Somehow, after explaining how they came to be at Jeremy’s house and stumbled across his body and had a run in with Ethan, to Hunt and Leo, who were not amused to say the least, Gia and Savannah made it back to Trevor’s mansion just in time to start the wedding rehearsal and dinner.
Though Gia didn’t expect them to make it, Hunt and Leo ran in only a few minutes late, and all seemed to be forgiven. Unfortunately, Ethan had been long gone, and they hadn’t been able to track him down.
They ran smoothly through the wedding, in an empty space Trevor had set aside for the purpose since he refused to allow anyone to see where the actual wedding would take place until the day of.
Alyssa placed a tray on a stand beside the long table where the entire wedding party sat. She started clearing empty plates that once contained the best chicken cordon bleu Gia had ever eaten.
“Everything was amazing, Alyssa, thank you.” Gia stood to help clear the dishes.
Alyssa took two plates from her hands and set them on the tray. “Oh, no. This is your night off. You sit and enjoy Savannah’s last night as a single woman. I’ve got this.”
“Thank you, Alyssa, for everything.” Gia returned to her seat between Hunt and Savannah.
She grinned and cleared a small stack of plates. “Let’s see if you’re still as grateful after dessert.”
“Dessert?” If Gia tried to stuff in another bite, she was going to have to open the top button on her jeans. She most definitely should have gone for something with an elastic waistband.
Alyssa hefted the tray of dishes and hurried to the kitchen, only to return a moment later with a cart filled with a smorgasbord of desserts. There were several kinds of tarts, pastries, smores, and crème brulee, just to start. “If I keep eating, I’m not going fit into my dress tomorrow.”
Alyssa laughed. “Sorry, but I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“As you should.” As tempted as Gia was to indulge, she resisted.
Until Savannah popped half an éclair onto Gia’s plate. “Eat up, sister. If I’m eating, you’re eating.”
Well, when she put it like that. Gia cut a small piece and tested it. “Oh, no. I’m going to have to finish my half.”
“Hurry up about it, because there’s a napoleon with our name on it next.” Savannah pointed to a delicious looking cake with her fork.
“Oh, fine. You only get married once, but Monday I’m starting a strict diet.”
Savannah laughed. “Good luck with that.”
Hunt’s cell phone rang, and he checked the caller ID, then excused himself to answer. Throughout dinner, talk had stayed focused on the wedding and the upcoming holiday, but with dinner and most of dessert finished, while they lingered over coffee and awaited Hunt’s return with what could only be bad news for him to have interrupted Savannah’s rehearsal dinner to take a call, the subject inevitably returned to murder.
“So,” Trevor asked. “Did you guys find Ethan?”
Gia and Savannah had filled him in on the details of their day while they’d been getting ready for the rehearsal.
Leo wiped his mouth and sat back, then pushed his plate away. “Nah, not yet. We have an APB out on him, though. He’ll turn up sooner or later.”
“Are you done, Gia?” Alyssa asked.
“Yes.” She tossed her napkin onto the plate. “And everything was amazing, thank you.”
“Of course. I’m happy you enjoyed it.” She picked up Gia’s dessert plate and set it on a large, full tray she held against her hip, then hefted the tray and started toward the kitchen.
Gia finally gave in and discreetly undid her top button. “Do you think it was Ethan that killed Jeremy?”
The tray Alyssa was carrying crashed to the floor.
Gia jumped up, but Trevor and Cole were closer and beat her to helping clean up. Gia took Alyssa’s arm and led her away from the broken glass. “Are you okay, Alyssa?”
“Oh, my, I’m so sorry.”
Savannah came up on her other side. “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“No, no, I’m fine, I…” She sucked in a shaky breath that ended on a half sob. “Are you talking about Jeremy Nolan? He’s…”
“Oh, Alyssa.” Gia took her ice-cold hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t even thought about how Alyssa might react to news of Jeremy’s death, or the fact that she might not have heard. Surely, the rumor mill was already up and churning.
