When we reached Ethan's flat, he took us straight into the living room. It was grand but homely: polished oak floorboards; soft, new sofas; hologram photos of Danielle's little boy on the walls. The coffee table was strewn with mugs, ashtrays, and cigarette packets. A fluffy rug was spread across the floorboards with metal building blocks strewn over it.
Danielle was sitting on a sofa in a cashmere jumper, Benjamin playing at her feet. She looked up as we entered. "Oh. Good afternoon."
"Afternoon," I said. "We've come to ask a few more questions about Iberia and Ruby. We tried earlier, but no one was in."
"Sorry. I was shopping for toys with Benjamin." She stroked his hair. "We bought some new blocks, didn't we, Benji?"
The boy nodded and carried on building. What he was trying to make, I really couldn't guess at. We skirted around him and sat on the opposite sofa.
"Danielle," I said, "you've known Ruby and Iberia since your schooldays. Can you really not think of any reason why they're dead?"
"No," she said softly. Her hands rose, almost subconsciously, to her mouth, and she pressed them there for a moment, staring down at the rug. Her eyes shone, but she stayed still and tense, hanging onto her composure by a thread.
Ethan stubbed his cigarette out; lit another one. "She's just going to tell you everything I have."
"Are you aware that Ethan was having a fling with Ruby, Danielle?"
Ethan glowered at us.
Danielle blinked, dropping her hand. "I'm sorry?"
"You heard me right."
She turned to stare at Ethan. "What? Is it true?"
He shrugged. "It didn't mean anything."
"You were going to marry Iberia!"
Alex cleared his throat. "Would you say that you were close with the victims, Danielle?"
She swivelled back to him. "Of course. I was Iberia's bridesmaid."
"Yes, but so was Ruby. And she was not loyal to Iberia."
"I see." Her lips thinned. "No, she wasn't. But I was."
Ethan huffed out a cloud of smoke, and this time Danielle had the joy of it blowing in her face.
"Ethan," she said, "could you go and smoke that outside? Please?"
He slowly turned his gaze on her, his expression darkening. "This is my flat, too."
"Think of Benji's lungs."
He sat still for a long moment. Just when I thought he was going to ignore her, he sprang up and stormed out.
"Right, let's look at the rest of the wedding party," I said. "You went to school, college, and university with Levi Ford."
She sighed and sat back. "Yes, we went to Bright Light. But I married my boyfriend the summer before we started, and then I got pregnant. I made the decision to drop out after our first term."
I glanced at Benjamin again. Danielle had started a family at nineteen. I was in my early thirties. Tick, tock went my biological clock. Once I was married to Alex, I guessed we'd be having babies sooner rather than later. The thought was something I had to brace myself against.
"Your husband was Thomas Core?" Alex asked. We'd seen his name on her national profile.
"Yes. He died in an accident when we were twenty. Benji doesn't remember him." She glanced down at her son, her composure wavering again. She laid a loving hand on his shoulder.
"And you kept contact with your old friends through motherhood."
"I did, but we weren't as close as we are now until Ethan and Iberia got back together. Then it was like old times."
"You've known them all for a long time," I said again. "Are you really, really sure you can't think of anything that would help us?"
She went to shake her head, then stilled. Chewing her lip, she leaned forward. "There is something about Levi. We talked a lot about our school days at university, and about our personal lives. Whenever I brought Thomas up, I could tell that he was pining for someone. He got wistful and uncomfortable."
"Was it Jade Beaumont?" I asked.
Her eyebrows rose. "Yes. How did you know?"
"Jade told us that she used to have a crush on him at secondary school, but she was put off when he apparently groped Iberia."
"That was a lie. Levi told me about it. Iberia made the story up because she knew he liked Jade, and she didn't want them to be together."
"You took his word for it?"
"I'm a paralegal. I looked at the evidence."
"What evidence?"
