Authors: Camilla Chafer
"How long do I wait? The wedding is supposed to start in thirty minutes."
"I don't know. Not long, I hope. I'll come back as soon as I can." I reached for the handle, turning the lock and was just about to step out when Juliet called my name. "Are they here?" she asked. "Is the stalker here?"
"Yes," I said.
"You know who it is, don't you?"
"We believe we have a suspect."
"It's Penelope, isn't it? You still suspect her." Juliet sighed and I wondered, for the briefest moment, whether I should just lie. Instead, I shut the door again. This time, there would be no lies, and no skirting around the truth.
"We found more evidence today that indicates your stalker has to be Penelope."
"I don't want to believe you. She's my friend. She's the mother of Rob's son. She was shot, for crying out loud! Why would she do that to us?"
"I don't know, but we're going to find out. Stay here, okay?" I opened the door and slipped out, shutting it behind me. I paused, waiting until I heard the lock click before I hurried downstairs.
It took me less than a minute to find Penelope. She was still standing in the bar area with Rob, her arm draped around their son's shoulders. As I entered, a hand grabbed me and pulled me to one side.
"Lily! You scared me!" I squeaked.
"Sorry. Look who it is." Lily tipped her glass in Penelope's direction.
"I know. Solomon told me already."
Lily huffed. "If I had one of those fancy earbuds, I'd know that."
"Tell Lily I can hear her," said Solomon, through said
fancy earbud
.
"Solomon can hear you," I told her.
"Ask him when it's going down," said Lily.
"I don't need to. We're just watching. Did you see them do anything?"
"Penelope got a juice from the bar for her kid," said Lily. We watched as Robbie slurped the last of his juice. He dropped the cup into his mother's hand and scooted out of the room on shoes with wheels in the heels. He soon skidded through the house out of view. "She's only talked to Rob so far."
"We need to keep watching while looking like we're not watching."
"I am not making out with you!"
"What? Who said anything about..."
"Undercovers do it all the time," Lily hissed.
My stomach flipped. "I know, I've seen it. This is not one of those times. Plus, you're wearing a wedding ring and you're pregnant; and everyone knows Solomon is my boyfriend."
"I can still hear you," said Solomon. I ignored him.
"Let's just chat. If you stand a little bit that way, and I stand a little bit this way, I can see them both clearly. Now all we have to do is..." I stopped as someone shouted from the kitchen. The shouts got louder before a billow of smoke came through the door.
"Fire!" yelled someone as the smoke alarm began its piercing shriek.
"Solomon, we have a fire in the kitchen," I said to the lapel pin.
"Go check it out. Tell Lily to leave."
"Lily, Solomon says to leave while I check it out."
Lily leaned into my pin, close enough that she could see the stitches on my lapel. "No way."
"I'll be right back. Lily, if there's a fire, you have to leave."
"Fine," I heard her say as I rushed into the kitchen. A small crowd had gathered, making it difficult to push my way to the front as smoke rose.
"It's nothing," said a man's voice. "Really, it's nothing. I think it's a smoke bomb or something. It's not a fire. Everything's okay."
"A bomb?" someone yelled to panicked shouts.
"No! No! Really, it's a kid's smoke bomb. Not a real bomb," said the same man as I got to the front. He wore a chef's apron and wielded a small fire extinguisher. The smoke began to dissolve around us and something small was kicked outside where it continued to fizzle and belch out smoke.
"It's a smoke bomb," I said to my pin.
"It's someone's idea of a joke," said someone behind me. "I don't think it's funny."
Neither did I, but I didn't say that as I turned away from the annoyed chef. In the commotion, I totally forgot about our target. "Solomon, where's Penelope?" I asked.
"We can't see her. The smoke makes it impossible to see."
"Someone set this off deliberately!"
"As a distraction," said Solomon, adding, "Everyone, get eyes back on Penelope. We might have a situation going down now."
