by Lyndsey Cole
Chapter 21
Mia and Leona dropped Annie off at Cobblestone Cottage after they made a quick stop for the fake gown.
It was plain and way out of style.
“We’ll be back after we drop off the fake gown in the bridal suite. It won’t take long. Be sure to have the wine glasses filled to the tippy top,” Leona ordered as she took the front seat where Annie had been sitting.
Jason was not inside. His note said his best man picked him up and he would be anxiously waiting to see his beautiful bride as she walked down the aisle. Signed with three hearts and a smiley face.
Well, as far as Annie was concerned, that was good news. Jason did not like it when Annie stuck her nose where it didn’t belong, or in this case, attracted unwanted drama to herself. He definitely wouldn’t approve of her plan to try to catch Trisha, or someone close to her, sneaking a preview of Annie’s wedding gown and possibly leading her to Steve Fitch’s murderer. Annie knew it was a long shot at best, and her real intention was to get Leona’s gown back. Scarlet did a fabulous job making the copy of Leona’s gown, but, well, it wasn’t Leona’s gown. That was the gown Annie had her heart set on wearing, and if her plan worked, the original was the gown she would be slipping over her head in less than two hours.
Annie left Scarlet and Camilla to take care of the wine situation. She went upstairs for a few minutes to herself.
She admired the gown Scarlet made. It was perfect. Not Leona’s, but it was beautiful.
She fumbled in her bag for the hair piece from Camilla. The silver sparkled as she held it over her curls.
As she sat on her bed she felt a calm seep through her body. This was it. The day she had waited for. Whatever happened, at least she would have Jason by her side.
The sound of the door slamming closed jerked Annie out of her thoughts.
By the time she got downstairs, Leona was settled on the couch with a glass of wine. She held it aloft. “Gotta keep this stuff flowing.”
Mia raised her glass of wine. “Mission accomplished. We were in and out of the bridal suite and no one saw us.”
Annie’s phone beeped with a message. I have some info about your friend’s room thirteen break in-Mrs. D.
Perfect. Annie smiled to herself. Just the excuse she needed to leave for the Heron Inn before the others and chat with Mrs. Delaney about what happened in Scarlet’s room. She explained that Mrs. Delaney needed to talk to her and they could meet her at the inn.
“Sure. One more glass of wine. That should give you time to talk to Mrs. Delaney before we get there.” Leona refilled her glass.
Annie ran upstairs and carried her gown back down.
Leona waved. “You’ll be sorry. There might not be any wine left when you get back.”
Annie glanced at the case of wine sitting on the kitchen counter. “If that happens, you all will be missing the best wedding ever.” She checked the time. “Half an hour, meet me in the bridal suite.” She pointed to her gown. “And don’t forget to bring my gown.”
She closed the door behind her. It was easier than she had expected to ditch everyone. Of course, Leona, as the maid of honor, should be dealing with the last minute problems but Annie knew she’d rather squeeze in a glass of wine, or two, and ignore the details. Good thing her mother was in charge of getting the gown and Leona safely to the Heron Inn.
The Heron Inn was spectacular with all the different shades of lilacs blooming—a treat for the eyes and the nose. Annie inhaled deeply. A bit of time to herself was a bonus, too. When she entered through the main door, flowers decorated every available surface. Peonies, lilies, and vases of lilacs in shades of light pink to dusty rose and lavender made a commanding statement. Posey certainly outdid herself with this first impression upon entering the inn.
Annie walked directly to Mrs. Delaney’s office, hoping to catch her with enough free time to explain the details she alluded to in her text message. Annie heard voices as she got closer to the partially opened door. The phone slammed down. Good, Annie thought, she should be free.
Annie tapped lightly on the door and peeked around the corner. Mrs. Delaney sat with a scowl on her face as she shuffled through some papers.
“Is this a bad time?” Annie asked, hoping it wasn’t since it was about the only time she had.
A small smile replaced the frown and Mrs. Delaney waved Annie into the office. “Sit down. You got my text?”
