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Charlotte gaped at her, then turned on her heel to speak into the microphone that hung near her mouth. As she hurried away, she said, “I found the bride, Rachel. But there’s something off. Keeping tabs on the situation.”
Even though they pitied her, one of the staff members approached soon with glasses of white wine for both Amanda and Audrey. Several guests, most of them from Sam’s party, glanced at Amanda and didn’t say anything, so she downed one-half of her glass of wine and said to Audrey, “I feel like the belle of the ball.”
Audrey cackled nervously and nodded toward the foyer, where the two officers who’d been at the hotel earlier stood in conversation with Kelli. Kelli explained everything with fluttering hands, and the cops quickly cut through the foyer and back through the kitchen, where, hopefully, they would snatch up Sandra and her man.
“Hi, honey!” Aunt Kerry appeared, wearing a strained smile. It seemed like she’d taken it upon herself to cheer up Amanda, the jilted bride. “The white wine here is divine. Did you pick it out?”
“Amanda left no stone unturned at this wedding,” Audrey said.
“I know you’re already a brilliant lawyer, but you should really look into party planning on the side,” Aunt Kerry said, her voice overly polite. “You’re so detail-oriented, and you have brilliant taste, just like your mother. Ah, there she is! Hello, Susan!”
Susan appeared beside Amanda, wearing a smile that echoed Amanda’s nerves.
“I was just telling Amanda that she should really look into event planning,” Aunt Kerry said. “You know, some women are meant to be career focused. And really, I mean, marriage and children can be distractions from what we really want in life.”
Amanda wanted to laugh. Obviously, Aunt Kerry wanted to console Amanda, as she’d decided Amanda would never be married or have children of her own.Who in their right mind would try to get married after two failed weddings?
“I think Amanda will be just fine juggling marriage, motherhood, and her law career,” Susan said proudly.
“I learned from the best,” Amanda said as she placed her head on her mother’s shoulder.
Meanwhile, Aunt Kerry gaped at them, blinking from mother to daughter, as though she was certain they’d lost their minds. Maybe they had.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Immediately after Amanda and Audrey had glided downstairs to mingle with wedding guests, hopefully indicating to Sandra that nothing was amiss and that nobody was the wiser, Xander had bolted from the stairwell and appeared on the landing to find Kelli, Susan, Lola, Christine, and Noah in shock. Just a few doors away, Sam apparently sat, bound, and gagged, awaiting Sandra’s return. And none of them could be in that hallway when she made her appearance. It would foil Sam’s plan.
After Kelli had quickly explained everything to Xander, during which time he’d stared at her, his jaw slack, she’d asked him to stand at the railing of the third floor, where he would have a view of the second-floor landing. “When you see Sandra whip down the hallway, text me immediately. Then, I can alert the cops that she’s on her way downstairs.”
With Xander now set up on the third floor, watching, and the police officers in plain clothes watching the back entrance, Kelli felt jittery and nervous and unsure what to do with herself. She stood at the edge of the wedding crowd, watching as Amanda blushed crimson with embarrassment as Kelli’s mother, Kerry, tried to make her feel better about being jilted at the altar. Amanda was playing the part well, probably because she’d done it all before.
Gosh, Kelli was exhausted. That fainting episode had terrified her. Her head remained cloudy, but her motivations were clear. It wouldn’t be long until this nightmare was over.
Still, she couldn’t help but blame herself for promoting Sandra so quickly. She’d allowed herself to be manipulated by her, to be drawn into her kindness. Kelli now had a hunch that Sandra had framed Piper and forced Kelli to fire her, if only so that Sandra could get the master key to herself. Kelli made a mental note to hire Piper back immediately. Maybe she would even promote her.
Suddenly, Kelli’s phone buzzed.
XANDER: Incoming.
Kelli’s heartbeat escalated. As though she ran from a fire, she headed toward the kitchen with her heart in her throat, where Chef Billiard continued to berate his sous chef. “I can’t believe nobody is willing to confess to stealing my knife! Do you know who I am?” It seemed his insults had no bounds, which also seemed expected amongst kitchen staff who respected their chef.
Kelli tucked herself in the shadows of the back hallway, separated from the kitchen by a single wall. From here, she could see the door that led to the fire exit stairwell, down which Sandra was bound to come soon. As her legs wavered dangerously beneath her, Kelli prayed she wouldn’t faint again. She wanted to see this— and she also didn’t want her weakness to indicate to Sandra that something was amiss downstairs.
Before Kelli could drown in any more anxious thoughts, a woman in sunglasses and a big black hoodie burst from the fire escape doorway. She had a massive black backpack over her back, probably filled with goods from the hotel and from hotel guests— all of which she’d deftly pocketed as the guests and Kelli had been elsewhere and discombobulated. Sandra even had the nerve to wave to one of the kitchen staffers and say, “Hope you guys are holding up okay? It’s crazy out there! But that’s just weddings, right?” The kitchen staffer laughed.
Sandra bolted from the exit after that into the shining light of a beautiful afternoon. Kelli tip-toed to the doorway to peer out as Sandra traipsed directly to the van in question. Kelli couldn’t believe it: it was the same van she’d wanted to search a few hours before. The same “vendor” she’d spoken to walked from the darkness in the van, placed his hands on Sandra’s cheeks, and then kissed her with his eyes closed.
At this moment, they felt like Bonnie and Clyde, as though nothing in the world could get them down, as though they were the two smartest people in the world.
“Stop! You are under arrest.” Officer Bobby’s voice echoed through the vendor vans and made Kelli’s spine shiver with its power. “Separate, put your hands up, and walk slowly down the ramp of the van. No sudden movements.”
Kelli fixated on Sandra’s face as her kiss with her criminal lover broke. All the blood drained from her cheeks as she staggered away from her boyfriend, who glared at her and began to spit insults. “What the heck did you do wrong, Sandra? Huh?” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her like a rag doll.
“Hey! Stop that!” Kelli couldn’t stop herself. She was too exhausted, swimming in memories of Mike’s cruelty. “Let her go!”
“Put your hands UP!” Officer Bobby called, approaching from the left of the vendor van as the other officer approached from the right. Officer Bobby had drawn a gun, and his jaw was sharply clenched.
Sandra’s boyfriend released Sandra’s shoulders, which resulted in her falling off the ramp and onto the hot pavement. There, crumpled up on the ground, she raised her arms and began to sob.
