BRIDE and DOOM (The Wedding Planner Mysteries Book 2) (9 page)

              As gorgeous as she was, the way Mandy was holding the candlestick—eyes dark and fiery, her face twitching with rage—Kitty was sure she wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

              “Oh good,” Kitty said through a trembling smile, thinking that the best way to survive would be to play dumb and make light of her transgression. “You found the candlestick.”

              Mandy glanced down at the candlestick then her gaze snapped up to Kitty. “I thought someone had broken in. What are you doing with that box?”

              Kitty glanced down at the open shoebox in her hands, the stacks of glossy photographs inside. “Well...” she began, hoping a lie good enough to get her out of this would come to mind. “Well, nothing really. I got sidetracked. I apologize. The box fell accidentally.”

              “Put it back,” she ordered.

              Showing her cooperation, Kitty immediately slid the box onto the top shelf then tidied up the other fallen items: a broom and dust pan, a winter coat, an old sneaker. She closed the closet door.

              “Some things are private,” Mandy stated.

              “Yes, I understand, I’m so sorry.”

              Mandy set the candlestick on the hallway table and it was then that Kitty sighed in immense relief.

              Mandy did as well. She burst into tears, hands covering her angelic face. Kitty furrowed her brow, feeling suddenly awkward about comforting the woman who’d nearly clubbed her.

              “I’m so stressed out,” she cried. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Kitty.”

              “There, there,” she said, giving Mandy a little pat on the shoulder.

              “I didn’t kill Johnny!” she exclaimed. Mandy straightened up and wiped under her eyes to catch the running mascara, but it did no good. She looked like a woodland creature—a wily raccoon.

              Kitty figured that was her way of addressing the candlestick, but what was her explanation for the contents of that box?

              “Mandy, I don’t think you had anything to do with Johnny’s death. I was with you when it happened. I mean, I think I was. Unless he was killed earlier...” Wandering into skepticism wasn’t helping so Kitty added, “Is there anything you want to tell me? Anything I don’t know that if I did I could help?”

              “Oh God, Kitty. We’re supposed to be at the church by now.”

              “It’s Ok,” she said to reassure the bride and possible murderer. “I called them and pushed it back a few hours. Sterling doesn’t think Erik did it.”

              She brightened up a bit at that then the gears in her head started turning.

              “He doesn’t think Erik did it, but thinks I did?”

              Kitty froze.

              “That’s who you were talking to, wasn’t it?”

              “He doesn’t think that,” Kitty said firmly even though it was a lie. “I don’t think that. Especially now that I’ve seen what’s in that box.”

              The color drained from Mandy’s face and she shook her head.

              “It can’t be. He couldn’t have.”

              “Mandy, why did you keep those photographs? And in plain sight no less. Weren’t you worried Erik would find them?”

              “He never goes in that closet.”

              Kitty placed a warm hand on Mandy’s arm. “Why did you keep them?”

              Mandy looked at Kitty with pain in her eyes.

              “I wasn’t sure if I’d chosen the right brother.”

              Kitty smirked her understanding then wrapped an arm around Mandy and guided her through the back of the house onto the patio where the sun was shining down and the air was fresh. She helped Mandy to have a seat and reassured her they had time. The church wasn’t going anywhere. She’d marry Erik tomorrow as planned. Mandy needed her friend now more than ever and Kitty was determined to be just that.

              After pouring two glasses of chilled Riesling, which tickled Kitty—her favorite! She handed Mandy a long stem glass.

              “When did it all begin?”

              Mandy drew in a deep breath then sighed, shaking her head.

              “When we were in college. Our freshman year.”

              “Before you got together with Erik,” Kitty noted.

              “That’s right. Derek was a senior. He wanted me as soon as he saw me. He was so forward and at first I was flattered, you know, the older guy wanting a lowly freshman like me. It felt like an honor. We started dating, but it wasn’t just that. We were seeing a lot of each other, which I liked, but it also put me on edge. Being in college was so new. I wasn’t sure how to handle my studies if I was spending each night with Derek. He was so into me, he took pictures of everything. Of the freshman year Halloween party—”

              “The photo of you dressed as a bunny and Derek as a vampire,” she commented.

              “I love that photo. That was such a great night.” Mandy seemed to float back in time. She took a sip of her wine to ground herself. “I was falling in love with Derek, but I didn’t want to fall in love with anyone. I wanted to get good grades and figure out my major. So I broke things off before the second semester.”

              “How did you keep this from me?” Kitty wondered.

              “We weren’t really close until sophomore year if you think about it.”

              It was a valid point.

              “So after only a few months with Derek, you spent the next ten years hanging on?”

