Page 58 of She Doesn't Have a Clue
Kate and Jake hurried down to the main floor, suddenly aware ofhow much time had passed since Abraham’s announcement. But it hardly seemed to matter if they were late or not, because it felt like the house was under assault from the storm outside, the wind finding its way into all the cracks and weak points a hundred-year-old house halfway through renovations will have. The lights flickered more noticeably now, like a heart monitor tracking the last pumps of a dying muscle.
“Seems kind of ludicrous to be trying to hold the ceremony now,” Kate said, unconsciously pushing in closer to Jake as the long shadows of the house took on a more sinister feel. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, be seeking emergency shelter somewhere instead?”
“On an island like this? The whole thing could go underwater. The only safe place is somewhere else entirely.” He glanced at her as her fingers dug into his arm, her eyes gone wide. “I mean, we’ll be fine. This house has seen its share of storms, I’m sure. Nothing stands for a hundred years without taking a few beatings.”
“Okay, well you clearly have not read ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ then,” Kate muttered.
“Whatever happens, there’s a fully stocked wine cellar, right?” Jake said with a shrug. “There are worse ways to go out.”
“How do you do that?” Kate asked.
“Do what?”
“Stay so calm, when everything is complete chaos? How are you not freaking out?”
“I’ve been all over the world, yeah?” Jake said. “Ferrying Wall Street types on their version of an Eat, Pray, Love tour. Rich boys with high adrenaline thresholds looking for an extreme experience they can brag about to their dates back home. And I’ve got to make them feel like they’re always facing danger without actually ever letting them be in danger, which is easy when you’re designing a roller coaster. But, in my experience, things rarely go how I think they will. That’s the nature of Mother Nature. I nearly lost my pinkie toe to frostbite in Nepal, had a shark try to bite my arm off in Tahiti, and was sicker than I’ve ever been in my life in Borneo. If I tried to control everything, I’d be a mess. So, I’ve learned to embrace the chaos.”
“But I don’t want to embrace the chaos,” Kate said, shaking her head. “I want to… to organize the chaos.”
Jake chuckled. “It’s chaos, Kate. By its very definition, it can’t be organized.”
“Only because no one’s tried hard enough yet,” Kate said with grim determination.
Jake let out a full-bellied laugh. “That’s what I love most about you, Katey cakes. Your unshakeable belief in your organizational skills.”
Kate had alotof questions about that off-the-cuff statement, but they had found their way to the sunroom and the guests were already packed in the crowded arrangement of chairs. It was sweltering, even from the hall, so many warm bodies putting off heat in such a small space. Sweat tickled Kate’s underarm, blooming into the silk backing beneath the sequins. She’d probably have to toss the dress by the end of the weekend; there was no saving silk from sweat.
Abraham and Jean-Pierre had made a valiant attempt to re-create the fairy forest magic from the tent outside, but due to the small size of the room and the large number of people trying to fit into it, the efforts felt more constricting than transportive. Glass butterflies knocked people in the forehead, several guests had to use the roots of the trees as seats, and the glass pond was propped up in one corner, tilting perilously as each person squeezed past it. Kate could only imagine how the exotic fish were faring in their underground tank outside.
“I’ll find us some seats,” Jake said, moving into the thick of the crowd.
“Hey,” Marla said, appearing beside Kate during a rolling peal of thunder. Kate jumped, startling Marla right back.
“Marla!” Kate exclaimed, the shortness of breath making her sound huffy. “Where have you been?”
“Where the hell haveyoubeen?” Marla shot back. “I’ve been all over this nightmare house looking for this evidence you swore would just be lying around somewhere, but I haven’t found shit. I got trapped in a weird cabinet that I’m ninety-nine percent sure was a medieval torture chamber at one point, and I startled an entire family oflivingpossums ina bedroom that was full of vases and vases of dead flowers. Meanwhile, you’re nowhere to be found, and apparently the whole house is about to lose power during a massive storm, so yeah. It’s been a less than ideal day for me.”
“Oh, Marla, shit, I’m sorry,” Kate said. “I was… I was investigating, too. I guess our paths just… never crossed.”
Except that wasn’t exactly true, was it? Kate had done plenty more than justinvestigate, and she’d been so busy with Jake and interrogating new suspects and Rebecca’s untimely body drop that she’d once again forgotten all about her friend. This was supposed to be their weekend to reconnect, to find the magic of the Nights of the Round Table again. And instead, Kate had done what she’d always done, focused only on herself.
“Marla, I really am sorry,” she reiterated when Marla didn’t answer. Marla stared hard at the crowd of gathering wedding guests, but Kate knew where her anger was really directed. “I swear I won’t forget you this time. I promise. I’m so close, I know it.”
Marla looked to her in surprise. “Did you find something? The champagne glass? A new clue?”
Kate shook her head. She could hardly get into Rebecca’s murder here in the open. “Not exactly, but mark my words. I’m going to find the killer before this day is out.”
“Ahem!” said Abraham, drawing everyone’s attention to the back of the room. Or maybe it was the big crash of thunder that rattled the windows in their frames, or the fantastic flash of lightning just before that silhouetted him like the big reveal in a murder mystery. Whichever event it was, all eyes turned to the back as he held up what looked for all the world like an old iPod. “Would everyone stand, please?”
He tapped the screen and a tinny, plodding version of the wedding march fought a losing battle for attention against the furor of the storm outside. He stepped to the side, frantically pressing the volume button as if it wasn’t already at top level, as Juliette appeared on the arm of the first groomsman.
“Is that an iPod?” Jake whispered.
“Should have used that megaphone,” Kate murmured, preoccupiedwith the bridesmaids coming down the aisle. Each one gave her a warning look like she was going to jump up and declare her love for Spencer any second now. Cassidy was the worst of them, outright glaring at Kate as she paced down the aisle on Eric’s arm.
The crowd turned to the windows at the back with hushed breaths. Even Kate couldn’t help tipping up on her heels to catch a glimpse of Kennedy as she stepped into the sunroom. There was something so magical about the moment the bride appeared. And Kennedy was no different—pale, but radiating joy, her dress a gorgeous satin with a draping skirt that made her look as if she’d stepped straight out of an old Hollywood film. She smiled, eyes fixed at the front of the room, holding on to Simon Hsu’s arm.
They were really going to do it, Kate thought. They were really going to make it through this damn ceremony.