by Sofia Belle
She’d cried initially, but whether it was out of sadness or shock, I couldn’t be sure. Her eyes had dried and her tears had stopped, and she leaned against Andrea for support. Her body rocked from side to side, and she sniffled every few breaths.
I rubbed her shoulder lightly, giving the chief ten minutes of quiet before I asked for an update.
He looked up, but before he could respond, the front door dinged as a couple cops from the big city—a real, fully human city about twenty miles north—sauntered in wearing shining uniforms and bored expressions. Apparently dead bodies were more common where they came from, judging by the lack of intrigue on their faces.
The chief held up a hand in my direction and nodded toward the newcomers. The group of cops gathered outside as the chief addressed them in low undertones. They nodded, scanning first the bridal party then the body as they listened to what I could only imagine were instructions.
“Wha—what’s going to happen?” Hailey’s gentle voice pierced the air. “Where is my fiancé?”
I blinked. In the commotion following the discovery of Linda, I’d forgotten all about her soon-to-be husband. I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial.
“Hello, Belinda?” Clive answered right away. “Is everything okay?”
I hesitated, looking at his bride-to-be. “Where are you, Clive? I think you should come back to the shop.”
“I’ll be right there.” He hung up, and I wondered where he’d disappeared to for the last thirty minutes. Also, he hadn’t asked what was wrong. Maybe I was overanalyzing everything. Dead bodies probably made people question perfectly innocent happenings—but if I put myself in his shoes, I’d want to know that my fiancée was okay when I received an urgent call from the wedding planner.
My musings were interrupted as the chief tapped me on the shoulder. “I’m going to need to ask these ladies some questions. You too, Miss Bright.”
“Of course,” I said. “Anything we can do to help.”
“I’m going to talk to the bride-to-be. The other guys are going to split up and take statements from the rest of the ladies.”
“I’m staying with her.” I crossed my arms. “Wherever she needs to go.”
“I’d really prefer to do the interviews separately,” he said. “Sorry.”
I looked over at Hailey, who had started to cry quietly. “I’ll go first. Ask me your questions now, and then I’ll just sit with her after. I’ll be completely silent.”
He exhaled a long breath. “What is it with you and your friends? I swear you two have inherited all of the stubbornness in this entire town. Let’s step into the back room for a moment. Can you tell me everything leading up to your discovery of the body?”
I filled the chief in on every detail, from Hailey’s dress selection to the moment Rosie had crashed through the door demanding an explanation about the dead body. I left out the part about Rosie admitting she had the police scanner, but other than that, I listed as many details as I could remember. So many details that the chief’s eyes started to glaze over as I described the design of Hailey’s dress.
“I think I’ve got all I need.” He tapped his notebook with a pencil. “And if not, I know where to find you.”
“Let me grab Hailey.” I didn’t leave him an option. I retrieved the bride and led her into the back room, easing her into a chair and getting her a glass of water. I stood a foot or so away as the chief began his questions.
“Hailey, I’m so sorry for your loss,” the chief said. I had to give it to him; his bedside manner was solid. A soothing voice, a concerned expression, just the right amount of handsomeness and naiveté to inspire confidence; he was good. A natural. “I’m going to ask you a few questions to understand what happened here today.”
Hailey nodded.
“Can you tell me who this woman was to you?”
“Linda Platt. She’s...er, Clive’s cousin, but one of those long-distance relationships. They hardly saw each other, and I barely knew her.”
“If I may ask, if you weren’t close, then why did you ask her to be a bridesmaid?”
“A favor to Clive’s father,” she said. “I guess Linda’s an only child to a single dad, and her dad passed away sometime last year. My father-in-law asked if I’d invite her so she’d feel more like part of the family. I didn’t see any harm.”
“Was this the first time you’d met her?”
She raised a hand and wiped her nose, a small sob escaping from her lips. After a moment and a few deep breaths, she cleared her throat and looked up. “I’m okay. And no, we’d met once before, but it was very brief. A family-reunion–type thing, and we only shook hands.”
“She didn’t think it was strange to be included in your wedding?”
Hailey shrugged. “If she did, she didn’t say anything about it.”
The chief paused for a moment, examining his notes. “Do you know anything about her? Was she into anything...unsavory?”
“What, you mean illegal?” She shrugged again. “I told you, this was the second time I’ve met her. She lied, that’s for sure.”
“What did she lie about?” The chief’s eyes lit up. “Can you be specific?”
“Uh, sure. She told me she was a dress size four.” She shook her head. “She’s a twelve. Can you imagine the amount of work that created for poor Mrs. Doodles? Linda didn’t come to town for the first fitting, so we had to go off the measurements she provided to us. They were so wrong.”
The glimmer had faded from the chief’s eyes. “Did she lie about anything besides her weight?”
“Not that I know of,” Hailey said. “We just didn’t hear much about her at all. She showed up this week for the wedding, came in last night and went straight to her hotel. I didn’t see her until this morning before the fitting. I gave her a quick hug, I said hello, and then I went to pick out my dress. I was a bit preoccupied, seeing as how I hadn’t selected my final gown, and the ceremony is less than a week away.”
