Down the Aisle with Murder

by Auralee Wallace

  I straightened up in my seat. I kind of felt like I needed to brace myself for some reason.

  She took a slow, deep breath. “Do you believe that a person has one true love? A soul mate?”

  I frowned. That … was unexpected. “I don’t know if I believe we have just one, but…” I was trying to find a way to finish that thought, but it was hard to think with the voice in my head repeating Grady’s name over and over. “What do you believe?”

  “I believe…” she said with a hard swallow, “that the love of my life died three and a half weeks ago.”

  I froze. “Oh wow … wow … I am so sorry to hear that.” I stiffened. I definitely hadn’t seen that coming. I had no idea what to say. Or if I should say anything at all. I mean, she had said she wanted to talk about it, but … three and a half weeks? “Were … were you together long?”

  She folded her hands on the table. “We weren’t together at all.” Mary fiddled with her hands. “We worked together.”

  “Oh.”

  She looked up at me. “For twenty-three years we worked together. Side-by-side cubicles.” She smiled a little at the thought.

  I wrapped my sweater more tightly around my body. “That’s a long time.”

  “Nobody knew me as well as Frank did.” She shook her head. “Vice versa too.”

  “How … how did he die, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Sudden heart attack,” she said with a swallow. “At the office. I was there.”

  “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.” And just like that Grady popped into my mind again. If something like that ever happened to him—

  “I’m glad I got to be with him at the end,” she said, nodding and gripping her hands together.

  “Can I ask why you two…?”

  She closed her eyes and nodded. “He did ask me out a couple of times when we first started working together. But I didn’t think it was a good idea.” She huffed a small laugh at that. “We were working together, you know? But I think really I was just too afraid. My parents went through a really nasty split when I was a child, and my dad left.” Suddenly she looked up at me and smiled. “Maybe that’s my answer,” she said with air quotes.

  I smiled back at her. I doubt it had much life though.

  “I think I was too afraid of losing him,” she said with a pained nod, “so I never really got to have him.”

  “I … I think I know a little bit about what that’s like.” Yup, suddenly this was all hitting a little too close to home.

  “He meant so much to me. I was afraid if we started dating, if he really got to know me, he wouldn’t like me anymore. And I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him as a friend. I wasn’t ready. I thought I needed more time.”

  “So as the years passed you never once told him how you felt?” I cringed a little. It had just come out before I could stop it.

  “He started dating other people—had a daughter with one—and as the years passed we were just so far down that friendship road, I didn’t know how to go back.” She looked off at the fire. “He called me his work sister. I was too late. That’s how he saw me.”

  “But … are you sure? Maybe he was just too afraid to be rejected again.” And that was just as bad. What was wrong with me?

  She nodded. Tears suddenly fell down her cheeks. “When he collapsed in our office kitchen … I was holding his hand trying to reassure him that the ambulance was on its way, and you know what he said to me?”

  I shook my head.

  She took a shuddering breath. “He looked at me and said I wish it could’ve been me.”

  My breath caught, and I had to blink my own tears away.

  “I know. I tried to tell him that it was him. That it was always him. But I don’t know if he heard me. He was gone so quickly after that.”

  I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

  “I think that more than anything else is what makes me so sad,” she said with a nod. “I don’t know if he died thinking I didn’t love him.”

  I gulped down a breath and blinked my eyes again. “I am so sorry.”

  “It was all just such a waste, you know? I didn’t think that that could happen. That twenty-three years could pass and neither one of us would … bend. How does that happen?”

  I shook my head, but I knew. I knew exactly how that could happen.

  “I am so sorry, Mary.”

  She nodded. “And that’s it. That is why I’m so sad.”

  “I think you should tell my mother this. Maybe even tell the group. Your story … it could help other people, and maybe that could help with some of your … pain.”

  She frowned. “You think my story could help people?”

  “It’s already helped me.”

  She just stared at me, confused.

  I pushed myself to my feet. “You have no idea how much you’ve helped me. I am so sorry for everything you have suffered, and I hope you can forgive me … but I’ve got to go.”

  Mary looked up at me. “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes,” I said with a nod. “There is.”

  “Well then, of course, go.”

  I turned to the fire. “Mom!” I shouted. “You’re needed over here.”

  “Erica?” Freddie called out as I raced toward him and his partner. “What are you doing?”

  “I need your boat.”

  “But—”

  I snatched the keys from his breast pocket. “I’ll be right back … or not if I’m lucky.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Grady. I had to see Grady. I didn’t know what I was going to say … but I had to say something. No way was I losing the love of my life to a heart attack thirty years from now in an office cubicle. Metaphorically speaking. And yes, I also realized that we’d have to figure out a way to do things differently—I mean, he was already a whole new person—but I needed him to know that I wanted to try. I’d do anything. Frick, I’d go to all of my mother’s retreats to get another chance if that’s what it took. I just wanted to hear him say that he wanted that too.

  We were wasting so much time.

  The more I thought about it, the faster I drove Lightning—which wasn’t smart given how dark it was.

