Newlywed Dead (21 page)

I went into the Ice Pit and was stopped by the catering manager to ensure that the right courses were in the right order. I sent the miniature shrimp cocktails out first in tiny martini glasses along with sippers of pink champagne. They really pumped the icy air into the place as it filled up with guests. The atmosphere was one of excitement. Guests' breath puffed out as they talked, leaving a surreal feeling of fog and ice. The ice bar tables were lit softly. The décor was understated and yet sparkly and grand. The stars twinkled overhead.

“Pepper, everything is so divine,” Jen said as she rushed up to me. She wore a lovely silver flapper gown that hit just above the knee with fringe that hung below so that when she walked the tops of her stockings and garters showed. It
was the demure-yet-naughty-flapper look that had been all the rage in the twenties. She wore a mink stole and long opera gloves.

“Thank you,” I said.

“These are my colors,” she said.

“Oh, no, not exactly,” I said. “Please note the cobalt blue accents and the starry night ceiling. Samantha wanted a pop of color. You were all silver and white. She also asked me to make it glittery and snowy and star-filled.”

“Well, you certainly accomplished that,” Jen said with a smile. She snagged a tiny champagne glass off a waiter's plate. “Samantha must be thrilled.”

“I'm glad you came,” I said. “Mrs. Thomson said that she wasn't sure if Samantha would feel comfortable without girlfriends.”

“Well,” Jen said, and winked at me, “I know you wanted me to see how your proposals go, and I was happy to see our little girl comfortable on her shining night.”

I grabbed a drink as well and swallowed it straight down in one gulp. “Isn't it funny how you all know each other?”

“Oh, honey, it's the country club way. Samantha and I grew up in the same social circles. I might be five years older than her, but we've know each other forever, and once you're out of high school then it's all one big happy family.”

“Except for the waitstaff,” I said with a shake of my head. “Let's hope that nothing happens to anyone here.”

“Oh, dear, that's right, your sister's event had that awful girl dying,” Jen said. “I'm sure you learned to better interview your staff, right?”

“Right,” I said, with a short shake of my head. “And I gave them all strict instructions not to drink while serving guests.”

“Great idea,” Jen said. “Do the same for my event.”

“Oh, I plan on doing it for all my events from now on.”

“Good,” Jen said, and waved at a woman who passed by. “All right, I must go mingle or Samantha might get suspicious.”

“Take a careful look around,” I suggested. “You never know when it might be your last event.”

“Will do,” Jen said, winked, and walked off to say hello to Mrs. Fulcrum and Clark.

I texted Detective Murphy. “Please come and bring backup.”

My phone dinged back. “Send me evidence.”

I blew out a breath and sent him the e-mail with the pictures. Then I texted. “This won't make sense unless you know that Ashley's mom found a remnant with the Xi Omicron Mu symbol on it. She said it triggered Ashley.”

There was a long pause.

“Pepper.” Stephanie called my name. I looked up to see her motioning for me to come over to the bar. “Toby's here.”

I nodded and followed her to the kitchen. Toby was in the back with Brad, who looked confused.

“Hi, Toby, thanks for this,” I said, and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

“Pepper,” Brad said, and greeted me with a hug. “You look awesome. Are you involved in the charity event Jen is attending?”

“It's a proposal party,” Toby said.

“Oh, right, for Clark Fulcrum and Samantha Lyn Thomson,” Brad said with a pointing gesture. “I remember Jen said she was coming to see one more of your proposals, this one really extravagant. More in keeping with what Jen was looking for in her proposal.”

“That's right,” I said. “It's fully in keeping with Jen's proposal.” I waved for Stephanie to come forward. She did and I took the Tiffany box from her. “I planned on Jen being really surprised,” I said. “Brad, here's the engagement ring. You're going to want it.”

“What? Now? Before Clark?” Brad seemed confused and that made me happy. If he was caught off guard, here's hoping Jen would be as well.