“Miss Monroe, where is your fiancé?”
The change in the line of questioning threw Hailey for a loop. Her mouth parted in surprise. “I, uh...I don’t know. He was here this morning, I thought he was just waiting outside the store. When I saw Linda’s body, I just stopped thinking completely. I didn’t even realize.” A guilty expression crossed her face. “I feel terrible, but I forgot all about him. I was just so overwhelmed—I’ve never seen a dead body before.”
“I assure you, that’s completely natural.” The chief gave a warm smile. “But to answer my question—you’re not sure where he is? He was supposed to be waiting outside, and then he disappeared?”
“He didn’t disappear,” I said. “I just called him. He’s on his way.”
“Did he say where he went?”
“You can ask him in a few minutes,” I said, fighting the exasperation creeping into my voice. “He’s on his way here. In fact, here he is right now.” I tilted my head toward the front door.
In walked Clive with a firm stride. He face was pale, and he shoved his hands into his pockets as Mrs. Doodles pointed him toward the back room.
“Clive—may I call you Clive?” The chief stood up and extended his hand.
Clive ignored the handshake and went straight to his fiancée. “Are you all right, Hails? I'm sorry, I just dodged down the street on an errand. I had no idea, I would never have left if I'd known—”
“Known what?” The chief had retracted his hand and rapped his fingers against the notepad.
“That my cousin would be killed during a bridesmaid dress fitting.” Clive stood up, one of his hands squeezing Hailey's shoulder so hard she winced. “Everyone’s talking about it out front; I’m not deaf.”
“What makes you think she was killed?” the chief asked.
“She was young, relatively healthy. What'd she do, just drop dead of a heart attack?” He glanced between the chief and me before turning to kneel in front of Hailey. “Are you all right, honey?”
She nodded, h
er eyes the size of dinner rolls as she blinked. “Killed?”
“People become ill from natural causes all the time,” Chief Sparks said, his eyes narrowing with skepticism. “Heart attacks, aneurysms, there are silent killers out there. What makes you think she was murdered?”
“Maybe she wasn't,” Clive said without turning to the chief. “And maybe she was. Do you know the answer to that?”
The chief glanced down at his notes. “We're looking into all possibilities.”
“Why would your cousin have been murdered?” Hailey leaned against her fiancé. “What makes you say that, Clive?”
“I don't know why I said that. Now, I imagine you want to ask me a few questions, so I'll answer them for you.” Clive turned his face to the chief. “I was here all this morning, and everyone can vouch for that. Hailey, the bridesmaids...her.”
The way he said “her” and thumbed toward me felt almost accusatory. However, I relied on years of wedding-planning experience and pulled myself together. This wasn't the first time I'd been accused of something I didn’t do, yelled at for no reason, or blamed for everything wrong.
In my experience, it was always best to ignore the emotions running high. Weddings were a stressful time, and I was more removed than anyone in the bridal party from the burn of emotional overload.
Except, I also wasn't in the habit of lying. “Yes, I can verify that Clive was here with us, up until about thirty or forty minutes ago now.”
“Do you know the exact time?” the chief asked. “That'd be helpful.”
“Yes, actually.” I pulled out my phone, displaying the screen so that the chief could see all of my actions. “Right here I called Jo and had her set up a table for the bride and her party with champagne. We were going to head over there to celebrate.” I coughed then, and stopped explaining. It somehow felt rude to talk about celebrating when there'd been a death in the room not thirty minutes before.
“And Clive was here while you called her?” the chief prodded.
“Yes, I remember Hailey said hello when we came out from selecting her wedding dress—he had waited outside. The groom can't see the bride before her special day, you know.” I ignored the chief's grumbling over my added details, and then I continued. “When I got off the phone with Jo, I don't remember seeing Clive. He could have been standing around, I wasn't searching for him, but he wasn't waiting outside of the bridesmaid shop for a fact. That’s the path I took to get inside, and he wasn’t there.”
“Can you show me where you were standing while you were on the phone?” the chief asked.
“No need,” Clive growled. “I wasn't there. As soon as I kissed my fiancée goodbye, I ran down the street on an errand. I knew...rather, I thought Belinda here could take care of my fiancée for five minutes.”
I hadn't sensed this hostility from Clive before, and it threw me off my game. Up until now, he'd seemed the doting fiancé.
“Nobody has to take care of me.” Hailey stood up and waved her arms in front of her body. “I'm an adult, and I can take care of myself despite what my father or anyone else thinks. I'm not helpless, Clive.”
“I didn't mean that.” Clive stuttered a bit, backtracking. “I just meant she could keep you company. You didn't want me to see the dresses, and honey, no offense, but I got bored standing in one spot outside.”
“What sort of errand did you run?” the chief asked. “Can anyone verify your location during the time between saying goodbye to your fiancée and having Bel call you to come back to the shop?”
Clive blinked. Then in a tone that didn't convince anyone except maybe himself, he said, “Yes. I went to get a coffee. You can ask at Shots & Spells down the street. I ordered a Magical Mocha from the main barista. What's her name?”
“Karissa,” I said. “She works the day shift at the coffee shop.”
