by Beth Byers
“Besides,” she said. “You have to move your wedding location. There’s no way that anyone will come and enjoy the start of your happily ever after if you’re standing over blood stained wood.”
“Are you all right?” I asked her suspiciously.
“I’m not kidding,” Zee said. “I hope that no one gets killed in Silver Falls ever again, and if they do, I will drag you into it, for sure. But this one…this one isn’t yours. Or Simon’s.”
Zee was somewhere in her 50s, maybe even her 60s. She was ambiguously youthful with the spring in her step. Her mean sass seemed to counteract aging. Her hair was the pretty gray that young people tried to emulate. Her skirt showed off knobby knees and tight calves. Everything about her was a contradiction, but nothing more so than what she was saying as compared to our entire friendship.
“I’m confused.”
“I’m pissed. Do you have any idea how long it took for us to grow those flowers from bulbs for you and to plant them? Forever. Maybe I was working on it the day after I was born. That is certainly how it felt.”
I rubbed my hands over my face and said, “I guess we could book the resort. Maybe if they have the space.”
“You hate that place. You won’t have any joy in that place.”
“Give me the name of your wedding planner,” Joyce said suddenly. “I have some ideas. I’ll do this for you. I’ll fix the wedding.”
“What?” I asked. I felt almost drunk. I was abuzz with the sight of the body, the fact that yet another body had been discovered in Silver Falls and the way I had the vision of it seared into my mind. I did not want to think about what I had seen. Or my reaction to it. I didn’t want this at all.
“Even if you hired someone,” Joyce said softly, “that won’t make the next few days easy. You have people coming into town. You have your bachelorette party. Things are busy for you. I will fix this wedding for you. It’s no big deal for me to see my friends after you and Simon are gone. In fact I’ll enlist those very friends and put them to work. People owe me favors around here. Now you do just what Zee said. Let the police solve this one. You have celebrating to do and don’t need it sullied up by murder and vice.”
“Vice?” Zee’s snort was humor-filled and yet mean.
I never knew that a snort could be so very expressive,” I told Zee. “At your eulogy when I look back on our friendship…” I couldn’t continue because I was laughing too hard, but Zee had caught enough of what I was meaning to throw a pillow at me.
“No offense,” she said, meaning to be offensive, “But Carver dropped me off and Rose needs to drive me home, and I want to be gone before Marv gets back.”
“None taken,” Joyce replied. “Marvin’s better in small doses these days. It’s a good thing he’s constantly trying to escape. Otherwise, I’d be forced to smother him in his sleep and put us both out of our misery. Don’t worry though, Rose darling,” Joyce said to me, “Simon’s personality is very like my father. Loyal to the end, loving in all the best ways. You won’t end up with a sour puss like I have. If I didn’t love Marvin, I’d have taken him for all he was worth and stayed here with my girls instead.”
I really just had no idea what to say to that.
* * * * *
The bachelorette party started the next afternoon with us meeting at the diner. Zee had scheduled a car with a driver. There was only Jane, Mattie, Az, me, and Zee for the day. We had appointments at the spa at the local resort which was the only place that we could get facials, massages, long soaks, and mani-pedi’s for us all.
“I’m really looking forward to getting my nails done,” Az said with his low laugh.
“You’ll be princess-ified with the rest of us,” Zee told him. “There will be no whining or complaining. There will, however, be champagne.”
Zee opened a bottle of strawberry champagne and we all followed her to the vehicle. A limousine would have been both ridiculous and difficult on the small town roads of Silver Falls, so she’d rented a luxury SUV and had Roxy, one of my waitresses, driving it.
“Are y’all gonna get super smashed?” Roxy asked. “Because I want to point out that each of your seats has a barf bag.”
I shook my head as Mattie giggled. “I might,” she said. “My buddy is marrying my other buddy. It feels like a time to over-indulge if ever there was one.”
“Rose,” Zee said. “Slap on your shirt.”
