COZY MYSTERY: Wedding Bells & Murder?: A Margie Lauderdale Cozy Mystery (Book 2)

by Liz Turner

  She glanced around, seeing a very dark and very messy room. The walls had dark wood paneling, and the only light came from a small desk lamp. Papers were stacked on every surface except for the three chairs in the room. The carpet was a deep burgundy red. The walls were covered from top to bottom with awards, newspaper clippings, and chef school certifications, all in pretty black picture frames. This catering business, which seemed to be older than the gentleman across the desk from her, was apparently doing a good business.

  “Don’t be so formal; have a seat. Welcome to my company, Miss ...?” he glanced at some paperwork on his desk. It was a miracle he could find anything in this place, “Margaret.”

  “Please call me Margie, Mr. Bevins.”

  The young man laughed. “Mr. Bevins is my grandfather; I’m just the manager. I’m Leroy Bevins, Ms. Margie.”

  “Of course.” So he wasn’t the owner. That didn’t change anything. She would still be more polite and composed than any apprentice he’d ever had. She needed a stellar review from him. Part of that depended on her skills in the kitchen, but the other part was based on his views about women in the workplace. It had been a battle to get some of her instructors to accept her, and she was ready to battle again if she had to.

  “I really appreciate you jumping in and cleaning up when there was nothing else for you to do. I like to see initiative. Most apprentices just stand awkwardly in the doorway for an hour or so until someone orders them to do something,” Leroy leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen between his fingers. “What is it that you hope to gain here with us?”

  “I want to be a caterer, Mr. Leroy. I want to run my own place eventually, but first, I have to learn everything I can about the business.” Margie leaned forward in her seat, hoping her eyes were serious. “And I know you can teach me.”

  Leroy stared at her for a moment, a small smile on his face. “Very well, Ms. Margie. It will not be easy for you; many of the men here are under the impression a woman shouldn’t be doing this type of work. You are going to have to prove them wrong. It will be an obstacle you'll have to face all through your career, so I can’t save you from it. It will come up sooner or later.”

  “It already has, sir.” Margie made a face. “I was the only girl in my class.”

  He winced. “I see. Well then, Ms. Margie, you certainly have the gumption, and I know you can succeed here. It won’t be easy, but I will support you however I can.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “For your first day, I want you to shadow Marlin since you two already have introduced each other. Stay out of his way, but listen hard and do what he does. Don’t try to show him up, or you’ll find yourself on his bad side. Go on.”

  So she did, her heart thundering in her chest. She was actually here!

  Suddenly the phone rang in Leroy’s office, and Margie nearly jumped out of her skin. She needed to calm down if she was going to stay here. She took a deep breath trying to settle her nerves as Leroy answered the phone. “Cakes and Bakes, this is Leroy, how... Oh, oh no, that’s not good. Hold on just a second.”

  Leroy covered the mouthpiece of the phone with his palm, his nose wrinkled in distaste. “Can you hold this a minute?” Leroy handed her the phone, which she took awkwardly and then hollered out his office door. “Benjamin; come here a second, would you?”

  “Yes, sir?” The man asked, walking up and wiping his hands on his apron. Benjamin looked to be about thirty, with broad shoulders and a barrel of a chest that would have been more at home on a wrestling field than a kitchen. He had pleasantly dark skin and a shaved head that suited him.

  “The wedding we just sent off to is short a server. You available tonight?”

  “No, sir, I have my second job to go to tonight, sir.”

  Leroy chewed his lip as Margie stood up and turned around to face him. “We don’t have anyone else with serving experience here. I guess they will just have to be short.”

  “I was a waitress for seven years, sir. Is that any help?” Margie asked.

  Leroy looked at her. Benjamin did too, and his look was less than kind. It would be best to watch out for him; he probably assumed she was trying to steal work from him. “In fact, it would. Do you have any black shoes, Ms. Margie?”

  She grinned at him, trying not to look at the angry face of the man beside Leroy. “At all times, sir.”

  “Well then, I guess the only question I have left is: are you free tonight?”

  Chapter 3

  Margie was much more in her element here than she had been in the catering kitchen. She took a deep breath, taking in the smells of the community center’s wedding hall. It smelled like beeswax from all the candles. The wedding was set to start in seven minutes, and the seats were full. Lucky for her, Margie would get to watch a wedding and serve at the reception too. How exciting!

  The pay wasn’t bad either, but her biggest reward for the evening was proving to Mr. Bevins she could (and would) do anything to make it. Even if it meant working overtime and special events.

  Camelia had been quite sour when she’d mentioned the wedding. Apparently she and the bride had gone to school together, and she’d been expecting an invite. Margie knew Kitty vaguely from her time working at the Bonne Table. She’d stopped in regularly, and Margie always admired her amazing shoes. She had a collection bigger than most people’s whole closets.

