I simply stood there for a moment, too stunned to even speak. "Why did you do that?" I finally stammered out. "Orson wasn't going to attack you."
"He found the necklace," Derek said in a matter-of-fact voice.
He then calmly stepped in front of the bedroom door, blocking my escape. I couldn't help but notice the gun was now pointed at me.
"That necklace has been causing me nothing but trouble for almost ten years," he said, shaking his head.
"I don't understand. Are you saying you're the one who switched the necklaces, both in college and here this week?"
"You're a clever girl," he said. The mocking sneer was back. "I thought you would have figured it out by now. Yes, I took the original necklace from Carly's aunt and replaced it with an imitation back when we were still in school."
"But why? If you simply needed money, there must have been better ways to get it."
"Oh, I wish there had been. Back in college, Orson had a great idea, and I knew I could get rich from it. Unfortunately, I needed a hundred thousand dollars to develop his idea into a real product. I went to every bank and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, but they all turned me down."
"But why steal the necklace and leave a fake? That must have cost you a couple of thousand dollars. If you were going to do something illegal, why not sell drugs or something?"
"Aunt Audrey wore the necklace at a party she held for us during our junior year. She kept going on about how valuable it was. Carly was drunk at the time and let it slip that her aunt didn't use a safe. She said her aunt merely kept the necklace in a jewelry box in her bedroom."
"Is that when you decided to steal it?"
"That's right. During the party, I took pictures of the necklace from every angle I could. I then spent all the money I'd been saving to start my business to instead pay Castellani to make a near-perfect imitation. During the gathering we had our senior year, I slipped into Aunt Audrey's bedroom and switched it out. It was actually rather easy."
"Okay, but that was almost ten years ago. Why would you want to return it now?"
"When I was discussing the week's wedding plans with Justin and Carly, she mentioned that her aunt would be giving her the necklace as a present. I knew it would eventually be appraised, and the entire story would come out. I had Castellani create a genuine diamond and ruby version from the original drawings he'd made. I then brought that necklace to Hawaii, hidden in the base of a very special tiki."
"I saw the hidden compartment in the statue. But why go through all that trouble?"
"I brought the tiki to hide the necklace when I flew it back. I wanted to keep it hidden in case someone nosey opened the luggage."
"You were going to switch the necklaces out on Tuesday, the day before Alex was murdered. But Aunt Audrey discovered her necklace was missing right away. What happened?"
"It was that idiot, Alex," Derek said with an exaggerated sigh. "I'd already paid one of the maids a thousand dollars for a passkey but needed someone to break into Aunt Audrey's room and switch necklaces. I figured I could get Alex to do it."
"Why Alex?" I asked.
Derek barked out a quick laugh. "Alex has always been happy to do my dirty work, and he seemed to be especially hard up for money now. I'd mentioned it to him before the trip, and he'd seemed eager enough. On Tuesday morning, right before everyone went to breakfast, I gave him the genuine necklace and the passkey to Aunt Audrey's bungalow.
"Okay, so what went wrong?"
"All day Tuesday, Aunt Audrey kept going on about how her necklace had been stolen, so it was clear that Alex hadn't left the real one. On Wednesday morning, when I met with Alex in the conference room, he gave me the fake, but he also showed me he still had the genuine one. The jerk then demanded more money to complete the job. Alex said if I didn't come up with the cash, he'd go to the police with the story. I became somewhat angry and beat him with the tiki."
"And when Jake came in?"
"When your photographer entered the room, my only thought was escape. Jake was bending over Alex's body, so I used the statue to take him out as well. Unfortunately, the blood-covered tiki was now a murder weapon. I wiped off my fingerprints and left it on the floor next to Jake. I hadn't planned it this way, but the police thought that your photographer had been the one to kill Alex."
Even though I was panicking inside, I tried my best to remain calm and keep Derek talking until rescue showed up. I knew it would be my only chance to come through this in one piece.
"There's an electronic record of you being in the Rainbow Buffet when Alex was killed," I said. "How did you fake the time stamp for when you paid your bill?"
Derek looked confused. "I didn't fake anything. I left the check on the table, same as always. I went from the restaurant directly to the conference room. I guess it took them a while to process my bill and put a time stamp on it."
"Okay, so what about Eduardo Castellani? Why did you need to murder him?"
"That slimy jerk," Derek snorted with contempt. "I apparently wasn't as careful as I should have been when I traveled here. Castellani followed me and found out what I'd done with the necklace. He also demanded money to keep his mouth shut."
"So, what did you do?"
"I pretended to go along with it, and I promised to give him his first payment the other night on the beach. He was pretty gullible, and it was easy to take him out."
"Is that when you planted Jake's lens cap?"