“No, no. It’s… I just hadn’t heard, and it took me off guard, ya know?” She shook her head, lowering her gaze to the mess on the floor everyone was working together to clean up. Her hands shook as she smoothed her ponytail.
Carlos rushed into the room from the kitchen. “What happened? I heard a crash.”
Alyssa straightened and avoided making eye contact with anyone. “It…it was me, I’m sorry. I dropped the tray of dishes. I don’t know what happened; it just slipped out of my hands.”
“No big deal.” Savannah shot him a big smile. “It happens to me all the time.”
He nodded to Savannah, studied his wife for a moment, then turned and left without even asking if she was okay.
“I’m sorry, Alyssa, I didn’t realize you hadn’t heard.”
She nodded and sniffed, then took the tray with everything on it from Trevor and bolted for the kitchen.
Savannah watched her go. “Hmm. A bit of a strong reaction, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. It could really just have caught her off guard like she said. First Robyn, then Jeremy. Even if nothing was going on between them, it could be kind of shocking, especially since she was working with them to cater their upcoming wedding.”
“True.” Savannah still stared at the kitchen door, frowning. “I guess.”
Hunt poked his head in the door and spoke quietly. “Leo, I’ve gotta go. They just picked up Ethan, and they’re on their way to the station. And it turns out Jeremy also died of belladonna poisoning. They found traces in an empty tea cup and a canister of loose-leaf tea on the counter.”
Leo looked back and forth between Savannah and Hunt, clearly torn between wanting to stay with her and needing to go with Hunt.
“Go, silly.” Savannah kissed him hard. “I’m going to spend my last night as a single woman with Gia.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive. Go. And keep Hunt out of trouble.”
“Same goes.” He gave a sidelong glance toward Gia and winked.
“Ha ha.” Gia poked him in the side, then kissed Hunt goodbye and turned to Savannah. “So, are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Going to keep me out of trouble.”
She lifted a brow and a slow grin spread across her face. “I don’t know. What did you have in mind?”
“Well, it is the night before your wedding, so I will totally understand if you just want to hang out here and chill, maybe make popcorn with chocolate chips and watch a Christmas movie.” Truth be told, that was probably a better option than what Gia had in mind.
“And what’s behind door number two?”
“Well.” Gia pitched her voice low enough not to be heard by the others still mingling in the room. “I’ve been thinking about the plant we found at Jeremy’s, the one you thought might be belladonna.”
Savannah nodded. “Leo confirmed it was when I spoke to him earlier.”
“Don’t you find it a little odd he’d have left it right there on his deck after killing his fiancé? Besides, that plant looked newly planted, as if—”
“As if someone had taken part of a larger plant and transplanted it.”
“Exactly.” That, combined with the wills and the page of signatures they’d found added up to one very sloppy killer. Or, someone was trying to set him up. And somehow, that one made more sense. “It’s perfect really, too perfect. Robyn dies of belladonna poisoning, and a belladonna plant miraculously shows up in Jeremy’s yard. In addition to that, a will naming Jeremy as the beneficiary happens to be sitting on the table beside a page of Robyn’s signature forged over and over again, all conveniently found in a dead man’s home pointing to him as the killer.”
“So, what, are the police supposed to now believe he had a sudden attack of guilt and poisoned himself?”
Gia shook her head. Who knew what the killer expected?
“So, what do you want to do?” Savannah asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I was thinking of taking a late-night stroll to work off some of the fabulous food Alyssa served tonight. Like, you know, maybe past a few people of interest’s houses, maybe just to take a quick peek in their yards, see if they have any plants back there that they shouldn’t.” What could that hurt? It’s not like anyone should be up and about at that time of night.
“Sure, why not?” Savannah shrugged. “At least, it’ll keep me from fretting about tomorrow. Where do we start?”
Probably not the way most brides worked through pre-wedding jitters, but hey, whatever worked.
