“This is no joking matter,” I said. “They’ll be bickering the whole night. I already feel a headache coming. Oh, look, my father’s new girlfriend is sitting with them as well,” I said when I saw her returning with a plate full of food.
Kane put a reassuring hand on my back. “I’ll protect you from the vultures,” he whispered in my ear.
Just then, the happy couple passed us.
“This is the best day of my life,” Sarah said, smiling from ear to ear.
Jonathan smiled as well, though his was more reserved. “I’m the luckiest man alive,” he said. “Enjoy the party everyone!”
Loud music started playing then. When we were seated at the table, the bickering had already started.
“This is my daughter, Meredith,” my father introduced me to his new girlfriend.
I smiled and took a sip of my drink, which was some cheap champagne. I wasn’t a fan of champagne in general, but on this occasion, any alcohol would do.
“Slow down,” Kane whispered in my ear. “Don’t you have to be sober for the toast?”
“I’m not doing a toast, thankfully. I convinced Sarah to ask some of her friends.”
“And how did you manage to do that?”
“I said some crap about how they might feel left out of the wedding since she asked me to be the maid of honor. It worked like a charm.”
“You’re evil,” Troy said. “But in a good way.”
“Thanks, bro. Where’s Charity? I could have sworn she’d be your plus one.”
“She’s around here somewhere. Apparently, she was already coming to the wedding. Who would have known?”
“It is a small town,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” he said as he headed to the bar area.
“When are you going to get married?” My mother asked me across the table, looking like she was trying very hard not to look into my father’s direction.
“Not anytime soon, if ever,” I said.
“Troy said the same thing,” she said sadly. “When am I going to get some grandchildren? By this rate, Madeline will have them before me and that’s just not fair.”
Madeline was my aunt and Sarah’s mother. Barry, Sarah’s father, was my mother’s brother. He had died years ago, when Sarah and I were in high school. It was a hard time for everybody, but we got through it.
“She might be waiting as well,” I said. “Sarah said something about focusing on her career for a couple of years.”
My mother looked in the newlywed couple’s direction. They were stealing kisses while everyone around them was chit chattering away.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if she came back from the honeymoon with a bun in the oven,” she said.
“Lisa, please,” Gran said.
“You know it’s true, ma. I know I wanted to wait to have you, Meredith. Troy was the reason we got married in the first place. But then one thing led to another and now you’re here.”
Father’s girlfriend, Rachel, looked uncomfortable.
“Lisa, maybe you should slow down with those drinks. You might end up saying something you regret later,” my father said, nursing his own drink.
My mother laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. The only thing I regret is wasting so many good years on you.”
With that, she got up and went to join Troy by the bar.
I sighed.
Kane rubbed my shoulder. “Every family is like this,” he said.
“Oh really? Aren’t your parents still happily married?”
“Well, they’re married but that doesn’t mean they don’t fight from time to time. It’s normal.”
“What do you do?” Rachel asked Kane. She seemed mighty interested in the answer.
“I’m a private investigator,” Kane said, seemingly oblivious to the effect he was having on the woman. My father did notice, though, so he drew her closer to him as if to show Kane that she was taken. I had to giggle at the scene.
“Interesting. What kind of cases do you usually work on?”
“Mostly cheating spouses, though once in a while I get a missing person. Those are always interesting.”
She turned her gaze on me. “You’re a medium, aren’t you? How fascinating. Are there any spirits here now?”
“The only spirits I see here are of the alcoholic variety.”
Rebecca gave me a look.
I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t have to talk about Rebecca to everyone, did I?
Rachel laughed nervously. “Good one. Your father told me you were a feisty one.”
“He actually talks about me? I’m surprised.”
“Of course I do. You’re my only daughter.”
“Thanks, dad,” I said and took a large gulp of my champagne, which I regretted as soon as it made its way down my throat.
“Wanna dance?” Kane asked me, once the music started.
“Yeah, why not?” I said. “Let’s just wait for the happy couple to finish theirs.”
People started chanting for them to come out to the floor. I joined in, trying to look cheerful even though I felt anything but. My dress was already getting on my nerves. Sarah had convinced me to wear one but now I was wishing I had a change of clothes around. I wondered what kind of clothes Kane had in this van.
Once people started filling up the dance floor, Kane and I joined them.
“Let’s not talk,” I said. “Let’s just dance, okay?”
Kane nodded. A slower song started so we just swayed. I put my head against his chest and tried to forget everything and everyone around me. Only Kane and I were real in this moment. No one else mattered. Even Rebecca faded to the background, which she didn’t mind because she liked people-watching.
Then a faster song started and I had to remember the world around me again. I wanted to go back to my seat but Kane refused to let me go.
“Come on, have a little fun!” He implored me, so I did. It was hard not to go along with his infectious energy.
“You’re the most beautiful woman in the room,” he whispered in my ear and then went right back to dancing.
