Page 7 of Little Dark Deeds (Georgiana Germaine #12)

I shot up in bed and gasped. Looking around, I didn’t see Giovanni. A moment later, he rounded the corner with a cup of tea in his hand. He gave me a curious look and said, “What’s wrong?”

Without thinking, I blurted, “I think Tiffany’s dead.”

He set the cup of tea on my nightstand and sat beside me. “How can you be certain?”

“I dreamed about her.”

“And you’re sure it was one of those dreams?”

“I am.”

“It would explain why she didn’t make it to the wedding. Tell me about your dream.”

“She was stabbed in the bathroom. It happened yesterday when she was getting ready to head to the airport. And do you want to know what bugs me the most? I think a handful of people at our wedding knew about it.”

He pressed a hand to his chest. “I can assure you, I know nothing. It may have been our wedding day, but something as important as this, I wouldn’t have kept it from you.”

“I know.”

“We need to get to the truth.”

“I know just the man to talk to—Harvey.”

“Why him?”

“I saw him last night when I left the tent. He was on the phone with someone. When he saw me, he ended the call. We chatted for a minute, and he was acting strange.” I stood, wrapping a robe around me. “I’m going to see if he’s in his room. I’ll be right back.”

Darting into the hallway, I made a beeline for the suite Harvey and my mother were staying in. I knocked once, and my mother opened the door, blinking at me but saying nothing, which wasn’t like her.

“Where’s Harvey?” I asked.

“Well, good morning to you too, dear.”

She fell silent once more, lingering in the doorway without extending an invitation for me to enter the suite.

“I need to talk to Harvey,” I said. “Is he here?”

“What do you need to talk to him about?”

We stared at each other for a moment, the expression on her face telling me what her words did not.

“How long have you known?” I asked.

“About what?”

“Be straight with me, please. I know you know about Tiffany.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Now, Georgiana, listen to me.”

“I mean no disrespect, Mom, but I am all out of patience right now.”

I heard what sounded like a sliding door opening and then Harvey walked toward us, sighing as he said, “It’s fine. We knew this was coming. Putting it off won’t change anything. What’s done can’t be undone.”

My mother threw her hands in the air. “Oh, all right, come in. We can talk outside on the balcony.”

As I followed them to the back of the suite, my mother began mumbling.

“I just don’t understand what’s wrong with people. You give a person one simple task. One task, to keep quiet. And they can’t even manage it.”

“If you’re thinking someone told me about Tiffany, they didn’t,” I said.

In truth, someone had told me.

That someone just wasn’t among the living.

“If no one told you, how do you know?” my mother asked.

“Let’s just say it was a gut feeling. Yesterday, when she didn’t arrive for the wedding, I knew something was wrong. If something had come up, she would have told me.”

“I’m sorry it happened this way, on the day of your wedding, no less.

We’ve been worried sick about when the right time would be to give you the news.

We didn’t want to spoil your special day, but we should have known you’d figure it out on your own.

I’m guessing you’ve also noticed a few of the overnight guests have gone. ”

“Your room was my first stop. By guests, I assume you mean Foley, Whitlock, and Silas.”

“They left as soon as the reception was over, hopped on a red-eye flight.”

It made sense.

Rex Foley was the chief of police in San Luis Obispo County. He was also married to my sister. Whitlock worked under him as a detective.

The three of us took a seat at the bistro table outside, and Harvey began cracking his knuckles. It was one of his tells, something he always did when he was nervous. I’d noticed him doing it last night. I just hadn’t thought much of it until now.

Before we had a chance to get to the details, there was a knock at the door.

My mother threw her hands in the air. “My goodness. What now?”

“Come on in,” Harvey shouted. “Door’s open.”

I craned my neck, curious about the unexpected visitor, relieved to see it was Giovanni.

He walked over, setting the tea I’d left in our room in front of me. “I apologize if I interrupted your conversation.”

I pulled out and looked at him. “Why don’t you join us?”

He nodded and sat down.

I looked at Harvey, then my mother. “What do you know about Tiffany?”

“Well, what had happened was, we were sitting at a table at the reception watching everyone enjoy the evening,” my mother said.

“We started chatting about what a wonderful day it had been and how it couldn’t have gone better.

Then Harvey received a call from Tiffany’s father, Ron, who delivered the awful news.

Harvey talked to Foley and Whitlock, who’d just heard about what happened themselves.

The four of us debated whether we should tell you, and we decided the news could wait until today. ”

“I hope you know we were just trying to look after you,” Harvey added. “If we’d told you last night, we knew what you’d do.”

He wasn’t wrong.

My first thought this morning was just how fast I could pack and get to the airport.

“You understand our predicament, don’t you?” my mother said.

“I do,” I said. “I can’t say I’m happy about it, but I do.”

“I suppose you’ll want to run along home now, though it’s a shame to get all wrapped up in an investigation so soon after your marriage. You should be spending time with each other, enjoying these first days together.”

Giovanni reached over, grabbing my hand. “We have the rest of our lives to do that.”

We did.

The same couldn’t be said for Tiffany.

I turned toward Harvey. “What can you tell me about her murder?”

Harvey scratched his head. “Tiffany’s father was the first to find her.

He arrived at her house, texted her that he was there, and he didn’t get a response.

He honked the horn. Still nothing. Then he got out of the car and tried the front door.

It was locked, but he knew where she kept a spare key.

He used it to open the door, and ... I’m just so sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, Georgiana. ”

“No matter how hard it is for me to accept, it’s better for me to have all the details.”

He nodded and continued. “Ron found Tiffany on the bathroom floor. She’d been stabbed multiple times. He checked for a pulse, just in case, even though he didn’t think there’d be one, and then he called for an ambulance. I heard from Foley and Whitlock about an hour ago. They’re at her house now.”

“What did they say?”

“From their initial search, they found nothing missing or taken. There was an open window in her room, which the killer may have come through. Her purse was with her luggage by the front door. There was a couple hundred dollars in cash in the wallet.”

Meaning, it wasn’t a robbery.

“I just don’t understand why anyone would murder such a sweet woman,” my mother said. “Can you?”

“She’d been seeing a new guy,” I said. “I’ve never met him, but she seemed happy with how the relationship was going so far. I think she said his name is Tyler. I’m not saying he had anything to do with her murder, but who knows?”

“I suppose you’ll be heading home now.”

“I will be, yes.”

“I expect we’ll do the same,” Harvey said. “In the meantime, is there anything we can do for you?”

“We’ll speak to Giovanni’s sister and let her know what’s happened. In the meantime, if you see any of our remaining guests, please tell them we had an emergency back home and give them our apologies.”

“Will do.”

Giovanni stood, pushed his chair in, and I did the same.

Then we said our goodbyes. With a new plan in motion, Giovanni went to find his sister, and I made my way back to the room, mind racing and anger simmering.

I’d find the person responsible for the little dark deed of Tiffany’s death, and when I did, I had half a mind to do to them what they did to her.

A life for a life.

Seemed like the perfect justice to me.