“I did. What did you discover?”
“It’s interesting. Key cards were issued to Steve Fitch for three rooms. He was given two for each room. One room was for Ms. Scarlet LaFave, one for Steve Fitch and his wife Trisha, and the third room for Trisha’s parents, Harold and Milly Monroe. Since Dazzle Design was paying for them all, it wouldn’t be wrong, technically, for someone besides Ms. LaFave to be in her room, room thirteen. You said something was missing?”
“Well, it couldn’t have been Steve Fitch since he was killed the night before all that happened.” Annie stood up. “Maybe Scarlet was wrong about something being missing. You know how easy it is to misplace an item and worry it was stolen only to discover it in the most unlikely spot?” Annie didn’t mention that not only was something missing, but something else had been added to her room.
Mrs. Delaney chuckled. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. It happens to me all the time in my kitchen. You wouldn’t believe where I find stuff—cheese in the bread drawer, pickles in the freezer, or ice cream in the refrigerator. That really makes me mad when I do that and the ice cream is all melted and dripping over everything underneath.”
Annie laughed politely as she stood up. “I have to get going. Start getting ready for my wedding.”
“Of course, of course. All the arrangements are set. That handsome fiancé of yours, Jason, was so helpful this morning getting the seating chart for dinner figured out. I don’t know what I did with the original plan you gave me but it only took him a few minutes to recreate it.”
“Did you look in your freezer, Mrs. Delaney?” Annie teased.
“No.” She laughed. “I should. Now, you go get yourself ready. By the way, your hair looks spectacular. All those curls, are they natural?”
Annie tilted her head one way, then the other. “You bet they are, and just wait until you see the final version of this.” She waved both hands down her sides to indicate every part of her would be transformed.
The timing was perfect when Annie left Mrs. Delaney’s office. If Milly took the bait completely, she should have snuck into Annie’s room by now. She took the two flights of stairs two at a time to burn off some of the extra adrenaline surging through her veins. As she charged up to the top floor, she almost had a collision with someone hurrying downstairs.
“Annie?” Trisha’s high pitched voice squeaked out. “I was looking for my mother. She said to meet her at the bridal suite but no one answered the door. What’s going on?”
Was she serious with that lame excuse, Annie asked herself? That family must think she was a complete idiot. “Now, why on earth would Milly be meeting you at my room?” Annie leveled her gaze at Trisha.
“I, I don’t know. She does get confused at times. Do you mind if I come up with you to your room and wait for a few minutes? Just in case she does show up?”
“I suppose that would be all right. But only a few minutes. I need to get ready and I have just enough time as long as nothing goes wrong.” Annie knew Mia, Leona, and Camilla would be arriving shortly, so what could go wrong?
Trisha turned around and followed Annie up the stairs and down the hall to the bridal suite at the end. She didn’t like having Trisha follow her. Annie kept taking sideways glances to be sure Trisha wasn’t about to whack her over the head with a branch.
Annie swiped her key card and the lock clicked, letting her open the door. The room was empty. The view through the windows of the lake was stunning and the outside wedding arch and chairs were all set up for the ceremony.
“No one’s here.” Annie left the door ope
n, hoping Trisha would get the message and leave.
“I’ll wait.”
No, if you don’t mind, or some other politeness. Just, I’ll wait.
Annie noticed a book on the table next to the open door. Trisha saw it at the same time.
Milly’s book.
Milly had been in Annie’s room.
Her skin crawled. Now she knew how Scarlet had felt when her room was broken into. It was unnerving.
Everything seemed the same.
Except for one book that shouldn’t have been there.
So nothing was really the same.
Trisha pushed the door closed. “Sit down, Annie. We need to talk.”
Annie looked down at her feet. They wouldn’t move on their own. She looked at Trisha. “Where’s my gown?” Annie felt the words leave her mouth but they sounded alien to her ears.
Her head started to spin. The wine?
Her legs buckled.
She felt Trisha’s arms catch her and guide her to a chair.
