Wedding Bells and Death Knells (We're Not Dead Yet Club Book 2) Read online

  “Maybe he has run off with the bride,” Hazel whispered again, this time a little louder so that Ida May could hear.

  Ida May’s eyes swooped on to Hazel like an eagle swooping out of the air for its prey.

  “Don’t be absurd, dear. Things like that only happen in the movies. It doesn’t happen in real life.”

  “Hmmm,” replied Hazel, slouching back into her seat. “And where do the movies get it from, I wonder?”

  Ida May ignored her comment. Instead she leaned over to me and squeezed my hand gratefully.

  “Thank you for coming,” she whispered. “I don’t think I could trust myself not to turn into some weeping wreck if you weren’t here with me.”

  “I just wish there was something more useful we could do,” I replied. “It always feels so awkward being at a wedding and not having a real right to be there or - at the least - a role to fulfill. Even Cecil felt the need to help out…”

  “Well, that’s Cecil, isn’t it? Never knows when to just slink into the background.”

  She let out a little laugh and relaxed back into her seat. As she did so, something happened that made my back straighten and my nerves stand on end. At the front of the church, Jeremy had now turned to face us all, his face paling as he looked over our heads at Hector who was standing in the doorway. In a flash, he leapt forward and barreled down the aisle, ignoring the looks of concerned relatives and friends until he came skidding to a halt next to Hector. The latter looked even more shocked, if you could think it possible, and I feared for a moment that Hazel and Cecil’s prediction that the bride had indeed run off may turn out to be actually true.

  As a trio, myself, Ida May and Hazel all turned to watch as Jeremy’s hands leapt up to his open mouth and he stifled a small cry of anguish as Hector whispered in his ear. Hector placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder and – for the briefest moment – he looked as though he uttered the words, “I’m sorry.”

  Hazel wasted no time in nudging me in my side.

  “What did I tell you? Ryan’s run off with the bride. I’d bet my dress on it.”

  “Hazel, will you behave yourself?”

  “It’s not my fault, it’s true.”

  “No, it isn’t,” I replied, my mind drifting off to another place. “It’s something worse than that…”

  I watched the two men for a few moments longer before, finally, Jeremy gave a brief nod to Hector and quickly made his way down the aisle, his eyes scanning this way and that. He found what – well, I really should say who – he was looking for quite quickly and, within seconds had knelt down beside Jasper and frantically spoke into his ear. Jasper’s face paled as the other’s had but, unlike his friend, it wasn’t a look of fear that gripped him – more one of sorrow. He quickly leapt to his feet and accompanied Jeremy and Hector out of the church, leaving us all bewildered, lost and – in some cases – absolutely terrified.

  “What the hell is going on?” asked Ida May.

  “I’m telling you – Ryan has run off with…”

  “Not you,” Ida May hissed at her friend, before stretching herself upwards to try to get Cecil’s attention. “Cecil? What was that about?”

  Cecil gave a small shrug in return. “Dang f I know. Boys were whispering too quietly…”

  Ida May didn’t wait for the rest of the response. In a flash, she turned back towards me and instinctively grasped my hand once again.

  “Something’s wrong, I know it,” she muttered. “I need to see Jeremy…”

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine…”

  My words fell on deaf ears – and not in the literal sense. Ida May was already on her feet and making her way towards the back of the church. No sooner had she got there, did Jasper, Hector and Jeremy make a reappearance. The latter held out his arms to embrace Ida May as she steamrolled her way straight towards him.

  “Jeremy? What’s going on?”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to sit down, Ida May.” It was Jasper who had spoken.

  “Why? What’s happening?”

  Jasper opened his mouth to answer. He hesitated and allowed his eyes to float over the entire congregation as they all turned and stared at them. With what I imagine was a certain reluctance, he pulled his jacket closed and made the long trip down the aisle until he arrived at the front. Led by Jeremy, Ida May found herself escorted back to her seat where she sat, her hands locked in mine, as she stared up at Jasper. For their part, Jeremy and Hector collapsed into the nearest seats and both placed their heads in their hands as they waited for Jasper to tell everyone what they already knew.

  True to form, Jasper was direct and very blunt about the situation.

  “I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”

  The bride’s mother was the first to leap to her feet. “Oh my God. Hayley. What’s happened to her?”

  “Your daughter is fine…”

  “Then what kind of accident? Whose accident? What’s happened?”

  I felt Ida May’s grip tighten on my hand before she spoke. “If you let him speak, you’ll find out.”

  That seemed to silence the bride’s mother who, for an instant, looked as though she might challenge Ida May. One look from Ida May made her think twice and she reluctantly returned to her seat. Ida May turned to Jasper and gave him a courteous nod.

  “Thank you, Ida May,” Jasper said, before turning to the bride’s mother. “Hayley is fine. She arrived a few minutes ago and is… alright.” He hesitated and turned to the rest of the room. “But, it is my sincere and regrettable duty to inform you all that the best man, Ryan, has been involved in a terrible accident. I’m afraid he’s dead.”

