To Love and To Perish (11 page)

“I'm not feeling so great after all.” Kate slumped down in the passenger seat of my car and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Maybe I should skip Carolyn's viewing.”

Richard reached from the backseat and felt her head. “You're fine. If I have to go, you have to go.” He turned to me. “Why do we have to go again?”

“Because it's the right thing to do and it will be the perfect chance to find out more information about Carolyn.” I pulled out of the parking garage and merged into traffic on Twelfth Street. “I'm sure all the suspects will be there since her memorial service is on Saturday and we all work.”

Kate moaned and pressed her head against the window.

“Nice try, Kate,” I said. “You're coming.”

“What happened to the outpouring of sympathy I got this morning?” she said. “I was involved in a murder last night, remember?”

“Oh, please.” Richard hated when anyone else got overly dramatic. “Being within the general vicinity of a corpse does not make you involved. I'm the one whose party was ruined.”

“That's right,” I said as I cut over onto Massachusetts Avenue. “You're taking this pretty well considering someone died at your event.”

Richard shrugged. “She was strangled. No one can blame the caterer for that.”

“Poor Stephanie,” I said. “I still can't believe she's dead. Why would anyone want to kill her?”

“Well, she never sent me any business,” Richard said. “I'm not asking for every party, but she could have thrown me a bone.”

“How much business could she have had?” I said. “She was really new to weddings.”

“Didn't she have a business partner when she started?” Kate asked.

Richard snickered. “You mean last month?”

I looked at him in the rearview mirror. “That's not nice. We haven't been around long, either. I think the other girl must have been her assistant because she looked even younger than Stephanie.”

“Talk about the blind needing the blind,” Kate said.

“I think that's ‘leading the blind.'” Richard stuck his head between the two front seats. “Add one more person and they could call it the Three Blind Mice Agency.”

I scowled at both of them as they collapsed into laughter. “You're awful.”

Kate regained her composure. “Maybe the other planners were jealous because Stephanie was so young and bouncy.”

“Do you really think someone strangled her because she was perky?” I gave Kate a sideways glance. We went around Dupont Circle and continued down Massachusetts. “That doesn't seem like much of a motive.”

Kate turned the heat up in the car. “Have you considered that maybe these are all random, unconnected deaths?”

“They can't be unconnected.” Richard leaned forward and stuck his head between our seats again. “All the victims are wedding planners. Maybe some deranged bride whose wedding was ruined by her wedding planner is on a rampage.”

I glared at him in the rearview mirror as he sat back in his seat. “Thanks, Richard. That's comforting.”

He gave me a smug grin. “Just trying to do my part to solve the crimes.”

“Let's think this thing through,” I said. “We know that Carolyn and Eleanor had some things in common and some mutual enemies.”

“They both started the Wedding Shoppe and Byron worked for them before he got fired.” Kate started counting on her fingers.

“Don't forget that Gail worked at the Wedding Shoppe, too,” Richard said.

Kate whistled. “Did anyone in the wedding business not work for the Wedding Shoppe?”

“I forgot about Gail,” I said as we drove down Embassy Row. “Did she work there with Eleanor or did she come afterward?”

Richard tapped his chin. “Afterward, I think.”

“Remember that Margery said that she and Lu
cille had just started working at the store when Carolyn got rid of Eleanor,” Kate said. “She didn't mention Gail being there at the same time.”

“So we have Byron, Gail, and Eleanor all getting fired by Carolyn.” I said. We turned onto Wisconsin Avenue and passed the National Cathedral. “Any one of them could have killed her.”

“Except Eleanor was murdered, so she can't be the killer,” Kate reminded me.

“You're forgetting Lucille and Margery,” Richard said.

Kate turned around in her seat. “Are you kidding? Why would they kill Carolyn? They seemed to worship her, and now that she's gone, they're going to lose their jobs.”

“If you ask me, anyone who worked for Carolyn would have a reason to kill her,” Richard said.

