Maria had never liked a pragmatic, daily worker like Eve. The gossip that came with Eve, though? That was worth more than any friendship.
Maria was already talking the moment the door opened.
“I can’t believe someone died at your wedding!” Maria followed Eve out of the room and down the hallway. She was still in her designer dress and covered in various accessories that sparkled even under the library’s old fluorescent lights. Eve didn’t miss the woman’s gaze down at her now very underwhelmingly average outfit. On a normal day it would have most likely prompted a backhanded compliment of some sort. Today, however, Maria hurried past any veiled or not-so-veiled insult.
“Well, I guess calling it a wedding is generous, all things considered,” she said. “The ceremony didn’t even finish, and I’m guessing that rescheduling for later tonight isn’t in the cards either, huh?”
Maria might have liked gossip, but she wasn’t giving Eve any space to provide a word. Her heels clicked and echoed through the hallway around them.
“The sheriff already told us all to go back to the hotel,” she continued. “Toby already left to talk to management aboutextending our stay. He wanted to go with the sheriff and Scott to Gary’s room to look around, but I told him we should probably take care of the guests who didn’t want to stay here more than a day, you know? Just in case they’re needed with the investigation.”
While Maria had been talking, Eve had been inching them toward the library’s lobby. Pointing out that a man’s death was more important than a guest’s potential discomfort didn’t seem the right play, though Eve felt the urge to say it all the same. But unlike Maria, she knew there was a time and place for things.
Right now? All Eve wanted to do was talk to only two people. Maria was neither one of those people.
Still, Eve couldn’t deny she was glad for the mini-update on what had happened in the time she had been sequestered to the bridal party dressing room to change.
Namely, finding where one of the two people she wanted to see next had gone.
“Is Mitchell with Scott and the sheriff?” Eve asked. “I can’t get him on the phone.”
Maria’s eyes widened. Her lipstick’s deep red looked oddly off-putting. The fluorescent lights really weren’t doing anyone favors here.
“He’s probably at the police station or department or whatever it’s called. I saw him leave, but he got into a police car with some man in a uniform.”
Eve paused in her short stride.
“He left in one of their cars?”
Maria nodded.
“Don’t worry. He was sitting in the front seat, or else I would have said something, believe you me.”
Why had Mitchell gotten into a deputy’s cruiser at all? Why hadn’t he gone with Scott and the sheriff?
Eve felt her brow knit together. Maria noticed but didn’t understand the emotion behind it.
The diamond of her wedding ring had swiveled downward. It pinched a little as she patted Eve’s shoulder.
“Don’t you worry, I’ll be talking to Toby and Scott about getting you two married as soon as possible so we can get back to civilization.”
Eve didn’t have the mental space to point out that Maria had just insulted her hometown and, instead, finally made her way out into the lobby.
After waiting in the offices for half an hour, then escaping to change, the old library’s lobby had apparently been emptied. Gary’s body was gone, and in its place some caution tape and a sign had been put up. All personnel and law enforcement were gone.
All but one.
Maria let out a little breath as both women saw Darius. There was definitely no denying he had more than grown up. Leaning against the wall next to one of the open front doors, he looked like he had stepped out of a magazine. Modeling denim, Eve couldn’t help but think quick.
Maria must have also appreciated the sight.
When Darius pushed off the wall and came toward them, she cleared her throat ever so slightly. Then that too-dark lipstick moved into a sharklike smile.
Darius gave her a small nod, but his gaze didn’t move from Eve. Which was good, considering he was one of the two people she was hoping to talk to now.
“Mrs. Keys, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming with me for a statement at the department?” He sure looked like Darius, but the voice and name change certainly threw Eve for a mental loop. She felt her brow fly high in question.
Maria beat her to a response.