"Everything I know about Iberia." Danielle spread her hands, lowering her head again. "She was...difficult sometimes. She spoke about us all behind our backs, and she once told the whole college that Ruby was having a fling with her English teacher. She and Ethan were always the cutest couple at school, and to be honest, she couldn't let anyone else be happy."
"Right. I suppose Levi was angry with her for getting in his way?"
Danielle bit her lip. "Yes. He still loves Jade."
***
Alex tracked Levi's location on his tabphone as we left the building. Or tried to.
Levi Ford could not be found. Tracking transmission is blocked.
Blocking your tracking transmission was no simple job. It was also illegal.
"Fuck! That doesn't look good." I glanced up at the dark sky. "And we were in there for longer than I thought. The day's over."
"We have to find Levi," Alex said.
I hesitated. All we'd gained from our visit was two-thirds of a motive for Levi and no solid evidence. Ordinarily, I'd throw the towel in and try to find him in the morning, but the blockage of his tracking transmission was making my instincts prickle. He didn't want to be found.
What was he up to?
"I'll never be ready for my hen party if we go after him," I said. "I'll have to --"
"Your hen party? Seriously, Amber?"
Fury leapt up in me, and I stopped in my tracks. "I was going to say that I'll have to cancel and send the girls out on their own. You should know better than to think I'd swan off to party when I'm needed!"
Alex turned back to face me, his gaze unreadable. I glared at him.
"You're right," he said quietly. "Sorry. I don't know where my head is. I can track Levi down on my own."
Unease stirred in my stomach. "Now you think I should go to the hen party?"
"I'm being an idiot -- you can't let this job ruin our wedding. I'll put in a call for the PRBs to start trying to get past this block, and I'll walk you home while they work."
I stared at him, still not sure what to make of his expression. Did he really mean that?
What was going on with us?
At last, I cleared my throat. "No, Sergeant. You have a knack for technology that no robot does. Go straight back to the station. That's an order."
***
Christmas holograms were already glowing against my building when I arrived, depicting Santas and reindeer that almost looked real. But the cheer of it all seemed forced in the middle of November, especially when the street was so drab and empty.
Empty, that was, except for Clyde Edwards.
I slowed my stride as I approached him. Lit up by the nearest streetlamp and the flashing lasers, he looked like something from a horror show. His electric blue scarf was glowing, and there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
He was blocking the entrance to my building, so I had no choice but to stop in front of him. "Clyde."
His lips stretched over his teeth in a shark's smile. "Amber, darling. How's your investigation going? Any luck finding out who killed the bride?"
"It's going fine." I frowned. "Wait a minute -- Iberia was one of you. Did you know her?"
"No. Are you asking for my help?"
"No." Giving up, I stepped forward. "Let me through."
He held his ground. "I just wanted to say how disappointed I am that I haven't been invited to the wedding."
"Your invitation must have got lost in cyberspace. I can't think why I wouldn't have sent you one."
"There's no need to be like that, Amber." His voice lowered. "I can help you. Think of me as a private investigator. I'll do some digging for you in exchange for a wedding invite...and maybe an exclusive interview with you on the big day."
If Clyde actually discovered the venue for my wedding, I'd have to urgently relocate it. But I decided to explore my options. "You're offering to help me with the investigation?"
"No. I'm offering to help you with Alex."
I jerked back. "What?"
"Don't play the fool. You and Alex have been looking a little distant lately. A few weeks ago, I got a nice shot of you arguing outside a catering firm -- I suppose you were too busy working to catch that sensational story. You've been touching each other less in the pictures too, and body language experts across England have been having a field day. Perhaps you would like to discover what's bothering him. Another woman, for instance."
Another woman was out of the question. I trusted Alex. But it didn't mean that there wasn't something wrong between us, and I was horrified that Clyde had noticed.
My fist collided with his shoulder, packing enough force to send him stumbling out of my way. Ignoring his angry shout, I stormed into the building and entered the lift. When the doors slid shut behind me, I pressed a shaking hand against my face. I didn't know whether to scream or cry.