“I don't see their motivation,” I said. “They had the most to lose with Carolyn dead.”

“What about those two sales clerks that Carolyn fired the week before she died?” Kate asked. “We should put them on the list of suspects.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I think it's a stretch, but I guess we should include them. And there's Carolyn's husband, who inherited everything she owned. Money is a pretty strong motive.”

“And the mystery person who bought the Wedding Shoppe.” Kate wagged a finger at me. “You know what they say. Leave no stone unburned.”

Richard rolled his eyes. “Oy.” I could tell when he'd been catering bar mitzvahs.

I stopped at a red light and leaned against the steering wheel. “I'd love to find out who snapped up Carolyn's business. Maybe the murderer plot
ted against Carolyn because they wanted the business, not because they hated her.”

“And they killed Eleanor and Stephanie because they'd gotten the hang of it?” Kate asked.

“My theory has a few holes,” I admitted. “So we have a slew of people who could have killed Carolyn, but only Byron had it out for both Carolyn and Eleanor. And none of them had a reason to kill all three wedding planners. Either we're overlooking something that connects them to each other or the killer is someone we haven't even thought of yet.”

Richard sighed. “You're completely forgetting that Maxwell had a link to all the women.”

“If Maxwell killed everyone he'd seduced, half the population of the city would disappear,” Kate said.

“Maybe he didn't kill them, but the killer had some reason to kill women that Maxwell has been involved with.” Richard rolled down his window. “It's stifling in here.”

“Do you mean like a psychotic former lover who decides to kill every other woman who has been in his life?” Kate wrapped her coat around her. “Now it's freezing.”

“Not all of us are wearing micro minis,” Richard complained as he rolled his window back up.

“That would almost be a relief because then we would be in the clear,” I said. Kate remained silent. “Wouldn't we?”

“Of course,” Kate gasped. “I do have my standards, you know.”

Richard opened his mouth to say something,
and Kate whirled around and pointed a finger at him. “Not a word.”

He held up his hands and assumed his most angelic face. “I wouldn't dream of it, darling.”

“Carolyn's viewing is going to be the perfect place for us to find out who had the strongest motives,” I said. “All the suspects will be there, I'm sure.”

“You want us to question people who are there to mourn?” Kate asked.

“This is Carolyn,” Richard reminded us. “I doubt too many people will actually be mourning.”

“This may be the only time we'll have everyone in one place, including Carolyn's husband,” I said. “It will be the perfect time to see who's acting suspicious or guilty. Then we narrow down the suspects and the motives and we'll have found our killer.”

Richard didn't look so sure. “Let's hope the killer doesn't find out what we're up to first.”

“Funeral homes give me the creeps.” Kate walked up the sidewalk to the stately white building with columns and large double doors. A hearse sat in the side driveway with a row of black limousines.

“I prefer the old-fashioned term ‘funeral parlor,'” Richard said. “Makes it sound more festive.”

“Cut it out, you two.” I stopped outside the front doors and gave them each a warning look. “We're here to find out as much as we can about the victims and what they might have in common. It could be our only chance to have all the suspects in one place.”

“Can I go on record for saying that stirring up information about a murderer is not a great idea?” Richard said. “You might make yourselves the next targets.”

“We're going to be subtle, not broadcast to the world that we're searching for clues,” I said. “Anyway, if we don't find out who's killing wed
ding planners, we could be next whether we investigate or not.”

Richard put his hands on his hips. “You don't think our detective friends can find the murderer without your help, or would it be too much to ask you not to nose around in a mystery?”

“There is a difference between being nosy and gathering information,” I protested. “The police can't move in the same industry circles that we can, otherwise I'd let them have at it. Anyway, no harm ever came from asking a few questions.”

“Where have I heard that before?” Richard muttered.

“There you are.” Fern rushed out the front doors waving his monogrammed handkerchief. That thing had really been getting a workout lately. “I've been waiting for you.”

I looked at my watch. “Are we late? We had to do a walk-through.”