“Yes, before Clark,” I said. “It's a double proposal. Now, I need you two to go change into an appropriate jazz-age costume.”

“A double proposal,” Brad said, and broke out into a wide grin. “Yes, this might actually work.”

“Please don't let anyone see you. Lacey will take you through the waiters' entrance to the costume tents. Text me when you're dressed and I'll have someone bring you back.”

“Will do,” Toby said. “Come on, Bradley. Let's do this thing right.”

“Wait!” I said, and put my arm on Toby's. “Did you call Amelia?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“She's going meet me at the bookstore tomorrow for coffee.”

I grinned and made a fist pump. “Yes!”

“We're going to talk books, music, and movies and see if we are compatible.”

“Good,” I said. Maybe something good would come out of this night. “Now scoot, you two. We have an announcement to make and you have to be in costume.”

Lacey was the manager's assistant, and she took the guys out through the back to the tent where Gage would work his magic.

I looked down at my phone. There was no answering text from Detective Murphy. I frowned and shook my head. Then I went to find Cesar, who was recording the entire night. Cesar was near the ice dance floor and the big white screen shooting video of the crowd.

“Hi,” I said.

“Wow, you look gorgeous,” he said, and gave a low wolf whistle. I could feel the heat of a blush rush up from my chest to the top of my head. Even in an icy room I could turn beet red.

“Thanks,” I said. “Listen, I'm going to be lowering the screen soon. I need you to pay special attention to that girl there.” I pointed at Jen. “When the screen comes down, I want you to focus on her every word and emotion. Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“Don't start yet,” I said. “It's supposed to be a big surprise and she'll figure it out if she sees the camera following her.”

“Got it,” he said. “Maybe if I go stand near her and
film the crowd from that angle, she won't think anything about it.”

“Great,” I said. “Thanks. She wants me to get every moment of the surprise and I can't disappoint her.”

“Don't worry,” Cesar said. “I'll get the footage.”

“Thanks.” I glanced down at my phone. Still nothing from Detective Murphy. I was beginning to wonder if he was deliberately ignoring me. I frowned. Maybe he thought my evidence wasn't enough. I chewed my bottom lip. Maybe it wasn't, but it felt like it was enough and I had to go with my gut on this. It was too important to me to not let something go. I scanned the room. Mrs. Fulcrum was talking to Mrs. Thomson and Samantha Lyn. Clark had been banished to the opposite end of the room to entertain himself among other guys his age. The guys were playing foosball on ice tables.

I looked at Samantha Lyn. She was gorgeous in a sparkling flapper costume. Her thick blond hair was curled, with baby's breath woven in like a tiara. Cesar went over to where Jen stood talking to an older couple I remembered from the country club. He kept his camera trained on Samantha Lyn as the girl tried to enjoy herself among the much older patrons of the event. After the third course of hors d'oeuvres, the orchestra cleared away for a swing band. As part of the band's performance, the screen was lowered and they were backlit so that they looked like a shadow band. People danced the Charleston and other dances. I was happy to see Samantha Lyn trying to dance and have fun. Her eyes sparkled and her skin was flushed.

I looked at my phone. Still nothing from Detective
Murphy. I chewed on my lip and looked around. If he didn't make it, what should I do? Keep moving forward, I guess. I used the phone app to quickly upload pictures into the projector that would be put on the screen behind Brad when he came out. The pictures were of him and Jen from the time they were in high school, through college and today. I made the last-minute decision to add a couple of pictures and change the headline.

Worrying the inside of my cheek, all I could do was hope that I was doing the right thing and that Detective Murphy and his squad would show up.

“Pepper, it's time,” Stephanie called to me.

“Is everything in place?”

“Yes. Toby has Brad behind the screen now. The man-made snowflakes are ready.”

“Let them fall,” I said, and hit “Go” with my cell phone app. Fat snowflakes fell from the ceiling onto the dancers. I walked quickly over to Jen. Brad's silhouette showed on the back of the screen.

