by Cindy Bell
“Anne, it's okay,” Wendy smiled warmly. “I've looked at the flowers Beverly is providing, and they are just as beautiful. It will be perfect.”
“But Lisa is your friend,” Anne reminded her.
Wendy frowned. She didn't have the heart to tell Anne that Lisa had refused to work with Celeste or be anywhere near her. She also knew that letting Celeste have that win might be enough to satisfy the woman and keep her from demanding control in other areas of the wedding.
“Lisa had some prior engagements,” Wendy explained. “She understood that Celeste preferred the other florist.”
“You mean she didn't want to do the wedding after the scene we put on?” Anne said, reminding Wendy of her keen perception.
“All that matters now is everyone is getting along, and you are a couple of days away from the wedding,” Wendy smiled. “No need to stress over a florist, what's done is done, and the flowers will be wonderful. I hope that you are able to enjoy your wedding day for the magical day that it is.”
“I think I will be able to,” Anne replied with a small smile. “My father reminded me of just how important it is to be kind, and generous. I think Celeste must have had a very difficult life for her to be so miserable.”
“That's probably true,” Wendy nodded, impressed by Anne's ability to have compassion for Celeste even after everything she had said and done to hurt her. “Get some rest, Anne,” Wendy smiled warmly. “Your big day will be here soon.”
“Thanks, Wendy,” Anne replied and gave her a quick hug before walking off.
***
On her drive home, Wendy's phone chimed. She glanced at it to see that it was a text from Celeste. She left it until she arrived home at her condo and had parked her car. Then she looked at it again.
Please confirm the cocktails between the wedding and dinner.
Wendy raised an eyebrow. It was late, but she knew how fussy Celeste was, so she sent back a menu of what drinks would be available to the guests. She was just getting out of her car when her phone chimed again. She expected it to be a thank you note from Celeste for sending the menu. It was a text from Celeste but it definitely did not say thank you.
Not acceptable, we need more high end drinks. Please give this list to your bartender, if he can't make the drinks, then we need to find someone else.
Wendy was very confused. Just a little while ago Celeste had been angry that there was wine at the table, now she was demanding certain cocktails. She could only put it down to Celeste being as difficult as possible. Wendy couldn't even imagine trying to find a skilled bartender on a day's notice. Wendy decided to ignore the text for the night and headed into the condo. After the fourth question mark text, Wendy turned her phone off and set it down beside her bed. She took being rested for the weddings she planned very seriously. Now that the confirmations were done and the final selections had been made, she could feel confident about getting a few hours of solid sleep. She nestled into her pillows and closed her eyes.
Chapter Four
When Wendy woke up the next morning her heart was instantly pounding. She rarely felt anxious about the weddings she planned any more, other than that expected twinge that she hoped everything went well. However, when she sat up in bed, she had a terrible feeling. She picked up her phone and turned it on. Immediately, notifications of about fifteen texts came through.
Each and every one of them was from Celeste. Wendy shook her head as she reviewed them. All were petty demands about the wedding, from ensuring the wine glasses were a certain height, to requesting a specific brand of runner for the bride to walk down. Wendy tucked her phone away, determined not to answer her right away. She tried to reassure herself that this was good news, as it meant that Celeste had accepted that the wedding would go ahead.
After a quick shower Wendy dressed and sat down in her office. She began going through Celeste's texts slowly and responding to them with what she could and couldn't do the day before the wedding. Wendy was hoping the rehearsal lunch would go as smoothly as the family dinner had the night before. She contacted everyone in the wedding party who would be attending the lunch to ensure they would be there. Then she selected a dress to wear for the lunch. She hated to admit it but Celeste's critical eye played a part in her choice.
The rest of the morning was filled with last minute wedding activities. Wendy was caught up in a dilemma with one of the musicians for the ceremony and didn't realize the time. It was just after one and the rehearsal lunch started at one.