              “We kept it up,” she confessed. “Here and there. Passion driven moments of temporary insanity you might say.”

              “Even after you got serious with Erik?” Kitty asked, intrigued.

              “Especially after. There was something about the secret between us that made everything steamier.” Mandy looked ashamed. “When I spent Christmas with the Coburn’s, God, there was electricity between Derek and me. I kept trying to talk to him to explain we had to stop, but I was part of the problem.”

              “Did Erik ever find out?”

              “No!” Mandy exclaimed. “Never! And he can never find out!”

              “Mandy,” said Kitty, placing her hand over her friend’s. “Do you really want to marry Erik?”

              “Yes!” She was definitive, certain. Kitty believed her. “As soon as Erik proposed I broke things off with Derek once and for all. There was no mistaking it, no misunderstandings. And the next day I called you.”

              Kitty nodded. “I thought the wedding had been put in motion rather fast.”

              “We couldn’t do it fast enough. You’re the one who told us you needed at least a month, but if we’d had our way Erik and I would’ve been married that day.”

              Kitty heard pounding coming faintly through the house.

              Sterling!

              “Excuse me,” she said, hopping up. “I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

              Kitty rushed through the house, unlocked the front door and pulled inward, and Sterling spilled inside and immediately scooped her up, one hand holding her tightly against him at the small of her back and the other cradling the back of her head, as she gasped surprised.

              They shuffled through the foyer a few steps until he had her pinned to the wall. He was breathing heavily and gazing into her eyes.

              “I thought something had happened to you,” he said urgently, his cool breath brushing her lips.

              “I’m fine,” she said softly. Her fingers were pressed against his strong shoulders then started caressing down his muscular, tattooed arms.

              “Where is she?” He demanded, dropping her in exchange for his gun.

              “Oh!” Kitty exclaimed when she was the weapon in his hand. “Don’t be crazy!” She whisper-yelled. “Mandy’s innocent!”

              “How would you know?”

              “Where’s Erik?”             

              “Where are your priorities?!”

              “I have less than an hour to get them over to the church! For goodness sake, put that thing away!”

              He didn’t. He only lowered it.

              “I think it was Derek,” she said.

              “Derek Coburn? Erik’s brother?” He sounded skeptical.

              “Yes. Derek and Mandy have had a secret affair for the past decade. She broke things off with him when Erik proposed. I think he snapped.”

              “You expect me to believe Derek doesn’t know his own brother well enough to kill him effectively? He gets the wrong guy?”

              Explained out loud like that, sure, it didn’t make all that much sense, but Kitty had a strong gut feeling about this.

              “How’d Derek get Becca’s car?” he challenged.

              “Maybe he really did steal it,” she supplied. “Or maybe he was playing her. Using her, perhaps to get his mind off Mandy.”

              “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Sterling mused.

              “Huh?”

              “Never mind.”

              “Did you do something with that woman?!” Kitty was irate.

              “No,” he stated then reiterated the point with grave seriousness when she didn’t drop her guffaw. “NO!”

              “You have to question Derek then circle back to Becca,” Kitty instructed.

              “You know I don’t work for you, right?”

              She rolled her eyes at that. “I’m helping!”

              He snorted.

              “And let Erik go! I need him at the church!”

              Sterling considered the plan then proposed a better one.

              “I’m coming to the church.”

              Kitty stared at her color-coded closet and felt the clock ticking. She had less than a half hour to make herself presentable for the wedding rehearsal and it wasn’t helping that Sterling was lounging behind her on her bed. He’d insisted on coming with, though his reasons had been convoluted at best, something about carpooling and how he had nothing to wear (not true! He’d looked great at the von Winkle - Astoria wedding!) and that she had a track record of going off half-cocked so he couldn’t let her out of his sight. Yeah right! Any excuse to get inside her bedroom.

              She glanced at him over her shoulder. “You’re going to stick out like a sore thumb if you show up in that.”

              Sterling glanced down at his signature black tee, tight fitting jeans, and leather boots.

              “I look fine.”

              “Hardly,” she muttered under her breath.

              “Just worry about yourself, Doll face.”

              Kitty had to lock her gaze on the dresses ahead so as not to reveal the sudden smile she couldn’t seem to shake. She huffed and grabbed two dresses that swayed gracefully on their hangers.

              “Pink or purple?” she asked holding up the options for his input.

              “Is the pink one shorter?” he asked with a grin.

              She frowned at that. “Barely.”

              “Which one has a lower neckline?”

              “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” She rolled her eyes, but answered. “The purple.”

              “Which is tighter? Which leaves less to the imagination? See where I’m going with this?”