They spent a few minutes chatting with the few remaining members of the wedding party, then begged off and said goodbye, assuring everyone they’d see them tomorrow evening at the wedding. After walking Thor and settling him in their suite, Gia and Savannah headed to her car. They’d debated taking him with them, but in the end decided not to. Gia didn’t want to leave him alone in the car if they decided to get out and walk, but she couldn’t really take him on the off chance he spotted a squirrel or some other nocturnal creature and decided to bark and draw attention to them. Attention was the last thing they needed.
Savannah accelerated down the dark, mostly deserted road. “Where do you want to start?”
Gia didn’t dare say Carlos and Alyssa’s house, though now would be the perfect time, since they were still at Trevor’s and probably would be for a while cleaning up.
Savannah glanced over at her before turning her attention back to the road. “Go ahead, you can say it. Alyssa did act overly upset when she heard about Jeremy’s death. And both she and Carlos did have the opportunity to poison the cake.”
“Alyssa says she was in the back room, taking a much needed break from the bickering right before Robyn collapsed.” But since everyone seemed to have been conveniently elsewhere in the few moments before Robyn’s death, it didn’t really matter what she claimed. Someone was lying. They had to be, because she didn’t poison herself. “But, I can’t figure out a reason for her to have wanted to kill Robyn, regardless of whether or not she and Jeremy were having an affair.”
“No, me neither, and that’s not just because I don’t want my caterer arrested on the eve of my wedding. I really don’t see why she’d have killed her. Even if her and Jeremy were together, Alyssa’s still married.”
“True, unless maybe Carlos is next on the list.” But it didn’t feel right, and if that was the case, why then turn around and kill Jeremy? “There’s always a chance she had a motive no one has uncovered yet.”
“I guess, but it’s not really jibing for me.” Savannah shrugged. “Now, Carlos, on the other hand, is a beast. He went after Jeremy in the café the other day for no real reason.”
Gia cringed, knowing she and Savannah were going to disagree on this. “Jeremy did rub his hand against Alyssa’s, and at the tasting when we were trying to revive Robyn, he had his hand a little too comfortably on her back. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning what Carlos did, but Jeremy was acting a bit suggestively, almost daring Carlos to strike out.”
“So you’re saying he got what he deserved?”
“No, not at all. I’m just saying maybe he provoked him on purpose for some reason, or maybe he was just being disrespectful and causing trouble. Either way…”
“Either way, Jeremy pushed Carlos’s buttons before he got hit,” Savannah finished.
“Yeah.” So, Carlos might be on the suspect list for Jeremy’s murder, but Gia just couldn’t come up with any reason he’d have killed Robyn. “I guess maybe Alyssa could have killed Robyn to get her out of the way, then Carlos could have found out and killed Jeremy to keep Alyssa from running off with him.”
“Hmm? I don’t know.” Savannah shook her head. “That seems pretty far-fetched.”
Gia had to agree. “Besides, poison doesn’t seem like the weapon of choice for someone as prone to violence as Carlos is. It seems he’d be more likely to do something more impulsive, like blow up and kill someone in a fit of rage.”
“True.” It didn’t take long to eliminate the presence of belladonna at Carlos and Alyssa’s. Though their landscaping was beautiful, in an out west desert kind of way, with lots of rocks and boulders and cacti, there were no lush plants and definitely nothing that looked like the pictures of belladonna Savannah had pulled up on her phone. They hurried back to the car before anyone could spot them and demand they explain their presence.
Gia shut the door quietly. “Now what?”
“What about dear old Mallory?”
“What reason would Mallory have had to kill Robyn?” If what Tom had told them was true, Mallory owed Robyn a debt. Even if it had been Max’s idea to pay off the credit cards she’d basically stolen and not hold her responsible, Robyn still had to have agreed since some of the cards were in her name.
“Jealousy, maybe? Because Robyn got her brother’s inheritance. While Mallory might have been left in charge of Isaac’s money, which hasn’t been proven by any other way but his say so, she didn’t seem to have any of her own. Plus, there’s still the question of her involvement with Jeremy on some other level, since they were supposedly dating before he and Robyn got together and before Max died. Maybe the two of them were in cahoots, working together to get rid of Max and Robyn and get everything?”