Wendy’s heart began racing as she realized that she had left the group unsupervised. As she was getting dressed and putting on her makeup she texted Anne to let her know she would be arriving soon, but received no response. Then she texted Celeste in an attempt to keep the peace. She walked to her car as fast as she could as she tried not to trip over in her high heels.
“Wendy,” she turned to see Mrs. Sykes, her lovely but overly talkative neighbor, calling out to her.
“Mrs. Sykes,” Wendy said quickly. “I’m sorry but I can’t talk now,” she said in a rush as she continued walking to her car. “I’m late for lunch.”
“Oh, okay, nothing urgent, I’ll speak to you tomorrow,” she said with a smile as she waved to her.
“Thanks, Mrs. Sykes,” Wendy called out as she reached her car. She checked her phone. Neither Anne nor Celeste had texted her back. Wendy frowned and tried calling Anne's cell phone number. It went straight to voicemail. She left a message, and then tried Celeste's number. It rang a few times and then it went to voicemail.
Wendy felt a sudden sense of urgency. She started her car and rushed to get to the hotel. All kinds of possibilities played through her mind as she battled traffic to get to the rehearsal lunch. Had Anne decided against the wedding after all? Had Celeste caused some kind of drama that had caused everyone to flee? Or, was Wendy just reading too much into it, and perhaps the two women had ignored their cell phones in honor of the lunch, that she was late for. When she arrived at the hotel she was relieved to see that it was still there. She parked and hurried into the lobby. Then she continued straight to the banquet hall. In her mind she visualized a happy scene, with everyone laughing and celebrating while sharing delicious food. She pushed open the door with this scene in mind.
That was not the scene that greeted her. The table was abandoned, with the members of the wedding party scattered around the room whispering softly to one another. Wendy could see their looks of concern and embarrassment, and she soon discovered the reason for those expressions. She could hear Anne quietly crying.
“What is going on?” Wendy asked with grave concern as she walked further into the banquet hall. Anne was standing just beside Suzette. Her face was streaked with what remained of her make-up, her eyes were red rimmed and swollen. Wendy glanced around the room but she saw no sign of Rowan or Chris. “What's wrong, Anne? What's happened?”
“I can't believe her, I just can't believe her,” Anne said between sobs. “She is a horrible, terrible woman, and I can't do this anymore.”
Wendy frowned and gave Anne a gentle hug. “Take a breath, sweetie, it's the day before your wedding, there's a lot of stress. Just try to slow down, and tell me what happened. I'm sure we can fix it.”
“I doubt it with that bitch,” Suzette rolled her eyes.
“My cake-cutting knife,” Anne gulped out. “I had it here so we could display it today at the rehearsal lunch. She stalked in here, she took my knife, and left this one,” she held up a silver cake-cutting knife. It was engraved with the date of the wedding and the initials of the bride and groom. It was a decent knife, but it certainly wasn't the ornate antique knife that had been handed down through Anne's family. “I didn't fight her on the dress. I didn't fight her on the tuxedo, or the menu, or anything that she took control over. This is the one thing I wanted,” she wiped at her eyes and shook her head. Wendy quickly handed her a tissue from her purse.
“I know you must think I'm being silly,” Anne sniffled. “But I just c
an't take much more. I'm not even sure that I want to go through with the wedding.”
“Oh no, don't say that,” Wendy said quickly. She took the knife from Anne and tucked it into her purse. “Let me go find Celeste. I'll give this back to her, and get you your knife. She is not going to ruin this day for you, Anne, not if there's anything I can do to stop it.”
“Thank you, Wendy,” Anne said and wiped at her eyes. “I so badly want to marry Rowan, but if it's going to be like this for the rest of our lives, I just don't know.”
“Where is Rowan?” Wendy asked as she glanced around.
“He went off with his brother somewhere,” Suzette waved her hand dismissively. She lost her balance slightly when she did. Wendy narrowed her eyes as she looked at the woman closely.
“Suzette, have you been drinking?” Wendy asked cautiously.