"That's right," Derek said with a hollow laugh. "I knew that dim-witted detective was already trying to finger your photographer for Alex's murder. When I found the lens cap on the floor of the Rainbow Lounge, it was too good of an opportunity to waste. After I killed Castellani, I tossed the lens cap on the beach. Pretty smart, huh?"
I glanced at the necklace, now lying on the bed next to Orson's slowly moving body. "Why would you want to keep a fake necklace? Wouldn't it have been safer to throw it into the ocean?"
"No, I couldn't take the chance that someone would see me do it," he declared. He was panting with what looked like excitement, and his eyes had gone a little crazy. "Besides, that necklace represented the start of my company. I'd planned on keeping it as a souvenir."
"I hate to tell you, but Aunt Audrey discovered the switch almost ten years ago. The police investigated, and the insurance company had already paid her off. You didn't need to do any of this."
Derek briefly looked confused as he absorbed this new information. "Oh well," he said cheerfully with a slightly insane laugh. "Maybe it would have been better if I'd left it alone. But it's a little too late to worry about that now."
Derek then let out a long sigh. "It's a shame, but I'm afraid I'll have to take you out as well."
"You don't have to kill me," I said as my panic rose another notch. "I promise I won't say anything, to anybody." I knew my argument was utterly lame, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Derek said with a wide grin. "After I shoot you, I'll hit Orson in the head again to finish him off. I'll then put the gun in his hand and shoot you once or twice more. I'll drop the club on the floor next to your body, and it will look like you took each other out. Tomorrow, I'll be on a plane back to San Francisco."
There was a creaking sound on the stairs outside of the bedroom. We both heard it at the same time, and Derek swung his gun around to meet the new threat.
With a movement almost too fast for me to recognize, Jimmy Toki flew through the air and tackled Derek. Both men went sprawling on the floor, with Jimmy quickly coming out on top.
The pistol had gone skittering across the room, coming to a stop at my feet. As I picked it up, I heard a monotone voice calmly say, "I'll take the gun, Miss Piper."
Detective Ray was standing at the doorway to the bedroom, his hand outstretched. "We got your message," he said. "I'm only sorry we couldn't get here sooner. It looks like Orson Cross has been injured."
"Did you hear Derek's confession?" I asked.
"We heard enough. You can fill in the missing details when we talk."
I felt a sudden jolt of panic as I wondered what the time was. Detective Ray must have seen the look on my face.
"Don't worry," he said with a genuine smile. "Give me the short version now, and we can go over it in detail tomorrow, after the wedding."
After about ten minutes, the same two EMTs came into the room and examined Orson. They said they'd need to transport him to the clinic to have him checked out, but the injury didn't seem life-threatening.
As they were about to load him onto a gurney, Orson regained consciousness. He said he felt fine, except for a headache, but we convinced him to go to the clinic anyway.
* * *
By the time they'd loaded Orson into the ambulance and Detective Ray released me, it was almost noon. I called Justin and asked him to gather Eddy and the substitute groomsman, Deshawn, and have everyone meet me at the Hair Affair.
When I arrived at the salon, Leilani had already gathered with Aunt Audrey, the mothers of the bride and groom, and the ladies of the wedding party. They'd settled in and started on hair and makeup.
The ladies were chatting and seemed to be in a good mood. Even Victoria and Madeline were talking, although not to each other. When Justin, Deshawn, and Eddy arrived, I gathered the group together for a meeting.
"Everything's on schedule, and I'm expecting a beautiful wedding today," I said as the people eyed me suspiciously. "But before we get too far into today's festivities, I have some news I need to share. It turns out that Derek was responsible for the deaths of both Alex and the man on the beach the other night. Detective Ray has taken him into custody for both murders."
"Are you freaking serious?" Carly wailed.
"Before he was arrested, Derek managed to injure Orson," I continued. "But I spoke with the EMTs a few minutes ago, and they've assured me he'll be okay."
"You've got to be kidding me." Carly was on the verge of hysterics. "I mean, what else can go wrong this week?"
"Ha, I knew it," Eddy barked out a laugh and pointed to Justin. "See, I told you that slimeball was the murderer. Pay up."
Shaking his head in defeat, the groom pulled out his wallet and handed Eddy a ten-dollar bill.
Lauren expressed concerns over Orson's injury. The mothers of the bride and groom looked worried, and Roxanne looked shocked.
I was peppered with questions, and I did my best to explain what had happened earlier in the day, only leaving out the part where Orson had broken into Derek's room. All things considered, they took the news better than I would have expected.
Carly's main concern was if Orson would make it to the ceremony or not. Justin kept eyeing his fiancée. He seemingly wanted to make sure she didn't go into a complete bridal meltdown.