“Could be, I suppose. Where was she supposedly when the murder happened?” Gia tried to remember where each suspect claimed to have been in the moments when the poison had most likely been planted. “The bathroom, I think, right?”
Savannah looked up Mallory’s address. She set her phone back in the cup holder without bothering to punch the address into the GPS and pulled out. “The bathroom, which was right past where Carlos and Alyssa supposedly left the cake sitting.”
“So she could have had opportunity.”
“Could have.” Savannah nodded. “And motive, but did she have the means?”
“That’s what we’re about to find out. Maybe.” They rode in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, out past Gia’s development. Despite talk of murder, and their current mission, Gia enjoyed the peace of their surroundings. The thick forest could make you imagine you were the only beings around for miles and miles.
When Savannah turned, Gia double checked the address. “She lives on the corner a little ways up. At least that should make it easier to see into the yard.”
“Let’s just hope this time we find something.” Savannah parked got out of the car, but she didn’t lock it. No sense making a sound that would draw attention, and they weren’t going far. Besides, the neighborhood appeared to be deserted. And unlike the Rinaldi’s development, the houses here were set on anywhere between one and five acres of property, with no street lights, so their presence should go unnoticed.
Gia strolled beside Savannah, two friends out enjoying a late night walk if anyone happened to look out their windows. Though it didn’t seem likely, since the few houses they could see already had their curtains and blinds closed. Light spilled out from a few upstairs windows, and flickering lights announced several occupants were watching TV.
Mallory’s cottage stood on a corner, a split rail fence surrounding the back yard. Easy enough to climb over. “Why don’t you wait here and make sure no one comes, while I go check the back yard?”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Like that won’t look suspicious. Do you need help over the fence?”
“Ha ha. I think I can handle this one.” She swung herself up and over, then brushed her hands off and looked around. A porch light had been turned on, but from what Gia could make out of the interior, it seemed pitch black. The driveway was empty. “Do you think she’s out?”
“I don’t know, but let’s take a quick peek in the yard and get out of here before we get caught. I don’t want to spend my last night as a free woman in a cage.”
Gia laughed out loud, then slapped a hand over her mouth.
Savannah nudged her with an elbow to her still sore rib. “I’m glad you think it’s funny.”
“Oh, stop. You’re not going to jail.”
“You don’t think?”
Gia paused and studied Savannah in the moonlight. “Look at it this way, we’re actually doing Hunt and Leo a favor.”
Savannah’s eyebrows shot up, and she stopped short to stare at Gia. “Okay, I give up. How in the world do you figure that?”
“Well, they wouldn’t be able to search these yards without a search warrant, and we can.”
It was Savannah’s turn to laugh, though she didn’t have to cover her mouth since she had the sense to do so quietly. She resumed her trek into the yard. As they passed a low row of azaleas, Savannah grabbed Gia’s arm and yanked her down.
Gia dropped instantly, crouching next to the nearest bush, hoping it would provide cover from whatever Savannah had seen.
Savannah put a finger to her lips, then pointed toward the garden at the back of the house.
A figure clad all in black, including a hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled low over his eyes, stood in the small puddle of light given off by Mallory’s back spotlight. His hand rested on the handle of a shovel partly dug into the ground, his head tilted as if listening for something. He must have heard them coming.
Gia froze, barely breathing, despite her lungs begging for air.
After a moment, the figure wiped his forehead with his sleeve and resumed digging.
Savannah put her lips right against Gia’s ear and whispered, “Can you tell who it is?”
Gia tried to keep her voice barely a whisper as she struggled for breath. “No, can you?”
“Uh uh. What do you want to do?” Savannah looked back the way they’d come.
“Can you get any deeper into the bushes without making any noise?” Because they either needed to hide or run, and if they ran, she’d never know what the figure in black was up to. She only hoped she wasn’t gong to stumble across another body when he left.