I stared at the letters again, but still couldn’t make head nor tail of it. As I looked down at the phone, I was distinctly aware of Jeremy and Ida May watching me closely so, rather than admit defeat, I pretended that I’d just worked it out and moved on to the next text.
“What about this one? What’s that mean? ‘RBTL’.”
Even this one had Ida May stumped. She turned to Jeremy who took the phone out of my hands and read the message.
“ ‘Got a txt from H. RBTL’,” he read out loud. “It means, read between the lines.”
“And H?”
Jeremy glanced towards me and shrugged. “RBTL.”
I stared down at the phone. There was nothing between the lines, not that I could work out – just blank spaces. In that moment, I think I realized what it was like to be Hazel – constantly thrown by things that other people seemed to understand instinctively. I wondered what she would make of it all…
I looked up again. “One way to find out. Do we know where Ryan’s phone is? I’m sure the messages will be on there.”
“I know exactly where it is,” Ida May replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small black cellphone. She passed it across Jeremy to me. “I swiped it when I was investigating Ryan’s body…”
Jeremy chuckled. “Clever shrew…”
“I try,” Ida May replied, blushing slightly. “It’s locked though. I imagine the only person who knows… who knew the code was Ryan.”
I stared down at the device. True enough, the moment I pushed the home button, a lock screen appeared requesting a six-digit code.
“How frustrating,” I muttered. “Why do I get the feeling this little box has the solution to our case?”
“Well, if it helps, there is one person who could help you. After I left Ryan, there was only one person who wasn’t with the rest of the group. Maybe he’s your man.”
“Who?” Ida May asked, gripping a tight hold of her nephew’s arm.
He told us. And neither of us had reason to doubt him.
Chapter Seven – What Percy Saw
I left Ida May to console her nephew and hurried back up towards the church. As I approached the barn, I caught sight of Cecil and Hazel making their way down towards the rest of the group. Not wanting to be cornered by the two of them, I took an unusual diversion and clambered over a nearby fence to take the more direct route up to the church through the long grass. I had only gotten halfway across the field – just passing a large oak tree – when something on the ground caught my foot and I nearly feel head first into the dirt.
I steadied my step just as Percy scrambled to his feet.
“Oh Gosh. Clara! I’m so sorry. I thought you saw me…”
“Percy?” I replied, my eyes flickering back towards the barn. “What are you doing out here?”
“Thinking…”
I’ve known Percy for far to long to accept such a simple answer as being the truth. I crouched down beside him and stared hard in to his eyes. The usually confident man was almost trembling – a small bead of sweat dribbling down his brow and his face had gone pale – almost ghostly.
“Percy?” I asked. “What is it? Have you and Cecil fallen out again?”
My question snapped him right out of it. His eyes shot up to meet mine and suddenly his face was filled with the usual confidence and bravery that I have come to expect of the retired, small-town lawyer.
“Absolutely not,” he declared, his eyes brimming with contempt. “The man is just too stubborn to accept facts that’s all…”
“Then what’s going on with you? Why are you hiding out here in the grass?”
Percy’s eyes narrowed on me. “I am not hiding.”
“What do you call this then?”
Percy took a few moments to formulate an answer: “Pondering.”
“Pondering what?”
“Oh…” he slapped his thigh and started to get to his feet. “It’s probably nothing. I guess after the affair at Ruby’s house, I’m just seeing suspicious people everywhere…”
“Suspicious people?”
“Yes,” Percy replied, nodding confidently. “Like that groomsman character - Hector. Very suspicious if you ask me. There was one a Mexican Cartel guy called Hector who robbed a bank or some such down Texas way...” He paused. “And the bride? Very suspicious that she was the one who found the body, don’t you think?”
“What? Hayley found Ryan’s body?”
“Why, yes,” Percy’s looked hard at me. “Didn’t you know?”
I think I took just a little bit too long to react.
“Of course I knew,” I replied, hoping the slightly higher pitch of my voice wouldn’t give me away. “I’m just surprised you knew, that’s all. Who told you?”
Percy shrugged. “The bride’s mother. Apparently the bride was inconsolable.”
“Yes,” I replied, my eyes drifting up towards the church. “Anyway, I’d best be off, Percy…”
“And then there’s that other fellow. He was loitering around by the cars when we were all filing in to the church. No idea what he was doing, but he was definitely fiddling with something hard and black in his hands. If young Ryan was shot, I’d lay even money on it being him…”
“The Minister?”
Percy’s eyes widened in surprise. His hands instinctively dived into his pocket and he looked around with such fear in his posture that I’m surprised he didn’t try to run for it right then and there.
“Maybe…” he replied, before stepping towards me to whisper into my ear. “How did you know that?”
I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Perce. You’re a real gent.”
I’m not sure what he made of it all, but he’d helped me to no end. First Jeremy and now Percy – they’d both seen the Minister outside the church as everyone else was filing in. And it didn’t take a church-goer to realize that the church was the one place he should be in the circumstances. I mean – how many minsters prepare for a wedding ceremony by hanging out in amongst other people’s cars?
