Page 171 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

I mean, she did get involved with Tyler.

But we’re all entitled to one mistake.

Or two. Whatever. Bygones.

Oliver knocks on the door and there’s a long pause, and then Fred’s voice. “Who is it?”

“Oliver and Eleanor...and just open up, Fred.”

“Why?”

“We want to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“It will be easier to explain inside,” I say, coming up next to Oliver. I try to look through the peephole, but it just gives me a telescoped view of Fred’s face. “Emma? You in there?”

“I’m here.”

“Tell Fred to let us in.”

“Fred, let them in, for God’s sake. Oliver and El are not here to murder us.”

“All right, hold on.”

A chair scrapes back and then the bolts are turned and the chain rattles. The door opens slowly. Fred’s still in his tux pants and shirt, but he’s lost the jacket. “What’s all this about? And...what are you all doing here?”

Oliver pushes open the door and walks inside, everyone following him. Emma’s out of her wedding dress and is in the bathrobe she was wearing when we were doing her makeup earlier today. Her hair is down and her face is free of makeup.

“We wanted to talk to Fred,” I say.

“Why?” Emma asks, but then she looks at our faces and she knows. “No, no, no. El. Fred didn’t do it.”

“Do what?” Fred says.

Is he the world’s best actor or simply an innocent?

Why are those the only two possibilities?

“Kill Ken and José,” Connor says.

“What? No. I didn’t.”

“You had the means and the opportunity,” David says.

“What did I ever do to you?” Fred asks.

David shrugs his shoulders. “It’s not about me.”

“El?” Emma’s eyes are pleading with me.

“He’s in a lot of debt.”

“But José?”

“His accomplice.”

“And Ken?”

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