Two days later, Alexandra met the others for dress shopping at Trina and Keith’s house in Georgetown because it was closest to the boutiques where they had appointments lined up. The entourage consisted of the two brides along with Erica, Mara, Trina, Isabel, Tricia, and Leah.
Alexandra had to admit, this was so much more fun than dress shopping had been all those years ago, when Kendall had been her maid of honor but there remained so much friction between them.
Tanya had joined them on some of those shopping excursions, and the ache at thinking of Kendall triggered Alexandra’s decision to send Tanya shopping photos.
They’d spent two hours on the phone yesterday, as Alexandra brought her up to date and shared her suspicion that Kendall had been murdered. When she asked if anyone knew they were going to sort Kendall’s things that day, Tanya had replied that Brent had shown up at Kendall’s two weeks before and was taken aback to find Tanya staying in the house. He was there to collect items of his that Kendall had held on to.
She’d turned him away, telling him she and Alexandra would be sorting Kendall’s things at the start of winter break. If they found anything that might belong to him, they’d set it aside.
She’d never liked Brent and didn’t trust him not to steal. Nor did she believe Kendall had anything that had belonged to him. She hadn’t mentioned it to Alexandra when they were together because it was an emotional enough day without talking about the man who’d changed Kendall for the worse.
Alexandra didn’t tell Tanya about the recording of the conversation with Brent that had been hidden on the old hard drive, but she did pick Tanya’s brain for other hints Kendall might have left behind and if there was anything else she’d specifically mentioned wanting Alexandra to have.
Her words in the recording suggested there was more for her to find.
“That evidence wasn’t false. The only fake was what you planted. But don’t you worry, I have it still. I held on to it all these years. Anything happens to me, and Alex will get it.”
She was taking a break from trying on dresses, letting Eden be the center of attention—she looked gorgeous in everything she tried on—when Tanya sent a text that had her full attention.
Tanya
Alexandra closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened to that dress. She’d moved in with Kendall immediately after calling off the wedding. She and Kendall then remained roommates through the entire time she and JT were semi-reconciled.
They’d lived in Bethesda, not the same apartment they’d shared years before, but a larger place, affordable because Kendall had finished school, then a year after the breakup, Alexandra had her PhD.
She’d collected her things from JT’s DC townhouse sometime after the New Year. Most everything in the townhouse had belonged to JT. Alexandra had taken her clothes, books, and the jewels he’d gifted her. That was it.
Later, her clothes had slowly drifted to JT’s Maryland estate as they resumed living together when Joe was arrested and JT took possession of the family home. Her move had been glacially slow—she’d never fully committed and took only what she needed for social events or her teaching job.
The wedding dress had no reason to move out of the storage locker—if that was where it ended up—that was included with the apartment until Kendall moved into the house where she’d lived when she died. Alexandra was in Switzerland then, so Kendall must have moved the dress and put it in her attic.
Alexandra
Tanya
Alexandra responded with a heart, then tucked away the phone.
Eden stepped out of the dressing room in a simple silk dress with clean lines that was perfect for her outdoor spring wedding. The grin on her face said she’d found the gown she wanted. For her part, with each dress Alexandra tried on after that, she found herself thinking of the dress in Kendall’s attic.
As she stood before her new friends in yet another gown that fell short, she finally spoke her thoughts aloud. “Eleven years ago, I was supposed to marry JT on New Year’s Eve at the Mayflower. I had the perfect dress for the venue and holiday. Silver silk, lots of fabric with a full skirt and fitted bodice. It was gorgeous. Plus, it had the right neckline for the jewelry JT was sure to give me for Christmas that year, which, incidentally, he gave me this year. I didn’t consider it for this because I didn’t know where it had ended up—I forgot about it when I moved to Switzerland. But Tanya texted earlier and said it might be in Kendall’s attic. Would it be wrong to wear it now?”
“Wrong to use a dress you’ve already paid for?” Mara said. “Definitely not.”
“And it’s not like you were going to marry someone else in it,” Erica added. “Or even that you called off the wedding because you didn’t love him or something else that sullied the original event.”
“Well then, if Eden is done here,” Isabel said, “I think we should take a little trip to Kendall’s to retrieve Alexandra’s dress.” She turned to Tricia. “Do you see any problem with Alexandra going to Kendall’s house from a former police officer’s perspective?”
Tricia considered the question, then asked, “Is the house considered a crime scene?”
“According to Tanya—who inherited everything except the items that were mine—no. It doesn’t sound like they’re opening an investigation into her death, or if they have, they’re being very quiet about it. They’ve placed no restrictions on entry.”
“And not only do you have a key, but the homeowner has given you permission to use it.”
“Yes.”
“It’s fine, then.”
“Maybe we should get Chase, Keith, and Nate to meet us there?” Leah said. “Given that Raptor is providing security for Alexandra?” She grimaced and said to Tricia, “Not that you aren’t an operative—”
The woman smiled. “I’m not offended. I wouldn’t mind having them meet us there. I’m not armed today—we can only carry concealed in the city when we’re working an event—and I’d appreciate the backup given how many of you there are. The danger to Alexandra is real, and I don’t want to give my boss a reason to think I let ego get in the way of my brains.”
She touched the scar on her scalp, which wasn’t hidden by her blue braids, reminding Alexandra of the story Erica had shared about the woman suffering a near-fatal injury last August at a security conference in Indonesia.
“I’ll call Keith,” Trina said. She paused before dialing. “Is there any reason to keep this a secret from JT? Do you want to surprise him with the dress?”
“He never saw it back then, so it wouldn’t spoil any kind of surprise as far as what it looks like. He can tell him. But JT can’t show up at the house. Not if I’m going to try it on there.”
Eden spoke with the saleswoman who recorded the dress design and size she was interested in, and then they set off, eight women in three cars.
Alexandra rode in the backseat of Tricia’s Raptor vehicle. Leah rode shotgun.
JT had told Alexandra a little about Leah after Christmas dinner, and she was glad to have a chance to chat with her now. “I went to Nationals Park last Christmas with some grad school friends—and Gemma in a baby pouch—for the drone show. It was amazing.” She hesitated, then continued, “I was so sorry to hear about what happened to you afterward.”
“Thank you. I was incredibly lucky to have just met Nate and to have Raptor’s help through it all.”
“I know the feeling,” Alexandra said.
“What did Kendall do for T&D?” Leah asked.
“She worked in cost estimating—budgeting for massive engineering projects is a complicated business.”
“It sounded like in the recording that she might have skewed some numbers.”
“Lee’s looking into it. I admit, I’m afraid of what he’ll find. If she helped funnel money to Russ…it’s unthinkable. That’s not the Kendall I knew before Brent Forbes sank his fangs into her.”
“Did she love him? In the recording, it sounded a lot like hate.”
“I believe she loved him at first. Then…something happened, and I think…she needed to love him. To believe in him. It hurt how much she believed Brent over me, but she was fed a steady diet of JT-was-out-to-get-Russ. She thought I was as messed up by my relationship with JT as I thought she was by hers with Brent. We were quite a pair.”
“But in the end, you were the one who was right.”
“And I don’t think she could forgive me for that.”