“Tattoos on her arms?” Clive gestured. “Streak of purple in her hair?”
“That's the one.”
“Yes, ask her. And no, I don't have the receipt. I threw away my cup.” Clive extended his hand to his future bride and pulled her to her feet. “Do you have any other questions for me? Sure is a lot of asking around for something that might've been a heart attack.”
The chief looked straight into Clive's eyes. “Do you have any reason to believe that Linda’s death was anything but an accident?”
“No,” Clive said. “But if you find something, let me know. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take my fiancée home.”
Hailey looked between her fiancé, me, and the chief, her eyes darting back and forth. “Is that all you need, Chief?”
“I may have more questions later, once the results come back,” the chief said. “If either of you think of any other details you'd like to add to your story, give me a call.”
The chief didn't need to give out business cards; everyone knew where to find him. He ruled the police station next to the Gingerbread Jail, and anyone who had a complaint typically walked right into his office.
He usually didn't have all that much work to do and was grateful for an excuse to look into something besides dog doo. Except this week, things were looking to be busier on all fronts. The chief had pressed so firmly for information that I wondered if he thought there was more to Linda’s death than natural causes.
Outside the front of the shop, I stopped next to Clive and Hailey. We waited as the bridesmaids gathered a polite distance away. The scent of uncertainty floated in the air, and everyone moved more stiffly than usual, the conversation stilted and fake.
“What happens now?” Hailey asked, looking to me.
I looked down. “Unfortunately, my wedding-planning experience doesn't cover situations like this.” I almost joked that I might have to expand my business to funerals but decided that it was much too soon. “I'm here for whatever you guys need. As of right now, we have no reason to believe that Linda died from anything but natural causes.”
“The chief seems to think differently.” Clive's voice contained a hint of bitterness. “Felt like an interrogation back there.”
“He was just covering his bases,” I said. “I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.”
Clive just shook his head.
“I know this is very soon, and it seems insensitive, but I do have to ask you both a question,” I said, carefully weighing each of my words.
Hailey wasn't as out of it as I thought, and she anticipated my question. “You want to know if we're going ahead with the wedding.”
I nodded. “I want your day to be special. I don't want it to be overshadowed by a tragedy. If you would like to cancel, I need to get a move on notifying vendors.”
“Didn't we put down a bunch of non-refundable deposits?” Clive raised an eyebrow.
I cleared my throat. “Yes, there are cancellation fees for some.”
“It's not about the money, Clive.” Hailey shot a disapproving gaze at her husband-to-be.
Or rather, her “maybe”-husband-to-be; this wedding had required so much work, so much advance planning, if they cancelled it now, it might be another year before all of the stars aligned and we could rebook the same venues.
With Fairyvale so well known for its Happily Ever Afters, schedules filled up quickly. Flower shops, bakeries, the most fabulous reception hall in the whole town...It'd required some serious bribes for me to get everything to line up in the first place.
“We're going through with it.” Hailey continued her thought without waiting for feedback from her future husband. “I want to continue. We can honor Linda at our ceremony. Then we can have the funeral while everyone else is in town. Otherwise most of the out-of-towners would leave and not make it back.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I think that is a wonderful thought, but I want to check—”
“I'm sure.” Her jaw was firm, her eyes clear, and I trusted her word. “I know how much work this wedding has taken to get perfect, and I just wouldn't feel right throwing away all of that money and all of your har
d work. Plus, some of our out-of-town guests have already arrived, spending a small fortune to bring their families here.”
“That's considerate of you,” I said. “And it's what you want?”
She nodded. “I'm sure.”
I turned to Clive. “Is that plan okay with you?”
“Whatever Hailey wants,” he said. “I just want to marry my fiancée. This weekend is about her, not me. I could get married at the courthouse and be happy.”
Hailey leaned into her husband-to-be, and Clive's face softened.
“I love you, Clive,” she said. “I want to get married this weekend.”
Clive kissed his fiancée's forehead. “Me too, darling, me too.”
“Excuse me, would you mind if I step across the street?” I nodded to Bubbles & Broomsticks. “I need to let Jo know we won't be coming today after all.”
Clive nodded, and I started across the street.
But Hailey called after me to stop.
I turned around. “Yes? Do you need something?”
“Don't cancel the table,” Hailey said. She nodded toward the group of bridesmaids circling the three of us like crows, hoping to gobble up a crumb of gossip. “I think we could all use a drink and a few minutes to talk about everything that's happened and what's coming next. Let's switch out the champagne for something a bit stronger and order some food.”
I smiled at Hailey. Considerate and levelheaded? Maybe Hailey wasn't as spoiled as I’d thought. I finished my trek across the street, explaining the situation to Jo as Hailey rounded up her bridal party and gestured for them to follow.
“Do they know what happened to her?” Jo moved fast, replacing the celebratory champagne, balloons, and sequin table decorations with a more subdued bottle of red wine and a tray of warm, comforting bread. “That's scary.”
I shook my head. “The police are there looking into things. To be honest, I don't know what to think. Sure, accidents happen and weird diseases strike all the time, but something...something feels off. The chief rode Hailey's fiancé pretty hard with questions.”
