Perhaps sensing the tension building in the air, Hans leaned forward. “Listen,” he said. “I’m sure you can understand the importance of getting this matter cleared up. Both for everyone’s safety here, and for the sake of our television program. We really just want to film a wedding here, people. Not a real-life game of Clue.”
Akinyi scowled. “So you think it was Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet in the park with the can light, is what you’re saying?”
Hans shook his head. “I’m not sure of anything.” He paused and looked from Akinyi to Jamal, his expression frank and curious. “Would you like to tell me where you were this morning between one a.m. and three a.m.?”
The two turned to each other, clearly uncomfortable. “Well,” said Jamal. “I…I was in my room.”
Hans nodded. “Did anyone see you? Did you talk to anyone, call or e-mail anyone?”
Jamal sighed.
“He was talking to me,” Akinyi said after a moment. “I was in his room too.” When I gasped, Akinyi turned to me and blushed. “We were talking about…us.”
Hans nodded again. “But did anyone see you? Can anyone confirm this besides the two of you?”
Jamal frowned, clearly putting two and two together. “No,” he said gravely. “It was early in the morning, after all. We only saw each other.” He paused. “So what does that mean? You haul us off to jail now?”
Hans pursed his lips, as if slightly offended, and shook his head. “I would merely like your permission to look in your rooms at the hotel.”
Jamal and Akinyi turned to each other, both frowning. It was clear that neither one of them were happy about this. But I knew, too, if they really had something to hide, they would hesitate.
It only took about ten seconds for the two of them to make their decision. “Fine with me,” Jamal said.
“Me too,” Akinyi agreed.
I traveled with Hans and a few other crew members to search Akinyi and Jamal’s hotel rooms. Akinyi and Jamal followed along also, both looking grim. Whether that grimness was due to their guilt or their frustration at being wrongly accused, I couldn’t tell.
“You will wait here, with these security guards,” Hans told the two suspects, leaving them in the hallway under the watch of two burly bodyguards. “Nancy, Donald, and I will look in your rooms.”
Akinyi caught my eye the second before Hans opened the door to her room, and I didn’t know what to say, or even what expression to put on my face. I felt terrible about all this. “Akinyi, I hope…Personally, I don’t think you’d ever do this. The logistics just match up. Do you understand?”
Akinyi just shook her head, swiped at her eyes and turned away. Well. How could I expect her to understand?
Inside Akinyi and Jamal’s room, the search went quickly. And unfortunately, it went as I’d feared.
“Does this belong to you?” Hans asked Jamal a few minutes later, holding up a dark, baggy raincoat.
“That’s mine,” Akinyi replied. “The baggy trench coat is all the rage in Paris right now. Why? Does it have something to do with the case?”
Hans just turned grimly to Donald, who stood behind him. Donald held up a nearly-empty can of shaving cream that we’d also found in Jamal’s room. “And this?” he asked Jamal in a small voice. Does…this look familiar?”
Jamal sighed. “Of course!” he replied. “I used it to shave this morning. Was I supposed to show up at my best friend’s wedding with a face full of stubble?”
Hans sighed deeply, turning to look at Donald and I. Neither one of us were eager to meet his eyes, but we did. “I guess,” Hans said slowly, “that we have no choice.”
“What, no choice?” Akinyi asked, a desperate note creeping into her voice. “What do you mean?”
Hans turned back to the couple and made a hand gesture to the guards, who grasped Jamal and Akinyi forcefully. “Akinyi and Jamal, we’re going to need to turn you over to the police,” Hans went on. “I’m very sorry.”
SECRET BETRAYALS
“This isn’t how I thought it would be,” Syd said sadly, clutching her bouquet to her chest as the organ music started again.
It was perhaps two hours after Hans, Donald, and I had brought Akinyi and Jamal to the River Heights Police Station, explaining what we’d learned so far and what we thought they were responsible for. After that, we’d rushed back to the park, and Hans had gathered Syd and Vic to explain what happened. Already shaken by the events of the day, both bride and groom took the news hard, with lots of disbelief and then tears.
