“Flowers? We need flowers.”
This is societally sanctioned torture.
The three most important women in his life, barring Abra, had been chatting for two hours about flowers, menus, and venues. Olivia kept glancing over at him with a twinkle in her eyes. She was enjoying seeing her brother in the hot seat.
She’d basically dropped a few ideas into the ether and watched the chaos of his mum and mum-in-law-to-be with glee. Osian had hoped for a bit of help from her. But, unfortunately, she’d had no interest in reining them in thus far.
We are one hundred percent eloping. Hurt feelings be damned. I’m not putting Dannel through all this chaos; he’ll never make it down the aisle.
“We do not, I repeat, do not need a full orchestra for anything connected to this wedding.” Osian set his glass down harder than intended. He smiled apologetically at his sister for the wine dripping off the table. “Mum. Seriously. We’re not interested in all this fuss.”
“Sweetheart.” His mum smiled mischievously at him. “You might want to remember to breathe. I wouldn’t want you to hyperventilate before the wedding even happens.”
“Are you all quite finished taking the mickey out of me?” Osian complained while they laughed. “How about we compromise? I’m tired of your experiment with reverse psychology.”
“We would never.” Dannel’s mum feigned offence remarkably well. “The audacity of young people.”
“Hilarious.” Osian stretched his leg out to kick his snickering sister in the shin. “You can’t convince me to agree to your real plan by terrifying me with all of this.”
“Can’t we?”
“How about this? We’ll get married at the register office, then you can throw a hell of a party for us afterwards.” Osian drained what little was left of the wine in his glass. “Princess Olivia can plan it for us.”
“Excellent.” Olivia rubbed her hands together with a wicked grin. “I’m seeing unicorns. And glitter. All things sparkly.”
“You’re not, actually.” He decided it was time to make a hasty retreat. He got up, kissed them all on the cheek, and then raced for the door. “Lovely to see you all. Must run.”
Leaving the cackling trio at Olivia’s table, Osian fled his sister’s home. They were exhausting. He’d almost prefer trying to solve a murder.
Almost.
With a dramatic sigh of relief, Osian decided to check on Dannel. A quick text conversation led to him changing directions. Dannel and Chris had gone over to the latter’s workplace to do research.
And by research, Osian assumed they were digging into the lives of their suspects. Legally. Completely legally. He didn’t think Chris would push the envelope too much.
Then again, Chris did have access to systems they didn’t. He also had motivation in the form of a younger sister who’d been threatened by one of the suspects on their list. So worry was definitely a strong motivator.
The tube ride over to Chris’s workplace gave Osian enough time to clear out his emails. He also outlined their next podcast script. They planned for one more episode before taking a break for the rest of the year.
“No pizza?” Chris greeted him once he’d stepped into office. “Follow me. We’re back here.”
“So, what have you found?” Osian stepped up behind Dannel’s chair, wrapping his arms around him. “Anything interesting?”
“People share far too much information on social media.” Chris slid across the office on his wheeled chair. He sidled up next to Dannel. “Several of the people who went out that night shared photos and videos.”
“And?” Osian dragged a third chair over to sit behind them, resting his chin on Dannel’s shoulder. “Did you learn anything new?”
“Satish Misra made loads of angry reviews on Barnaby and Wayne. He’s definitely a disgruntled client.” Chris switched browser tabs and highlighted a few. “Unethical. Failed to do the bare minimum. Avoid at all costs unless you want to lose your case. And those are the mild ones without swearing and threats.”
“He’s definitely got a motive then.” Osian wondered how difficult it would be to track the man down. “We should ask Wayne about him. What else did you discover?”
“Willa was surprisingly quiet on Instagram the night of the murder. She usually posts frequently on nights out, from a cursory look at her account.” Chris scrolled through the page. “Interesting enough, though, one of Hamnet Allsop’s daughters happened to be at the same pub, which might explain Edgar’s presence.”
“Did he go there with Willa?” Osian asked.
“Nope.” Dannel tilted his head to rest against Osian’s. “Not according to office gossip. They got close after a few drinks.”