I was wearing a red, ruffled, sleeveless blouse, jeans, and black flats. But Zee handed me a bag that held a way too small t-shirt bedazzled with rhinestones that read ‘Bride.’ Inside of the bag was also a tiara, a beaded necklace that lit up, and a bag of chocolates. I took the glass of champagne she handed me and downed it quickly.
“Avert your gaze, Az,” I said and stripped off my red blouse to put on the t-shirt. It clung to my breasts and made me feel a little like I was all-breasts when minutes ago, I’d felt normal. It didn’t help that the t-shirt was cut to emphasize boobs and had a v-neck line that drew attention to the significant amount of cleavage that I normally kept covered. “This shirt is terrible,” I told Zee.
“Then it’s doing its job.” She sounded smug, so I didn’t bother to feed her inner mean monster.
“Rose,” Roxy said, “I didn’t realize you had a rack like that.”
“I did,” Az said and then laughed when we all turned to him. “I might be one of your BFFS, Rosie luv, but I am still a man.”
“Between you and Roxy, I’m going to spend the day blushing.”
“I love you like a sister, though,” Az said righteously. “If that helps.”
“You better,” Zee told him. “Silver Falls makes people crazy and Simon has a gun.”
I rolled my eyes and sipped my second glass of champagne, listening to my friends laugh and tease. Suddenly I asked, “Did Carver figure out who the dead guy was?”
“You aren’t working on this case,” Zee told me. “You’re butting out and getting married. Eat a chocolate. Y’all have gift boxes by your seat. Shove some chocolates in your mouth holes.”
“I just wondered if he had a family. I…”
“I’ve been wondering that too.” Roxy glanced into the rearview mirror and said, “I think about how you guys gave me a second chance after I messed up. You’re the reason I’m going to school and trying harder. I was thinking this morning that whoever killed this guy took away all his second chances.”
“Don’t talk about it, Roxy luv,” Az said from the backseat. I turned and glanced back to where he and Mattie were sitting and saw that their fingers were tangled together
“Ohh, la la,” I said, raising my brow at them and Mattie blushed. “Az and Mattie sitting in a tree.”
Mattie leaned forward and pushed her hand over my mouth. “I can mess up your hair on your wedding day,” she said threateningly.
“Say no more,” I said. “You win. I wonder where I’ll be getting married. The chapel was so perfect.”
“Don’t make sad faces,” Zee snapped, “Your face will stay that way.”
Roxy rolled her eyes and I whispered, loudly, “Don’t let her catch you.”
Zee whipped around and both Roxy and Jane pasted innocent expressions on their faces.
“Jane,” Zee started.
But Jane cut her off, “Don’t.”
Az and Roxy didn’t know Jane’s secret, and Zee was well aware of it.
“Don’t be like that,” Zee said, “I heard Hank say one of the guys was staying with you. Who did you get saddled with?”
“Oh,” Jane shot Zee an apologetic glance and said, “Sorry, I’m on edge. Justin is staying with us. He hasn’t been around much though. He’s been catching up and seeing old places he used to hang out. It’s weird really.”
“Maybe he just doesn’t want your kids around. You know that Hank likes to have the boys with him when he’s home. Justin always has been weird about kids since his divorce.”
Jane shrugged and then admitted, “I was just glad that we had said ye
s to Justin before Bobby hit us up. I can’t stand him.”
As we pulled into the resort for our appointments, Zee’s phone rang. She frowned at it for a minute and then answered, “Hey baby.”
Roxy parked the car, and I set down my champagne glass, grabbed my wallet, and then hopped out of the car. I tugged my shirt down, but it was determined to ride up in the back.
“There’s no hope,” Jane told me after I tugged my shirt down the third time. We’d been joined by Roxy, Az, and Mattie, but Zee was slowly closing the car door. Whatever the person on her phone was saying to her had her freeze into place. Since she’d called them baby, I assumed it was Carver.
“What now?” Her gasp had the rest of us turning her way as a group. She cursed and then said, “I need you to be wrong.” She paused, slammed the car door and the opened it up to grab her bag and slam it again. “Are you sure?”
