Page 17 of Little Dark Deeds (Georgiana Germaine #12)

I found Jana in a chair on the front porch, petting a dachshund draped across her lap with one hand, and holding a mug of coffee in the other.

She was on the slender side and dressed in a long, flowy, multi-colored, tank top dress with sun symbols all over it.

In terms of age, she was younger than I’d expected, several years younger than Tyler, I guessed.

And with her long, dark hair, brooding eyes, and milky-white complexion, far more superior to him in looks.

I walked toward her, and she met my gaze, then set the mug she was holding down on a side table.

“Are you the private detective I’ve been hearing about?” she asked.

“I see word travels fast.”

“Tyler texted me. He said you’d be coming.”

“I was hoping to ask you a few questions.”

She tipped her head to the side, gesturing at the chair next to her. “Take a seat.”

I sat on a wicker chair with a red-and-orange striped cushion, surprised to find it was a lot more comfortable than I expected.

“What else did Tyler say when he messaged you?” I asked.

“He told me who you are, and he mentioned you and Tiffany were close friends. I’m guessing you spoke with him about his relationship with her.”

“She is one of the reasons I went to see him, but he wasn’t there when I first arrived, so I talked to Jordan. He lied to me about having any knowledge of the affair. Then I told him I knew about it, and when I gave him the facts, he changed his story.”

She twisted the black bracelets she was wearing, nodding.

“I’m sure he was just trying to protect his friend.

We’re all on edge. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if you were in our situation.

Tyler and I both know we’re suspects, though neither of us had anything to do with her murder. ”

“I’d refuse to answer a question I didn’t want to answer. I wouldn’t lie.”

“Refusing to answer would seem suspicious.”

She had a point.

And I was ready to move on.

“Who told you about Tyler and Tiffany?” I asked.

“ Tyler and Tiffany ,” she said, singing their names like they were lyrics in a song. “Rolls off the tongue like they go together, doesn’t it? Not like Tyler and Jana, which has more of an oil and vinegar ring to it.”

It was an odd comment, almost like she was paying them a compliment.

“To your question,” she continued. “No one told me.”

“If no one told you, how did you find out?”

She cracked a smile and reached for the mug. “I have my ways.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“At the moment, no. I’d rather not.”

Jana seemed open to me asking questions but closed to answering them.

She pointed at me. “See?”

“See what?”

“The way you just looked at me with a skeptical look on your face like you questioned my response. That’s what I’m talking about. Refusing to answer your questions makes me look suspicious.”

“I’ll admit, it does.”

As I contemplated what to say next, a scent, earthy and pine-like, filled the air. Incense, I guessed, wafting through an open window of her house.

“After I spoke to Jordan, I had a long conversation with Tyler,” I said. “And based on the fact he told you I was coming over, it seems like the two of you are getting along all right.”

“He’s making more of an effort than I am.”

“I heard when you confronted Tyler about the affair, he asked you for a divorce.”

“Oh, I don’t know about a divorce. We talked about a lot of things that night. We decided to separate, for now, to give him the chance to work through his feelings. I think he’s confused and trying to figure out what he wants and doesn’t want.”

My head was spinning, questioning everything I’d been told so far—by everyone. What was true, what wasn’t—gray areas I found frustrating.

Tyler was clear about his intention to get everything out in the open with Jana so he could move on with Tiffany. And yet, Jana was acting like there was a chance the relationship wasn’t over.

Or maybe, she was telling herself what she wanted to believe.

“I’m confused,” I said. “Tiffany’s father told me Tyler tried to save his relationship with Tiffany after she found out he was married.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“I feel like I’m getting two different stories.”

She gave the dog another pat and said, “Maybe I’m worried you’re going to try to pit us against each other, and I’m using caution with the words I choose to say.”

The comment was laughable.

“I’m not,” I said. “If you’re both innocent, there’s no reason for you not to be straight with me.”

“You’ve just lost one of your closest friends. I’ll bet you’re desperate to solve her murder. You might not be thinking straight. If you’re not, you could end up pinning her murder on the wrong person.”

My frustration had gone from a simmer to a boil.

“Desperate is the last thing I am,” I said. “Nor am I trying to pin Tiffany’s murder on someone who’s innocent. Why would I want to convict the wrong person? As for solving her murder—I will find out who killed her and why. So do yourself a favor and give me the facts.”

“You want facts? Here’s two. I didn’t murder your friend. Tyler didn’t either.”