“I can’t believe this,” Vic sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the back of his sleeve. “I trusted that guy. I love that guy! And all this time, he’s hated me?”
Syd patted his back, wiping away tears of her own with a handkerchief her mother had given her. “And Akinyi,” she said sadly. “She could be a little feisty, but she’s my best friend. I wanted her to be here.”
“Listen,” Hans had said, clapping them both on their shoulders, “I know this has been a very rough day for you. But the truth is, our permits on this space run out at midnight. Now, we can give you a few minutes to pull yourselves together, go ahead with the ceremony, and film it. Otherwise, you’re free to postpone—but keep in mind, the special will be ruined. And all the money you’re getting will fall through the cracks.” He paused, looking in both Syd’s eyes, then Vic’s. “Understand?”
Syd and Vic had been upset, of course, but eventually they decided that they definitely still wanted to marry each other, and that none of the crazy events of the wedding had destroyed the most important thing—their love for each other.
“Let’s do this,” Vic had said. “By nightfall tonight, I want to be able to call you my wife.”
And so here we were, all lined up in the same row we’d been in before, minus Akinyi.
“None of you are hatching crazy plots against me, are you?” Syd half-joked as we stood in place for the second time that day. “Because I’m already down two bridesmaids. Anyone else who’s against this wedding, step out of line right now.”
Bess, George, and I had met eyes, then simultaneously walked back to Syd to give her a big hug.
“Sydney,” Bess had said, patting her back, “you know we love you, and we’re so happy for you.”
Syd had given us a warm smile, dabbing at her eyes one more time. “Thanks, guys.” She paused, looking behind us. “Wait a minute—where’s Pandora?”
I whipped my head around. Sure enough, our flakiest bridesmaid was missing again—no big surprise there. Sighing, I told Syd I would find her. She was probably just outside the boathouse “meditating” again. Really, it seemed a little far-fetched now that we’d ever considered such a space cadet capable of the crimes Akinyi and Jamal had committed.
I opened the back door to the boathouse, the one that opened away from all the guests and commotion, and sure enough, I heard Pandora’s distinctive voice.
“Yeah,” she was saying with a mean chuckle, “it’s kind of hard to be happy for him after the jerk broke off our million-dollar TV series because he was soooo in love with Syd. I mean, I get it, but can’t you just play for the cameras? Like they always want us to do? Like we did all season? Hold on…”
I was frozen in place. Million-dollar TV series? Play for the cameras? What was she talking about?
It took me a minute to realize that Pandora had placed her hand over the phone and turned to face me, smiling her usual spacey smile. “Are they ready, Nancy?”
“Yes,” I said simply. “We need you inside.”
“No prob.” Pandora smiled again and picked up her phone. “I’ll call you back later, sis. Got to go be a bridesmaid.”
She flipped the phone shut, stood up, and followed me back inside.
My mind was racing a hundred miles an hour, but I had no time to do anything. The music was already playing. The groomsmen were getting into place…
“Deb!” I cried suddenly, grabbing Deb’s arm as Pandora ran over to give Syd a last-min
ute hug. “Do you know anything about a TV series with Pandora and Vic? Something he might have turned down?”
Deb’s eyes grew wide and she nodded. “Oh, sure,” she replied, the corners of her mouth turning up. “Pandora and Vic were such a popular couple on the show, the producers wanted to follow them around for a year while they dated—sort of a Newlyweds type thing, except they hoped without the breakup at the end!”
I nodded quickly. “But Vic said no?” I asked.
Deb nodded. “He did. Because right after their season of Daredevils wrapped, Vic met Syd and fell head over heels in love with her!” She giggled. “Isn’t that romantic! He turned down five hundred thousand dollars to star in that show with Pandora. But he listened to his heart.”
She paused, no doubt taking in my stunned, glassy-eyed expression. “Are you okay?”