I headed up towards the church, immediately spotting the Minister leaving the main door and locking it behind him. I ducked down amongst the grass just as he turned to look towards me. There was definitely something black in his hand, but I couldn’t make it out from here. Was it a gun, like Percy had suggested? Was it a syringe of narcotics or a knife in a sheaf?
As I watched the Minister skulk off amongst the parked cars, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t even bothered to find out how Ryan had died. For all I knew, he’d just had a convenient heart attack or some cruel accident had just taken him at the wrong time.
There was only one person who might know those answers – and she was probably back in the barn by now. It was then I made my decision. I wasn’t going to follow the Minister, despite every instinct of the detective telling me to do so. I was heading back…
To Ida May.
Chapter Eight – A Most Democratic Investigation
I burst into the barn, my eyes scanning wildly about the room as I searched for Ida May. I had practically run down to the barn, eager to get back and speak with her before the Minister returned. Now, with my lungs struggling for breath, I collapsed against the doorframe and glared in at all the guests inside.
Hazel spotted me straight away. Leaving Cecil over by the bar, she quickly trotted through the crowd until she arrived next to me. For a few seconds, she stared – it wasn’t in my nature to appear out of breath or strained when in my friend’s company, so I imagine the sight of me leaning hard against the doorframe was something of a shock to her.
“Clara?” she said tentatively. “Are you alright?”
“Never better,” I replied, breathlessly. “Where’s Ida May?”
“I’m not sure,” my friend replied, glancing around at the congregation behind her. “The last I saw her, she was with you.”
“No, I left to go up to the church…”
“Oh.” Hazel thought for a moment. “Bu
t everyone’s down here.”
“Not everyone…”
“Well, I’m sure she’ll turn up…”
I shook my head and steadied myself. My breathing was starting to return to normal and I could no longer feel my pulse smashing through my neck. I took a moment or two to survey my surroundings once again, hoping to catch sight of Ida May mingling with the guests.
“Clara, what is wrong?”
I turned to my friend. Her eyes were drooping and filled to the brim with concern for my well being. Her fingers stretched and snatched at the fabric of her dress while she bit gently down on her bottom lip.
I shook my head. “We have a new suspect,” I explained. “Both Percy and Jeremy saw him loitering by the cars when everyone was heading into the church…”
“Really?” Hazel asked, her eyes twinkling somewhat. “That’s good though, isn’t it? Do you think he did it?”
“I don’t know. Percy thought he saw him with a gun…”
“A gun?”
“If not a gun then something black – maybe a sheaved knife or something blunt to hit Ryan over the head with. Either way, I need to find out from Ida May how Ryan died…”
“But why not have Jeremy and the lads lock him up and question him later? Why so cautious?”
“Because,” I replied, lowering my voice to a mere whisper, “the person in question is not someone you can just accuse lightly…”
Hazel laughed. “Well, unless it’s the Minister, I don’t see how someone could be above suspicion…”
She hesitated as she caught sight of my wide eyes. She stared at them long and hard until finally the thought dawned on her. In an instant, she clapped her hands over her mouth and let out a small squeal of joy and alarm.
“The Minister killed Ryan?”
“What?”
I hadn’t been able to keep Hazel quiet. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have told her anything at all. Now every pair of eyes in the room were resolutely fixed on me as dozens of curious faces waited for me to confirm what they had just heard.
Cecil was the first to pipe up. “The Minister is the killer?”
“Oh my God…”
“How do you know?”
“Was he seen?”
As the commotion boiled over around us, Ida May strolled into the room with Jeremy on her arm. At the sight of the calling crowd, she turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“What the heck did you do?”
I feared that I’d lost control of the situation. Again the arguments, that we had done so well to keep under control since Jasper had left, were beginning to erupt all over. For a few minutes I feared the worst as a couple of the more religious members of the party got to their feet in a threatening display to protect the Minister’s honor.
“Quiet!”
Jeremy’s voice boomed out among the guests, causing each of them to stop and turn back towards us. Jeremy glared at each and every one of them before turning back to me and muttering:
“I think you had better explain, Clara…”
“Thank you.”
I stepped forward, aware that every set of eyes was firmly locked on me. I had never been a nervous public speaker but I was beginning to feel it now. This wasn’t like before – I wasn’t making a speech to thank people for their hospitality, or congratulating someone on some achievement or another. I was about to accuse a man of murder – a man of the cloth no less…
In those few seconds, my mind drifted back to Jasper. I asked myself what he would do in the same situation. Would he tell everyone not to panic? Would he explain that it was an ongoing investigation and that he couldn’t go into the details? He certainly would never tell everyone exactly what he expected…
And yet, for some reason unknown even to me, that is precisely what I did…
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” I began – I thought this was the proper way to address the crowd at this point. “There is no cause for alarm but…”
“Is the Minister the killer or not?”
The voice was that of Hayley’s mother. It prompted a harsh “Shhh” from Ida May.
