“Sandy’s here?” A pink flush was spreading across Lauren’s cheeks, turning them the same color as her dress.
“Yes, she felt well enough to come. She’s inside the church now.”
“Right. Wow…that’s great.”
Yet Lauren looked anything but delighted as she hurried past Phyllis. She stopped for a moment in the doorway, her eyes scanning the congregation, and then she saw who she was looking for and headed over to join them. Phyllis watched her go and smiled in satisfaction.
“There we go, Craddock,” she whispered. “Stage one of the book club plan is complete.”
Now, like Miss Marple inA Murder Is Announced, Phyllis just had to sit back and let the criminal hang herself.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ash
Ash had never been to a church wedding before. Or at least, not since he’d been a page boy at his Auntie Shilpa’s wedding, aged three, when apparently he’d been so nervous about walking up the aisle that he’d wet himself. He was feeling pretty nervous today, too, although for entirely different reasons.
One, any minute now he was hopefully going to catch a violent criminal confessing her crime. And two, and even more terrifying, Dan Gates was sitting in the aisle next to him, looking so handsome in his suit and tie that Ash worried he might wet himself again.
“She should be here soon,” Dan whispered, leaning in to Ash so that their shoulders touched. “You ready?”
“I think so,” Ash whispered back, clutching his phone between his hands.
He was still amazed Dan had offered to come. After Ash had met up with the book club members last night, he’d messaged Dan to let him know what they’d discovered about Lauren. To his surprise, Dan had texted back immediately, and they’d ended up spending an hour messaging each other. And then at the end, when they weresaying good-bye, Dan had asked if he could come today as well. Ash knew he was only here because he wanted to help catch Lauren, but still, he couldn’t believe he was getting to hang out with Dan for the second day in a row.
“I can’t get over the fact Lauren was trying to stitch up her own friend like that,” Dan muttered, shaking his head. “That’s Lando Calrissian levels of treachery.”
Ash laughed at the Star Wars reference. “Hopefully we can put an end to that today. Thanks for coming to help, by the way. I know spending your Saturday in church isn’t the most fun.”
“Are you kidding me? Road trips, terrifying cliff climbs and now entrapping a criminal at a wedding…this is awesome! It’s better than any first date I could have planned.”
Ash nearly choked at the worddate. He glanced at Dan, assuming he’d misheard him, and saw that Dan was smiling at him.
“Although next time, maybe we can try for something a little less dangerous; say, pizza and a movie?”
Ash felt his cheeks burn and all he could manage was a mumbled, “Great.”
Dan laughed and then stopped as he caught sight of something over Ash’s shoulder. “She’s here!”
A second later, Ash heard the sound of heels clicking down the aisle and saw a blur of pink as Lauren slid into the pew in front of him. Hardly daring to breathe, Ash pressed record on his phone, and he saw Dan do the same thing.
“Sandy, hi!” Lauren’s voice was low, and Ash surreptitiously moved his phone closer to her.
“Hi, Lauren.” Sandy was sitting in front of Dan, and she didn’t turn to look at Lauren as she sat down.
“It’s so great to see you here and looking so much better. How are you feeling?”
“I’m still getting headaches, but the doctor said that’s normal after a concussion.”
“You poor thing. I heard that you’ve remembered more about the night of your attack?” Lauren’s voice was light, but Ash could hear the slight tremble in it.
“Oh, you heard that, did you?” Sandy was still looking forward, avoiding eye contact with Lauren, who slid closer to her on the pew.
“Phyllis said you remembered seeing who hit you. It was Nova, I assume?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, your neighbor said she saw Nova’s red coat outside your house. And the police think it was her as well, given she has a motive and…”