  I didn’t want to hit anything. Oh God, or worse yet, I could flip the boat and die and Grady would never know that I wished it could’ve been me … or him … or however that went.

  I slowed the boat and took a deep breath.

  I needed to calm down. I looked over at the lights twinkling from the shoreline.

  I slowed the boat even more.

  Besides … maybe it was a good idea not to just rush right over there anyway.

  I could take my time. I needed to think about what I wanted to say. Maybe just do a drive-by of the marina. Just one. I didn’t want to give myself too much time to back out. Then I’d head right over to Grady’s. I didn’t want to get over there shouting gibberish … like … like Ebneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. That wasn’t romantic. That was weird.

  Okay, one drive by the marina and then I would go over.

  I turned the boat and as I circled back around, the headlight swept across the town gazebo. What the…?

  The light was only on it for a second, but … I could have sworn I saw someone.

  Okay, that was strange.

  Why would someone be hanging out on the gazebo with bins of wedding decorations?

  I swung the boat around again for another look.

  Crap! That was definitely a man.

  What was he doing?

  I think he saw me spot him—I guess a boat shining its headlight on you twice in quick succession was a tip-off. He ducked down behind a stack of bins. A stack of bins that was now toppling to the floor. Son of a—

  “Easy on the bins!” I shouted, wondering just for a second when the wedding had become more important than catching a potential murder suspect.

  I tried to bring the boat in closer, but I didn’t want to ground it.
If I could just get the headlight of the boat on him. Just then I remembered that Freddie had one of those expensive beams that swiveled. I killed the boat’s engine and grabbed the handle for the light and focused the beam on the spot where the man had disappeared. At first I could just see the tangled mess of bins, but then a man jumped up. A man with spiky hair! Lyssa’s boyfriend! Frick! He was running down the planks that bridged the gazebo to the shoreline. “Hey! Stop! I need to talk to you!” Even though that was potentially a really bad idea seeing as he was our prime suspect for murder. I almost yelled Actually, never mind! but he never stopped running. Again the calling-out thing never worked.

  I hit the steering wheel hard with the heel of my hand. There was no way I could tie off the boat and get there in time to be sure it was him.

  But I had to do something!

  I pulled my phone out from my back pocket.

  “Freddie, you need to borrow my mother’s boat and get over to the gazebo.”

  “What? Why? I’m making real progress here. My question was—”

  “I think I spotted Lyssa’s boyfriend rummaging through all the wedding stuff.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m going to call over to the sheriff’s department—”

  “What? You will do no such thing! She’s going to arrest you. She told you that.”

  “I know she did, but…” I chewed the corner of my thumbnail. “She probably didn’t mean it.”

  “Let’s just check it out first. We’ll call if—”

  “Check it out? We are a legitimate business now. The police tape is still up. You know we cannot cross that line to see what he was after.”

  “Fine, we won’t cross the line! But don’t call yet either. We need to find out what it is he’s looking for. Then if it’s important, we’ll call. Anonymously. There’s an app for that.”

  “I don’t know—”

  “Just hold on. I’m coming.” He chuckled. “Hey, it’s just like that song—”

  “We don’t have time for songs, Freddie!”

  “Right. Right. Just don’t do anything till I get there.”

  Freddie ended the call. I rested my phone at my chin and looked over the still water. Okay, what was Freddie thinking? If we weren’t going to cross the police tape, how were we going to find out what Lyssa’s boyfriend was looking for—

  Oh … no.

  I knew what Freddie was thinking.

  We were going swimming.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “It’s cold,” I said, stretching my toe down into the water. “Very, very cold.”

  “Don’t be such a baby,” Freddie said, rummaging in the compartment under one of the boat’s seats.

  “I’m not being a baby. It’s really cold.” And dark. And kind of creepy.

  Normally I liked swimming at night, but somehow this was different. It was quiet, and the sight of the gauze floating around the gazebo seemed … lonely.

  I stuck my toe in the water again. Man, my shorts and tank top were going to get all wet, and I was already cold. But I wasn’t taking them off. I’d had a bad experience with skinny-dipping in the past. “Okay, I’m just going to do it.”

  “Then do it.”

  “I don’t see you doing it,” I called back over my shoulder.

  “I’m going to. I just need to find the waterproof flashlights, and—” He grunted. “This boat is a mess.

  “All right. I’m just going to do it. I’m just going to—wah!”

  And I was in the water. Freddie had pushed me in.

  “Cold. Cold. Cold.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said. “And I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

  “It is that bad. And hurry up. I don’t know how I’m going to explain the delay of seeing the guy and calling Sheriff Bigly, even anonymou— What are you doing?”

  “Putting on my life jacket,” Freddie said, snapping some buckles into place.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t like night swimming,” Freddie said, coming over to the edge. “If a fish touches my leg, I might start freaking out or something, and I don’t want to drown.”

  I grabbed the edge of the boat. This treading water was getting tiring. “Okay, but what does any of that have to do with night swimming? The fish don’t only come out at night.”