“Places!” Donald cried, suddenly springing up out of nowhere to open the boathouse door. “Nancy! I need you in place!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I was vaguely aware of Bess and George shooting me confused looks as I walked back to my place in line—behind Pandora, in front of Syd.
He turned down $500,000. Meaning that he’d kept her from getting that amount of money, too. Meaning that Pandora did have a reason to get revenge on Vic—even if they never had been a real couple.
Pandora turned and smiled at me. I’m not sure whether it was intentional, but it chilled my blood. I gripped my bouquet tight as Vivaldi’s “Spring” started playing and Bess began walking down the aisle.
No time to ask questions now, I told myself as Pandora began walking, then me. We exited the boathouse, and 150 guests turned eagerly to watch us. Cameras flashed, the bright sunlight got in my eyes, and I could see Vic beaming as he watched us—and then his bride—walk down the aisle.
I just have to keep a close eye on her.
A DANGEROUS MAID
“We are gathered here today,” the minister intoned, as we all settled into our places at the altar, “to join Victor Josiah Valdez and Sydney June Marvin in holy matrimony.”
As Vic and Syd beamed at each other, I turned my full attention back to Pandora. Her annoyance at Vic that she’d been voicing on her phone just a few minutes ago seemed to have dissipated, and now she watched the happy couple with a huge smile. But was it real? Or was she just playing for the cameras? Playing to the TV audience seemed like something both Pandora and Dragon were very good at.
“The importance of joining two lives together in marriage cannot be overstated…it is the cornerstone of our society, and…”
As the minister droned on, I let my attention shift to the audience, still watching Pandora out of the corner of my eye. After all the drama and danger of getting the ceremony moving, it was almost easy to miss how truly beautiful the Daredevils producers had made the park. Huge bouquets of pink peonies studded the aisle and each side of the audience. And the altar was positively overflowing with flowers! At the end of the aisle, and on either side of the altar, the cameramen tried to be as unobtrusive as possible—but still captured all the action.
In the audience, I saw several people dabbing at their eyes. I understood how they felt. After all the action of the past few weeks, it felt amazing to know that in a matter of minutes, Vic and Syd would be man and wife.
As long as I could keep Pandora from trying anything!
The minister was introducing the vows Syd and Vic had written for each other.
After they exchanged vows, the minister called over George’s brother, Sebastian, who was now serving as best man, to produce the rings, and he quickly led Vic and Syd through the ring exchange. I was so busy fighting tears, so happy for my two friends who were about to start their life together, that I almost forgot what was coming next. But no sooner did the minister say…
“If anyone here knows any just reason why these two should not be united in marriage, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
…than I turned my full attention to Pandora. And I was stunned by what I saw!
She’d been so peaceful through the ceremony up till that point, but as I watched her in amazement, she reached into her bouquet and pulled something out—something long, silver, and sharp-looking.
“…I now pronounce you man and wife!”
It was a knife! And she was moving now—headed toward Syd and Vic!
“Nnnooooooooo!” I screeched, lunging from my place at the altar and tackling Pandora—rose taffeta dresses and all!
As you might imagine, total chaos broke out as I struggled to pin Pandora to the ground.
“Nancy!” she was screaming. “What are you doing?! What’s gotten into you?!”
But within seconds, a trio of security guards were surrounding us.
“What’s the problem here, Nancy?” one of them asked me. I looked up and recognized him as Jeff—one of the guys who had accompanied us to the hotel to search Akinyi and Jamal’s rooms.
“She has a knife,” I said quickly, backing up to let the security guards handle Pandora. “In her bouquet. She had pulled it out and was advancing on Syd and Vic!” I paused, trying to take in a breath. “I think we may have been wrong about Jamal and Akinyi.”
Pandora looked from me to the security guards to the stunned audience, clearly upset. “It was a knife,” she admitted, “a ceremonial knife! I wasn’t going to hurt Syd and Vic—I was just going to perform a traditional wedding blessing.”
