Annabelle Archer BoxSet, page 177
part #1 of Annabelle Archer Series
“Margery isn’t in danger from Lucille.”
“How can you be sure?” I paced a few feet away from the sanctuary doors.
Reese gave an impatient sigh. “If she’s in danger, it isn’t from Lucille. We finally found her.”
“Good heavens.” Richard pointed to the altar as Fern walked out in black robes with an enormous silver cross around his neck that looked like it had been pulled off a wall. Obviously his own touch.
“Dearly beloved.” Fern opened his arms in a sweeping motion. ”We are gathered here today in the sight of God and these fabulously dressed witnesses.”
“I hate being right all the time,” Richard muttered.
“What?” I couldn’t focus on Reese completely with Fern on stage. “Oh, you found Lucille? Well, that’s a relief.”
“Not exactly,” Reese said. “She’s dead.”
My mouth went dry, and I tore my eyes away from Fern. “What do you mean?”
“We found her at the store when we went to talk to her. Bashed over the head.”
So Lucille wasn’t the killer after all. I rubbed my temples. “The more answers we get, the more questions I have.”
“Welcome to my world,” Reese said.
40
“Are you there, Annabelle?” Reese asked.
I nodded mutely, and then gave myself a mental shake. “I’m here. I think I’m in shock.”
“You should be in shock. Are you watching this?” Richard asked, gaping at the drama unfolding at the front of the church.
Fern had picked up the ceremony in the middle of the vows where Father O’Malley had left off. “For better or for worse, for richer not poorer . . .”
He paused for the bride to repeat after him. Not completely inappropriate vows, nonetheless I was glad I couldn’t see Kitty’s face.
“I’m sending an officer over to the church,” Reese said. “I’d come myself, but I’m working this scene solo since my partner isn’t answering his cell. By the way, I’m pretty sure he’s with your cake baker friend.”
“Wait, what? Alexandra?” So I hadn’t been imagining her working her charms on Detective Hobbes the other night at the station.
“Yeah, I don’t get it either, but they seem to have hit it off.”
“Do you really think it’s necessary to send a patrol car?” I didn’t relish the idea of flashing lights outside the church, but the way this wedding was going, who knew if anyone would even notice?
“In sickness and in wealth . . .”
“Like you said, the killer may want to finish the job,” Reese said. “I’m sending one to Margery’s hospital room too.”
“Okay,” I said numbly. “If you think it’s a good idea. I’d better go before the ceremony ends.”
“Be careful, Annabelle,” Reese said. “We aren’t sure what’s going on yet. I still haven’t had the chance to talk to Bambie about her motives. Hobbes was supposed to talk to Byron again, but since he won’t call me back, I don’t know how that interview went. Promise me you’ll let me know if you see either of them.”
I promised him and dropped the phone into my pocket after hanging up. “Lucille is dead.”
“What?” Richard said. “I thought she was at the top of your suspect list.”
“Maybe.” I felt a wave of dizziness. “But since she’s dead, she might not be. I don’t know anymore.”
Richard wagged a finger at me. “I told you she was too sweet-looking. You never believe me.”
I blinked back a tear as I thought of the kind, grandmotherly wedding planner. I felt awful for even thinking she could have killed someone.
“She was too fragile to strangle someone anyway,” Richard said. “She must have been about sixty, right?”
“Yes, but Leatrice is eighty, and I wouldn’t consider her fragile.”
Richard rolled his eyes. “Leatrice is not a normal little old lady in any sense of the word.”
“True,” I admitted. “But if Lucille didn’t do it, who did?”
“Your suspects are a dying breed,” Richard said. “If you wait long enough, you’ll know who the murderer is because they will be the only person left alive.”
“If I wait any longer, I won’t be left alive.” I brushed a loose strand of hair off my face. “If only we could find a pattern to the murders.”
“They’re all wedding planners,” Richard said. “I’d call that a pattern.”
“But the victims don’t make sense. Stephanie doesn’t have any connection to everyone else. Even Lucille was an old-timer like Carolyn and Eleanor.”
“You aren’t part of that crowd and the killer tried to get rid of you.”
“Probably because I meddled in the case,” I said. “Margery is part of that group though.”
“So everyone fits except you and Stephanie,” Richard said. “The killer went after you because you were trying to solve the case, so now all you’re missing is the reason they killed Stephanie.”
“That’s the answer to this whole case. I can feel it.”
“Why not try to figure it out without Stephanie? If she doesn’t fit, eliminate her from the equation.”
I gave a weak laugh. “Maybe the killer goofed up and killed Stephanie by accident.” My breath caught in my throat. What if the killer had made a mistake and meant to kill someone else at the party? I grabbed Richard’s arm. “Where was Stephanie murdered again?”
Richard took a step away from me. “In Maxwell’s equipment closet. Why?”
“I’m sure it’s dark in there, right?”
“Closets are usually dark, Annabelle.” Richard looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “That’s why Maxwell is famous for his closet meetings.”
“His closet meetings?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Let’s just say he’s been caught at more than one party with a pretty young thing in a closet.”
