A Fatal Finale

by Stacey Alabaster

  We were getting closer and closer to Lakes Entrance. I saw the turnoff sign ahead and turned on the turn signal, getting ready to leave the highway behind. One mile, the sign read. I could hardly even wait.

  “I’m not sure I want to put things right, to be honest. I think I just want to move on.”

  The sun was coming down through the clouds like little streaks from Heaven, causing the lake to shimmer like there were stars over the top of the water. Behind us was Jackson’s family cottage, and like he said, it was just standing there empty until we arrived. On one side of the house was the lake, and on the other, the wetlands, which were full of native birds and other wildlife. The cottage was a little out of town, which was just perfect.

  Jackson came up to me and slid his hand through mine. I shivered a little bit, still staring at the water. Even the leaves from the trees beside it were shimmering with the reflection off the water. It almost looked like there was actually light moving on the lake. Like fairy lights.

  “When the sun is at just the right spot each day, it makes it look like there are fireworks over the lake,” Jackson commented as he squeezed my hand a little tighter. I didn’t mind one bit.

  “That’s just what I was thinking it looked like,” I said, sucking in my breath. “It looks like the light is actually dancing over the water. It looks like a thousand fairies dancing, actually.”

  He laughed a little, raised his eyebrows, and nodded. “You might be right. About the fairies, I mean. Maybe your cousin was right all along. There is more magic in this world than I ever realized.” He stopped and stared at me, and I felt myself blush. “I am starting to see that now.”

  Jackson was really starting to sound like a changed man. Quitting his job. Believing in magic. But I liked this new Jackson as much as the old. Possibly even more.

  I glanced up at him. “I wish we didn’t have to go back to Belldale.”

  He let go of my hand and for a second, I was disappointed. But then he put his hand underneath my chin and turned it up toward him. He was almost a foot taller than me so when he kissed me, he had to lift me up a little with the arm he had behind my back. For just a moment, it felt like I was dancing on air, until we had to break the kiss. The sun was setting and the lights on the lake slowly started to fade.

  “Me too,” he said with a heavy sigh.

  But our time in Lakes Entrance had to end. The following day, Jackson got called back to work, as apparently there was an emergency in Belldale. The drive back seemed to fly by as well, but not in the same way the drive there had. This time, there was a heavy feeling in my stomach as Belldale grew closer and closer. But time seemed to be speeding up. Every time I looked at the clock, hoping Jackson and I would have just a little longer together in the car, the faster the clock seemed to count down.

  “I suppose I should get back to work,” I said as we pulled on to the main street in town. “Time to leave the fantasy behind.” Jackson said he would come inside with me so I drove us to the bakery.

  I walked back in with Jackson following behind me. He frowned as he looked around. “Are you guys not open on Mondays anymore?”

  “Oh, we are open,” I replied. “We just don’t have any customers.”

  Jackson raised his eyebrows. “Have people suddenly developed a distaste for the combination of cream and pastry?”

  I spun around. “More like a distaste for me. Now that my best friend has turned on me, the rumors have really taken hold. People in Belldale really believe that I killed Rogan. They don’t want to come anywhere near the place. Not even to gawk at me in curiosity.”

  Jackson nodded a little. He was sympathetic. “It will get better,” he said, trying to sound convincing.

  I walked through the empty bakery and shook my head. I wasn’t so sure.

  “So, you can see what an outcast I am in this town now,” I said. “You can see why I was in no hurry to return from Lakes Entrance.”

  “I think I know the feeling,” Jackson commented. He leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I’d better get back to the station. People will be starting to think I really have done a runner. I’ll give you a call as soon as I’m done.”

  I smiled at him. Just when it seemed like everything was going wrong, something had gone so very right. “Now, let me see where all these staff members of mine have gone to,” I said, using my best school teacher voice. I may not have been popular amongst them, but that didn’t mean that they could get away with absolutely anything—like not doing any work at all.

  I walked into the kitchen to finally find Simona, busy, doubled over the steel counter.

  “Oh. Hey, Rachael,” she said. She even gave me a faint smile. “How was your trip away?”

  I nodded a little. I’d texted her to let her know I would be in Lakes Entrance that morning and asked if she could open the store for me. She seemed to know of the place fairly well.

  Simona and Blake’s wedding was being planned as we spoke. She was leaning over the counter with a bunch of cardboard tabs with names on them in front of her, organizing what looked to be a seating chart.

  “Don’t you have any glasses to wash?” I asked, glancing around as I took off my coat. “Or anything to do out in front at all?” Was this what I was paying her for these days?

  “Oh, it’s my second to last shift,” she said dismissively. “Surely I am allowed to use it to plan my wedding.”

  I wasn’t aware those were the rules of resigning from your job. But what could I do? Instead, I decided to just go with it and walked over to check out the seating chart, resigned. It wasn’t like I had anything to lose. “So, where have you booked at this short notice?” I asked her.

  She told me she was going to have the wedding at the local botanical gardens, and the reception at Star Bar. Well, at least she would feel at home there.

  “Sounds great,” I said, wondering if my invitation had been lost in the mail.

  Simona turned to me. “Would you be one of my bridesmaids, Rachael?”