“Ah yes, the honest truth of office gossip.” Osian knew from Wayne that nothing stayed a secret long amongst solicitors. “It doesn’t really prove anything, whether or not they went together or decided to hook up there.”
Shifting closer with his arm still wrapped around Dannel, Osian watched one of the short videos on Instagram. The camera panned around the room, showing the group of friends with beers. It zoomed in on someone having what appeared to be a heated conversation with both Barnaby and Wayne.
“Who’s that?”
“No idea. It’s the only video on her account, and it ends before you get a glimpse of their face.” Chris switched to yet another tab on the browser. “I’m hazarding a guess it’s Satish Misra.”
“Can we prove it?” Osian asked.
“Maybe. I’ll be right back.” Chris headed out of the room.
“How’d the wedding planning go?” Dannel shifted around in the chair toward Osian. “Are we running away?”
“Forever?”
“I mean, they’d find us eventually.” Dannel bent forward until their lips met. He grinned into the kiss. “You’re probably worth the trouble.”
“Quit snogging in my office.” Chris slipped back inside. “Wayne and Roland are coming over. They’re bringing food.”
“And beer?”
“Just food. Despite appearances, I am working.” Chris went over to a cabinet in the corner, opening one of the drawers. “We should try to find more on Satish Misra. And maybe chase down Handsy Hamster’s daughter.”
“Wayne can help with the former. I’ll message Abs. She might know about the judge’s daughter.” Osian wasn’t sure any of what they had was actually helpful.
Chris held up several iPads he’d retrieved. “We need to trawl through the social media of everyone we know was at the pub that night. Then, with luck, we can create a timeline for who left and when. Plus, maybe we’ll find more footage.”
“Not a bad plan.” Dannel grabbed one of the tablets while Chris returned to his computer. “I’ll check to see if anyone else made complaints online about Barnaby Sharrow. Misra might not be the only client with an axe to grind.”
“A client with access to Wayne’s tie and car keys?” Osian reached for one of the iPads as well. “There was definitely more than one person involved in this murder. Has to be. And what about Edgar? He’s not on social media.”
“True. He might be in the background of someone else’s video or photo.” Chris checked his watch. “We’ve got maybe two hours before some of my co-workers return from their surveillance job.”
“Plenty of time for a good snog,” Osian teased.
“No, keep your lips to yourselves. I don’t need a front-row seat to your romance. I’m already going to the wedding.” Chris glared pointedly at both Osian and Dannel. “We need to pin down where Edgar went after leaving Willa’s.”
“How?” Dannel pushed Osian out of his face when he went in for another kiss. “Focus.”
“I am.” Osian settled back in his seat. “Is there any possible way to gain access to CCTV around Wayne’s building? Anything to see Edgar or anyone else leaving?”
“Nope. The cameras were either off or turned in another direction.” Chris paused when his phone rang. “Hang on.”
They sat in relative silence while Chris stepped out to take a call. Dannel returned to attempting to find more videos from the night at the pub. Osian wondered if they could expand their search.
Wayne had given them a list of names of people at the pub. Of course, those were only the ones he remembered. Had other people attended? Osian decided to go through their followers, attempting to find anyone who’d gone.
“If I have to listen to one more drunken rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’” Dannel groaned. “Why do people enjoy karaoke so much?”
“You sing all the lines to Hamilton whenever we’re listening to the cast album.” Osian shifted his legs out of the way to avoid the kick aimed in his direction. “Hey. Check this out.”
Dannel leaned across the table. “More singing?”
“No.” Osian played the slightly blurry video, drawing Dannel’s attention to the dark corner behind the couple entering the pub. “Wayne drapes his coat across a chair, then drops his tie on top. Anyone could’ve grabbed it.”
The video certainly wasn’t a smoking gun. However, it did offer a lead to follow. Can we find footage of someone stealing the tie? Or at least of it vanishing from the pub?
“It doesn’t prove anything.” Dannel went back to his own search. “Nothing concrete.”
“True, but we have a starting point. It also gives us the exact time they arrived at the pub.” Osian made sure to send the link to Chris. He might be able to clean up the footage. “More than we had. Maybe more than the police have.”
But not enough to clear Wayne.
Not yet.