              He propped his head up in his hand, rolling onto his side.

              Kitty slapped both dresses back on the rack and shuffled through the bulk of her wardrobe until she found a yellow cocktail dress. She didn’t bother holding it up for Sterling. She knew it’d be exactly what he wanted.

              “Shouldn’t you be checking in with your department or something?” she asked, crossing toward the bathroom beyond the foot of the bed.

              “They know to meet me there,” he said. “Hey, don’t shut the door. I don’t want to have to shout.”

              She stared at him, appalled.

              When she entered the bathroom she shut the door, but only partially, leaving a good five-inch gap, and then quickly began changing.

              “So Derek gives Erik candlesticks,” he began, talking out what they knew. “Why would Becca lie?”

              “Because she’s a lying, conniving, narcissistic piece of work, that’s why!”

              Sterling frowned as though he might not be able to argue.

              “I think they were involved,” Kitty added. “Derek and Becca.”

              “So she gave him her car?”

              “Oh!” Kitty exclaimed. “That reminds me! Will you pass me my cell?”

              Sterling looked around the bedroom then saw it on the nightstand. When he approached the door he slipped his hand around, offering her the cell, but when she took it, he pushed the door ever so slightly open.

              “Sterling!” she exclaimed, grabbing a towel to cover herself.

              “Looking good, Doll.”

              “Out! Get out!” she yelled, pushing the door against him until it was open even less than before. “Now quiet! I have a call to make.”

              Kitty searched her dress pockets as the garment lay on the toilet lid. “Darn! Would you bring me my purse?!”

              She heard him chuckle, but she was fully covered up in a towel now. He opened the door wide once again and she only chided him with a shake of the head.
No need to get rattled.

              He made a performance out of easing the door closed, but left it open by eight inches instead of three. She corrected the intended oversight then dialed Julio the parking valet at once.

              “Hello, is this Julio?” She asked, speaking up. “This is Kitty Sinclair—”

              “Miss Sinclair!” He said in a melodic Latino lilt. “How nice of you to follow up!”

              Follow up?

              “I’m so excited to meet your lovely friend!”

             
Huh?

              “I’m walking in now! I have prayed and prayed to meet a good woman and you are my angel for setting this up! Oh, I think I see her! Thanks again!”

             
Oh dear God.

              The business cards! Kitty realized she must have mixed them up and left a message for Julio to organize the blind date with Trudy rather than dialing Hank Troy, Mandy’s cousin the successful real estate tycoon. Never make an important phone call with murder on your mind, she thought.
Darn!

              She owed Trudy a phone call.

              “Doll? What’s taking so long?”

              Kitty slipped into the yellow cocktail dress that squeezed and plumped her in all the right places. She looked like a ballerina. The bodice was tight and uplifting. The skirt was a puff of pale yellow tulle. She added a dab of pink lipstick to her pout and fluffed her hair with a spritz of hair spray then threw the door open.

              “I just need to change my purse and throw on some heels,” she told him, but when she padded back toward her closet, Sterling caught her.

              “You’re killing me,” he said, holding her close.

              “Stop, you’ll smoosh the puffs!”

              “Oh, I like it when you talk dirty,” he groaned.

              “I wasn’t talking dirty, you animal!”

              He held her so firmly against him that all of her defenses inside and out fell away as easily as their two bodies to the bed.

              Soon his hand was grazing up her bare leg, higher and higher until it was buried in tulle, all the while his lips brushed hers not to kiss but to tantalize, and it worked. Every inch of her melted. And he smelled good. So good. Not like cologne, but like a man—skin and sweat and cool breath commingling into a delicious scent.

              But she held his hand still before it could stroke any higher.

              “I don’t understand you,” she said softly. “You’re cold to me one minute. You come on strong the next. All you do is confuse me. It seems like as soon as we get close you run away. I won’t be toyed with like this.”

              He held her gaze, but had nothing to say for himself.

              “Well?”

              His lips pursed as if to speak, as he leaned in closer and closer, then he veered south and his lips met her taut, warm neck. He kissed once, soft lips tickling her skin and sending warm tingling shimmying down her spine.

              Her eyes floated shut and suddenly she couldn’t feel him beside her. She opened her eyes and saw Sterling staring down at her from beside the bed where he stood.

              “Are you really leaving again after I solve this case?” she asked, which had him laughing.

              “After
you
solve it?”

              “After the case is closed?”

              He turned serious.

              “I don’t know yet.” They stared at each other for a long moment. The sunlight that cut through her window hit his face at just the right angle to illuminate his piercing green eyes. “Let’s go,” he said in a soft yet deep tone. “I have a killer to catch.”