“I thought I’d have enough time to replace that,” she pointed at the fake wedding gown hanging over the closet door, “with a gown to make you look as beautiful as you deserve on this special day.”
“Where is my gown, Trisha?” Annie’s steely tone even surprised herself as her strength returned.
“I can’t let you wear it. I’ve had that design for so long everyone thinks it’s mine. The truth would ruin me. Don’t you see that? Name your price. I’ll pay Leona for her work from all those years ago. Isn’t that a fair trade?”
“It’s not about money; it’s about honesty. You stole it, didn’t you?” Annie glared at Trisha.
“I had to. But I still want you to look beautiful. I have another gown in my room. Come take a look at it. Please?”
“No. I’m not interested. I have my own gown to wear.” Annie stood up and moved toward Trisha.
Trisha backed up. “Okay. If you want to look like a frumpy old maid in that dress, be my guest. I was only hoping to save you from embarrassing yourself.”
“So—” Annie’s steps forward matched Trisha’s backward shuffle. “You and your mother broke in here to look at my gown? To find out what I substituted Leona’s gown with?”
Trisha nodded. “And my careless mother left her book on the table.” Trisha pointed to the offending item. “I’ll get out of your way now.”
“That’s all very interesting, Trisha. You seem to have a habit of sneaking around; taking something sometimes or leaving something other times. I think Police Chief Tyler Johnson would be interested in all these little trickeries you’ve been up to.” Annie held her phone, ready to punch in the number.
Trisha backed away from Annie. “What are you talking about? The only thing I know about is trying to replace your wedding gown. Not such a horrible trick if you stop to think about it.”
“Really?” Annie poked Trisha’s chest. “What about the papers you stuffed into Scarlet’s suitcase? To make her look like she had a motive to murder Steve? Huh? What about that?” Another jab.
Trisha gasped. Her eyes widened. “What papers?”
“Cute. You are quite the actress.”
“No. I mean it. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And it was you who circled back and followed Steve along the shoreline and whacked him over the head. You wanted him out of your life and out of your business. Isn’t that what you said?”
The color drained from her face. “I didn’t follow Steve. There was a storm that night. I met my mother at the pub and my father joined us, too, before we all came to the inn to our rooms.” She looked away in thought. “Steve never showed up.” Annie finally noticed a bit of sadness laced in Trisha’s words. Trisha stared at Annie. “The police verified my alibi.”
Annie began to wonder if there was a chance, even a tiny possibility, that Trisha was telling the truth. She admitted to stealing the wedding gown but looked completely shocked with the accusation of following Steve during the storm.
And if she didn’t follow him during the storm, who did? At any rate, Annie decided it was about time to call the police chief to see if he could force Trisha to give her the wedding gown back. She had to try. Or else, knowing Leona, she would weasel her way into tagging along on Annie and Jason’s honeymoon.
Trisha gasped. “My mother just texted me to meet her in her room. Something’s wrong.”
Without thinking, Annie followed Trisha down one flight of stairs to room ten. Trisha pushed through the partially opened door. “Mom?”
Milly sat on the edge of the bed, her head resting on her hands.
Trisha crouched in front of Milly and gently held her arms. “Mom. Look at me.”
Milly’s head tilted up. Her eyes searched her daughter’s face. “I can’t find your father’s dress pants. You know, the ones that got wet during the storm? What will he wear to Annie’s wedding?”
Annie stood motionless, watching the bizarre scene unfold in front of her.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Trisha said. She stroked the side of her mother’s cheek and spoke as if Milly was a young child instead of Trisha’s mother. “I’m sure he brought more than one pair of pants.”
“I told him he shouldn’t have gone out in that storm, but he insisted. He said it couldn’t wait. Then he laughed and told me to keep reading.”
“What couldn’t wait, Mom?”
“Something Steve was supposed to take care of.” She sighed. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore. Poor Steve.”
Annie’s blood turned ice cold. She turned to leave the room but the door was blocked.
