The Wedding Project 💍

'Money For Nothing' (Part Two)

Somehow this old saying found its way back into my head when the helicopter arrived, noisily enough for everyone to hear. Smile and be happy, for it could be worse.

I smiled and was happy, and it got worse.

Those detectives took their sweet time before they finally bothered enough to deal with us peasants still waiting in the restaurant. The good thing for most of them was that everyone was allowed to leave it again and roam the rest of the island, with the exception of the crime scene.

The bad thing was: I knew this old crow that stepped in front of everyone, announcing that he and his younger colleague would lead the investigation.

Harris McNeill...

Thousands of people get killed every day, and hundreds of weddings are conducted. But he had to get entangled in the one I was part of!

For a short moment I hoped that he had forgotten about his last encounter. Hell, since that time back then I had hoped that one day a bullet would finish him off. But no - even ten years older, and apparently retired from official police business, he still seemed to be of excellent health. And when he looked around the room into the faces of those present, he stopped at my face. His eyes went darker while his face didn't move at all. I know this look. He definitely remembered me!

Oh crap...

I returned his look with a disarming smile and a nod - denying that we knew each other was pointless now. Fortunately, he went by the book from this point and started interviewing the people in the order of their relationship with the victim. So the groom was the first one to be roasted under the interrogation lamp. I was off the hook for the moment.

At least that gave me time to think and consider my options. I had nothing to do with the murder - I knew that. But nobody else knew. Especially not Mr. High-And-Mighty Homicide Detective McNeill and his sidekick. He had been a nuisance the last time - some in my business consider dealings with nosy homicide detectives a very exciting chess match, but I don't. The fact that I got away, that nobody could nail me to it, gave me some satisfaction - that doesn't change the other fact, that Harris McNeill got closer than anyone else to ending my career. I hated him for that.

How long would it take until he would bring this other case into our conversation? My money was on "less than a minute".

I waited and observed. People came in and went out, some of them prompted by very polite security officers in tidy uniforms. I had a few highly energetic kids to deal with, so the treasure hunt was on. I showed them a red glass ball the size of a chicken egg - with a little bit of imagination it looked like a gemstone. The other ones, I told them, were hidden all around the hotel. They were in places they could reach without breaking anything or having to climb on top of stuff, so even the small ones would be able to find them. Off they went - and I had time to catch my breath again.

I didn't kill the bride. I looked around, pondering: Then who did it? Who was the killer? They had to be among us here. Any clue that I found could help my case, could get those detectives off my back and onto the right trail. And quite frankly, I was probably as eager to find that killer as anyone else in here.

With everyone being fetched for the interview one by one, I had loads of time to get some impressions from the crowd. Granted, I haven't been to many weddings that took this kind of turn - but to be completely honest, this wasn't the first for me that ended with someone getting killed. When I looked at the guests, I noticed a few similarities. The whispered gossiping, the distrustful looks, the feeling that at least half of those people were hiding something and were uncomfortable with the presence of two armed detectives.