Page 76 of It's a Wonderful Knife
Maybe Santiago had said that. Maybe he’d even meant it, but it was obvious breaking up with Amelia hadn’t been the plan. He’d cut Gianna loose the minute Amelia put her foot down. “Did he say that before or after game night?” I asked.
A line appeared between her auburn brows. “Before…”
“Amelia,” Max said softly. “Didn’t you notice that Santiago was snubbing you at game night? He wasn’t flirting with you. He was giving Amelia all his attention.”
“He was just pacifying her. I… I knew he’d come back around.”
“But this morning, when we were all stuck inside, he didn’t come back around, did he?” I asked quietly.
Her mouth thinned, and a spark of anger shifted over her features. “He would have. I’m telling you, he would have.”
I highly doubted she was right, but it was obvious she believed what she was saying. Back home, I’d have been able to check if she had a record of any kind. Maybe Gianna had a history of stalking men who she thought she had a connection with. But the way things were, I couldn’t find out anything about her past that she wasn’t willing to share. For all I knew, she was as squeaky-clean as she pretended.
“When the rain let up today, did you go for a walk?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Not a long one, but I needed to get outside for a bit.”
“Do you know when you got back to the house?”
She shrugged. “It had started raining by the time I returned. I had to run the last few feet because it really started coming down.”
I was guessing Santiago had been dead a few hours by the time we found his body. Without forensics though, it truly was just a guess. But rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet, and there hadn’t been any offensive smells. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had any reason to keep track of people. I had no idea who had been where or when. Trying to solve this murder was going to be an impossible task.
“Do you think we could see your coat, Gianna?” Max asked suddenly.
I nodded. “Yes. We need to see your coat.” I’d almost forgotten that we’d wanted to check her coat for blood spatter.
“My coat?” She swallowed hard.
“If you wouldn’t mind.” I hoped my smile was nonthreatening.
“Why do you want to see my coat?”
Max shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Well, I’d like to know why.” She looked even paler. If she kept losing color, she’d be translucent within the hour.
Max glanced at me, obviously uncertain if we should be honest or not.
Gianna’s expression changed. “You… you want to see if there’s blood on it, don’t you?”
I grimaced. “It’s nothing personal.”
Her shoulders drooped. “Right.” She stood, her expression pained. “I’ll just go get my coat, then.”
“We can all go together,” I said, rising. “I need to see if Mona ever turned up. She and Ezra are next up.” I kept my voice light. I didn’t want Gianna to freak out just because we needed to look at her coat. I wanted her to understand that she was just one of many suspects.
The three of us left the office and headed back into the main living room. Gianna headed toward the coat closet near the front door. Hermina smiled tentatively at us as we entered the room. She was waiting patiently near the fire for Gianna to finish her interview with me. I was relieved to see that Mona was with her. Ezra sat across the room in a burgundy wing-backed chair, reading a book.
When I heard the front door slam closed, I glanced over. Gianna was nowhere in sight now. “Wait, did Gianna leave the house?” I asked, striding toward the front door.
“What the hell?” Max looked shocked as he followed.
I reached the door, and I yanked it open. I stepped out onto the big porch, just in time to see Gianna disappearing into the rainy, black night.
Chapter Ten
Maxwell
