Wedding Day of Murder (19 page)

“You don’t want to kill Lacy,”
Jason continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “And you didn’t want to kill the
reporter, did you?”

“Of course not. Why would I want to
do that? But he followed me home to ask some questions about Lacy. He saw the
pictures. He thought I was in love with her.” He chuckled. “No offense, but
you’re not my type, Lacy.”

“None taken,” Lacy said.

“You didn’t want Carl Whethers to
tell Lacy about the plan before you could finish it,” Jason said. With every
word, he eased imperceptibly closer. Unfortunately, Andy also eased backwards
away from him.

“Of course not,” Andy said. “I want
to complete what I started all those years ago; it’s all I’ve ever wanted,
besides Kimber. If it makes you feel better, Lacy, I’m okay with letting her
name our first girl after you. Knowing her, she’ll probably want to.”

“Did you take Lacy from her house
and the hospital?” Jason asked. He tried to ease closer, but Andy pressed the
knife farther into Lacy’s flesh. Jason paused. Andy answered.

“It seemed like the best way. I
could have pushed her and everyone would have thought it was an accident from
the medication. But every time I hid her, Kimber kept dragging me to search for
her. Relationships are hard sometimes.”

A little girl rode up on a scooter
and stopped beside Jason, observing them as if they were a show. “Andy, look at
her. You don’t want to do this in front of her,” Lacy said.

“I wasn’t planning to,” Andy said. “We’re
going to go upstairs, and I’m going to drop you from the window. Then it will
all be over, and I can finally breathe easy again. I’ve had a lot of insomnia
over this thing. It’ll be nice to sleep.”

“Kimber’s up there,” Jason said.
“She’s going to see, she’s going to know. Are you going to make her watch her
best friend die?”

“Kimber’s on the roof?” he said.

“No, she’s on the fourth floor,”
Lacy blurted. “Oh. Sorry,” she added to Jason who gave her a look that was
probably as murderous as the one Andy was wearing.

“Well, there you go then,” Andy
said. “We’ll go up to the roof and get this over with.”

“Get what over with?” the little
girl said. “What are you doing?”

“Go away,” Jason said, but the girl
ignored him. If the look on her face was any indication, this was the best
entertainment she’d ever had. Lacy decided to go with that.

“We’re putting on a play. The clown
is pretending to be bad, and that man is pretending to be a police officer,”
Lacy said.

“Oh,” the little girl said. “Are
you pretending you’re going to trip over those signs?”

As she said it, Lacy tripped over
the signs the protesters had left on the sidewalk. Andy dropped the knife.
Jason leapt. The three of them became tangled together and began to roll. Jason
couldn’t land a punch as long as Lacy was in his way, but the harder she tried
to get away from him, the more tangled she became.

“Jason, I really love you,” Lacy
called out.

“Can we talk about this later?” he
yelled.

Beside them, the little girl
laughed and clapped. Lacy latched onto a patch of grass and clawed her way to
freedom, herding the little girl out of the way as she moved. Jason punched
Andy across the jaw. The little girl screamed.

“It’s okay, it’s part of the play,”
Lacy panted.

“Is the clown supposed to get
away?” the girl asked. Sure enough, Lacy turned to see Andy hop to his feet and
sprint away. Jason rolled onto his feet and gave chase, but Andy had a head
start. Lacy took off her shoes and loped after them.

“You stay here,” she called to the
little girl.

“No way, I want to see how it
ends.” She hopped on her scooter and began to glide beside Lacy as she ran.
After a few strides, she got off the scooter and walked it to keep pace with
Lacy.

“Do you want to use my scooter?”
she offered.

“No, thank you,” Lacy panted.

“You’re really bad at running,” the
girl volunteered.

“I’m barefoot,” Lacy said.

“No, I don’t mean just today. I’ve
seen you before. You’re that lady who passed out in the park.”

“I did not pass out,” Lacy said.

“That’s not what the ambulance
driver said. He said he’d never seen someone go through a tank of oxygen so
fast,” she said. “What are ‘the bends’?”

“Why?” Lacy gasped.

“He said he thought you had them. I
can’t catch them from you, can I? My mom wouldn’t like that.”

“You should go home now,” Lacy
said.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll make sure you
get wherever you’re going.”

When they finally caught up with
Jason and Andy, it was all over. Andy was cuffed and in a patrol car. Jason was
stain-treating the blood and clown makeup off his shirt. “Hey, there you are,”
he said. “What took you so long?”

“I ran,” Lacy said, propping
herself on the little girl’s scooter.

“Ah. Do you think clown makeup is a
protein? Because I use different solutions for proteins and non-proteins,”
Jason said.

“Hey, he’s a real police officer,”
the girl said. “Does that mean that guy is a real clown?”