"She couldn't have set it off," I told him. "Lily and I were watching her."
"Doesn't matter. Anyone, eyes on Penelope?"
I edged my way back through the meandering crowd, squeezing past a confused couple loitering in the doorway before darting into the bar. It was empty, except for Lily who was waiting, and staring towards the kitchen. "Where are they?" I asked.
Lily whirled around, her face dropping at the empty room. "They were right here. I just turned away for a moment."
"Solomon? Penelope and Rob are gone. I'm going to check on Juliet."
"Location?"
"Juliet's bedroom," I told the mic as I turned towards the stairs, running for them with Lily right behind me. The door to the bedroom stood wide open. My heart stilled as I stepped inside, looking around the empty room. "Solomon, Juliet's gone."
"Find her."
"Let's find her," said Lily, coming to a stop next to me, her hand resting on her belly as she puffed, "She can't have gone far. She's wearing a freaking wedding dress! It's not like she can blend in."
"Eyes on Juliet? Anyone?" came Solomon's calm voice. "Lexi, Juliet's been spotted heading into the garage."
"The garage? Why would she go there?" I asked, not expecting an answer. "C'mon, Lily. We have to go to the garage." Lily was out the door, leaving me in her wake as I hurried to catch up with her. The downstairs was largely emptied now, thanks to the smoke bomb scaring people. Some went out the front, and the annoyed chef was chasing others out the back, so we cut through the hallway with ease, darting out the front door.
"Which way?" asked Lily.
"Right," I said and she took off again. "Lily, wait; let me go first."
"Why? I'm faster."
That was true, even carrying an extra human, Lily was remarkably faster than me. I resolved to start working out at the gym again, something I hadn't done in a while. After my running partner unexpectedly passed away, Lily gave up trying to force me into anything more strenuous than pregnancy yoga. "You're pregnant and Penelope's dangerous. We don't know what we're walking into. Get behind me. I'll protect you." I insisted.
"My heroine," said Lily as she pretended to fan herself.
"Everyone. Head to the garage on my count," said Solomon. "And if you encounter an angry, pregnant woman, cuff her and surround her." I made the snap decision not to relay his instructions to Lily. Instead, I stepped around her and jogged ahead, dodging the few guests standing in the driveway. The garage door was shut so we stepped through the garden gate, heading for the side entrance. The door stood ajar and I put a finger to my lips as we slowed our approach, keeping our backs against the wall.
"I hear Juliet," I said as voices sounded softly.
"Penelope?" asked Solomon.
"Can't see. I'm going to get closer." I edged forwards, craning my head to see through the crack. Penelope stood beside Rob and Juliet with her back to us. "Penelope is there. Rob, too. They're talking."
"To the special day," said Penelope, pouring champagne into three glasses on a tray perched on a workbench. "I'm so glad we got this moment to talk, and truly bond."
"Penelope, what's going on?" asked Rob.
"It's just a private moment between the three of us, now that we're going to be one big family." Penelope gave a dry laugh.
"We're not a family," said Rob.
"Sure we are. We have a child together, Rob. We'll always be family. And now Juliet will be part of that family. Isn't it just great that we all get along? Do you know how many people have congratulated me on how accepting I am? Or how great we all are to put Robbie first? This way, we can hang out and still do family days. None of that nasty animosity, or other stuff that happens when a guy ditches his loving partner for the newer, younger, richer model."
"That didn't happen, Pen. We split up long before I met Juliet. You know that."
Penelope shrugged. "I'm just glad you texted me to meet you both."
Rob and Juliet exchanged puzzled glances. "I didn't text you," said Juliet.
"No, Rob did."
Rob gave a quick shake of his head. "No, I didn't."
"I got a text from your phone. See!" Penelope pulled her cell phone from her purse and thrust it towards the couple. "You told me to meet you here. You said Juliet was going crazy, and you couldn't help her."
"I never sent that!"
