I glanced at Bess and I could see her putting this all together as I did. “Creepy,” she breathed.
“Supercreepy,” I agreed.
“I can’t believe this!” a sharp voice cried out from the door, and we all turned to watch a very upset-looking Akinyi storm into the shop. “This is the worst day ever!”
Syd, whose crying had slowed down considerably, dabbed at her eye with a hankie and shook her head. “No, Akinyi,” she said resolutely. “It’s definitely a setback, but I’ll be okay.”
Akinyi frowned, looking even more annoyed, and then finally her gaze fell on the dress, still draped over the sales girl’s arms, and her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh!” she cried. “Syd, what happened to your dress?”
Syd looked puzzled. “It got slashed,” she replied, “Obviously. What were you yelling about, if not that?”
Akinyi sighed, closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples. “Well, this is a banner day,” she snarked, the corners of her lips turning down. “Josh broke up with me.”
“What?” Syd asked. “When?”
“Just now,” Akinyi replied with a rueful smirk, “on the phone. He’s packing his bags to go back to New York right now. We’re totally over.”
“Why?” Syd asked with a frown. I could tell she was still concerned about her dress and the text, but she also wanted to be there for her friend.
Akinyi shook her head as if to clear it. “Never mind,” she said after a little pause. “Let’s talk about your dress, and what you’re going to do. Are you okay, Syd?”
Everyone began gathering around Sydney, offering their condolences and ideas for getting a new dress. I could also hear some questions about the text she’d received, and what was really going on with the wedding saboteur—was it true Candy wasn’t the only one trying to sabotage this wedding?
Tempting as it was to join the crew and see how everyone reacted, I turned to my trusty friends instead. “Okay,” I began. “You, me, Deb, Ellie, and Syd have been in the dressing room the whole time—none of us could have slashed the dress. Let’s talk about the others.”
“Well, Akinyi,” Bess suggested, looking unsure. “She was ‘outside’ for a long time. But she really does seem upset about the breakup—so maybe she really was on the phone with Josh the whole morning?”
I nodded grimly. “Maybe. I think she’s definitely a suspect, though. And Pandora disappeared for awhile—though she says she was meditating.”
George snorted. “Meditating, schmeditating. I got up to get some water from the cooler in front about fifteen minutes ago, and she was out there on her cell phone. Unless she meditates with a partner, over the phone, I think she was lying.”
I sighed. “Great,” I replied. “Is anyone not a suspect?”
Bess shrugged. “Well, Deb,” she replied. “And Ellie. Though she did go out to the car to get her purse at one point…I guess she could have done it then.”
I sighed, rubbing my temples.
George pulled her lips into a tight line. “Another thing,” she began, clearly about to impart bad news. “We don’t know if there’s a back entrance to this place.”
I looked up at her. Of course! With all my sleuthing experience, how could I have forgotten back entrances?
“Excuse me,” I said, gently tugging on the sleeve of the sales clerk, who was still holding the ruined dress as the rest of the bridal party chattered nearby. “Is there a rear entrance to this store?”
The girl nodded. “Sure. But it’s not a public entrance.”
I glanced back at Bess and George. “But was it locked this morning?”
The girl looked uncomfortable, gently stroking the ruined dress with one hand. “No,” she said finally, quietly. “Many of our seamstresses enter that way. And it seems someone did forget to lock the door behind them.”
I nodded, trying to communicate with my eyes that I wasn’t upset with her. “Thanks for telling me that.” I stepped away, turning back to Bess and George.
“Great,” said Bess with a sigh. “The field gets even wider.”
“So basically anyone’s a suspect,” George agreed. “Everyone except the three of us and Syd.”
Bess glanced at me with a playful look. “Well, I don’t know,” she murmured. “Nancy did go to use the restroom that one time.”
I shook my head at her. “You came with me!”
“Okay.” Bess laughed. “I guess, yes, we can rule out the three of us and Syd.”