“It's a party, isn't it?” Suzette shot back with annoyance. “Let me get you a nice, tall glass of wine, Anne darling,” Suzette said with a smirk. “You're going to need it in this family, trust me.”
Wendy frowned, but she knew that a drink wouldn't be the worst thing for Anne at the moment. Wendy might even consider joining them after she spoke to Celeste. She stepped out into the hallway outside the banquet hall. The hotel was large, but most of the guest facilities were on the first floor. Unless Celeste had left the hotel, Wendy was hoping that some old fashioned paging would help her find the woman. She began repeatedly dialing Celeste's cell phone number.
Instead of waiting for her to answer, as Wendy expected she wouldn't, she listened closely for the woman's shrill ring tone that had annoyed her to no end since the first time she heard it. She didn't hear anything at first, until she turned down a short hallway. There were only four rooms off the hallway, and a small reading area with a clock and shelf above a wooden table. It was just a little nook where people from the banquet hall could retreat to if things got too noisy. Wendy could hear the ring tone. It was coming from one of the rooms on the left side of the hall. In fact it was coming from the room which had a little sign hanging from it declaring that it was closed for maintenance. Wendy reached for the doorknob.
“Celeste?” she called out, and then waited a moment. She didn't want to walk in on the woman in an embarrassing situation. When she heard no response she dialed her number once more. She heard the shrill ring tone on the other side of the door.
Carefully, Wendy turned the knob on the door. The first thing she noticed was the smell of strong fumes. The walls had recently been painted and were still in the process of drying. There were still plastic drop cloths on the floor, and paint cans scattered about. In the middle of all of this, was a splash of crimson. Wendy thought it was paint at first. Then it dawned on her that the walls were being painted white. There would be no reason for red paint. She followed the splash with her eyes until it led to Celeste, laying face up on the floor, with the antique cake-cutting knife sticking out of her chest.
Chapter Five
Wendy crouched down beside Celeste's body, and felt her stomach churn. She could tell that she was dead, but she still had to check to see if there was a pulse. She found Celeste's skin still warm to the touch, but there was no evidence of a pulse.
With a trembling hand Wendy pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed the police. She reported the name of the hotel and the location of the body, as well as the name of the person who had been killed. As soon as she hung up with the police, she stood up and dialed Brian's phone number. She waited impatiently for him to answer, her heart pounding against her chest.
“Did you miss me?” Brian asked in a smug tone.
“Brian,” Wendy breathed out desperately before he could even finish. “Something terrible has happened!”
“What?” Brian asked with immediate urgency in his voice. “Are you okay? Are you in trouble?”
“I'm okay,” Wendy replied breathlessly. “But the mother of the groom is dead, she's been murdered.”
“Celeste? The woman that you've been telling me about?” Brian asked swiftly. “Are you safe?”
“I think so,” Wendy replied. “I just found her body, I've called the police.”
“Wendy, stay right there until the police arrive,” Brian instructed. “Only tell them how you found the body, nothing more, understand me?”
“I do,” Wendy replied fearfully. She had been falsely accused of a crime before, and she had learned her lesson about saying too much to the police. Wendy was paralyzed by her discovery. She thought she should tell Anne, she should tell Rowan, and Chris, but she couldn't bring herself to dial her phone. She couldn't bring herself to leave the room. Somewhere in the middle of all of the emotional chaos in her mind she realized that now there would certainly be no wedding. Celeste, despite her murder not being her fault, had still managed to get what she wanted.
The police arrived quickly and after a few quick but thorough questions, which Wendy answered very carefully, they escorted Wendy out of the room with an order not to go far. Wendy stood in the hallway, still in a state of shock. As more police officers and the medical examiner arrived, Anne and Rowan came walking down the hallway hand in hand. They were looking curiously at the gathering of police and officials.