“I’m a police officer,” Jason
answered. “And he’s a real bad guy who is never going to hurt anyone again.
He’s not a clown, though. Don’t believe everything you see and hear. And go
home.” He made a shooing motion. The girl hopped on her scooter and began
gliding dejectedly away.

“You have a way with children,”
Lacy said.

“Yes, and I bet I make beautiful
babies,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she
said, trying hard to simultaneously breathe and calm the flutters such a
statement created.

“Nothing. Something I heard once,”
he said.

“And that’s all you’re going to say
about that?” she asked.

“For now.” He leaned forward to
kiss her, but she held him off.

“I wasn’t just saying it before
because it was a life and death situation. I love you. I’m sorry it took me so
long to say it.”

“Lacy, it’s okay. You don’t have to
be on my timeline. Feelings are hard for you sometimes. I get it. Besides, I
already knew how you felt; I knew you loved me.”

“You did?” she said.

“Yes, I’m kind of a catch.”

“You really are,” she said.
“Humble, too.”

“Humility is my best quality,” he
said.

“I thought it was stain removal,”
she said.

“That’s not a quality; that’s a
survival skill,” he said.

“It’s good to know you could
survive on the street if your washer ever breaks down,” she said.

“You know it,” he said. He leaned
in for a kiss. Her phone rang, distracting them.

Darth Vader’s picture came up.
“It’s my mom,” she said. Reluctantly, she answered. “Hi, Mom.”

“Lacy, where are you? I cannot
believe you walked out on this party. Do you have any idea how bad this looks?
Your sister is getting married in two days. Do you have any idea the amount of
pressure she’s under? These are her in-laws. This is your party, and you are
nowhere to be found. I’ve made all the excuses I can make for you, young lady.
You have exactly fifteen seconds to…”

Jason took the phone and turned it
off.

“You’re alienating me from my
family,” Lacy said. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” Jason said. “Now, where
were we? Oh, I remember.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I need you to fill out
a report.”

“Déjà vu all over again,” Lacy
said. She took a report, sat under a tree, and started to write.

Despite the unsettling events
leading up to the big day, Riley’s wedding was set to go off without a hitch.
The morning was bright and beautiful with only a slight crispness in the air.
Lacy’s dad and Tosh’s parents both made it in time not only for the wedding,
but for the rehearsal as well. At the rehearsal, everyone got along like one
big happy family.

For Lacy, the only damper on her
day was finding out that one of her oldest friends had been plotting to kill
her for several years. As sad as she was about it, it was nothing compared to
the devastation that Kimber felt.

“We used to joke about being
mentally ill from our lousy childhoods,” she said when she was finally able to
talk about it. “I had no idea he actually meant it.” Someday Kimber would get over
the hurt. Being able to open up to someone and love again would probably take
longer. Since she was one of Riley’s bridesmaids, she put on a brave face and
attended the wedding.

Before the wedding, all the women
were gathered in the room beside the narthex to get ready. Mostly this meant
that Lacy’s mom gave everyone orders about how they could best serve Riley and
help her get ready. So far Riley hadn’t thrown up, and if one didn’t know she
was pregnant, then it would be hard to tell.
 
There was a knock on the door. Lacy
answered.

“Jason,” she said, smiling. After
working hours and hours of overtime the last couple of days to finish the
paperwork for his case, he had taken the entire day off to devote to her.

“I brought you something,” he said.
He handed her a small bracelet-sized box, robin’s egg blue with a Tiffany’s
logo. She opened it and gasped.

“A cronut!”

“I had it sent overnight express
from Manhattan,” he said.

“That is so sweet, but you didn’t
have to.”

“I thought you might be a tiny bit
secretly sad today. It’s not everyday a girl’s pregnant little sister gets
married,” he said.

“Lacy, don’t eat that, you’re going
to spill on your dress,” Frannie called from inside the room, but it was too
late. As soon as Lacy bit into the confection, the filling oozed out and
plopped onto her dress. She looked up at Jason, horrified. He pushed her back
into the room and closed the door.

“I can fix this,” he said. “Take
off your dress.”

“Is this a ploy?” she asked.

He set his hands on her shoulders.
“Lacy, I’ve never understood why God made me the way He did, but now I
recognize that it’s all been leading up to this moment. I can fix this. Let me
do it.” He turned her around and unzipped her dress, whipping it over her head
before she could protest. He went to the corner, pulled out his stain removal
kit, and set to work.

“I don’t even think he realizes
you’re in your underwear,” Riley said. She, Kimber, Frannie, and Lucinda were
watching him in fascination.

“I realize,” Jason said dryly. “And
so does Mr. Middleton.”

There was another knock on the
door. “Everything okay in there?” Mr. Middleton called.

