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"Do you have rings?" the celebrant asked, bringing my mind back to the wedding.
"Yeah." Mannix dipped into his pocket and pulled them out. There were no jokes about misplacing them. No pretending to drop them. He handed them to the celebrant and stepped back again.
The celebrant nodded his thanks and gave the rings to the bride and groom.
Mum handed me her bouquet and raised her hand for Leo to slip an ornate ring on her finger. She slipped a simpler ring onto his.
"You may kiss the bride," the minister told them.
Leo leaned forward and kissed Mum gently. They were both clearly holding back, but neither of them were given to overt PDAs. Thank fuck for small mercies.
Leo pulled away, looked at her and said, "I've never seen anyone so beautiful."
Mannix moved to stand beside me and whispered in my ear, "I have."
I made a face and whispered back, "Yeah? Where is she?"
He slipped his hand into mine. "She's right here."
I wasn't sure if I should pull my hand away or not, but I had the sudden feeling that all eyes were on us.
The least I could do on my mother's wedding day was to not make a scene. At least not in front of the few guests she and Leo invited. Mostly Daisy Lasalle, her boyfriends and a handful of other people Leo worked with.
Just ordinary people to look at them. Friends and family. At some point the lines got blurred, and it was difficult to separate these people from that night. Part of me even wondered if I'd dreamt it.
We quickly signed the register to formally, legally marry Mannix's father to my mother, then the photographer whipped them away for post-wedding photographs.
The staff started to bring out food, and move the chairs, scattering them around the pool area for guests to sit and chat. Or plan more murders, or whatever people like these did.
"This looks like, 'after the wedding,' to me." I gave Mannix a meaningful look. In spite of his assurances, I had no guarantee he would tell me anything. If he didn't, I might be tempted to pick up one of the cocktail forks and stick it in his balls. I might just do that anyway.
Lucky for both of us, he nodded. He gestured for the other guys to join us and led me inside and back up the stairs. We all headed into my room and Ares closed the door behind us.
Ice flopped down on my bed on his stomach, but the rest of us stayed standing.
Mannix crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me for a minute or two. "What do you think you know?"
"It's not what she thinks she knows," Ice said before I could respond. "She saw us kill Eric Parcell." He said it like it was no big deal. Like I saw them do nothing more terrible than walking down the street.
Ares and Mannix both stiffened.
"What the fuck?" Mannix dropped his arms to his sides. His eyes narrowed and he looked at me. Then at Ice. "Bro, what are you talking about?"
"The person who saw us kill Eric," Ice said slowly. "It was Kennedy."
All eyes turned to me.
"You called me little mouse," I whispered. "You said you'd find me." Ice's words had tumbled around in my head over and over, but suddenly I couldn't remember them all. It was as though knowing they did it, my mind wanted, needed, to block it out.
Ice grinned. "And so we did."
"How?" Ares demanded.
"I found the mask Mannix wore that night in his drawer, along with his bowtie," I said. "I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but I panicked and ran. When you came to find me, Ice knew what I saw. That was when I knew it was true."
"So how did Ice know?" Mannix asked Ice.
"With this." Ice dug into his pocket and pulled out a bottle. "She was wearing this perfume that night."