  I couldn’t pick out any one comment from the wave of words that came out of everyone in the congregation. Jasper, to his credit, did his best to answer but, with so many questions flying at him, he eventually had little choice but to raise his hands and call for silence.

  “I’m afraid no one can leave the church until the police arrive.”

  This prompted another uproar of questions and panicking comments. In all the commotion, I turned first to Ida May and then to Hazel. I saw in their eyes a look that I recognized from before – the same look that I imagine I gave to them as well. That little twinkle that we all gave when we detected the faintest whiff of a mystery.

  The We’re Not Dead Club was back in business.

  Chapter Three – Wild Accusations

  Over the course of the next five minutes, Jasper’s restriction of keeping everyone inside the church achieved little more than starting a small panic. Within seconds of his announcement, rumors were already flying around that Ryan was hated by various people in the congregation – I even heard one lady turn to her husband and suggest that Ryan was a spy of some sort. It was only a matter of time before someone suggested Jeremy as the chief culprit.

  “Me?” he spluttered, staring around at the church in utter dismay. “Why on earth would I kill my own best man?”

  “Maybe that was the problem,” the bride’s mother muttered. “Ryan was the best man.”

  I had to physically restrain Ida May from leaping to her feet and pelting the bride’s mother with a hymn book. At the time, I hadn’t given this much thought but – in hindsight – the idea of Ida May attacking someone else while wielding a small hymn book creates such a fantastic image in my mind, that I half wished I’d let her do it…

  “You watch your mouth,” Ida May snarled before I finally wrenched her away .

  “Don’t be stupid,” I whispered, staring around as all hell broke loose about us. “You’re no good to us if Jasper has to lock you up for assault.”

  “Yeah,” Hazel chipped in. “We can’t catch Ryan’s killer without you.”

  Ida May instantly stopped struggling and turned to Hazel. “What makes you think its murder?”

  “Hmmm? Oh nothing…”

  “No, don’t give me that – you did this last time. What makes you think Ryan was killed?”

&
nbsp; Hazel looked from me to Ida May several times before shrugging her shoulders. “Well, he didn’t strike me as being anything other than in good health. And with a wedding within the hour, he’s unlikely to be doing much except drinking and chatting, is he?”

  I have to admit she had a point. I turned swiftly to Ida May. “She’s right. We have to treat this as a murder until we know differently. Which means – and I’m sorry Ida May – it means your nephew is a suspect too.”

  “Don’t be absurd…”

  “We can’t rule him out.”

  “But…” Ida May flashed a look towards Jeremy who was still wildly protesting his innocence. “But he was here the whole time. We all saw him.”

  “Come to think of it,” Hazel muttered. “Everyone was here – except the bride…”

  Again – she had a point. I would’ve told her as much were it not for a sudden yelp as Cecil bounded to his feet and moved quickly towards Jeremy.

  “You take that back!”

  Jasper was between them in seconds, shoving his father back with one hand while trying to keep Jeremy at bay with the other.

  “Ryan said you were being helpful before. Why would you even do that? It seems a bit strange to me to be so eager to help someone you don't even know…”

  Cecil growled angrily. “You may care to remind yourself that the last time I saw Ryan was when I went to get the champagne he wanted to share with you, you ungrateful little runt. You were the last one to see him alive!”

  “How dare you…”

  “Dad. Jeremy. Please calm down…”

  I don’t know quite what came over me, but I found myself leaping to my feet and moving as quickly as I could to the front of the church where I banged my hand on the altar so hard that the noise echoed right around the room. The commotion – words, threats, whispers and all – stopped as everyone turned to look at me. Staring at each person in turn, I surveyed the room before finally saying:

  “If you could all please sit down.”

  To my surprise, everyone did as they were told – including Jasper who seemed somewhat at a loss of what to do next.

  “No, not you Jasper – I believe you have some work to do.”

  “Oh. Right. Yes, of course.”

  He was back on his feet and joined me at the front of the room. There we stood until the room was in complete silence before I spoke once again.

  “Now Jasper here is a police detective, and quite a good one at that. No doubt you all have questions, but Jasper does have a duty to attend to and cannot waste his time answering each and every question…” I turned to him and we exchanged nods. “So, for the time being, if everyone can stay seated until Jasper has established the full situation, that would be most useful, wouldn’t it Jasper?”

  “Thank you, Clara.”

  I nodded my understanding and made my way back to my seat to discover that Ida May and Hazel had completely vanished. As Jasper had a hurried conversation with the Minister, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

  Well done, girls…

  Chapter Four – An Official Case of the We’re Not Dead Yet Club

  I think it occurred to Jasper quite early on exactly how enormous the task of keeping everyone in the church really was. In fact, it was only a few minutes after every had calmed down that he turned to me and said:

  “Your friends - Hazel and Ida May – where are they?”

  I pretended to look around the whole church as though I was expecting them to be lurking in some corner. All the while, Jasper watched me with suspicious eyes until I finally turned to him and shrugged.

  “Must’ve stepped outside, I guess.”

  “Dammit, I told everyone to stay put…”

  “Well, you can’t keep everyone cooped up in here forever.”