Fern gave us all weepy hugs. “It's awful in there.”

Kate gulped. “Lots of crying?”

“No.” Fern lowered his voice. “They put Carolyn in a shiny white casket with gold trim. It looks like she's in a Camry.”

Richard's mouth gaped open and he pushed past us to go inside. “This I have to see.”

We followed Richard into the foyer of the funeral home and were greeted solemnly by an employee in a dark suit with a white carnation boutonnière. The building was carpeted in wall-to-wall light blue plush that muffled our footsteps and gave me the urge to whisper. Several groupings of conservative navy blue and beige living
room furniture were placed throughout the spacious lobby, and marble busts sat on small platforms jutting out from the walls.

“Carnations,” Kate whispered to me.

Fern let out a low whistle. “Don't be alarmed, girls. They're everywhere.”

Carolyn would have died at the thought of a supermarket flower being at her funeral. All we had to do was add some baby's breath and the horror would be complete.

“Crabbe is this way.” Richard pointed to the sign directing guests to various rooms and he led the way down the hall and past several closed sets of double doors. A pair of columns with marble busts stood at waist level outside each viewing room. This place was really big on the Classical era. I wondered if there were bodies in all of these rooms. As we got to the end of the hall, I could hear the buzz of voices getting louder.

Fern grabbed us by the arms before we reached the wide doorway to the viewing room with two marble heads on either side. “I have to warn you about Carolyn.”

“You don't have to worry about me going anywhere near the body,” Kate said.

Fern turned to me. “I don't want you to be surprised. It's pretty crowded in the casket. They're burying her with her day planner, cell phone, and wedding day walkie-talkie.”

“Excuse me?”

Fern elbowed me. “I guess she planned to coordinate weddings from the beyond.”

“Talk about being a workaholic,” Kate said.

“When they say you can't take it with you, I
guess they don't mean work,” Richard said. I could see that they were both trying hard not to laugh.

I elbowed them. “Get it together, you two. We can't go in there giggling.”

“You won't be laughing once you see the Camry.” Fern went into the room and motioned for us to follow.

He had vanished into the sea of people by the time Kate and Richard had stopped giggling and we'd stepped into the viewing room. I could see the bright white and gold casket gleaming against the far wall surrounded by sprays of flowers and wreaths on stands. I recognized some of the wedding industry regulars like Maxwell holding court with his usual gaggle of young women, but also a lot of unfamiliar faces. They must have been friends and family, but I had a hard time imagining Carolyn having a life outside of wedding planning.

“Why don't we split up?” I said to Kate and Richard. “That way we can talk to more people.”

“I'm going to get a better look at that casket.” Richard set off across the room before I could stop him.

“I'll go talk to Byron.” Kate tugged the neckline of her sweater dress down. “He may be known for flirting, but two can play at that game.”

Byron Wolfe might have been the biggest kiss-up in the business, but no one could flirt more shamelessly than Kate. If anyone could charm information out of him, she could.

I took a moment to scan the crowd. Gail and Botox Barbie seemed deep in conversation and
kept glancing over at Byron. Gail seemed more than a little jittery, and Barbie seemed more than a little drunk. Did the funeral home have a bar?

“Good turnout, huh?”

I jumped at the sound of the voice behind me. I turned to find my videographer friend Joni with a camera in her hand. She wore black from head to toe, which was her usual work uniform at events and happened to be good funeral attire.

“You're videotaping the viewing?” I asked.

“Oh, sure.” She nodded and brushed her sandy blond hair off her face. “People have me video all sorts of things. Usually they want to remember the eulogies but I've had requests to tape viewings before.”

I shuddered. “Do you film the casket?”

“No way. I draw the line at dead bodies.”

I lowered my voice. “So which is better? Working a wedding or a funeral?”

“No question. A funeral. Dead people are much less demanding than brides.”

“Maybe I'm in the wrong business. Is there such a thing as a funeral planner?”

