Five minutes. The clock was ticking, and the officer was in the doorway, though thankfully with his back to me.
I had no idea what I was looking for—maybe a lockbox? Or asafe? I started in the closet, where there were a couple of suits and one pair of men’s dress shoes, the same ones that he’d fussed over in the Winter Garden when I’d broken a potted plant and dirt had sprayed on the suede.He won’t be needing those anymore, I mused, before berating myself for the callous thought.
I went to the bathroom. On the counter was a grooming kit but nothing else. Inside were nail clippers, an electric shaver, and a toothbrush as well as a couple of expensive items—aftershave and cologne.
I didn’t see any kind of strong box or safe that might require a small key like the one in my pocket, so I changed course, stepping back into the main room. Maybe I was looking for a journal—or maybe the key went to a traveling trunk of some kind. I searched under the bed and came up empty, so I scanned tabletops and dresser drawers for clues that might tell me something about the man who’d died.
On top of the dresser was a first aid kit that was already open. I read the contents on the outside and looked inside to see what might be missing. The ice pack was the only thing that no longer seemed to be in place, which made sense given that bruise from Charlie’s knuckles last night. I shivered at the incident, which would’ve fallen under the category of minor assault—but which made all of this seem so much worse now. A fight that was a precursor to murder, perhaps.
I went to the bedside table, pulling my sleeves over my hands to avoid getting fingerprints on the handles of drawers. The only thing in the bedside table was a Bible, and I knew that Savilla hadn’t placed it there.
“I don’t want anyone who stays at The Rose to think we’re trying to indoctrinize them,” Savilla had told me. By that, I’d assumed she meant “indoctrinate” and “evangelize”.
I picked up the Bible, and since I couldn’t use my fingertips, I held it binding side up and shook it until two pieces of paper fell out. I bent to the floor, angling my body so my shadow didn’t keep me from being able to read the writing.
The first page was a script for a wedding, starting with, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and man to witness the union…” Spotting something, I looked more closely at the top of the page. It had been printed from a website that used words in bold font across the top:Become an Ordained Minister & Perform Weddings TODAY!Two small electronic signatures were scrawled across the bottom: Todd Anderson’s as the applicant and Patty Swanson’s as the witness.
Charlie had been right in his assessment of this man’s priesthood, and here was confirmation of what we’d both strongly suspected: Todd Anderson had planned to perform the ceremony with a quickie, online license, and Patty Swanson had known all about it. I was kind of relieved to have the proof because with his circumspect behavior this weekend, that was the only explanation that made sense.
No one questions an officiant’s presence, so it was the perfect cover for what Todd was planning. Patty must’ve known her boyfriend wasn’t really a priest, but this disguise would’ve worked in her best interests too—dating a minister could help silence gossip about their age difference. I could see Todd easily convincing Patty to go along with the idea—even if she didn’t know all the reasons why he wanted to act like a priest this weekend.
I picked up the license with the nails of my forefinger and thumb and dropped it back into the Bible. Two things had fallen out of the book, so I looked around for the second sheet, turning on the light on my phone and shining it under the bed. A few seconds later I spotted a slender piece of paper with torn edges.
I wriggled my body to reach it, and as I read the contents, I instinctively reached for the slip of paper that I’d found in Todd Anderson’s coat pocket. I held that scrap against this new find. Both slips of paper were part of the same thin page, the torn edges matching exactly, and now I could see the entirety of the short note.
I mumbled the words as I read them aloud: “Meet Big Mike with product, after ceremony on Sunday—if it goes wrong, blameCharlie.”The last two words had been scribbled at the bottom, almost as an afterthought.
My eyes narrowed as I read the message again, but I didn’t have long to think about it because the voice of the officer standing guard outside the door rumbled through the room.
“Everything all right in here?” Keith called, putting his head through the doorway and spotting me on the ground.
I startled and sat upright. “Fine. I just dropped my, um, my earring… It fell out.”
Keith frowned at me. “The others are about to be here to sweep for prints. Hope you didn’t touch anything.”
“I didn’t.” I stood, tucking the slips of paper in my back pocket as I attempted to lie easily. “Not much here, and I was super careful.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he was actually sleeping in here,” Keith said, raising one eyebrow as if this piece of information, rather than the man’s death, was the hot gossip. I supposed it was in Aubergine, where any indiscretion was either kept underground or, if it happened to make it out into the open, was analyzed at length over early coffee at the Morning Brew. It was one of the things I both loved and hated about my town.
I could only imagine what might happen if I told Keith that Charlie had slipped me a mysterious small key, and that in my back pocket were scraps from a note about a meet-up with Big Mike while Todd was supposed to be officiating a wedding—and instructing the reader toblame Charliefor something he surely didn’t do.
TWENTY-FOUR
Charlie is in jail. Charlie is in jail. Charlie is in jail.
These words echoed in my mind, looping and tumbling over one another as I sat in my suite, staring down at the key in my hand. He’d given it to me because he’d thought it would somehow either help the investigation or clear his name—or both. I just had to figure out what it opened.
As I fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, imagining a variety of locks, Lacy threw open the door and rushed inside, straight in from the rehearsal dinner.
“Why weren’t you answering your phone?” she demanded with a mixture of fear and anger, though I had no idea why she would be directing that at me.
I reached for my phone in my back pocket and held it up so she could see the “Do Not Disturb” light. “I turned off the ringer because we were supposed to be celebrating you and Anton tonight.” I ran my finger and thumb across my eyes, trying to make them focus. “Are you angry with me?”
“Of course not, but I was scared to death.” Lacy gripped her chest before heaving out a deep breath and sinking to the edge of the bed beside me. Now that she was here with me she seemed to be running out of steam quickly. “Tell me everything.”
I didn’t want to tell her everything. I wanted to shield her from all that had gone wrong. She must’ve sensed my hesitation.
“Dakota Green, this is my wedding, and I need to know what’s happening.”