“And we did narrow down the suspects from the photo,” I reminded them. “So really, the only potential wedding saboteur who might have snuck in through the back door is Dragon.”
Bess and George suddenly got very focused looks on their faces, looking directly behind me, and I knew someone from the wedding party was coming.
“Well, girls,” said Sydney, reaching out to touch my shoulder, “I guess we’re done here. You can go home.”
I looked up. Behind Syd, the camera crew seemed to have shut down, and was packing up to leave the shop. I looked at our lovely bride-to-be, whose eyes were rimmed with bright, angry red. “I’m so sorry, Syd.”
Syd just shrugged sadly, looking away. “I’ve gotten used to a lot of surprises going ahead with this wedding,” she said quietly. “I really loved that dress”—here her voice broke a little—“but the important thing is that I’m marrying Vic. Whoever this wedding saboteur is, he or she can’t change that.”
“That’s a good attitude,” Bess enthused, reaching out to squeeze Syd’s shoulder.
“I’m sure we’ll find another dress,” Syd said, but her tone sounded as though she didn’t quite believe it. “Anyway, we need to get everyone back to the hotel. Can anyone fit Akinyi, Deb, and Pandora in her car?”
I didn’t wait for anyone else to volunteer. “I can!” I cried, a little too loudly. Thank goodness, Bess and George had come in George’s car. And the drive back to the hotel would give me plenty of time to get some details on what the rest of the bridal party was doing.
“This is all just so upsetting,” Pandora said with a sigh, furiously rubbing a pink crystal that she’d pulled out of her purse. “I just can’t get over the negative emotions I have associated with this wedding. I have this horrible feeling it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
Deb, who was sitting right behind Pandora, giggled nervously. “Oh, come on!” she cried. “Don’t be such a Debbie Downer. This has been a tough morning, sure, but…” She trailed off, seeming to have trouble coming up with anything positive to say.
“But what?” Akinyi asked from the seat behind me. “Every cloud has a silver lining? April showers bring May flowers? I got it, Deb—and thanks, but I’m just going to go ahead and be sad for the time being.”
Deb cringed, clearly hurt by Akinyi’s harsh tone. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “Are you upset about Josh?”
Akinyi snorted, looking out the window. “You think?” she asked sarcastically.
“Akinyi,” I broke in, trying to use soothing tones to relieve the tension in the car, “do you want to talk about what happened with Josh? I mean, of course you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but…maybe it would help you feel better?” And maybe it would help me solve this case, I added silently.
Akinyi frowned, shaking her head and looking down into her lap. As we stopped at a light and she raised her head again, I could see tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “It’s so silly,” she said, sniffling. “Basically, he was jealous.”
“Of what?” I asked, at the same time Pandora asked, “Of who?”
“Of Jamal,” Akinyi replied, as though the mere thought were ridiculous. “Can you even?”
I frowned, not sure where she was going with this. “Why would Josh be jealous of Jamal?” I asked. “Had he flirted with you?”
Akinyi smirked ruefully. “No. Worse than that,” she replied, then sighed. “Jamal and I were together for a couple weeks last October, while Josh and I were broken up.”
My mouth dropped open, and I forgot to go when the light turned green. After a couple steady honks from behind me, I shook my head and got on my way.
They were together? I didn’t even know they knew each other!
“How did you meet Jamal?” I asked.
“Syd and Vic introduced us,” Akinyi replied. “Jamal was on personal leave, and he came by our apartment for a dinner party Syd and Vic decided to throw. Josh and I had just broken up over some stupid e-mail, and I thought Jamal was really cute and intelligent, so…” She threw up her hands in a motion that seemed to say, That was that.
“Wow!” cried Deb. She sounded so excited, I thought she might end up in Akinyi’s lap. “You and Jamal! Who would have guessed, right?”
Pandora was turned around in her seat, still stroking her crystal as she gazed at Akinyi with a curious expression. “How did you leave it?” she asked. “You know, when Jamal went back to Iraq?”