The women turned to Lucinda. “It’s
fine, dear. Go to the sanctuary; we’ll be there in a bit,” she said. “What he
doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she added in a whisper.

Lacy sat and used the bag from
Riley’s wedding dress to awkwardly cover herself. She ate the rest of her
cronut in guilty silence. As the women watched Jason work, Kimber and Riley
took bets on how soon he would finish. Frannie hurried him along without
success.

“It’s almost time for the music,”
she said more than once. Jason tuned her out and focused all his energy on the
dress. At last it was done. He held it up for their inspection.

“I think it looks better than
before,” Lucinda said. The others agreed and gave him a spontaneous round of
applause. He helped Lacy put it back on and zipped her up. The music started
and everyone began to file out of the room.

“There’s still a little problem
with your dress,” Jason whispered to Lacy when no one was listening.

“What?” she asked. Had she spilled
more cronut than she realized?

“You look better in it than the
bride,” he said. He pinched her and made his way to the sanctuary. She watched
him with a goofy grin that soon faded when she caught sight of Kimber’s bleak
expression. How could she be happy when her friend was so sad?

The rest of the wedding went
perfectly, and then it was time for the reception. Because Frannie had planned
it, it was a splendid affair at the Country Club.

“I’m not sure what half of this
food is,” Jason said as their servers arrived with plates.

“That’s how you know we’re better
than all the people who didn’t have a reception at the Country Club,” Lacy
said.

“I had no idea your parents were
members,” he said.

“They’re not. Mom made Dad call in
a favor to some guy they knew in high school,” Lacy said.

“Is this your idea of a good time?”
he asked. “A fancy party at the Country Club?” He stabbed at the mystery meat
on his plate.

“I’ve always wanted to have something
outdoors, something casual, with cupcakes and lots of dancing.”

“That sounds better,” he said.

“Speaking of dancing,” she said.
“Are we going to burn up the dance floor?” She was joking because she wasn’t a
very good dancer. He was much better, but then he was better at everything that
required movement or coordination.

“Definitely,” he said, and he
sounded serious. Later, after Riley and Tosh had their first dance with each
other and their parents, he proved that he was serious.

“Come on,” he said, leading her
onto the floor. After a few songs, Michael cut in. Jason handed her off with a
surprising lack of jealousy.

Maybe
I’m growing,
he thought as he watched Lacy and Michael twirl and laugh
together. He didn’t feel any of the usual twinges that made him want to hide
Lacy away from the prying eyes of other men. She was his, but he was hers, and
there was no need to have further doubts about that. And maybe it wasn’t so bad
to have Michael watching out for her when she was at work. It was a fulltime job
and a half; having backup might be okay.

Despite his best efforts, his mind
strayed to work. He hadn’t been able to see what was on Carl Whether’s
computer. Detective Arroyo had snatched it up and secreted it away, causing
Jason to wonder what incriminating information might be on it. Was it possible
that the detective and mayor had hired Carl to write a scathing article about
Lacy and bring the protesters? Instead of plotting to frame Lacy, had they been
anxious that Jason would find information connecting them to the victim? He
would never know for sure. Before he could discipline his mind away from work,
his phone rang.

He answered without looking.
“Detective Jason Cantor,” the other person said, and Jason’s heart sank. Not
work, not today when he had promised Lacy.

“Yes,” he said, trying to convey
with that one word how much he didn’t want to be on the phone.

“This is Sergeant Shane Anderson of
the Krugen, Minnesota police department. Someone from your office contacted us
a few days ago about a Michael O’Donnell,”

“Yes,” Jason said. The feeling of
dread grew worse. He didn’t like where this was going.

“Is he still in your jurisdiction?”

Jason looked at Michael. He
considered lying, but in the end he couldn’t do it. The law was the law. “Yes.”

“That’s very good to know,”
Detective Anderson said. “We had been keeping tabs on him, but we lost him a
few months ago. I may be in contact with you very soon, Detective. I think you
and I could have a productive chat about our Mr. O’Donnell.”

The conversation ended, and Jason
put his phone away. Michael returned Lacy and handed her off with a flourish.
“All yours again and good as new, mate,” he said.

Jason whisked her back onto the
dance floor without comment. “Did I see you on the phone?” Lacy asked. The
apprehension in her tone told him she thought he was being called into work.

“Yes, but it wasn’t work.”

“What was it?” she asked.

She looked up at him, so trusting,
so sweet. Someday he would have to tell her the truth about everything. But not
today. “It was nothing,” he said. “They’re cutting the cake. You can have my
piece.”

“I knew there was a reason I loved
you,” she said.

Hold
on to that sentiment; you might need it,
he thought as he led her off the
dance floor and toward cake.