‘Oh, that’s okay then. I’ll just get a quick photocopy of each of these and then we can make a start. Help yourself to tea and coffee.’
Five minutes later, with the photocopies stored safely in a drawer, Libby carefully took Miranda’s final measurements, knowing full well that as soon as Flynn set eyes on the video of Miranda tampering with the invitations, he would put a stop to this wedding. But in the meantime, Libby had to continue being as professional as possible.
After adjusting the dress on the mannequin Libby turned towards Miranda. ‘Now, if you could carefully try it on so I can confirm a few final touches, then I can begin sewing it all together.’
As soon as the curtain was shut behind her, Libby took the photocopies out of the drawer, quickly snapped a photo of each and pinged them over to Flynn along with a text.
There is some interesting footage you need to see.
* * *
Once the door was firmly closed behind Miranda, Libby looked over at Guy.
‘What do you make of that? I really wanted to say something.’
‘It was bizarre. I keep wondering if we imagined that footage of her changing the date. And the weirdest thing is that she’s never referred to the mix-up with the date. If hundreds of your friends turned up for a wedding on the wrong day, surely you would be questioning what the hell had happened?’
‘Yeah, you’re absolutely right.’
‘Here’s Flynn now,’ he said, looking out the window from where he stood wrapping up the camera equipment.
The door opened, and Flynn waved his phone in the air. ‘Two upcoming weddings booked for the end of spring have cancelled their bookings.’
‘Why?’ asked Libby.
‘I’m assuming because they have got wind of the article and social media posts. But it gets a lot worse—’
‘It does,’ cut in Libby.
Flynn raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you know?’
‘We have video evidence that Miranda tampered with the invites before they were sent to the printers. She was the reason her own guests turned up on the wrong day.’
Flynn’s eyes widened. ‘This is starting to make sense now. Look at this.’ He walked over to the computer and began typing in the search engine. Libby and Guy stood behind him, waiting for the page to load. ‘Aidy Redfern, the local reporter, contacted me as he thought I should take a look at something. He got wind of an old renovated barn in the area that is being converted into a wedding venue. Apparently, it’s due to open next spring and he sent me a link to the website. See?’
‘The Glensheil Wedding Barn. The number one wedding venue in the Scottish Highlands…’ Libby read out. ‘Where is this place? I’ve never heard of it.’
‘It’s on the other side of the river, at the edge of town. It backs onto the rural lane with the mountainous terrain behind. It’s a stunning area and the land was bought around a year ago. I was under the impression that it had possibly been purchased to develop a couple of houses but no, they’ve turned it to an olde worlde wedding venue.’
‘I know you don’t want to hear this but it looks beautiful,’ remarked Libby.
‘I agree the photos are stunning, but look at these, showing the sunny, mountainous terrain and the lush green grass.’
‘Gorgeous,’ replied Libby.
‘Take a closer look.’ Flynn tapped the screen. ‘That isn’t a view from the Glensheil Wedding Barn. For one thing, when these photographs were taken it would have still been a building site.’
‘I recognise that view,’ Guy suddenly exclaimed. ‘It’s from the back of Starcross Manor! It’s the view over the deer park and the walled flower garden.’
‘Exactly,’ Flynn confirmed.
‘Bloody hell, isn’t that what you call false advertising?’ Libby asked.
‘It gets better.’ He clicked on the menu at the top of the web page. ‘Wait until you see this.’ Flynn clicked again on the ‘About Us’ tab. ‘Meet the team.’
Libby gave a tiny gasp. Staring back at them were the faces of two very familiar people: Miranda and David.
‘No way!’ Libby exclaimed.