  “It’s just until the police arrive…”

  “I see,” I replied. “And how do you intend to summon them without cell signal?”

  He thought about this for a moment, his hand diving into his pocket and emerging with his phone held firmly in his hand. He stared down at the screen for a few moments before holding the device up in the air as he searched for the elusive signal.

  “Hazel had the same problem,” I explained. “You won’t get signal here, I assure you.”

  Jasper spun around quite suddenly, his eyes frantically looking around. It only took a second for him to find the Minister – who was milling around a short distance away. As Jasper turned to face him, the Minister almost jumped out of his skin – I had a mind to suspect that he was doing his best to listen in to our conversation.

  “Sir,” Jasper called out, taking a few steps towards him. “Is there a phone in the church I can use?”

  The Minister’s eyes flickered between Jasper and me.

  “Regrettably, no,” he replied solemnly. “This is simply a humble country church and there has never been any need for one. I pride myself on keeping this a technology-free zone…” His eyes dropped to stare at the device in Jasper’s hand. “As much as is in my power, that is…”

  “Son of a…”

  “Careful, detective,” the Minister interrupted, raising a single finger towards Jasper. “Remember, you are in God’s house.”

  “Then perhaps God can favor us with some signal…”

  Jasper didn’t wait for a reply. He turned on his heels once again and marched down the aisle. He hadn’t said anything to me – neither about staying in the church nor going with him – so I allowed my initiative to guide me down the aisle after him and out the doors at the far end of the church.

  I followed Jasper as we walked out the church and towards the nearest slope that led up the valley hills. After a few minutes of climbing up the hill, Jasper paused to hold up his phone, swaying it this way and that as though he hoped to catch a glimmer of way-ward signal. He decided quickly that this was a fruitless exercise and almost flung his phone right at the nearest tree in exasperation. It was only then that he spotted that I’d followed him.

  “I told you to wait in the church,” he muttered.

  “You told everyone else to remain in the church,” I corrected him. “Besides, I rather felt like you needed an assistant.”

  “An assistant?”

  I nodded sharply. “Until the police arrive.”

  Jasper laughed and made his way down the slope toward me. “With the greatest of respect, Clara, I need some seasoned professionals of the law…”

  “Well, I don’t know about professional,” I interrupted. “But I think after our exploits at Aunt Ruby’s house, I at least qualify as seasoned, don’t you agree?”

  Jasper opened his mouth to say something and then closed it suddenly as he thought better of it. He had never spoken officially about the role that my friends and I had had in the investigation into the death of Patrick Sheridan – I suppose he couldn’t really. When all the press were clamoring to find out how he’d solved the cold, twenty-year-old murder, he never once mentioned that anyone outside the official police force had anything to do with the resolution – let alone admitted that the case had been broken by Hazel and her desire to learn magic tricks…

  We had never said anything, of course. Anyone who was anyone had already heard the story and knew the truth of it. As long as Thomas Landsborough was successfully brought to justice, we didn’t much mind who took the credit for it. But – still – I don’t suppose that helped Jasper now as he struggled with his own personal guilt over the matter.

  Eventually, he nodded his head and gestured for me to follow him down the hill.

  “Fine,” he muttered. “But stick close to me. This case is a mine field as it is…”

  I could barely contain my smile.

  “So, where is the body?”

  “In a small room around the other side of the church where the groom’s party were getting ready. I’ll show you now, I need to seal off the crime scene anyway…”

  He led me back towards the church and round the sidewall until we came to a small wooden do
or. He gently pushed open the door and stepped inside before letting out a little cry of shock.

  “What the blazes are you doing here?”

  I followed him inside. Some candles and a rather dim, single, overhead light, which cast a strange, dull, yellow glow over the whole room, lighted the room. Slumped in a chair next to a long table, which was a repository for the discarded casual-wear of the groomsmen, was Ryan, his head turned towards the door, his hand flopped awkwardly over the edge of the table and his mouth contorted. But that wasn’t what Jasper had reacted to.

  In the corner of the room, Ida May stepped out of the shadows, placed her hands on her hips and stared pointedly at the detective.

  “Jasper, thank God you are here. A man has been murdered.”

  Jasper’s eyes narrowed on her. “I’m aware of that, Ida May. What are you doing here?”

  “Just checking out the body…”

  “Out!”

  I stepped forward and placed a calming hand on Jasper’s tense arm. I stared deliberately at Ida May and waited until I had her full attention before giving her a little wink.

  “I was just talking to the detective, Ida May. He’s agreed that we should assist on this investigation…”

  “What?” Jasper wrenched his arm out of my grip and turned towards me. “I never said any such…”

  “I do believe you agreed that in the absence of official police officers, you could use the assistance of seasoned investigators like us, did you not?”

  “Well… Yes, but I…”

  “Excellent,” Ida May interrupted, clapping her hands with glee and stepping forward. “Let’s get on with it then. I couldn’t quite determine how this poor man died, but I have one or two ideas of methods and suspects…”

  “Good job,” I replied, following Ida May as she strode out of the room.