Joni laughed. “I'd better get back to work.” She lifted her camera. “Carolyn's husband is looking over here. But find me later. I've got some great dirt for you.”

I looked around for someone who could be Carolyn's husband. “Which one is he?” I asked, but Joni had already moved out of earshot. I reminded myself to touch base with her later. She always had the best industry gossip.

I scanned the crowd for anyone else I might
know. The two high-maintenance sales girls that Carolyn had fired stood off in one corner whispering and flipping their blond hair. I wondered why they'd bothered to show up if they despised their former boss so much. Unless they were cruising for a new employer among the crème de la crème of Washington's wedding industry. I hoped they didn't approach Richard. He was still fuming over their protest on behalf of cute animals.

Lucille stood by herself a few feet away and gave me a tiny wave, then blew her nose into a tissue. I couldn't imagine Lucille having the nerve to kill anyone, but it couldn't hurt to talk to her, considering the fact that she'd worked with two of the victims. I walked over and gave her a hug.

“It's so good of you to come.” She dabbed at her puffy eyes. “You and Kate have been so good to us since Carolyn's death.”

“It's the least we can do. Is Margery here, too?” Usually the women were inseparable.

Lucille bobbed her head up and down and blew her nose again. “She's mingling.” She dropped her eyes to the floor. “I think she's asking the other planners if they have any openings. Would you happen to need two experienced assistants?”

My heart went out to her. How awful to be hunting for a job at the point in your life when you should be thinking about retiring on a sunny island. “We're a pretty small company,” I explained. “Wedding Belles is a two person operation.”

“I understand,” Lucille said quickly. “Margery told me to save my money like she did, but
I wasn't able to give her as much to invest as I should have. I love to spoil my grandchildren. You know I have twelve.”

I had no idea, and I felt a twinge of guilt that I knew so little about my colleagues. I touched her arm. “If we decide to expand, you'll be the first people we call.”

Tears began to course down Lucille's cheeks. “I'm sorry to be such a wreck. It's been a lot to take in. First Carolyn, then Eleanor and that poor little Stephanie. Plus, after almost twenty years of service, Mr. Crabbe decides to sell the business and gives us notice that we need to find new jobs.”

I put an arm around her shoulder. I really couldn't imagine what a horrible week she'd had. “Is Carolyn's husband here?”

Lucille nodded through her tears and pointed at a short, balding man next to the door.

I squinted at him and the woman in a brown jacket next to him. “The one talking with Margery?”

“I hope she's giving him a piece of her mind.” Lucille sniffled and wiped her nose with a ragged tissue. “We should have gotten a paycheck this week and he hasn't paid us yet. He's so stingy that I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get away with not paying us at all.”

“Why don't I get you some more tissues?”

Lucille looked absently at the soggy one in her hands. “That would be nice, dear.”

As I left Lucille, I noticed that Kate had cornered Byron and seemed to be either interrogating him or setting a date. Richard was nowhere to be seen, and I hoped he was talking to people and
not just gawking at the gaudy casket. I feared that the combination of white and gold might send him over the edge.

As I passed Margery and Mr. Crabbe, it sounded like Margery was giving him more than just a piece of her mind, but Carolyn's husband seemed unmoved by her hissed threats about lawyers and payments. I headed back out to the hall to get Lucille some tissues since I remembered seeing a sign for a ladies' room when we'd come in. I passed a couple of closed doors, then one that stood ajar.

I was curious to see inside the other rooms. Did they have caskets in them already? I pushed the door open and poked my head in the dark room. The light from the hallway spilled in, but I still couldn't make out much. I stepped inside and felt along the wall for a light switch, and the door swung shut, leaving me in darkness. Great. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Richard would never let me hear the end of it if I got trapped inside a viewing room with a dead body.

I felt my way back to the entrance and had just reached it when the door opened and light poured into the room, blinding me for a second. I blinked a few times and saw a silhouette looming in the doorway before feeling a thud. I instinctively raised my hand to the side of my head, and everything went black.