I swatted at him. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“Ouch.” Richard rubbed his arm where I hit him. “I assumed it was common knowledge. Maxwell isn’t the most discreet person in the world.”
“What if Maxwell set up two closet meetings at the party, and the killer only knew about one?”
Richard rapped his fingers on his chin. “I wouldn’t put a ménage a trois past Maxwell.”
“Stephanie doesn’t look very much like the other planners, though. Even in the dark.”
“With her wild curly hair, it would be hard to mistake her for any of the older planners, that’s for sure,” Richard agreed. “They’re the queens of the frumpy bob.”
I frowned and looked through the sanctuary doors at the long line of groomsmen and bridesmaids. From here they looked like two rows of human clones since all the men wore identical tuxedos and all the women had matching gowns and blond French twists.
I snapped my fingers. “Wait a second. Stephanie didn’t have her hair down at the party. She wore it up.”
“You’re right,” Richard said. “I remember thinking she looked more sophisticated than usual.”
“With her hair up, she could easily pass for another wedding planner,” I said. “Especially in the dark.”
“Doesn’t Gail wear her hair up all the time?” Richard asked. “She certainly falls in the same category as the other victims.”
“And she used to have a thing with Maxwell, and she argued with him at the party,” I said.
“Even if the killer intended to kill Gail instead of Stephanie, that doesn’t tell us who the killer is,” Richard said. “We’re right back where we started.”
I glanced through the doors again and saw the dark-haired photographer’s assistant standing in the back of the aisle waiting for the recessional. “And the ceremony is going to end any minute.”
“If Fern ever wraps up his homily,” Richard said. “Who knew you could stretch a metaphor about marriage and fashion for so long?”
My phone vibrated with an incoming text, and Richard let out a sigh. “Please tell me that’s not him again.”
I knew he meant Reese, even though a glance at my screen told me it was the limo company confirming their location outside. Perhaps it was the stress of the wedding combined with the stress of the murders, but I felt something inside me snap. “I don’t know why you have such an issue with me dating Reese.” I put both hands on my hips. “I’m not jealous of you and PJ.”
“My significant other travels for the State department and is never here,” Richard said. “Yours is always underfoot.”
This stopped me. “I thought he was an artist or something.”
“Artists have to make a living, Annabelle. This is DC, not SoHo. Why do you think I’m always toting Hermes around?”
I’d actually thought it was because he thought a purse dog was fashionable, but I put this out of my mind as a conversation for a different day. “I can’t help it that Reese is around a lot. I like him, so he’s going to be around a lot more in the future, and you’re going to have to get used to it.” I took a breath. “It’s not like our friendship is going to change. You’ll always be my best friend, but you’re going to have to get over the fact that there’s another man in my life.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. For once, he seemed lost for words.
“I need to run to the bridal room and get the bride’s things before she and the groom come out and get in their car,” I said. “This is one bride who will notice if her makeup bag isn’t there. Can you stay here and open the doors if they come out?”
Richard nodded, still looking shell-shocked.
I headed down the side of the church to the bride’s holding room. I was glad I’d said something to Richard, but I felt a bit shaky. Probably a combination of the argument, the stress of the wedding, and the shock over Lucille.
I reached the holding room and, not surprisingly, it looked like a war zone. Garment bags were draped over chairs, and makeup littered the large wooden table in the center of the room. Finding the bride’s tiny white cosmetic bag wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.
I pawed through the duffel bags scattered on the sagging green upholstered couch in the corner and found the black bag I’d seen the bride arrive with. Her makeup bag must be inside. I tugged on the zipper but it wouldn’t open. I jiggled it and tried again. Crap. It was stuck. I looked at the clock on the wall and pulled harder. Nothing. By the time I got this open, the bride would be long gone. I tried not to panic. Who was good at opening things? Not Richard. He might wrinkle his outfit. Not Kate. She might break a nail. I wished I was stronger.
Then it dawned on me who was known for her strength. My heart started pounding. Why hadn’t I thought of it earlier? I knew who could strangle someone and push them over a balcony and who had been at every crime scene. Plus, they had a connection to all the victims except for Stephanie. Now I was sure Stephanie had been a mistake, because the killer didn’t have the best eyesight. It would have been easy to mistake Stephanie for someone else in a dark closet. I dropped the duffel bag and reached for my cell phone.
“Hello, Annabelle.”
I looked up and sucked in my breath.
41
“Surprised to see me?” Margery took a step inside the room.
I swallowed hard. “Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?”
Margery laughed. “Recovering from my fake concussion?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” I tried to speed dial Richard on my cell phone without looking. “I’m glad to see you up and about though.”
“I doubt that.” Margery took a step toward me. She wore the same brown suit she’d worn at The Mayflower, but today she looked disheveled and a bit crazy. “Surely by now you’ve figured it out, haven’t you Miss Busybody?”
“Figured what out?” I took a few steps to the side so the table stood between us.
“From what Lucille said, I was sure you were on to me. When she called me after you left The Wedding Shoppe, I knew you were too close for comfort.”