  Two of the bridesmaids walked in front of the assortment of dishes Margie would be serving in a few minutes, eyeing it. “What a nice spread Kitty ordered,” one of them whispered, her eyes glittering hungrily at the food. She was a pretty thing, with long, poker straight blonde hair and perfect makeup. The girls wore lavender dresses and held adorable little bouquets of white flowers. Both were most likely from out of town, and Margie had never met them.

  “It does look yummy. I can’t wait for this to be over with so we can eat. What’s the hold up anyway?” The second wasn’t as pretty as the first, but she was still quite stunning, her brunette hair done up and dotted with flowers. Margie secretly thought the flowers made her look kind of juvenile.

  “Bride’s mom is not where she should be; she’s been missing since last night,” the blonde bridesmaid rolled her eyes, using her pinky and thumb by her mouth to indicate the woman was something of a drinker. Perhaps Kitty’s mother had been drunk most of the weekend. Margie frowned. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would try to ruin their child’s wedding by drinking so hard that they forgot to show up. Margie’s parents hadn’t been the most supportive, but at least they had shown up when she needed them there.

  Had I ever gotten married, I know for a fact my Mother and Father would be there, no matter what. Margie smiled a little sadly. Although she went home for holidays and special occasions, she still missed the family from time to time. When Margie had first moved to Bristol from home, Camelia had told her that a little distance made them much easier to love. How right she had been!

  Just then, someone screamed! The absolute terror in her voice cutting through Margie’s bones like a knife. Without thinking, Margie grabbed the first weapon she could find and ran towards the voice, ready to defend anyone who was being attacked. She had run before she thought, so she was the first one through the door into the dressing rooms. The bride continued to scream, tears ruining her lovely makeup as she cried and hollered at the top of her lungs. Margie nearly careened into her, skidding to a halt not an inch from the woman. Margie looked at her; the woman’s dress was on and properly in place. She didn’t look like she was being attacked. “Are you alright, Kitty?” she asked, dropping her arm so it didn’t look like she was threatening the poor frightened thing with the giant silver serving spoons she had grabbed as weapons.

  The woman buried her face in Margie’s uniform, clutching the front of her black vest and white collared shirt with shaking fingers. The bride continued to cry as she whispered, “Oh, my mom, my mom...” over and over again into Margie’s shirt.

  Looking past the bride, Margie
glanced around the room, looking for a sign as to what had upset her. It was a normal dressing room, the vanity lit up like a theater. It was decorated with dark woods and white, flowy curtains. Inside of the closet, there was a light on. The light silhouetted the body of a woman, hanging from a rope tied to the ceiling.

  She was definitely dead.

  Margie gulped. All the bad guys had actually waited until she was back in town to commit murder.

  The groom came tumbling down the hallway, and Margie looked up at him, her arms around the weeping Kitty. Without raising her voice, she ordered him to remain calm. “Your bride is fine; I need to you to call the police right now,” Margie said, keeping her voice low and even. “Tell them there has been a murder. But don’t tell everyone, or else there will be a panic.”

  More people flooded the hallway, and Margie managed to pass off the weeping bride to a bystander and recruit a few of the panicking wedding guests to block off the entrance. Margie ordered them to stay put and ran to the victim, checking her pulse. Margie already knew she was dead even before her fingers touched the ice-cold neck of the woman.

  Poor Kitty; the shivering crying girl’s wedding was ruined.

  Her mother would never get to see her married.

  Margie, tears dotting her eyes, stepped out into the hallway, blocking the view for most of the nosey folks who had come by to see what they could see. “Everyone out of the hallway! You could be destroying evidence!”

  She turned to the two gossipy bridesmaids from before and whispered to them. “If anyone tries to leave, do your best to keep them here. If they leave anyway, make sure you get down their names, what they are wearing, and what they are driving if you can.”

  Their eyes wide and their faces pale, the girls ran away to the main dining hall.

  Margie stood guard in the doorway. Some of the groomsmen herded people out of the hallway to prevent further contamination of the crime scene and to make room for the police as soon as they got there. It left Margie alone with the body, standing guard. Knowing she was in a room with a dead body was giving her the shivers. Unable to look back at the hanging woman, Margie instead hummed to herself, trying not to think too hard about what was behind her back.

  Who would have killed this woman? Margie asked herself, her mind reeling from the possibilities.

  It took Ray an eternity to get there, and Margie had just about run out of nursery rhymes to hum when he came around the corner. Ray looked like he hadn’t slept in a few days as he rounded the corner, but that was no surprise. Even when his caseload was empty, he still looked like that. Margie was pretty sure if he had a month long vacation at the most relaxing beach in the world, he would still look exhausted.

  “Well then, Margie. Here we are again. What are you doing here already? And why are you holding those spoons?” Ray glanced down at the giant silver serving spoons and made a face.

  “My boss needed an extra server here because someone called in sick. I’m standing here to guard the crime scene against people trampling through it.” She crossed her arms over her chest, spoons and all, and stared him down. “And I’m holding these spoons because they were the biggest heaviest things I could find right away. The bride was screaming like she was being attacked by dogs back here, so I brought something with me that I could beat someone up with if I had to.”