              Kitty drove carefully, Sterling in the passenger’s seat. They talked over the case, Derek’s potential involvement
and
the fact that being guilty of an affair didn’t—in and of itself—imply he was guilty of murder, and the mysteries surrounding Becca’s motivation to lie in all the ways she had.

              Several times, Sterling absentmindedly shook a cigarette from his soft pack of Camels and Kitty had to ask him not to smoke in her Fiat then remind him she’d already told him he couldn’t smoke and then further reminded him using a very loud voice.
A thick skull like no other!

              Finally, Kitty pulled up to Saint Mary’s Church, a quaint stone structure surrounded by lilac bushes in bloom, which reminded her of an English castle.

              “Do you want to get married in a place like that?” Sterling asked, gazing out his side window at the stout tower.

              “To you?” she said, thrilled and confused.

              He laughed. “In general.”

              “That’s kind of a loaded question, don’t you think?”

              “I didn’t think about it.” He shrugged. “Just curious. I mean you want to get married one day, don’t you? Or have you dedicated your life to helping others tie the knot because you know you never will?”

              “Hey! I will! There are plenty of guys who want to marry me!” None of that was true, but Sterling was kind enough not to challenge her. “I mean, I think I will. I’d like to.” Then she added, “I’m in no rush!”

              “Yeah,” he lolled. “Wait 'til you hit thirty-five.”

              “Oh, I’ll be married by thirty-five I can assure you.” Was he trying to be insulting or just a poor conversationalist? Kitty decided to turn the tables. “What about you?”

              “I’m not the marrying type,” he said easily. “I’d make a terrible husband.”

              She couldn’t argue there.

              “I don’t even want a girlfriend. I don’t need the distraction.”

              Her heart sank at that, as a wave of clarity swept through her. That was why he’d been acting erratically toward her. He felt conflicted. He wanted her and also didn’t want her.
Hmm, a Sterling divided against himself cannot stand
, she thought. Sooner or later, he’d have to make a decision. He’d have to choose one way or the other. To be with her completely or completely walk away.

              She wondered what he’d do and wondered what she could do to influence him.

              Sterling popped his door open and Kitty cringed at the sight of his street clothes that she was now seeing with fresh eyes, as the families would. Hurrying, she jumped out of her Fiat and started after him up the stone path.

              “Just try to stay out of the way,” she whispered.

              Inside, Kitty greeted the priest with a warm handshake and tried not to feel self-conscious about her heaving cleavage. “Thanks for pushing this back,” she said.

              The priest feigned a smile and lied saying it was no trouble at all.

              Then the Coburns stepped down the aisle and marveled at the charming architecture.

              “Mr. and Mrs. Coburn!” Kitty exclaimed. “It’s so nice to see you again!”

              She gave them each a quick squeeze then noticed the Maples were standing out in the foyer.

              “Excuse me a moment,” she told them then hurried out after Mandy’s parents whom she hadn’t seen since her graduation from college. “Donna! Lance! How are you?”

              Once everyone was acquainted, Kitty turned the floor over to the priest who walked the families through the basic proceedings, while Mandy and Erik hung back in the middle of the aisle.

              “How are you two holding up?” Kitty asked in a discrete tone.

              “I feel like we’re lying to them,” said Erik.

              “I feel strange about this wire,” said Mandy. “It’s scratching me.”

              “Don’t touch it,” she instructed. “It’ll mess up the audio. Sterling told you what to do, right?”

              Mandy nodded, but she looked ill.

              “You can do this,” Kitty assured her. “The groomsmen and bridesmaids will be here any minute, Derek and Becca as well.”

              Erik gave his fiancé's hand a squeeze and their eyes met. There was a lot of love between them. It was palpable. If they could survive this, they could survive anything.

              Would Kitty ever have a partner like that?

              The first run through was getting underway and Kitty ushered the bridesmaids and groomsmen accordingly, as everyone walked their paces and took their places just as they would tomorrow during the wedding.

              For a moment Kitty got lost in the joyous event. She lived for weddings. To see two lovers vow their lifelong commitment of loyalty, faithfulness, and unconditional respect for one another was moving no matter how many times she witnessed it. And soon she felt her eyes sting with tears of happiness.

              Kitty snapped out of it when the priest called her name for the third time. All eyes were on her.

              “Oh! Let’s take a ten-minute bathroom break, everyone! Then we’ll reconvene and run through this again!”

              The families dispersed. The Coburns ventured outside into the sunlight, and the Maples took a rest in the pews. Kitty noticed some of the bridesmaids began flirting with select groomsmen, but she locked her gaze on Becca.