off the creepy vibe as they approached the dressing room door.
"I'm glad you're here," I started, turning toward the figure entering the doorway. "I was just starting to get a little creeped out—"
But the rest of that thought died on my lips as I saw the figure was not my favorite tall, dark, and imposing member of law enforcement, but the Grecian goddess–clad Jada.
With a shiny black gun in her hand.
Pointed right at me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Dozens of thoughts ran through my head at a rapid pace as the barrel of the gun stared back at me. Not the least of which was that I'd been a fool to jump at Jada's bait and walk blindly to an isolated, dark corner of the club. One where a woman had already died. I licked my lips, not wanting to think that the presence of a gun was about to up that body count.
"Wh-what are you doing?" I asked, hearing my voice come out shaky and confused.
Jada shook her head. "I'm so sorry it's come to this, Emmy."
That made two of us.
"Come to what?" I hesitated to ask.
Jada let out a sigh. "If you'd just left it alone, I had everything under control. Everything was going to get better with her gone."
"Her? You mean Gia?" I asked. I took a tentative step backward, trying to create some distance between the weapon and me. Sadly, in the confined space of the dressing room, there wasn't much of anywhere to go. I felt my back come up against the built-in cabinets.
"Gia." Jada said the name on a sneer. "She was poison! Ruined everyone she touched. Hurt everyone around her!"
"So you killed her?" I asked. While the fact she had me at gunpoint was a pretty good clue that I was on the right track there, I was still drawing a blank when it came to why.
"I had to," Jada said, shaking her head again. "She had to be stopped." She sucked in a breath, her nostrils flaring. "She was evil. She deserved it."
From all I'd learned about Gia over the past few days, I had to agree that she hadn't been the most innocent of people. Or scrupulous either. But I wasn't sure anyone deserved to be strangled to death.
However, I had a strict policy never to argue with people with guns. So I kept that opinion to myself.
"What happened?" I asked instead.
Jada shook her head, as if replaying the scene in her mind. "It was all my fault, really. I mean, I never should have trusted her. I should have known better, but I…I was weak." Her face lifted to meet mine, her eyes imploring, as if begging me to understand. "A person can only take so much, you know?"
No, I didn't know. In fact, I was having a hard time piecing together what she was saying. "Take so much of Gia?" I asked.
But she shook her head. "Of being cast aside. Ignored. Of him pretending I don't exist."
"Him? You mean Costello?" I guessed.
She nodded vigorously, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be someone's dirty little secret? What it feels like to live that way? To be in love and have to hide it? To pretend you're happy the man of your dreams is fawning all over someone else?"
"That must be very difficult," I said, trying at sympathy. Which wasn't too hard to fake. I had, in fact, been sympathetic of Jada's plight. Of course, that was before I'd known she'd murdered her friend.
"Difficult doesn't begin to describe it," she responded. "Every time I have to watch Carl play up to that idiot Fabio, it's like a piece of my heart dies. You understand, right? I was dying inside, and I had no one to turn to!"
"Except Gia," I said, finally putting it together. "That's how she found out about your relationship. You told her?"
The tears spilled over Jada's eyelids, making wet tracks down her cheeks as she nodded. "I-I thought she was my friend. I thought I could confide in her. She pretended to care."
"Maybe she did?" I offered.
Jada sniffed loudly. "Gia only cared about one thing—Gia. She used me. Used what I told her to…" She paused as a sob escaped her.
"To blackmail Costello," I finished for her.
She pursed her lips together to stave off more sobbing and nodded. "You see, it was all my fault?"
"Did Gia tell you she was blackmailing Costello?" I asked. While I was honestly curious how