  I was a little taken aback at being asked. Up until that point, I wasn’t even sure I was invited.

  “I, um, sure,” I said, straightening up. Maybe it would give me something positive to focus on for the next few weeks. “Why not? I would be honored. But does Blake mind, me being part of the wedding party?”

  She waved her hand and went back to her magazines. “Don’t worry about Blake. The bridal party is my decision!”

  I had the sudden feeling that we were being watched and jumped a little when I looked up and noticed Bronson just standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining area, staring at us, sharpening a knife against a piece of stone. I said hello to him, but he just nodded at me and walked back out. I gulped.

  He was still working as many shifts as he could get. And he was still skulking around, glaring at me whenever I walked into the same room as him.

  I hadn’t gotten any serious interest regarding the ad that I had placed, although there were quite a few people who had inquired just out of nosy curiosity. Trying to figure out the price we wanted. I’d been cagey, though. Until we had a real buyer, I didn’t want to discuss figures. I didn’t want just anyone to know just how low a price I was willing to settle for.

  “So, I have a proposition for you,” I said to Jackson that night as we met up at Star Bar. I’d kinda started to like that place. At least I knew that I wouldn’t run into Pippa there.

  Jackson looked intrigued. “Do you now?”

  I nodded and raised my eyebrows. “Do you remember Simona? She is getting married in three weeks. She’s asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I am going to need a date.”

  9

  Three Weeks Later

  The only details I had received on the invite to the bachelorette party was the place I needed to go and the time I needed to be there. But knowing Simona, I had a feeling it was going to turn into a crazy night. I made sure I had eaten a big, carb-heavy meal before I turned up, as I had a feeling the champagne was go
ing to be flowing.

  Of course, the place we were meeting was Star Bar Nightclub. 9:00 pm, even though on a Saturday night, things wouldn’t really kick off there until later in the evening.

  I thanked the driver of the cab—just in case I got a little tipsy later, I didn’t want to drive—and stepped out of the cab, checking my email on my phone to make sure that I had the right place. Maybe I had just assumed Simona said Star Bar because that was her favorite place. Maybe I’d just assumed. I couldn’t see any of the other bridesmaids gathered out in front. Huh. The email said I had the right place. I glanced around again.

  Come to think of it, I didn’t even know who the other bridesmaids were so I wasn’t sure who I was looking for. I squinted and tried to see if anyone familiar was making their way up the street.

  Simona had requested we all wear yellow, so that was something to go off of, but there was no one wearing yellow that I could see. Not that I would blame people for ditching the color scheme. Ws yellow a flattering color on anybody? I had chosen a light lemon shade so that I didn’t look like Big Bird. Perhaps the others had the good taste to just not bother.

  Thinking I had the time or place wrong, I almost hailed another cab. It was too cold to just stand around waiting. Maybe it was the wrong night entirely.

  But then I spotted someone coming toward me, with candy pink hair and wearing a yellow mini dress. Oh no.

  I felt my heart thudding in my chest. “Don’t tell me…”

  Pippa stopped dead in her tracks.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She stared at me blankly and crossed her arms. “Simona asked you to be a bridesmaid too?”

  My stomach churned. I should have known.

  “If this is some kind of ruse to get us to speak to each other again, I am going to kill her…” Pippa said, getting her cell phone out of her bag and trying to find Simona’s number.

  But I doubted Simona even cared about such a thing. She was the self-absorbed type. Not only was I not sure she even realized that Pippa and I were in a fight, I didn’t think she would have cared if we were. That kind of thing went totally over her head.

  “Pippa, she’ll be here in a minute,” I said, before Pippa threw the cell phone back in her bag. “We can sort it out then.”

  She glared at me. “There’s nothing to sort out.”

  “Of course there is. We need to figure out how this is going to work,” I said. “The wedding is tomorrow.”

  “Well, we can’t both be in the bridal party,” Pippa said, arms crossed and stomping one foot on the ground.

  “Surely we can put our differences aside for one day. It’s for our friend’s wedding,” I said, shocked that Pippa would be so petty about this. We just needed to figure out how to co-exist for the next twenty-four hours.

  “I don’t want to be a bridesmaid if you are. It’s as simple as that,” she stated and I felt my heart sink even further than I’d thought possible. I think, until then, I may have held hope that we might end up repairing our friendship. But she really meant it. She was not going to take part if I was.

  I shook my head. “No. I will back out,” I said, taking a step backward. I glanced around for a cab, feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under me. There was no sense in sticking around now. I just wanted to be at home.

  Just then, a limo pulled up and a very tanned Simona, dressed in a feathery dress of canary yellow tulle, stepped out and waved at us. Now, she really did look like Big Bird.

  She spotted the look on my face and asked what was up. “Come on, I’m gonna need you in a better mood than that tonight, Rachael.”

  “I’m sorry, Simona, but I am going to have to go home,” I said, trying to swallow down the crying that was starting to clog up my throat. I just wanted to get away before Pippa could see me crying.

  “What, are you feeling sick or something?” Simona asked as the rest of the bridal party came walking up the sidewalk. No one had ditched the yellow. There was a sickening sea of it, about to close in on me.