Akinyi shrugged. “We enjoyed each other’s company, and now it’s over,” she replied. “A week later Josh and I were back together. I never should have told him about Jamal. Ever since then, he’s had this complex about my still being into him.”
“Did you keep in touch?” I asked.
Akinyi shook her head. “No. He wrote me a couple e-mails, but I was back with Josh, so I didn’t answer. But then at the party…” She sighed and broke off.
Deb was watching her with wide eyes. “What?!” she demanded. “What! Tell us, Akinyi, what happened?”
Akinyi looked thoughtful, and a tiny smile appeared on her face. “Jamal pulled me aside,” she replied. “I went upstairs to use the ladies’ room, and he saw me and took me outside. He told me he thought about me all the time, and he thought there might still be something between us.”
“Oh my gosh!” Deb cried, bouncing up and down in her chair. “And then? You said?”
Akinyi’s expression turned sad again. “I told him no,” she replied, “because I really loved Josh. And I did! I mean, I do.” She closed her eyes and let out a little sob. Deb leaned over and wrapped her arms around Akinyi, and Akinyi looked horrified and grateful at the same time.
Beside me, Pandora was watching all of this with a pensive expression. “It can be hard sometimes,” she said finally, reaching over to press her pink crystal into Akinyi’s hand. “I know how it goes. Sometimes it can be hard to let go, even though a relationship is over.”
Hmmmm.
I pulled into the hotel parking lot, considering all the new information I now had to think about.
REALITY TELEVISION?
The Daredevils producers wasted no time in setting up a day for Syd to shop for a new dress with her bridal party. That Thursday morning, just two days after I’d dropped Akinyi, Deb, and Pandora back at the hotel, Bess, George, and I traveled back there to board a limo filled with bridesmaids, both moms—and a camera crew.
“Try to act natural,” Hans encouraged us, obviously trying very hard not to scowl at our totally unnatural behavior. Deb had just sidled up to Sydney, smiled, looked directly into the camera, and announced in a near-shout, “SO, SYDNEY, TELL US ABOUT THE DRESS YOU WANT TO BUY.”
I understood that Hans wanted us to act “real,” but it was difficult with eight women, a cameraman, a sound man, Donald, and Hans crammed into a stretch limo. On the phone last night, Donald had explained to me that we’d spend the whole day traveling from bridal shop to bridal shop, trying to find Syd the perfect replacement dress in just a few hours. Now Donald watched us with a concerned expression, no doubt worried about how this “scene” was going to turn out.
Bess took a small bite of a doughnut and settled back against the leather bench, clearly trying to act calm. “What are you looking for, Syd?” she asked in a tone that closely matched her normal voice.
Syd sighed, looking thoughtful. Of all of us, she was the most comfortable around the cameras—probably from all the practice she’d had this week! “I think, now that I have a chance to start over, I want to go all-out,” she replied. “Like a ball gown! I think something big and poufy could be fun.”
George caught her eye and shook her head with a faux grimace. “I can’t believe we’re related,” she deadpanned.
Syd just chuckled. “You can do it your way when you walk down the aisle, coz.”
Soon we reached the first store, where we all trooped out and set up in the dressing room to watch Syd try on five dresses the producers had already picked out. Syd liked a couple of them, but each dress seemed to have a problem associated with it—it was too big, or it couldn’t be delivered in time, or the sample dress (which Syd would have to take, since she was buying on short notice) was way too big for Syd’s birdlike frame.
“Don’t you think it’s weird,” George whispered to me during a break in filming, “that the producers already picked these dresses out, and yet they won’t be ready in time?”
I shrugged. Even just in the last couple of hours, I’d developed a lot of skepticism about so-called “reality” TV. The shopping was taking forever, because some dresses had to be tried on several times so the cameraman could get shots from several different angles. If Syd said something interesting and the sound guy didn’t pick it up, she had to say it again—and again. And again. If she didn’t sound “natural” enough on the second or third or sixteenth take, Hans would rephrase it for her. And the whole time, Donald was pushing the rest of us to “get involved.”
