“But a few minutes ago, while I was standing at the back of the church, the penny dropped,” Phyllis continued, unperturbed. “I was watching Nova walk down the aisle, and I remembered something that Arthur Robinson had said to me, about how in romance novels, people do the strangest things for love. And that’s when it hit me.”
Phyllis paused for dramatic effect, then kicked herself because that was the kind of nonsense Hercule Poirot would do. Still, she was on a roll now, and she drew breath before she continued.
“Lauren hasn’t been going after Nova because she wants herjob. She’s been going after Nova because she wants herman!”
At this, a clamor of shocked voices rang out around the church.
“It’s true, isn’t it, Lauren?” Phyllis said, shouting to be heard above the noise. “You’re having an affair with Craig, and you’ve done everything in your power to destroy Nova so you could stop this wedding from happening.”
“Have you been shagging my girlfriend?” The tall man who’d arrived at the church with Lauren stood up and glared at Craig, a vein visibly throbbing in his forehead.
“Don’t listen to a word the old cow is saying,” Craig spat. “The woman is clearly deranged.”
“Hey, don’t talk to Phyllis like that,” said Arthur, jumping up from his seat too. “You can’t insult her just because she’s uncovered your secret.”
“Is this true, Craig?” the vicar asked, stepping forward. “Haveyou been having an affair with another woman?”
“No, of course not!” Craig turned back to Nova. “You don’t believe any of this rubbish, do you? You know I’d never cheat on you.”
Nova didn’t reply, her eyes wide with shock. Phyllis looked over at Lauren, who was staring at Craig, her cheeks bright pink.
“I’m not wrong, am I?” she said to the girl. “You and Craig have been sleeping together and that’s why you’ve been trying to destroy Nova.”
Lauren opened her mouth and Phyllis held her breath.
“Craig and I haven’t been having an affair,” she said, and Phyllis’s shoulders sank with disappointment. Miss Marple always managed to elicit a full public confession with remarkably little fuss.
“You see!” Craig said. “Now can someone please get this old woman out of the church so we can get on with the wedding?”
“No!”
There was another audible gasp as Lauren stood up in her pew. The church fell silent as everyone waited to see what would happen next.
“Doyouhave an objection as well?” The vicar raised his hands in defeat.
“Craig, you can’t marry Nova,” Lauren said, her eyes on the groom. “She’s not good enough for you.”
“Stop it this instance!” This was the mother of the groom. “Be quiet and stop embarrassing yourself, Lauren.”
“You think the same, Pamela, I know you must,” Lauren said, and there was a pleading note in her voice. “Nova doesn’t love Craig, she told me herself she’d been having doubts about marrying him. But Craig wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to warn him, so I had to dosomething.”
“So have you really been behind all of Nova’s problems?” Craig said.
Phyllis saw Lauren visibly swallow. “I thought that if she got sacked then the wedding might be called off, and you’d be spared from the massive mistake you’re about to make.”
“But your early efforts to get Nova sacked for incompetence didn’t work, did they?” Phyllis said. “Which is why you got desperate and started to take things further, like framing her for stealing the money.”
“I was sure she’d get fired over that, given she was alone in the building and had to go to the office to get her book I’d hidden,” Lauren said, shaking her head. “But then Nova forgot to lock the office and that bloody man, Michael, ran away, and everyone thought it was him who’d stolen the money instead of her.”
“So then you tried to frame Nova for a violent attack by wearing a coat just like hers when you hit Sandy.”
Lauren glanced back at her boss. “I never intended to hurt Sandy, I swear. I just wanted to make sure someone saw me trying to break into her house wearing a red coat. But then she opened the door and surprised me, and I panicked and pushed her. I’m so sorry, Sandy.”
“Bloody hell, Lauren!” said her boyfriend, who was looking slightly green. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
But Lauren ignored him, looking back at Craig instead. “I love you, I always have. And I couldn’t bear to see you make the biggest mistake of your life by marrying Nova.”
“And so you tried to get her fired and arrested?” Craig said. “That’s psychotic!”