  I waved my arm wildly for a cab as I felt the hot tears pricking the backs of my eyes. I couldn’t give Pippa the satisfaction. “No. I am going to have to pull out of the entire wedding actually. I am really sorry.”

  I’d expected her to be upset or to make a fuss. Instead, Simona shrugged a little. “To tell the truth, Rachael, I was starting to have second thoughts about having you in the wedding party.”

  She was? I glanced over at Pippa and then back to Simona, confused. “Because of my fight with Pippa? That’s not fair. I was willing to look past that for one day. I wouldn’t have been the one causing any drama tomorrow.” Now the threat of tears had been replaced by indignation. I wasn’t going to cop the blame for this. “I’m only pulling out because Pippa was about to throw a tantrum…” I said pointedly while Pippa just rolled her eyes and turned her head away.

  Simona shook her head. “No. Because of the rumors that are still…lingering. I can’t have the stink of an accused murderer ruining my wedding day.”

  Finally, a cab pulled up and I jumped into it, slamming it shut before the tears could fall.

  I didn’t know where else to turn.

  I was in a flood of tears by the time Jackson opened the door. “What is it, Rach—” he asked as I pushed past him. I just wanted to be inside his house. I just wanted to be with him.

  “I’ve just had the most horrible night!” I said, trying to compose myself. But being there with him, him asking me what was wrong, only made me cry harder.

  “Come here,” he said, wrapping me in his arms.

  I pulled away so that I could explain things to him. “The wedding is off. I mean— I mean…I’ve been uninvited,” I sobbed. “I’m sorry. I suppose that means that you have been as well.”

  He let out a little laugh at that bit. “Don’t worry about that,” he said gently. “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere that you weren’t invited to anyway.”

  We sat down and he made me a hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. It was far more delicious than any champagne would have been. “You never really liked Simona anyway, remember?” he pointed out, still being gentle. “She was never a good friend to you. Nor a particularly good employee.” He was right. I’d just been so desperate to still have a friend in this town that I’d jumped at the chance to be in her wedding.

  I had managed to calm down a little. “I just don’t know what I’m doing in this town anymore,” I said. “Every time I think things can’t get any worse, they go and do just that.”

  Jackson was very quiet and I thought at first that he was taking things in, agreeing with me, that possibly he was having second thoughts about me as well. I felt like that was the very last thing I could bear. If I lost him, I wouldn’t have anything in Belldale at all

  He was being too quiet. I had to ask. “Is it really as bad as I fear it is, Jackson? What—” I gulped before I asked the rest of the question. “What are people saying down at the station?” I didn’t care if he wasn’t supposed to tell me, or if I wasn’t supposed to ask. I just needed to know.

  “Sure. I’ve heard the rumors. Well, down at the station, I suppose they are more than just rumors, aren’t they?” He was half speaking to himself. “You’re a suspect.”

  My heart started to sink. What was that I was saying about every time I thought things couldn’t get worse?

  I knew that I shouldn’t be in his house, and that he shouldn’t be saying all these things to me. Not if I was a suspect in a murder investigation.

  “You shouldn’t…be with me, should you?”

  I already had experience in knowing when I should remove myself from the situation. On shaking legs, I stood up to go. “I’m sorry, Jackson, for putting you in this position. I’ll make it easier, on both of us. I will go…”

  Jackson reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me from going, then pulled me to him, kissing me. I had to pull away to get my breath back.

  “I don’t believe any of what they are saying, Rachael,
” he said, taking me gently by the shoulders, staring into my eyes so that I knew he meant it.

  “But even my own best friend has turned on me…”

  “That doesn’t matter to me,” he said quietly. “I know that you could never do something like that in a million years.”

  But it didn’t matter how much he believed in me. Or how hard he kissed me. “You can’t be with me and work for the Belldale Police,” I said quietly, pulling away from his embrace at last. One of us had to be sensible in all this.

  He hung his head. “You’re right,” he said.

  Maybe I was, but I hadn’t actually wanted him to agree with me. My stomach sank down to my toes.

  Jackson pulled me back to him again. “That’s why I’m going to quit the Belldale Police Force.”

  10

  Two Weeks Later

  Sue folded her arms and stood back, not quite wanting to help me even though she had volunteered to. She reluctantly reached down and grabbed an empty bag and sat it on my bed. But she didn’t quite make it to the packing stage. She was pouting. “I can’t believe you are really abandoning me.”

  I laughed a little as I folded a shirt hurriedly. I didn’t have much time set aside for packing, only the afternoon. “You’ve already got a new roommate lined up.” As soon as I’d told Sue the news, she had placed the ad online and had already found someone—a young woman named Adele who worked at the local garden center and had promised that she would look after our poorly neglected lawn and garden.

  “But it won’t be the same,” she mused. Sue was the one person who was sad to see me leaving Belldale. I felt a little bad ‘abandoning’ her, as she’d put it. Especially when she’d been so loyal to me. Apart from Jackson, she was the only person who didn’t believe the rumors. “Pippa probably started them to cover up her own guilt,” Sue had said at one stage.