"It's from
your phone
." Penelope dropped her phone into her purse, tossing it onto the workbench before reaching for the flutes. She smiled as she handed one to Rob and turned to pick up the second glass. Something tiny dropped from her hand and fizzled in the glass for a few seconds. "I know you've had such a hard time, Juliet. These last few months were really terrible. I can't imagine what's been going on in your head. You must have been ready to lose your mind."
"I have. I've driven myself crazy wondering why someone would do this to me."
"I know. You're so perfect, Juliet. Why would anyone want to hurt you? Look at you, you have everything. You enjoy the golden life."
"I've been very lucky."
"Lucky? Everything comes so easy to you; and you're so sweet, everyone always wants the best for you. They don't know the real you, Juliet. Not like I do. Here. Let's drink to you." Penelope handed her the flute, pressing it into Juliet's hand before reaching for her own glass.
"What are they doing?" hissed Lily.
"Talking." I whispered, squinting and staring at Juliet's glass. There was nothing but champagne and bubbles. Had I imagined something more? Did I desperately want more, something I could pin on Penelope? If her tone didn't sound so harsh, I would have thought I was eavesdropping on a private moment. As much as I stared, I couldn't see anything that looked abnormal. Scanning Penelope's dress, I couldn't see any outline of a gun either.
"I didn't send you that text," said Rob again, looking confused. "You told me Juliet wanted to talk to us alone. That's why I came to the garage with you."
"I came because you texted me, Rob. You said there was something wrong and we needed to talk," said Juliet as Rob shook his head.
"I think what Juliet wanted was your forgiveness, Rob."
"What for?" asked Rob, not taking his eyes off Juliet.
"For dragging you into her crazy world, I imagine. Really, who knows? Let's drink to the future."
"Penelope, I think you need professional help," said Juliet as she edged closer to Rob. "I want to put all this behind us. I want us to be friends, and I want to help you."
Penelope raised her glass. "You're right. Let's put it all behind us now. To the deserving couple!"
"The deserving couple," I repeated, frowning. It didn't feel right as I watched Rob and Juliet raise their glasses, seemingly as puzzled as I. Penelope wasn't looking at them both, but looking at Rob. As she stared, it became quite clear she wasn't toasting Juliet and Rob as the happy couple. She was toasting herself and Rob.
"Cheers," said Penelope as she knocked back her glass.
"Cheers," mumbled Juliet, raising the glass to her lips.
My body didn't feel like my own as I pushed forwards. It seemed like I was watching myself in slow motion when I burst through the garage door. "Don't drink that!" yelled a voice that turned out to be my own, but not. "It's poisoned."
Reality snapped back into place as Penelope whirled around, her jaw dropping down. Her glass fell to the floor, splintering into thick shards as she grabbed her purse. I ran forwards, reaching out for Juliet's glass.
Penelope rushed me, knocking into me so hard, we tumbled to the ground. My elbow jarring painfully against the concrete floor. "You shouldn't be here," wailed Penelope, raising a fist. "You'll ruin everything."
I tipped my head quickly to the left, feeling Penelope's blow glance off my ear and hearing her painful yelp as her knuckles connected with the concrete. Above us, someone screamed. Penelope tightened her grip on me as she punched again, connecting with my wound. I tried to wriggle out from her tenacious grasp, sending a jolt of piercing pain all through me. "I should have finished you off," hissed Penelope, against my ear.
With all my might, I wrenched my knee upwards, driving into soft flesh as she grunted. A flash of steel on my right drew my attention and I saw the gun pointed towards my head. Her finger was closing around the trigger. Powerful hands reached around Penelope and made me blink with their swiftness.
"Gun!" I yelled, groping for Penelope's hand. I wanted to push it away as she continued to flail at me with her other hand. I closed my fingers around her wrist until she pulled her hand away, twisting it to loosen my grip. She wriggled, bucking and kicking, as an arm closed around her and I fell from her grasp. Someone grunted and Penelope fell forwards.