“Wendy, why are all the police here?” Anne asked with some concern. Wendy looked from Anne to Rowan, who did not yet know that his mother was dead. It made her feel sick to her stomach all over again to be the one that had to break the news.
“I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I just found Celeste,” she hesitated a moment and lowered her eyes. “She's been killed.”
“What?” Rowan shouted drawing the attention of a few of the police officers.
“Celeste?” Anne repeated, her eyes wide. Her face drained of color as she looked over at Rowan. “How?”
“That's not possible,” Rowan stammered out. “Nothing could kill that woman,” his eyes were glazed with emotion, but what kind of emotion Wendy couldn't quite determine.
“We have a few questions,” one of the officers said sharply as soon as he was informed of who Anne and Rowan were.
Wendy was nudged out of the way as the officers began interviewing Rowan and Anne. She knew that she shouldn't get in the middle of the investigation, but she was so intrigued that she listened in as much as she could.
“Where were you in the last hour?” one of the officers asked as he pulled Anne away from Rowan.
“After Celeste took my knife, I went for a walk,” Anne whispered. “I was upset.”
“Why were you upset?” the officer asked.
“I had an argument with Celeste,” Anne admitted and fought back tears. “I needed to cool off.”
“Did anyone go on this walk with you?” the officer narrowed his eyes.
“No,” Anne shook her head slowly. “I was alone. Then I returned to the banquet hall, and that was when Wendy arrived. She told me she would take care of it, that she would get the knife back and talk to Celeste.”
Wendy felt her heart sink. She could tell from the line of questioning that Anne would be a suspect. Of all the people that had flashed through Wendy's mind as potential suspects, Anne had not been one of them. Even knowing that she had no alibi for the murder, Wendy still didn't believe she was capable of the crime but then again people often surprised her. Her phone chimed, alerting her to a text. She checked it to discover that Brian had arrived at the hotel. She walked out to the lobby to meet him.
“They've got just about every officer on the police force out here,” Brian said grimly. “This is a huge case.”
“Celeste was very well known,” Wendy nodded slightly. “I haven’t seen Officer Polson,” Wendy said. Wendy had come to know Officer Polson in less than ideal circumstances, when she had been arrested by him for murder. She thought she might be able to get some information from him.
“He’s on leave.” Brian nodded. “You found her?” Brian asked softly though he already knew the answer to that question. “Are you handling it
okay?”
“I think so,” Wendy replied nervously.
Brian's hazel eyes were clouded with emotion as they intently peered into hers. “Please tell me you have an alibi.”
Wendy's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of herself as being a suspect in the crime. But the more she considered it, the more she realized she would be. After the words she'd had with Celeste, she was just as likely to want to harm the woman as anyone else. She thought for a few moments trying to piece together the time frame and she realized that luckily she did have an alibi.
“Well, from what I’ve heard they think the murder occurred in the last hour or so. Celeste stormed out with the cake knife when the guests saw her alive. So, yes I do have an alibi. I was at home, my neighbor, Mrs. Sykes, saw me leaving and then I came straight here, spoke to Anne and then found Celeste,” Wendy said quickly. “But Anne doesn't have an alibi.”
“Anne, the bride?” Brian asked and cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think she was involved?”
“Absolutely not,” Wendy replied and shook her head. “She's a sweet woman, wouldn’t harm a fly.”
“But you said that Celeste was practically torturing her throughout this process,” Brian reminded her. “Maybe she just couldn't take it anymore.”
“No,” Wendy said firmly. “I just can't believe that.”
“You won't,” Brian corrected in a murmur.
“What?” Wendy asked with annoyance.
“Look Wendy, I'm just saying, you've grown to like this woman. Sometimes it's hard to think of someone we care for as being capable of such a terrible crime,” he explained and took her hand gently in his.
“That's not what's happening here,” Wendy said firmly. “I just know she couldn't do this.” But Wendy also knew that as nice as Anne seemed, a woman like Celeste could push anyone over the edge. She just wasn’t going to admit that to Brian.