Another, even faster-paced song started, but right in the middle, it cut off. So did the lights. The whole place went pitch-dark.
A full minute later, the lights were back on.
A scream could be heard from across the room.
I ran to see what it was. Jonathan was already there, a pale expression on his face. Kane was right behind me.
“He’s dead,” Jonathan said after checking the pulse. Though I could see from the scene that he was. Someone had stabbed the man straight in the heart. His eyes were open in shock and a trickle of blood oozed from his mouth.
It was Sheriff Mitts. The jolly man was dead. Now the only question that remained was who had killed him.
Nine
“He can’t be,” one of the young officers that was seated at his table said. “He was alive just a minute ago.”
“This place is going on lockdown,” Jonathan announced. “No one goes in or out, except for the police officers that are on their way.”
The hotel staff had other ideas.
“This is unacceptable, we have guests. We can’t very well lock them in here. It’s bad for business,” the hotel manager said, a middle-aged man that always seemed flustered by something. He had been running around during the whole reception, making sure that everything was in order.
“Sir, the sheriff has been murdered. Everyone in this building is a suspect. Now show me where the keys are so that we can close this place down.”
Pretty soon, Jonathan and a few others were locking all the doors.
Sarah came to me in tears. Thankfully, the waterproof makeup I made her wear made sure she didn’t look like a total mess.
“I can’t believe this happened. And today of all days.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Death waits for no one.”
Gran gave me a judgmental look as she held Sarah. “Don’t worry,” she said. “This’ll get sorted in no
time and you and Jonathan will have a wonderful honeymoon.”
I looked at the scene around us. I wished that what Gran was saying was the truth, but I had a feeling we were in for a long night just waiting around, waiting for the cops to do their worst.
“You’re a medium. Can’t you see the sheriff and just ask him who killed him?” Sarah said.
I looked at the chaotic scene. I couldn’t see the sheriff’s ghost anywhere.
“Did you see anything?” I asked Rebecca.
She shook her head. “I was on the other side of the room,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Did anyone see anything?” I asked a bit louder.
People just shook their heads.
“And it was such a nice wedding,” someone in the back bemoaned.
“A perfect day, ruined,” said another.
That only made Sarah cry even harder.
“I’ll take a look around,” I said to the crowd of spectators. “If his ghost is here, I’ll find him.”
Kane followed right behind me.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if the killer is still around?”
“And what if they are?”
“You could get hurt.”
“Then come along and protect me if it makes you feel any better. But I won’t just sit around waiting for Jonathan and his ilk to figure it out. This whole thing could be over with just a simple question. Do you really think I’d let that kind of chance slip through my fingers?”
Kane sighed. “Fine, let’s get this over with then. Let’s just hope the lights don’t go out again.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. If what Kane had said was true, then the killer could have more victims in mind.
“All the more reason to get some answers now, don’t you think?” I said.
I walked around, though the officers were starting to block off every exit. I tried to get through one of them, but he didn’t let me.
“And what if one of you is the killer?” I said.
The officer gave me a look that said: “just try and challenge me.”
Kane took me by the arm. “Come on, it’s not worth it.”
I looked around to see where Jonathan was, but he was nowhere in sight. He was too busy locking up the place to be of any use to me.
“This isn’t over,” I said to the officer as Kane and I walked away.
“Go check it out,” I said to Rebecca.
“I’ll do my best,” she said as she passed through the officer who then made a little jump. Yeah, that’s what you get for being a jerk, I thought to myself.
“Maybe he didn’t leave a ghost behind?” Kane offered.
“I think I’d notice if he passed on to the other side, don’t you think?”
Kane shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not an expert. It was just a suggestion. We were all a little distracted when the lights went out.”
He certainly had a point there. “I guess it’s possible. But I highly doubt that he’d merrily move on after being murdered. Would you?”
“I guess not. I’d want the person who killed me to be caught.”
“Exactly.”
We walked all around the huge hall, but the sheriff was nowhere to be found, except under a white tablecloth that was staining with blood as we spoke. Thankfully, the children were taken to the other side of the hall so that they wouldn’t have to be witness to such goriness.
“I certainly hope that Rebecca finds something, if she doesn’t, I might just lose my mind.”
“Maybe you should let the cops handle this,” Kane suggested. When he saw the look I gave him, he quickly backtracked. “Just for now. Who knows, maybe the sheriff has moved on and now all that’s left is the mundane stuff.”
“Wishful thinking, Kane, and you know it.”
Rebecca came to my side.
“I found him,” she said. “He seems in pretty good spirits considering.”
“Where?”
“He’s flying around the hotel, peeking into people’s rooms like a peeping Tom. Who knew?”
I repeated what she had said to Kane.
Kane smiled at the thought. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Did you tell him that he was murdered?”
“I tried, but he didn’t want to listen to me. He says he’s never felt so good in his life.”