I took a deep breath and carried on. “The Minister was seen outside between the time Ryan was last seen alive and when he died. Everyone else was in the church at the time – so we are forced to conclude that he may well have murdered Ryan…”
“Do you have proof?”
“Yeah. What evidence is there?”
I raised my hand to silence them. “At this moment in time, it would be unwise for me to reveal that…”
“I say we make him a suspect.”
“Based on what? He was seen outside – that doesn’t make him a killer…”
“Maybe he was going to the toilet?”
“I say we vote on whether he’s a suspect or not…”
“Yeah.”
I raised my hand again. “I’m afraid this is not a matter for democracy…”
But the crowd wasn’t listening – they’d already started the process of counting votes. Despite Ida May wading in to remind people that it was an investigation and not subject to a committee, the crowd continued on regardless. Even Hazel, unsure of what exactly was going on, got swooped up in the excitement of it all and ended up voting for the Minister to be officially made a suspect. In the end, the tally was overwhelmingly against the Minister with the vote counted just as he strolled calmly into the barn.
“Well, well,” he called out, smiling at the ashen faces around him. “What is going on in here?”
A tall, burly looking man – who I later found out was Hayley’s mother's new, if somewhat younger, partner – stepped forward and pointed straight at the surprised Minister.
“We just voted, sunshine,” he said. “And we reckon you’re the killer…”
The Minister looked a little put out for a second. He turned this way and that, looking at each of the faces of his accusers.
Finally, with the enormity of the situation becoming evident to him, he simply turned towards me and muttered, “Oh my…”
… and promptly fainted to the floor.
Chapter Nine – The Champagne Savior
Chaos broke out in the barn. Some of the guests surged forward, hoping – one would assume – to rip the Minister to pieces before their eyes. Others shouted to leave him alone as they peered down at his still body. And in amongst this rabble, Cecil, Jeremy and Hector raced to be by our sides and stood firm, holding the crowd back as Ida May helped the weak Minister to his feet.
“Quick, get him out of here,” I shouted over my shoulder. “Take him up to the church and question him there.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine, just go.”
Ida May did as she was told, hoisting the Minister up and leaning him on her shoulder as the two of them made their way up to the church. For a little while the angry guests continued to shout abuse after them. The chaos and clamor only really subsided when Percy, who had climbed up gingerly on to the bar and banged his glass against the counter to get their attention, announced that he would be buying every one half a bottle of champagne. Then the clamor began again as the crowd surged back towards the bar, leaving me, Hazel, Jeremy and Hector by the door.
I turned to the two men and nodded my gratitude. “Thank you both.”
Hector gave me a curious look that I interpreted at the time as one of anger. “Thank me by doing right by the Minister,” he said. “No man deserves that.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” I replied. “Be assured, we’ll look into him thoroughly.”
“Hmm…” Hector began to move off towards the bar. He stopped after a few feet and turned back towards us. “Do us a favor? Next time you have a suspect, don’t tell the room full of half-drunk people.”
As he walked away, Hazel muttered. “Yes, Clara…”
I could have whallopped her.
I stared back at the barn, which now seemed to be returning to some form of normality – thanks to Percy’s generosity. My eyes fell
on Hayley who, still dressed in her wedding gown, was leaning up against a small bale of hay. It seemed to me like she was trying to blend in to the background but, when I started to walk towards her, she gave a weak wave and beckoned me closer. As I drew nearer, I noticed her eyeliner was smudged and her cheeks were wet with tears once more.
“My dear child, are you alright?”
Hayley nodded and raised a quick hand to wipe away the tears. “We had all been friends for so long…” She turned her head away and stared down at the floor beneath her. “I don’t understand why anyone would do this.”
I slipped into the spot next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in close. Hayley turned towards me and buried her head in my arm and wept a few more quiet tears as I gently stroked at her hair.
“I will do everything I can to bring Ryan’s killer to justice,” I whispered. “I promise…” I waited until she’d removed her head from my arm before speaking again. “Did Ryan have any enemies that you’re aware of?”
Hayley shook her head instantly. “No, none. I mean, he wasn’t the nicest of guys growing up, but no one hated him enough to kill him.”
“Are you sure?”
Hayley laughed. “It’s funny…”
“What is?”
“Up until today, I would’ve said that if anyone was capable of murder, it would be Ryan…”
I drew myself away from her ever so slightly. “What makes you say that?”
Hayley shrugged.
“Just a feeling, you know? He was such an intense guy – it’s just out of everyone I know, he’d be the one I’d pick to be a murderer… If I had to pick…”
She wiped away the tears and then turned to look back at the rest of the party. There was something in her expression that seemed out of place. The grief was real – I had no doubt about that – but something wasn’t quite right. This was supposed to be the most important day of her life, and yet I couldn’t help shaking the feeling that the loss of her friend was the only thing she was grieving for…
I comforted her for a few more minutes until – finally – her mother managed to rip herself away from the free champagne and came to take over. As I moved away, I brushed past Hazel who was now moving among the guests with a tray of champagne glasses in her hands.
Wedding Bells and Death Knells (We're Not Dead Yet Club Book 2) Page 4