When the person answered, she cursed again and then said, “I have to go.”
She looked up and found us staring at her. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah….” Az said slowly. He wasn’t agreeing with her. He was mocking her.
“Don’t worry about it,” Zee repeated, shooting us all an evil glance.
I raised my brow at her.
“Time for massages, booze, and an overdose of lo mein.”
“That was Carver?” I guessed.
“Shut your mind down,” Zee snapped. “It’s your big day until the next big day.”
I took in a slow breath, let it out slowly, and then demanded, “Who is the dead guy?”
“No one to worry about.” She didn’t meet my gaze as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Let’s do this. Should be weird. Getting naked in the same places and getting slicked down with oil. Then a soak in the same tub. Here’s hoping these folks clean the tubs well before passing them onto the next person. It’s super weird to pay to take a bath.”
“Well yeah,” Mattie said, “When you put it like that. No one knows where you’ve been, Zee.”
Roxy gasped, and Az chuckled, but I stopped and demanded, “Who is the dead guy?”
Zee turned slowly. She met my gaze and I was both certain that she knew who it was and it would affect the wedding.
“Who? It’s not like you can keep it a secret forever. Simon will tell me.”
“Simon doesn’t know yet.”
I waited. Our gazes met, and the battle of wills was intense enough that Az whistled under his breath.
“Brent Morgan.”
It took me a minute to place the name and even with that minute, I needed Mattie and Jane’s reactions to make the connection.
“Simon’s friend?”
“And Hank’s,” Jane said, sounding worried. Connections to the dead guy were never a good thing.
“He was one of their friends in school. They were inseparable.”
“He was the one that Simon couldn’t find. The one that no one has talked to.”
Zee nodded.
I blew out a breath. “Someone talked to him.”
Neither of us needed it laid out that someone we knew killed Brent Morgan. Maybe because they were back in town for our wedding. That maybe the celebration of my love with Simon was the trigger that ended this man’s life.
“Fabulous,” I said softly.
“So massages should be super effective now. Let’s go have fun, or I’ll slap you all.” Zee said meanly with a strict glance at each of us. “No talking or thinking about what happened. We’re gonna have a good time, damn it.”
Chapter Six
I woke with my head pounding. I blinked slowly and looked around. We’d gone to the spa, to dinner for an excess of Chinese food, and then went back to my house with more drinks, cake, and drunken chatting. I stretched slowly and realized I was on the floor of my living room, surrounded by dogs with Mama Dog, sleeping with her head on my neck and Goliath laying along the entirety of my back.
“Oh holy crap,” I moaned. “Someone give me drugs.”
Zee cackled and I slowly cracked open my eyes. It was a terrible mistake, but now that I’d done it, I decided to go with it.
“Why am I so hung over?”
“You mixed booze,” Zee said. “Let me help you remember. First there was strawberry champagne.”
I grunted and curled onto my side. Oh that didn’t make it better. My great dane, Goliath, huffed at me and then snorted as he laid his head back down. The rest of the dogs adjusted themselves around me.
“Then there was the white wine at the spa.”
I slowly pushed myself to a sitting up position. Mama Dog shot me a nasty look and I groaned again.
“Then there was plum wine and a Chinese mai tai with the massive amount of food we ordered.”
“Please stop,” I whispered. I could taste the food again and this time it was so very wrong.
“Then there was a long island iced tea right after the Chinese food place while we waited for Roxy to come get us.”
I rubbed my eyes and sniffed. “You’re my maid of honor. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”
“Matron,” Zee shot back. “You only get married once. Everyone who drinks enjoys a bachelorette party.”
“Oh my gosh! Why are you here? My head hurts so bad.”
“I’ve come with ibuprofen, a sport’s drink, a fruit smoothie, and am going to make you an egg sandwich.”
I blinked at her and tried rubbing my eyes again. Zee crossed to me, handing me the pills, the sport’s drink, and eye drops.
“Your future mother-in-law wants to come over.”