Well, that didn’t sound good. If he was enjoying being a ghost, that could mean that he would have trouble letting go of the earthly plane. And that’s how places get haunted in the first place. Either by dead people that don’t realize they’re dead, or the ones who like being ghosts just a little too much.
“I have to see him,” I said. “Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”
“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” Kane asked, pointing to the officers stationed at every visible exit.
“I’m sure Jonathan will understand. Now all I need to do is find him.”
I looked around the great hall, trying to spot him, but had no luck. Then I spotted Sarah sitting, surrounded by friends and family, sobbing her eyes out.
I approached cautiously, trying to gauge the mood. Several of the bridesmaids looked up at me like I was an unacceptable interloper. Even Gran gave me a look that said that I should tread carefully. But a man had just been murdered, this was no time for subtlety.
“Sarah, I know it’s hard, but I need you to do something for me,” I said to her, ignoring the judgment I was getting from each side.
“Honey, maybe you should leave her be,” my mother said. “She’s been through enough.”
“This can’t wait. Can I talk to her alone, please?” I said to the crowd.
No one moved an inch. The ones that weren’t looking at me like I was crazy, were looking to Sarah.
“It’s all right,” she finally said. “I’ll talk to Meredith for a bit.”
The crowd reluctantly dispersed.
I sat down next to her. “I need to get out of this hall. And I need your help to do it.”
“Me? How?” Sarah seemed genuinely perplexed.
“Jonathan is locking up all the doors and the other officers won’t let me leave. I was thinking that you could call him so he’d give me permission to walk around the whole hotel. I have to talk to the sheriff’s ghost.”
“He’s not here?”
“No, he’s flying around the hotel. He wouldn’t listen to Rebecca, so I have to give it a shot. I have to find out if he remembers anything about his death. The sooner we catch the party responsible, the sooner we can all get out of here and the sooner you and Jonathan can go on your honeymoon.”
Sarah started sobbing again. I motioned for the concerned to keep their distance.
“It’s all ruined,” Sarah said between tears.
“I know this isn’t how you wanted your wedding to turn out, but here we are. Either you can sit here and cry about it or you can stop and do something about it.”
“Harsh much?” Kane said.
I glared at him until even he was backing away from us.
“What do you want?” Sarah asked. “Just say it already.”
“I need you to call Jonathan and tell him that I need access to the rest of this place. Where’s your cell phone?”
She looked around. “It’s in my purse. Up there,” she pointed to the head table where she and Jonathan were seated.
“Let’s just hope that he has his,” I said under my breath as I went to get the purse. I already recognized it since I was the one that helped her pick it out.
I handed the purse to Sarah. She took the cell out and reluctantly called Jonathan. He answered after the first ring.
“I’m fine,” Sarah said. “Meredith wants to talk to you.” She handed the phone to me.
“…don’t have time for this.”
“Oh, you’ll make time,” I said. “I need to get out of this hall. Your dead sheriff’s ghost is roaming the hotel and I need to talk to him.”
“I don’t have time for this. Stay put, Meredith, unti
l I come back. You do know there’s a killer on the loose, right? It’s safer if you don’t go roaming around on your own.”
“But Kane’s with me,” I protested, but by then Jonathan had already hung up. “I can’t believe he actually hung up on me,” I said as I handed the phone back to Sarah.
“Maybe he has a point. I don’t want my cousin to be murdered at my wedding. It’s bad enough the sheriff is dead,” Sarah said.
Now that they were married, I had a feeling that Sarah and Jonathan were going to be on the same page more often than not.
I didn’t have the energy to argue with her. Maybe I would have if we weren’t at her wedding and I wasn’t the maid of honor, but since we were and I was, I let it go. But that didn’t stop me from fuming about it to anyone who would listen.
“He’ll be back soon,” Troy said, looking around the great hall. “Though, I think that might be Jackson over there. We played football in high school. Do you think…?”
“It’s worth a shot,” I said and practically dragged him in the direction where he was looking. “Is that him?” I pointed to the stern-faced officer stationed there.
“Yup, I’m pretty sure.”
“Good. Let’s get this show on the road,” I said as I dragged him closer.
“Ouch, sis,” Troy said, massaging his arm.
“Sorry. Now, will you please talk to him?”
“I forgot to mention that he had a crush on me in high school. It might be a bit awkward to the say the least,” he practically whispered in my ear.
“Turn on that charm you’re so known for, Troy, or I swear to God I’ll…”
“I’m going, jeez. Hold your horses.”
I watched from a distance as Troy went to turn on the charm.
Kane joined me, observing the scene playing out. Jackson smiled from ear to ear as soon as he saw my brother.
“I could have done that,” Kane said. “I’ll have you know, I can be very charming when I want to be.”
“Yeah, yeah, but they have history. That should count for something, right?”
“I guess we’ll see.”
Troy came back to report his results. At first, he looked a bit down, but then he had a huge grin on his face.
“He’ll let us slip through. But he’s only giving us five minutes. What do you say?”
Ghostly Wedding (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 3) Page 6