“Do you think this is the right dress for her?” he whispered to Ellie as Syd modeled a low-cut number the producers had picked out for her. “Would you feel comfortable with her wearing that on her wedding day?”
Ellie had looked incredibly uncomfortable, but had finally said diplomatically, “I think she looks very pretty.” No matter what anyone asked, she wouldn’t say any more.
We traveled to the next store, and then the next. While the producers had selected only a few dresses at each location, it still took forever for Syd to try them all on, due to all the setting up and reshoots. We were all hungry, since we weren’t supposed to eat lunch until after we finished three stores, and I could sense everyone growing tired of shopping. It didn’t help, of course, that none of the dresses the producers had chosen actually seemed suitable.
Finally the final dress was filmed, and Vic’s mom seemed to please Hans by telling Syd it was a little tight. Syd chuckled, and we all perked up a little, assuming this meant we could leave the store and have lunch. But then Donald announced that Hans was going to do one-on-one interviews, starting with the moms. He pulled them into a separate room as Syd dropped next to me on the sofa with a sigh.
I waited until the full crew was out of earshot before turning to her with an incredulous look. “How have you put up with this all week?!” I demanded.
Syd just laughed. “Oh, Nance,” she said, squeezing my arm. “I’m sorry, you guys. I know this is tough. Being a reality TV star isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!”
I shook my head. “No, no. We’re fine. This is just one long day for us, but you’ve been doing this since you arrived in town! You must be going nuts.”
Syd leaned back against the sofa and shrugged. “It’s not fun, sometimes. But ever since I took Vic back, I have a new philosophy.”
George leaned in. “Which is?”
Syd smiled. “I love Vic,” she replied. “And I’m getting married to him, and that’s all that matters.”
Akinyi moved closer, shaking her head. “Still,” she said irritably, “don’t you ever regret agreeing to get married on television? I mean, I would get sick of these guys following me around, making me re-enact everything so they can film it in the right light.”
Syd frowned, looking thoughtful. “Well, you know, I was originally against it,” she replied. Yes—you and your mom, I thought. “But when I did the math I realized Vic was right. Filming the whole thing might be a little uncomfortable, but in the end, we’ll have a great DVD to show our kids and a nice little nest egg to start out with!”
Akinyi raised an eyebrow. “How much of a nest egg?” she demanded. “Because I’m telling you, I would want to be able to quit my job to put up with as much as you’re putting up with.”
I could sense everyone squirming uncomfortably. Granted, Akinyi was still dealing with her very sudden breakup, but she seemed to get more irritable and cranky every day. And asking Syd exactly how much she and Vic were getting for this special seemed a little impolite.
Syd didn’t look upset, though. “Let’s put it this way,” she explained. “Vic and I will be able to put a down payment on a nice house—and have enough left over to throw a whole other wedding, if we want.”
Akinyi looked skeptical. “Okay,” she replied, turning away. “If that’s enough for you.”
I saw a little crease form between Syd’s eyebrows. It looked like her friend’s criticisms were finally starting to get to her. “Listen,” she said, “the producers have been very generous. They’re giving us a nice lump sum, plus they’re paying for the wedding, paying for the honeymoon, they wrote that nice check for the Books for Kids Foundation—”
But then Syd broke off, putting her hand over her mouth, as though she realized she’d said something she shouldn’t.
“Huh?” Bess asked. “What’s the Books for Kids Foundation?”
Syd glanced over at the door to the room where the mothers were being interviewed, then lowered her voice. “I’m really not supposed to say anything about this,” she whispered, “but the producers wrote a nice check to my mother’s favorite charity, Books for Kids. That really changed her perception of them, and of whether this TV special was a good idea.”
I met George’s eye. Aaaaahhh. That explained Ellie’s sudden turnaround—and her ambivalence about the whole TV issue, especially when her daughter was threatened.
“Isn’t that a lot of money?” Deb asked, tilting her head. “It must be expensive for them to film, too. It seems like the producers are spending an awful lot to get this special.”
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