Page 24 of She Doesn't Have a Clue
“Marla, no!” Kate gasped, lurching forward and gripping her hand. “Stay, please. I need you.”
“Valentine, chill,” Marla said. “I’m just going to get some help.”
But Kate couldn’t loosen her grip even as Marla tugged on her arm. She needed her friend now more than ever, with everyone watching her so suspiciously, judging her. Jake moved his hands along the slim line of Kennedy’s neck. He tilted her head back, checking her airway. He frowned, plucking something from her tongue.
“What is it?” Kate asked, leaning in.
“I don’t know, something she ate maybe,” Jake said, handing it off. It looked like a sliver of something hard, like a seed. Kate couldn’t remember what they’d had at the rehearsal dinner that might have had seeds in it. “Her airway looks clear. I’m starting compressions.”
“Give it to Abraham,” Marla suggested. “Maybe it will help us know what happened to Kennedy. What if the rest of us ate it?”
But Kate was too distracted to do anything except clutch the sliver in her hand as Jake started his CPR compressions. They were so much harder and more violent than Kate expected, Kennedy’s chest whooshing in with each push. These were not theatrical TV imitations; they were the real thing. Kennedy’s ribs creaked as Jake finished his first round, leaning over and performing mouth-to-mouth. Kate knew it was hopeless—Juliette said she hadn’t found a pulse, after all—but still she hoped. She had complicated feelings about Kennedy, but she certainly didn’t want her dead. And she definitely didn’t want to be accused of being the one who’d done it.
Jake went through another round of compressions, another round of mouth-to-mouth, the tension in the room tightening until Kate felt like everyone would snap. They were all looking at her, all thinking it, she was sure of it. They’d already made up their minds, and Kate was their patsy. And poor Kennedy was just… dead.
“Jake,” Kate said, reaching for his arm. She might be doomed, but she could spare Kennedy any more indignities.
But then the strangest thing happened. Kennedy’s body convulsed, like she was trying to cough but couldn’t get it out. She flung out a hand, nearly smacking Jake in the face, and he quickly rolled her over on her side as she vomited up what looked like the soup course. A sharp, acrid tang filled the air, like vinegar and something rotten. She sucked in a jagged breath before blinking open those luminous brown eyes.
“Mother Mary Tyler Moore,” Kate whispered. “She’s alive.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Holy shit,” Marla breathed in true shock, her eyes ready to pop out of her head. Her nails pressed red half-moons into Kate’s arm as her grip turned painful.
“Ken!” Cassidy screamed, dropping to her knees and taking Kennedy’s head in her lap. “Oh my god, are you okay??”
“What happened?” Kennedy asked, her voice raw and weak.
“This Kate woman ‘found’ you,” Jean-Pierre said, having the audacity to put air quotes around the word. “Lying at the bottom of the stairs here in the wine cave.”
“The wine cave? What was I doing in the wine cave?” Kennedy struggled as Cassidy and Juliette helped her to a sitting position, propping her up between the two of them.
“We don’t know,” Cassidy said, giving Kate a look. There were still a lot of looks being thrown around, Kate thought, considering that Kennedy was not, in fact, dead.
“The last thing I remember is feeling unwell and going to lie down upstairs,” Kennedy said, looking around in confusion. “I don’t remember coming down here at all.”
“I went looking for you,” Cassidy said, shaking her head. “Upstairs, when you said you were going to lie down. You weren’t there!”
“That’s because Kate poisoned her and pushed her down the stairs like the killer inSomething Borrowed, Someone Blue,” Juliette stated so matter-of-factly that Kate almost found herself nodding along with the accusation.
That’swhat felt so familiar to Kate about the wine cave—so much of the setting reminded her of the groom finding his poor dead bride at the bottom of the grand staircase in book three.
“Kate didn’t push anyone,” Jake said, standing up and putting himself in front of Kate. “It’s clear that Kennedy ate something that didn’t agree with her and passed out.”
“The oysters!” Kennedy said, recovering more life and tone. “It must have been the oysters in the bridal suite. They must have been spoiled, but I didn’t notice because we were so busy getting ready. Cassidy, remember when you had that bad case of food poisoning from the king crab legs on my graduation cruise?”
Cassidy shuddered. “Ugh, yes. I thought I was going to die. I even fainted at one point, trying to go to the bathroom.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “The oysters!”
“The oysters!” Kennedy echoed, nodding.
“Oysters?” Marla murmured. “I’ve had some cheap-ass oysters, but they never didthis.”
Unfortunately for Kate, everyone else in the room seemed to be of a similar doubtful mind. They shuffled around, casting baleful eyes at her. But they could hardly keep accusing her when Kennedy had made up her mind that it had all been some big misunderstanding.
“We need to get you upstairs and get some electrolytes in you, Kennedy,” said Juliette, giving Kate one last warning glare. Between her, Cassidy, and Jean-Pierre, they managed to help Kennedy stand.
“We need to get you to bed, too,” Jake said to Kate. He looked her up and down. “You really look a mess, Kate.”