a moment, and then I…I went to meet up with someone. At the pool cabanas. For a private celebration."
The meaning of his words sank in. "You mean you were with a woman?"
Costello's eyes went from me to Ava. "Please, please, please, you cannot say a thing to anyone. This would be devastating for me. And Jada… I just can't drag her name through the mud with me."
"Jada?" I couldn't help the lift of surprise in my voice. "Are you saying you and Jada were…celebrating together in a private cabana?"
He pursed his lips together and nodded slowly. "We've been seeing each other secretly for the last few months."
I thought back to the way Jada had spoken with such reverence about Costello. And how she'd been so hazy about giving him the alibi he'd claimed. At the time I thought she'd been protecting her job, but it turned out she'd been protecting her man.
I glanced at the fading fashion icon's dyed hair and bedazzled everything, trying to reconcile the image with Jada's exotic beauty. I was hard-pressed to see Jada's side of the attraction, but I supposed love really was blind.
"I know what you're thinking," Costello said, shaking his head.
I bit my lip. I hoped not, because I didn't want to seem unkind.
"But the age difference doesn't matter to either of us."
Oh yeah. There was that too.
"We're truly in love. It started as just a friendship, but the attraction…well, neither of us could deny it after a while. Jada…she understands me like no one ever has before. I tell you, she's an angel on earth."
"So, you really were in a private poolside cabana after the show?" I clarified.
Costello nodded. "Yes. I ducked backstage just long enough to see that my assistant was racking the garments. Then I went straight to the cabanas. Jada finished changing and arrived a moment later. And we were together until we heard the police sirens and found out about Gia."
Which was at least half an alibi. Though, I noted that while Jada was changing, that still left Costello alone. We only had his word he was backstage "just long enough" to check up on his assistant and not long enough to check up and then slip into Gia's dressing room and eliminate his biggest problem, before joining his secret lover.
And his word was pretty shaky—this was the third alibi he'd given us so far.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"So do we believe him?" Ava asked once we were back in my Jeep.
I cranked up the AC, adjusting the nearest vent to blow right on my neck. "About being straight and using Fabio as his beard?" I asked. "Yeah, I can see that."
"But what about his alibi," she asked, flipping down the visor mirror to blot the warm summer shininess from her forehead with a tissue. "Or should I say his non alibi?"
"You picked up on that, too, huh?" I asked.
She nodded. "It sounds like he could have easily strangled Gia while Jada was changing then met up with her at the cabana without anyone being the wiser."
"And it sounds like he had plenty of reason to want Gia dead too," I mused, wondering how Jada had felt in all this—being kept a secret in Costello's life, having to hide their relationship. And all the while having to work in Gia's shadow. "But then, why would Costello steal the emerald?" I added.
Ava pulled a tube of lip gloss from her purse, reapplying in the mirror. "Well, he did say Gia had been bleeding him dry. Maybe he needed the cash?"
I nodded, giving my own reflection a once-over in the rearview. "I suppose it's possible," I agreed, swiping at a little eyeliner that had migrated in the heat. "But it would have had to have been a spur of the moment thing. I mean, it seems unlikely to me that he knew about Gia's theft scheme ahead of time. If he had, then he would have something to hold over her head."
"That's a good point," Ava conceded, capping her lip gloss and sitting back in her seat to soak up more of the AC's cool relief. "I doubt he would have paid up if he'd had something that good on her."
"If any designer had figured out what Gia was up to, it feels like Daisy Dot would have been the one in the better position."
"You mean because of her ruby earrings?"
I nodded. "We know Gia was substituting a fake emerald made of glass for the real one. The way that the rubies disappeared