I leaned back, crossing my arms, trying to find a single iota of calm, which seemed out of reach.

“Here’s what I’ve been told so far,” I said. “Tyler made it clear to you on the night you made him the pot-roast dinner that he was meant to be with Tiffany, and his future was with her, not you.”

“He said a lot of things that night. He was drunk.”

An interesting side note he hadn’t mentioned— if she was telling the truth.

“Drunk or not, he confessed his feelings for her,” I said.

“He was just ... he wasn’t himself. He’s been a bit stressed over the past several months.”

Juggling two women at the same time had a way of doing that to a person.

“If you ask me,” Jana continued, “he would have never gone through with the divorce. She was just ... and hey, I’m sorry to say this given she was your friend and all, but she was just a bit of fun, a temporary placeholder while we went through a rough patch.”

I was starting to think Jana was leaning toward the delusional side, creating her own truths so she didn’t have to face the fact her marriage was over.

“If Tyler wasn’t planning to leave you for Tiffany, he had no reason to admit his feelings for her to me,” I said. “He could have said it was an affair, nothing more. I believe him, Jana.”

“Believe what you want. I’ll do the same.”

“Where were you around the time Tiffany was murdered?”

“Having lunch with my mother.”

“Where?”

She rolled her eyes. “Wherever the woman wants to go.”

“And where did she want to go this last time?”

“Harvest Hollow. She’s addicted to their chicken pecan sandwiches.”

I didn’t blame her.

They were the best sandwiches in town.

“When you mentioned your mother just now, you wrinkled your nose,” I said.

“You don’t miss a thing, do ya?”

“I wouldn’t be great at my job if I did.”

“We’ve never been close, but she keeps trying to force a relationship, like I can just forget about all the crap she put me through in the past, the constant revolving door of my childhood, men coming in and out.

My needs were always pushed to the side.

Now that she’s older, her looks have faded, and she has few friends and even fewer lovers, she’s decided I have meaning in her life. ”

“If you don’t want a relationship, why meet with her?”

“Tyler thought if we fixed our relationship, I could let go of some of the things from the past.”

“How’s that working out?”

“It isn’t.”

“You don’t strike me as the type of person to do something just because Tyler suggests it.”

She set the mug back down and clapped her hands together. “Right again. My mother’s unwell. Cancer. Figure I can manage a few visits here and there. She’ll be gone soon enough.”

Now I was seeing the person she was instead of the person she wanted me to see.

“What future do you see with Tyler now that Tiffany isn’t standing in the way of your relationship?” I asked.

“We may be separated, but it won’t be for long. I expect he’ll come back, sooner than later. He’s nothing without me.”

It was a bold statement.

I had a bold statement of my own.

“I believe Tyler loved Tiffany, and she loved him,” I said.

As the words poured out of my mouth, I questioned whether I’d pushed too far. She hadn’t given me much of anything yet, and here I was burning down the one bridge I was trying to create.

Jana cocked her head to the side, giving her dog a pat as she said, “Anyone ever told you you’re a bit of a jerk?”

“You wouldn’t be the first.”

“Didn’t think so. I’ve been through a lot since I learned about the affair. You may consider yourself good at your job, but it’s obvious you’ve never learned how to sympathize with the victim.”

“When you say victim , are you referring to yourself?”

“Who else? I’m just as much a victim as Tiffany was in this situation.”

Wow.

I bit my tongue, because if I said what I wanted to say, there would be no coming back from it.

“It’s the truth,” she continued. “I may still be breathing, and she’s not, but Tyler betrayed us both.”

I was beginning to understand Jana’s earlier remark about how Tyler would come back to her because he couldn’t live without her.

In ways, they were two peas in a pod, both self-centered.

Once the novelty of his affair with Tiffany wore off, would Tiffany’s selfless, kindhearted demeanor have been enough for him?

I was getting nowhere, and Jana had turned every question I’d asked into a combative, self-serving argument. I decided my energy would be better spent elsewhere, and I’d be better off trying again another day.

“There are levels to being a victim. The fact is, you’re still alive.

She isn’t. Think about that for a minute.

And hey,” I said as I stood, slinging my handbag over my shoulder, “if you consider yourself a victim, then what am I? And what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t do what I’m doing now, everything in my power to solve her murder?

Wouldn’t you want a friend like that in your corner, someone who stood up, making sure you got the justice you deserved?

I would thank you for your time, but all you’ve done is waste it. I’m out of here.”

“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, the real victim 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. ”