“Isn’t this an interesting gathering?” Harold’s usually friendly voice hissed accusatorily. “What’s going on in here? Trisha? Milly?” He took a step toward Annie. “And what are you doing here?”
Annie clenched her shaking hands into tight fists. “I came with Trisha to help Milly. She seems to be confused.” Annie tried to walk around Harold but he moved to keep her blocked in the room.
“Confused? That’s an understatement.” His hand reached out and touched Annie’s curls. “You do look lovely. Such a shame.”
Annie’s head jerked away from his fingers.
“Dad?” Trisha’s voice sounded behind Annie. “What are you doing? Let Annie leave. She came to help me but Mom’s okay now.”
Without turning around, Harold kicked the door closed. “She helped, did she? That doesn’t sound like the Annie Fisher I’ve been keeping an eye on. Always asking questions, listening to Scarlet who spreads lies about my little girl. And refusing to give back that wedding gown. It’s thirty years old. Who wants to wear a relic like that?” He took a step closer to Annie, his eyes locked onto her face.
Trisha pushed between Harold and Annie. “Dad! Are you on those pain pills again? What’s happened to you?”
Harold’s face softened slightly. “I did it all for you, Trisha. All for you. Steve wouldn’t follow orders anymore. He had plans to leave your business and take Scarlet with him. Did you know that?”
“Scarlet quit. Steve was setting up a design area. For her. Steve wanted Scarlet to keep designing and Steve would have exclusive rights to her line. At least that was the plan until he died and Scarlet’s sketch pad disappeared. Nothing was finalized. We had a big argument about his plan but, in the end, I agreed with him,” Trisha explained.
Annie moved back several steps. At least Harold was focused on Trisha instead of on her for the moment. She slowly inched sideways so she had a clear path to the door.
“Dad? Where were you the night of the storm? Before you met me and Mom at the pub?”
“Taking care of business. Like I told Milly.”
“What business, Dad?”
Annie saw her chance.
Harold’s head dropped slightly and he closed his eyes.
She ran to the door.
The last thing she heard before she left was, “I did it for you, Trisha. I did everything for you.”
C
hapter 22
Annie ran upstairs to the bridal suite.
She heard laughing, singing, glasses clinking.
She slowed down, inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and willed her breathing back to a calmer speed.
What just happened downstairs? Her brain worked overtime to process what she heard Harold say. Steve planned to set Scarlet up with her own design space? Was that what he wanted to explain to Leona? It was too late to help Leona after all these years, but was he finally making it right for Scarlet? No more stealing from talented young designers?
“Annie? Where did you go? The door was open when we got here, the room empty; is everything okay?” Questions were fired at her from every direction as Mia, Leona, and Camilla huddled around her.
“Yes. Everything is okay.”
As soon as Leona helped slip the gown over Annie’s head and it slid over her body to the floor, she heard a quiet knock on the door.
Leona pulled the door open. “What are you doing here?”
Trisha held a gown draped over her arm. “This is for Annie. I’m so sorry. I did a terrible thing and it’s time for me to apologize for my behavior.” She extended the gown toward Leona. “It’s your gown, Leona. Your beautiful wedding gown.” Trisha let her head fall. “I was jealous of your talent. I should have held our friendship above my jealousy but, back then, I guess I couldn’t see past the end of my own nose.”
Leona tenderly took the gown and held it next to Annie. “Scarlet did a decent job but nothing can beat the original.”
“What?” Trisha entered the room. “Where did this come from?” She traced an embroidered flower on the copied gown with her finger.
Scarlet rushed in. “Sorry I’m late.” She stopped. She looked at Annie standing in the new gown with Leona’s gown next to her. “The original. It’s beautiful.”
“Listen up, girls.” Camilla clapped her hands. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes to finish getting Annie ready. We can’t let her be late for her wedding.”
Before Annie knew it, the gown Scarlet slaved over all night was in a heap at her feet and Leona’s beautiful gown was slipped over her head.