  The two police officers accompanying Ray laughed into their hands, trying to pretend they were coughing. Margie turned on them too. “It was better than coming back here with nothing, gentlemen.”

  They nodded, laughter lighting up their eyes as they tried to keep it contained. Margie made a face. “Mother of the bride; she’s in the closet,” she said, stepping aside and letting the men in to do their job. She was done playing detective; Ray would have to handle this on his own. Margie had her own career to worry about now. Best to leave it to the pros.

  So Margie walked away, serving up drinks and plates of food to a very somber looking crowd. She knew she wouldn’t be able to help much, but these folks would need food and drink to keep their wits about them. Nothing like a good meal to make even the worst of situations a tiny bit better. She certainly wasn’t solving world peace, but she was doing everything she could to comfort the almost three hundred people there for the wedding. The other servers were completely useless, so Margie kept at it alone. Although Kitty and her husband to be's family were local, more than half the guests were Kitty’s friends and from out of town. She tried to memorize their faces, studying everyone and wondering who was responsible. Margie handed out drinks and spoke to a few people, listening to those who needed it and handing out tissues to the rest.

  “So who do you think did it?” Someone whispered as Margie walked by. They were obviously trying to keep themselves from being overheard, so Margie did her best not to react.

  A male voice answered. “Wouldn’t be surprised if the bride and groom did it,” a male voice answered, his voice growling with disapproval. “You know, she didn’t even invite her mother to this wedding at all; Martha just showed up last minute. Kitty and Jacob will get all her property when the old bat died too.”

  The female voice, belonging to one of the bridesmaids, whispered back, “Kitty didn’t like her mom, but you really don’t think she would kill her, do you?”

  The male whisperer gave a noncommittal grunt in return. “Why, who do you think did it?”

  “I think the mom offed herself, just to ruin Kitty’s wedding.” the female voice said, her voice full of a sneer. Margie wanted to hit them both for their gossiping but still felt like she might learn something. So she kept her mouth shut. “Bet she thought someone would find her before she died and there would be ambulances and medical personnel tromping the pretty carpets.”

  “Well, intended or not, she certainly ruined the whole thing for Kitty.”

  Margie walked away, keeping her head down and grabbing more water for the faint and the sick at heart. She burned a little under the collar at the flippant way those people spoke about the dead woman like she was some sort of circus act. Had they no compassion for the family? What was with people these days? Margie’s mother would have boxed her ears had she ever dreamed of speaking like that.

  After a couple of hours of getting food and drinks for the mourners and listening for more clues, Margie was finally called back to interview with the police.

  Ray sat at a small folding table. Across from him sat Kitty, still decked to the nines in her wedding dress, her shoulders shaking violently with her sobs as she told him what she had seen. The husband-to-be, Jacob, looking angry with tears in his eyes, pulled her out of the chair. He removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders; Margie wondered if he would be cold in the nippy, fall air in just the short-sleeved shirt he’d had underneath. Although when he walked Kitty out of the interview room, he looked too upset to notice the weather. Hopefully, he was taking her somewhere to rest and get some air.

  Ray watched them leave before turning to Margie. She sat down across from him with a huff.

  “Margie, what do you have for me?” Ray asked, scratching his head. “Exactly no one has been helpful. No one saw her leave, no one saw anyone with her, no one saw her interact with anyone but the bride. No one even remembers when she got into town.”

  “I overheard someone say that the bride and groom get all of her property if she dies,” Margie said, sadly, hoping it wasn’t true. Margie didn’t think Kitty would do it, but then again, no one ever looked like a murderer. The poor girl looked too upset to be faking it. Didn’t she? “I also heard someone say that they thought the mom did it to herself for attention, but no one heard her and came to her rescue. So she wasn’t suicidal, just wanted someone to pay attention to her.”

  “Well, whoever murdered her really wanted to make it look like she offed herself. They, unfortunately for them, didn’t know she was left-handed.”

  “Only 15% of the population is left-handed, Ray. Assuming she was right-handed is the way to go if you aren�
��t sure.”

  Ray shook his head. “How do you remember little factoids like that so easily?”

  She shrugged, her eyes roving over the papers in front of Ray before she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be helping. Focus on your cooking career and leave the crime solving to the police. “Things just stick in my head.”

  “Did you learn anything else?”

  “Martha was an alcoholic,” Margie said. “Or sounded like one from what everyone was saying. It was why Kitty didn’t originally invite her to the wedding. But Martha promised not to drink if Kitty would let her come to the ceremony.” Margie’s shoulders drooped as Ray took notes. “Some girls were talking this evening that she probably got drunk and passed out somewhere.”

  Ray’s lips thinned as he scowled. “We won’t know if she was drinking until we get the autopsy report back

  Margie stood up, adjusting the skirt of her uniform. “Am I free to go, Officer Brighton? I need to get back to those poor people out there and make sure they are at least holding it together.”