  Freddie rolled his eyes. “Someone died here. I won’t be able to see the fish and, you know,” he said with a little shrug, “my imagination might get the better of me.”

  “How?”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Well, I might think it’s like a lake zombie grabbing my ankle.”

  “Wow.”

  “I know. It’s ridiculous. But an active imagination is the sign of high intelligence and—”

  “That’s not what I was going say,” I said, shaking my head.

  “What were you going to say?”

  “Pass me one too.”

  Freddie stared down at me. “But you like night swimming.”

  “I used to like night swimming!” I near shouted, opening and shutting my fist in the universal gimme-gimme gesture. “Now pass me one. Like right now. It feels like a million things are touching me. I’m freaking out.”

  “Here!” Freddie shouted. It landed on my head. I had to flail around to get it on, but things did feel much better once it was secured. Good luck dragging me under now, lake zombies.

  A minute or two later, Freddie was in the water with me and we were dog-paddling our way over to the gazebo, both of us clutching waterproof flashlights. Funny how life jackets really slow things down.

  “Now, be careful as we get closer,” I said. “There’s lots of…”

  “Ow! Frick! For the love of—my toe! I think I broke my toe,” Freddie wheezed.

  “… rocks. There’s lots of rocks around the gazebo,” I said. I gingerly put my toe down to find the bottom. Ew. Slimy. I then reached my hands down so I could half swim, half crawl my way to the floor of the gazebo. “Hurry up,” I said, turning back to Freddie. “What are you doing?”

  “Bleeding out.”

  “Just come on.” I pointed the flashlight at the gazebo.

  Freddie scoffed when he made it to my side and saw the mess of bins on the gazebo floor. “Even if he’s not the murderer, I’m totally going to kill this guy. Look at the mess he made.”

  I couldn’t help but agree. The guy had managed to knock over a stack of chairs, and all the bins that had been so neatly packed were dumped on their sides.

  I swept the flashlight slowly across the floor. “Do you see anything? I mean, anything that he could have been looking for?”

  “No, this is all just wedding crap,” Freddie said. “And not even the good stuff. I’ve already made a new seating chart.”

  I looked around. He was right. There were some linens maybe. Napkin rings. Oh no! Was that the cake topper? It looked like the groom was missed a leg. I suddenly had the urge to call Joey and make sure he didn’t have any more home-improvement plans. “What’s that over there? It looks like … a present?” I settled the flashlight on a large box wrapped with ribbon, half propped up on some linens.

  “Why would a present be in one of the bins?”

  “Maybe I can…” I stretched my arm under the railing of the gazebo as I pushed myself up on a slimy rock. This could end really badly, but I just wanted to turn the box a little to see if there was a label. Unfortunately I tipped it over and …

  “What the…?” Freddie gasped.

  Whoa. I met Freddie’s eye. “It’s not a present … was that the money box?”

  “If it is, somebody was overly generous.”

  We turned back to look at what had to be thousands of dollars spilling out of a bag hidden in the box.

  I looked at Freddie … whose cheeks were suddenly lit up … with blue light. Then red. Then blue.

  Oh crap.

  “I think we’ve got company,” Freddie said, looking over to the police cruiser pulling over by the gazebo.

 
This was bad, bad, bad.

  “Should we make a swim for it?” Freddie asked.

  Footsteps pounded down the wooden planks.

  “Erica Bloom and Freddie Ng, you stay right where you are.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “She’s knows where we live.”

  Sheriff Bigly was suddenly looming over us. She did not look happy.

  I cleared my throat. “Sheriff, shouldn’t you be in bed?”

  “Yes. Yes, I should.”

  “We are in so much trouble.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  “We were going to call you.”

  “Right after we got out of the water,” Freddie said. “Calling you was our next move.”

  “Please don’t get cute.” Sheriff Bigly waved a hand at us. The other hand was covering her eyes and clutching her temples.

  We were seated in Grady’s office on the sofa wrapped in blankets.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she took a deep breath then let her hand fall. “I thought we had all come to an understanding.”

  Freddie and I exchanged glances.

  “What did she get you?”

  I frowned. “Pie. You?”

  “Ice cream.”

  Sheriff Bigly slapped her desk. “Forget the pie. Forget the … what is the matter with you two?!”

  Hard to tell if that was rhetorical or not.

  “No, really. I want to know.”

  I shrugged. “I—”

  “’Cause I can’t figure it out.” I guess it was rhetorical after all. “I really can’t.” She planted both hands on Grady’s desk. “Are your lives really so boring?” I could feel Freddie stiffen beside me at that, but he was having the good sense to keep his mouth shut. “Do you think I want to arrest you? Do you care at all about your friend Candace? Because I’m pretty sure she wants to find out what happened to her maid of honor.”

  “Whoa,” I said, holding my hands out, but that dropped the blanket off my shoulder and I was still really cold, so I hiked it up real quick. “We are trying to help Candace.”

  “By making my job harder.”

  Freddie cleared his throat. “I—”

  Bigly pointed at him. “You think you’re pretty funny don’t you, Ng?”

  “I didn’t even … what did I say?” Freddie asked.