“Oh, is this it?” Jen asked me. Her gaze went to Samantha Lyn. “How gorgeous is this. I'm getting tears in my eyes.”

“Just wait,” I said, and pushed the next button. The screen lit up with the words I had just programmed into the computer.

“Wait, I don't understand,” Jen said, her face shocked as she looked from the screen to me then back to the screen where I had typed “Jennifer McCutchen, why did you murder Kiera Smith and Ashley Klein?”

Everyone gasped and turned to me and Jen. “Jen,” I
said. “I know you shot Kiera Smith that night at the homecoming bonfire. Why did you kill Ashley? Was it because she was remembering?”

Jen's face went from confusion to a brief moment of anger to fear to a mask of innocent outrage. “What are you talking about?”

“You went to Morduray College with Ashley and Kiera,” I said, and pointed to the pictures from that homecoming day that played up on the big screen. There on the Xi Omicron Mu float was a smiling Jen waving to the crowd. The float was decorated with the white squares of fabric just like the fabric that Ashley's mom had put in the scrapbook. “You were up for homecoming queen, but you didn't make it, did you?”

“No, I didn't,” she said, her nose up in the air. I noticed the fine tremble in her fingers. “Everyone knows that Kiera was homecoming queen the night she was shot.”

I pressed forward, trying to get something on video before the entire evening went up in smoke. “Look at the pictures, Jennifer,” I said. “That's you riding on the float for Xi Omicron Mu. Isn't it?”

“So?”

“Doesn't that sash identify you as the fraternity's president?” I pushed.

“Everyone knows this,” Jennifer said. “What's your point? I thought maybe this might be my proposal night, but you've clearly ruined that, and if you're not careful you're going to ruin it for Samantha as well.”

“What happened that night, Jennifer?” I asked when the
next picture flashed up. “This is you and Ashley and Kiera, isn't it?” The picture showed Ashley and Kiera laughing. Jennifer faced them holding a piece of Xi Omicron Mu fabric in the air—identical to the one in Ashley's mother's scrapbook. “It looks like you're shouting at them. They're laughing and you're shouting. You were very angry, weren't you, Jennifer?”

“Ashley and Kiera weren't nice girls,” Jen said, her composure cracking at the sight of them laughing at her and her anger. “They were mean girls. Kiera didn't deserve to be homecoming queen. Ashley was the worst. She's the one who would pull horrible pranks. They did mean, terrible things.”

“And you did mean things back, didn't you, Jennifer?” I asked, and noted that Detective Murphy had finally entered the Ice Pit with four uniformed police officers behind him. “Ashley's mother told me that pictures from this day and a sign from this fraternity are the only things that triggered Ashley's memory. They gave her severe headaches and spells just like the one she had when I met her at the country club. Something triggered her at my sister's reception. I bet that something was seeing you.”

Jen started shaking from head to toe. I could see her freaking out at the evidence of her screaming at Kiera and Ashley the night they were shot. In the picture, her fists were balled up, the incriminating piece of banner in her hand. “I didn't do anything,” she said. “This is crazy. You are crazy.” She glanced over and saw the police. Then she took a step back. “You called the police? You can't call the police. This is my proposal. This is my time. You can't ruin it.”

She raised her fisted hand and took a step toward me, shaking. Brad grabbed her. “It's okay, Jen, It's okay. She's crazy. Don't worry.”

“I'm going to sue you for everything you've got,” she said, and pointed a finger at me, poking me in the chest. “Everything you've got. You can't make accusations.”

“You lied to me,” I said. “That's not an accusation. You lied to the police as well. You said that you didn't know Ashley.” I pointed at the screen. “You did know her, didn't you? Why, Jen? Why would you lie about knowing her unless you're the one who killed Kiera and you were worried because you thought Ashley saw something? When you saw her bartending at my sister's wedding, you got nervous. She kept looking your way. You figured she remembered what you did.”