The most surprising reactions came from the twins. Victoria actually seemed pleased that Derek was getting his due for how he'd treated her the day before. She then looked at her sister with a nasty sneer, perhaps hoping she would suffer at hearing the news.
For her part, Madeline took it in stride. It was strange, but I got the feeling she'd been expecting it.
Aunt Audrey also seemed pleased by the news. "Well," she said happily. "I'm glad that's finally over. Now we can get on with the wedding without wondering who's going to be murdered next."
The men took off to get ready. Hair and makeup went smoothly, and the festive mood gradually returned to the group. I took a lot of pictures, and Leilani captured a complete video record of the event.
* * *
A few minutes before we were scheduled for the first look ceremony, I arrived at the Overlook Chapel with Justin, Eddy, and Deshawn. As we waited for Leilani to arrive with the ladies, Jake strolled into the chapel.
His camera bag was slung over his shoulder, and the most beautiful smile was on his face. I was a little stunned but definitely thrilled to see him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked over to him.
"I'm here to shoot the wedding," he said with a knowing smile. "You hired me to be your photographer, remember?"
"That's not at all what I mean," I said. "I thought you were in jail."
"Detective Ray let me out about an hour ago. He even gave me an outline of what happened over here this morning. Although, I think he left out a lot of the parts about how you helped capture Derek. He actually seemed pretty annoyed about that. I went back to my place for a quick shower and change. Now, I'm here."
A sense of relief washed over me. I looked down at my hand and saw I was still holding the old office digital camera. I hated being both the wedding coordinator and the photographer.
"You have no idea how thrilled I am you're here," I said, mentally rearranging my schedule. "Justin's here already, and Leilani will be bringing Carly for the first look in a few minutes."
"Perfect," he said as he pulled his camera out of the bag. "I'll take care of it."
While Jake was setting up, I called Dorothy to let her know Derek had been arrested, our photographer was back, and she didn't need to come over.
"Are you kidding?" she'd asked me. "I heard about what happened this morning, and I'm already on my way to the resort. I wouldn't miss this ceremony for anything. I want to be there to see what kind of disaster happens next."
* * *
By four-thirty, everyone had made it to the Overlook Chapel. Carly looked stunning, the bridesmaids were beautiful, and the men cleaned up well.
Carly's dress was a lovely, lightweight A-line with a mini-train. After starving herself for the last month, the dress fit her perfectly.
For the bridesmaids, Carly had chosen indigo and cayenne floral princess dresses. They looked great and also seemed like they'd be comfortable.
Deshawn's white linen shirt didn't exactly match the other groomsmen, since we'd picked it up the day before. Still, you'd have to look closely to notice the difference.
We passed out the leis, and it was the perfect finishing touch. It now looked like we were having a Hawaiian wedding.
* * *
The first look ceremony went perfectly. Justin was positioned with Jake in one of the quiet grottos near the Overlook Chapel when Leilani and Carly arrived. The bride was radiant in her gown and veil.
Jake took plenty of pictures as both Carly and Justin immediately teared up. Jake had the couples nicely framed with palms and the ocean as a backdrop. At the same time, Leilani captured the entire event in her video.
Orson was driven to the chapel in a resort golf cart by Jimmy Toki. The groomsman insisted that he felt fine except for a lump on the side of his head and a slight headache. It was rather sweet when Lauren volunteered to stay with him and ensure he was okay.
I was thrilled the groomsman was able to make the ceremony and was relieved he didn't have a big bandage wrapped around his head. Things like that tend to stand out in photographs.
I rearranged the wedding party again and asked Eddy to take over as best man, followed by Orson and Deshawn. That left me one groomsman short, but after everything that had happened, I was willing to roll with it.
Jake was great with everyone as he took the formal photos of the wedding party. As he had the other day on the beach, he made it look smooth and effortless.
When Carly had put on her wedding dress earlier in the day, Aunt Audrey had fastened the diamond and ruby necklace around her niece's neck. Although the gems had been beautiful when we'd been inside, they sparkled and glowed like fire when exposed to the sun's light.
Reverend Blake again went along with all of my last-minute changes. I'm not sure, but I think he'd come to expect things like that from me.
The rest of the family and guests arrived more or less on time, and the seating went well. When the little details like this go well, I take it as a good sign for the rest of the evening.
After all of the craziness that had happened during the week, I expected some sort of additional disaster to happen during the ceremony. I could see that Dorothy also anticipated some kind of problem.
She sat off to the side and kept craning her neck, looking around for the next misfortune to occur. Fortunately, the ceremony went off without a hitch.
Although I seldom cry at my weddings, I did feel myself starting to get emotional over this one. Between the murders and the drama, I felt a real sense of accomplishment when Carly and Justin completed their vows.