tell you how we met?”

It was a fair question.

When we’d gotten together for lunch, I was in full wedding-planning mode, and most of our conversations revolved around my big day. Thinking back on it now, I was riddled with some of the decisions I made that day.

When she started a new relationship, I often vetted the guy—without her knowledge, of course. With Tyler, I’d been so preoccupied with wedding planning, I didn’t look into him.

Why?

Maybe because it was the happiest I’d seen her in a long time.

I wanted Tyler to be different than the rest.

I wanted her to have what I had with Giovanni.

And I thought— what’s the harm in backing off, allowing her a moment to enjoy herself before I stuck my nose into her business.

Turned out, backing off was a bad idea.

I’d dropped the ball, and the hollow ache in my core was a constant reminder.

I was so caught up in my feelings of guilt it took me a moment to notice Tyler had been eyeing me, looking confused.

I realized he was witnessing one of my strange habits—the way my eyes glazed over when I was deep in thought, mentally checked out of a conversation.

“You all right?” he asked.

“Yeah, fine. Getting back to the first time you met, I’m guessing she hired you to be her real estate agent. Then what?”

“Hold on a minute. I asked you why you thought Tiffany didn’t tell you about the way we met. You expect me to answer your questions, but you won’t answer mine. Is that it?”

“Depends on the question. I’ll say this ... Tiffany talked a lot about you that day. We also talked about other things. I had a wedding coming up and ... You know what? None of that matters. What matters is I was aware of your relationship.”

What I kept to myself was the fact I’d cut our lunch short that day because I had a dress fitting at the bridal shop. I could have rescheduled the fitting, and I didn’t.

“When did you first realize you had feelings for Tiffany?” I asked.

“There was an immediate spark when we met at the grocery store. I didn’t realize it at first, but when it hit me, there was no denying it.”

“The spark couldn’t have been strong, in my opinion, since you continued to juggle two relationships at the same time.”

Tyler sighed and glanced out the window.

He looked disappointed, though not with me.

More with himself than anything.

“As hard as it is to believe, I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for my wife,” he said.

“Have you ever cheated on her before?”

“No, never.”

“How long have you been married?”

“Seven years.”

The good ol’ seven-year itch, a common lull in marriage where one often became restless, dissatisfied, and in need of something more— someone more. If given the opportunity to take hold, it had the ability to end marriages, as evidenced with this one.

“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, if he 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.”

“You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

“I’m ... you’re right. Sorry. I just meant to say, when you care for two people at the same time, even if it’s in different ways, the last thing you want to do is to hurt either of them.”

“Your lies hurt them both.”

“I was trying to find a way to be with Tiffany, to have a future together, while also considering Jana’s happiness. It’s all I thought about. All day. Every day.”

The more he talked, the more it sounded like he was focusing on himself, his needs, and how he’d be affected.

“I’d like you to stop thinking about it from your perspective, what you wanted,” I said. “Think about Tiffany and Jana, about how you would feel if they treated you the same way. Lied, cheated. If you had been the one on the receiving end, what then?”

He wiggled around in his seat like he was trying to get comfortable.

“I’ll admit, I didn’t think of it that way, not until Tiffany expressed her feelings for me.

I’ll never forget it. We were walking through the park, and she told me she was falling in love with me.

I’d felt the same way about her for weeks.

But given my circumstances, I didn’t know how to handle it, and I panicked. ”

“And you still didn’t tell her the truth.”

“I kept thinking I’d find a way past it, a way to smooth it over. As the days passed, I came up with ideas here and there, but none of them seemed right, so yeah, I kept stalling.”

“How long were you planning on living a double life?”

“This is going to seem hard to believe, but the day my wife confronted me, I’d written her a letter, thinking it might be the best way to describe what had been going on.”

It was hard to believe, the timing almost too perfect, and I questioned whether he was telling me the truth.

“Did you ever give her the letter?” I asked.

“I told her I’d written one. She didn’t care to read it.”

“How did your wife find out you were having an affair?”

“That is the million-dollar question.” His cell phone rang inside his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it, canceling the call and then setting the phone to the side. “I don’t know how Jana found out. The only person I told was Jordan.”

“Do you think he told her?”

“When she confronted me, I considered the possibility that he betrayed my confidence. But no, I don’t think he did.”

“Why not?”

“He’s always been a good friend.”

“Some friends have a way of turning on you in certain situations.”

“Not Jordan. We go way back.”

“You seemed upset with him earlier, when you thought we were talking about you.”

“Yeah, that’s because I didn’t know who you were. Now that I do, it makes sense why the two of you were talking about me.”

Maybe it made sense to him.

Not to me.

“If Jordan didn’t speak to Jana, who did?” I asked.

“Beats me.”

Although he’d been dishonest with both women, for the moment, I was willing to believe he didn’t know how Jana learned about the affair. Thinking I had a better shot at getting it out of her, I didn’t press the subject any further.

“Tell me about the day your wife confronted you,” I said.

“She’d cooked me a pot roast for dinner, mashed potatoes and homemade biscuits—the works—which was unusual.”

“How so?”

“It was my favorite comfort food, but Jana didn’t like making it.

We’d only have it on my birthday or on a special occasion.

Most of the time, she preferred going to a restaurant instead of cooking dinner herself.

As soon as we sat down to eat, she got straight to the point.

She told me she knew Tiffany’s name, where she worked, how we met, and all about my affair. ”

“What did you say in response?” I asked.

“All I wanted in that moment was to give a full confession, no matter how hard it might be for her to hear. I told her how sorry I was that everything happened the way it had, and I admitted I was in love with Tiffany. I even told her I thought Tiffany and I were meant to be together.”

I couldn’t decide if he was an idiot or thoughtless or a bit of both.

“What was your wife’s reaction?” I asked.

“First, I want to say, I told Jana I still loved her, and I do. It’s just ... the love I feel for her is different than my love for Tiffany.”

“Please tell me you kept that part to yourself.”

“I got the chance to tell the truth that night, and I went all in. I mean, why not? I was relieved to get it out. The relationship was over. I wanted us to appreciate the good times we had while accepting we were at our end. I thought if we could do that, we could heal, and we could both move on.”

“How did Jana react?”

“Not in the way I expected. She threw a glass of red wine in my face, grabbed her keys, and she left.”

In all my years as a detective, no one had ever been as candid with me as he just had.

I was used to people evading me, telling me as little as possible, or nothing at all.

When it came to the conversation with his wife, he seemed unemotional and disengaged, a different person than when we first started talking.

So different, in fact, I almost didn’t know what to make of him.