Hans had emerged from behind the cameras, and he looked doubtfully at Pandora—and the large, sharp knife she had fished out of her bouquet. “I don’t know of very many rituals that require advancing on a married couple with a knife,” he said drily. “Pandora, we’re going to want to search your room.”
Suddenly Pandora burst into tears. “Fine!” she cried. “I know I’m innocent!”
As Hans prepared to head to the hotel with a couple security guards, and other guards moved in to take control of Pandora, I glanced over at Vic and Syd. They had retreated from the action and were quietly hugging each other at the other end of the altar. Vic stroked Syd’s face as they both glanced over at Pandora, then she leaned up to kiss him.
They’re married now, I thought happily.
And no one—not the wedding saboteur or anyone—could take that away from them.
“You’re not going to be happy,” Hans warned Pandora as we all waited for him to tell us what he and the guards had found in her hotel room. It was perhaps forty-five minutes later, and the entire wedding party, along with Syd, Vic, and their close family members, had settled in the boathouse to wait to learn Pandora’s fate. Pandora, who was still restrained by two burly men, just looked at Hans and wiped away a tear.
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” she insisted, “since I’m innocent.”
I glanced at Dragon. It must be hard for him to see his secret girlfriend accused in this way! Unless…had he been in on it? I remembered the conversation I’d heard where he’d offered to be cruel to Vic on his wedding day, to spice things up. Of course, he hadn’t needed to.
Things had turned out plenty spicy on their own.
Hans took a breath, then blurted, “We found a broken glass and a pair of scissors in your hotel room.”
Pandora scoffed. “Okay—so what? I dropped the glass when I stubbed my toe a couple nights ago. Maid service still hasn’t picked it up. And the scissors are for my collage art.”
“Collage art?” asked Vic, looking skeptical.
Pandora glared at him. “I’m a very creative person,” she insisted. “I need an outlet!”
Hans nodded. “Well, that’s all fine and good. But the truth is, those two things aren’t nearly as disturbing as our other discoveries.”
Pandora’s face fell. “Which are?”
Hans motioned to one of the guards, who handed him a huge, baggy raincoat. “This,” he replied, as the guard reached into a bag and then pulled out some shaving cream, “and this. Clearly you used these when you broke into the park and disabled o
ur light.”
Pandora looked stunned. “But—but—those aren’t mine!” she cried. “I’ve never seen those things before in my life.”
“Haven’t you?” Hans asked, warily. “How about this?” And he reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of printed papers with handwritten notes in the margins. I leaned in for a closer look: the handwriting was loopy and girly, just like I would imagine Pandora’s to be.
Pandora squinted at them. “I don’t think so,” she said. “What are they?”
“A detailed guide to common lighting setups for television and movie shoots,” Hans said, waving them in the air. “Printed off the Internet. And with notes in the margins like, ‘cut the two side cables, but leave the electrical cord hanging’…I suppose you’re going to tell me you just have a strong creative interest in lighting?”
Pandora looked utterly shocked and confused—as though she’d never heard of the Internet at all. Slowly, though, her face changed. She reached up to wipe her eyes, and my heart sank at the sight of her expression—she looked completely, utterly defeated.
“They’re not mine,” she said quietly. “That’s similar to my handwriting, but it’s not mine.”
“Then how did they get there?” Hans demanded. “What were they doing in your room?”
Pandora just sobbed.
“And what about your motive?” Donald suddenly piped up. He’d traveled to the hotel with Hans, again, and was standing a few feet behind him. “Vic dumped you and turned down that television show that would feature the both of you. He broke your heart and lost you a lot of money, didn’t he?”
Pandora looked down at the floor and blinked. “Yes,” she said quietly.
“And that made you very angry, didn’t it?” Hans broke in. “In fact, I remember you had a few choice words for me when I gave you the news.”
Pandora looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes. “I was upset,” she agreed, “but I didn’t do this.”