I groaned, sniffed, and then gagged down the pills and sport’s drink and then crawled to the couch and laid down on it. “Why did you let me drink so much?”
“It was a bachelorette party. Getting stupid drunk is the tradition. We were safe. We had Roxy.”
“Did you say that to me last night?” It felt very familiar. “You told me it was my responsibility to get smashed.”
“Maybe.” Zee said with a wicked glint in her eye.
“You did. It made sense to me at the time.”
She grinned evilly and then laughed. “I’m here with meds, don’t forget.”
“You’re evil,” I told her. “You’re so, so evil.”
It took me a few minutes before I remembered, “You said the dead guy was the missing friend?”
Zee sighed and said, “Let your meds kick in, eat a sandwich on the couch, and then take a shower. Then we’ll talk.”
I pulled the couch throw over my face as Simon came out of the bedroom singing.
“Why aren’t you sick?” I moaned.
“I guzzled water and meds last night and stuck with local microbrew. I heard you drank everything under the sun. We were also playing pool not hopping around town in a blinged out SUV.”
“It’s Zee’s fault,” I told him. “She’s evil.”
“Now that I believe,” Simon replied. He dropped a kiss on my head and sat down on the couch, lifting my feet to set them on his lap. “She seemed like she was pretty happy when she poured you into the house.”
“She wanted me to be happy after I found out about your friend,” I sat up to see how he was.
His head cocked and he cast me a confused looked.
“Carver didn’t tell you?” I asked.
“Tell me what?”
“Damn it, Rose. Carver wants Simon to actually have a vacation.” Zee shot out.
“Rose?” Simon asked.
I felt like crap which might be why I teared up, but when he turned to me I said, “I’m so sorry.”
“Just tell me,” he said.
“The dead guy is your friend, Brent.”
Simon paused, staring at me. “What?” His brows crinkled up and he seemed as though he hadn’t comprehended what I’d said.
“Carver figured it out. Zee told me and then got me drunk so I’d have fun at the bachelorette party.”
Simon looked as though someone had punched him in the gut. He blinked a f
ew times and then asked again, “Brent?”
I nodded and Simon leaned forward, grabbing his head as he breathed deeply. Long, slow breath in. Long, slow breath out. Over and over again. I pushed up on my knees, rubbing his back while he worked through his reaction.
“It’s ok to be upset,” I whispered, knowing he didn’t love having Zee as an audience. When I looked up to tell her to go, I realized she had gone already, taking the dogs out and neither of us had noticed.
“It’s going to be ok,” I told him.
He looked so sad that I slipped down onto the floor, kneeling in front of him, and wrapping my arms around his waist holding him as tightly as I could.
“This sucks so bad,” Simon whispered, with his voice shaking. “He…we were good friends. Really good friends. He was there for me through some pretty hard stuff. For a long time after high school I talked to him every few days. What if? What if we hadn’t gone our own ways? Would he be dead?”
“No, you don’t do that. This is not your fault,” I said gently. “We don’t know what happened or why.”
Simon leaned back, finally. I crawled back up onto the couch next to him. “What do I do? It’s our wedding, but he’s my friend.”
“Do whatever you need to do, Simon. If you need to go into work, it’s ok with me.”
He kissed my forehead and then pulled me to my feet, crossing to the back door and knocking on it to wave Zee inside.
“Carver is good at what he does,” Simon said as Zee joined us.
Zee and I both agreed.
“But I want the details. Then we’ll have brunch with Hank, Jane, and Justin. Maybe we can get an idea of what was happening with Brent.”
I glanced at Zee and then said carefully, “Didn’t you already ask about him?”
Simon nodded and then said, “Rose, I know what you’re thinking.”
I didn’t say it until he gestured for me to speak.
“His parents have been gone for a while right?”
Simon nodded.
“No one in Silver Falls has seen or talked to Brent in years.” I said carefully.
Simon nodded. He didn’t want to hear the next piece and I didn’t want to say it. But it had to be said, acknowledged, and dealt with.