Someone else was waiting for me on my floor. Anger surged for a split second, until they turned away from my front door and smiled. Two little dimples appeared.
I stopped in surprise. "Nina!"
Nina Howell ran across the corridor. "Amber!"
She launched herself into my arms like a grenade, and I fell back against the lift doors. The wedding had given us an excuse to meet up more than usual, but it still felt like a rare treat to see her. She was warm, and she smelled of candyfloss chewing gum, her favourite flavour.
By the time she pulled back, I was calmer. "Hey, you. You're full of energy."
"There was free champagne in our hotel room." She blushed.
Nina was a lightweight.
I sighed. "Where are you staying?"
"The Diamond. Erin booked it."
Erin -- an actual private investigator -- was Nina's long-term girlfriend. I hadn't seen her for a while, and now I glanced back down the hallway just in case I'd missed her. "Where is Erin?"
Nina beamed at me. "In the hotel room with the rest of our champagne. I've ditched her to get ready with my bestie!"
That took me right back to our early days working together. Occasionally, Nina had persuaded me to go clubbing all over Socrico, and we'd prepared in my bedroom like two giggling teenagers, choosing dresses and mucking around with glittery eye shadow. (Well, that last part had mostly been Nina.)
I smiled. "That sounds great."
***
Half an hour later, my room was filled with more mess than I'd ever seen in my life. Nina had packed every dress she owned for her weekend in Socrico, and now they were scattered across my duvet and hanging from the doors of my wardrobe. Pop music was blasting from my fully-charged tabphone, which was buried somewhere beneath the clothes. Nina was singing prettily, dancing, and trying to wriggle a purple dress over her head. I was sitting on the only clear space on my bed and watching her.
She finished getting into the purple number and trotted to my bathroom with her make-up bag. I swung myself off the bed and followed, unsteady in a pair of platform heels that matched my red dress. Nina had banned flats. I hoped I wasn't going to break an ankle -- I'd already been there and done that.
She was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, reapplying her mascara. "You know, I've been thinking."
I leaned against the doorway. "Oh, dear."
"Shut up!" She grinned and flicked her mascara wand at me. "I've been thinking: won't it get confusing at work when you become a Sullivan? Sergeant Sullivan and Inspector Sullivan? You're going to have even more difficulty with the PRBs than you do already."
"I'm not changing my name."
Nina lowered the mascara wand and turned to face me, her eyebrows rising. "What?"
"I'm sticking with my maiden name. Alex and I have already talked about it. I'll still be Inspector Rames."
"But..." She blinked. "Why?"
"Apart from the fact that it's a seriously outdated idea, it's for the reason you mentioned. Lots of people do have the same name on the force, so it can technically be worked around. But professionally, it's just easier to be Rames. I want to be Rames."
"Fair enough." Nina shrugged. "And Alex is okay with that?"
I swallowed, a sliver of uncertainty creeping in. I wasn't sure what he was okay with anymore. "Of course. I don't need to bear his surname to love him or to honour him. It doesn't change anything." Giving myself a mental shake, I joined her by the mirror and checked that I hadn't overdone my own mascara. "How's it been in Rosek?"
"It's been okay."
"And how are things with you and Erin?"
"Lush!" Nina zipped her bag up. "She's seen how much fun I've been having as your maid of honour, and yesterday I caught her reading a wedding magazine! So perhaps I'll manage to persuade her to marry me soon? I think it would be so fun to have a wedding."
Knowing Nina, she would manage to find the whole process very fun, even under all the stress. I wished that I could feel the same way.
She went back into my room and dug through the enormous suitcase she'd dumped at the foot of my bed. Once she'd resurfaced with a clutch bag, she spun on the spot. "Ta-da! Time to go."
"Go? What about the others?"
"We're meeting them there."
"Do I get to know where 'there' is?"
"The first club we ever went to!" Nina almost skipped to my bedroom door. "Underworld Eclipse! Is that okay?"
That was where Levi worked. Some of the guilt I'd been trying to suppress faded away. "That's perfect."