I tried to remember if Lucille had said anything incriminating about Margery. “Lucille didn’t say anything about you. Honest.”
“I find that hard to believe.” Margery pulled one of the plastic garment bags off a chair and pulled it taut. “When she told me you came by the store for a flower girl’s basket, I knew you must be pumping her for information. You probably didn’t even have a flower girl in the wedding.”
“But I did need a flower girl basket,” I said. “Did you kill Lucille because you thought she told me something about you?”
Margery twisted the plastic into a coil. “Lucille knew too much, even if she didn’t know she did. She heard me talking to my lawyer on the phone about the shop, and eventually she would have put it all together.”
“So what if Lucille knew you talked to a lawyer about taking Carolyn’s husband to court?”
Margery tilted her head at me. “Maybe I gave you too much credit. I wasn’t taking Mr. Crabbe to court. I was buying the business from him.”
I staggered back a few steps. “You’re the secret buyer?”
“It wouldn’t have been secret forever. There’s no crime in buying a business from a willing seller, and with Carolyn gone, her husband was more than willing to get the store off his hands.”
I couldn’t hide my shock. “You have enough money to buy the entire business?”
Margery’s face twitched. “I’ve socked away my money for years, and Lucille gave me some of her savings to invest. Between the two of us, we have a nice nest egg. More than anyone would have expected.”
I felt sick thinking of poor Lucille and felt sicker looking at the plastic Margery held between her hands. Did she plan on strangling me with it? I edged around the table away from her.
“Lucille’s nest egg didn’t end up doing her much good,” I said. “Did she know about what you were doing with her money?”
“I planned to tell her. I wanted us to run the business together. But things didn’t work out.”
“Why did you have to kill her? She didn’t know anything,” I insisted. “She talked about how much she missed you and how worried she was.”
A look of genuine regret flickered across Margery’s face. “I did it for both of us, you know. But Lucille never would have understood.”
I darted a look at my phone but couldn’t tell if it had connected or not. “Did what for both of you?”
Margery gave an exasperated sigh. “Surely you’ve put two and two together by now?”
“You killed everyone for Lucille, and then you killed her too?” I took a step around the corner of the table and Margery followed.
“Don’t say it like that,” Margery yelled, slamming a hand down on the table. “Lucille wasn’t supposed to die.”
“So why did you kill her then?” If I could keep Margery talking, maybe Reese’s officer would arrive before she tried to add me to her list of victims.
“She was going to ruin everything I’d done for us. She knew I’d been missing at all the crime scenes right before the bodies were found, even though she would never admit it to herself. I always gave her a good excuse, but if anyone dug deeper, Lucille could incriminate me without even trying.”
“I get that you killed Carolyn so you could buy the business, but why kill other wedding planners? What did they ever do to you? And what about Stephanie?”
Margery’s face reddened. “If Carolyn had been reasonable and let me buy into the business none of this would have happened. I didn’t follow her into that ballroom to kill her, but she was so dismissive of me that I lost my temper.”
I couldn’t help satisfying my curiosity. “Why was Carolyn in the ballroom for my wedding anyway? Her wedding was across the hall.”
“She was insanely jealous that some upstart like you got a huge wedding. She wanted to see if there was any way she could sabotage you without anyone knowing.”
I felt a rush of indignation, and then felt glad Carolyn Crabbe was dead. “So that’s why she was on the balcony above the ceremony setup?”
“I don’t know what she would have done if we hadn’t started arguing.” Margery tilted her head at me. “Maybe you should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you? My ceremony was still ruined, and you ended up killing a woman who had nothing to do with any of it. You do remember Stephanie, don’t you?”
Margery’s face darkened. “Stephanie was a mistake. She shouldn’t have been wearing her hair like Gail does. They looked exactly alike.”
“Especially without your glasses, right?” I said. “Lucille mentioned that you don’t like to wear your glasses, but you’re blind without them.”
“Clever.” Margery wagged a finger at me. “I regret Stephanie, but I’m not sorry for the others. Lucille and I slaved away under Carolyn for years with the promise she’d make us partners one day. That day never came. While every other planner left The Wedding Shoppe and became successful, we stayed with Carolyn.”
I nodded, finally understanding. “You thought your years of loyalty would pay off, but instead you were looked down upon by all the planners who passed through the store.”
Margery balled her hands into fists. “I trained them all and they became successful planners, while Lucille and I did Carolyn’s dirty work for twenty years.”
“So you killed them because they left and you didn’t?” I punched Richard’s number again. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Fair?” Margery advanced on me, snapping her makeshift plastic rope. “You think I killed them because they all acted like they were better than us and didn’t give us the time of day? That’s not why, although it should have been. No, I had to silence Eleanor since she was at The Mayflower recording one of her stupid Instagram stories while I was leaving the ballroom. And I tried to eliminate Gail since she saw me talking with Carolyn at the hotel. She’s smarter than the rest and might have put two and two together, but silly Stephanie was in that closet and not her.” She bit her lip. “It was supposed to be Gail. I heard her talking to Maxwell. I regret not killing her. She was awful to us.”
