Page 176 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

“No. We came back here when Officer Anderson told us to, and we were talking until you showed up.”

“What about when you took off your dress?”

“I did that alone. And took a quick shower...But it was only a few minutes.”

“I didn’t kill Shawna,” Fred says. “How would I have even known where she was?” He’s speaking in that half-British accent he puts on when he’s being theatrical. It’s a bad tell.

“But you’re involved in this. You have to be.”

“Why?” Allison asks.

“Because of the texts on his phone. The phone no one knew he had.”

Fred clamps his jaw again and I realize my mistake. Othersdidknow he had that phone. Tyler. José. Shawna.

Who else?

Just because there weren’t texts with anyone else doesn’t mean he didn’t send them.

Texts can be erased.105

Oliver hangs up, and it’s only a moment before Officer Anderson is at the door.

She’s not alone.

She’s followed by Simone and Inspector Tucci. They’ve both changed out of their wedding clothes, Simone into one of her sets of coveralls and Tucci into what looks like flannel pajamas with a British hunting jacket over them.

Officer Anderson takes in the scene, then drops to the floor to check the body, but it’s obvious to all of us that Shawna is dead. She slips on a pair of gloves and pulls Shawna’s coat back. She’s still wearing the suit she wore to the wedding, but the white shirt is red now, caked thick, and it’s hard to see where the origin of the blood is.

But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s coming from her heart.

“Was she stabbed?” I ask because it doesn’t look like a gunshot wound.

And also: I want to know if someone on this island has a gun.

Besides Officer Anderson, that is.

“I think so. But the lab techs will have to determine that. When they can get here.”

I shudder.Twostabbings and a broken neck. This killer gets up close to their victim and then strikes. These aren’t stranger murders. They’re committed by someone who instills trust and confidence.

“Any idea how long ago it was done?” Oliver asks.

“It looks like she’s lost a lot of blood. Theoretically, it could’ve been hours ago.”

Oliver goes into the bedroom and returns with a sheet. He unfolds it and drapes it over Shawna as we watch him.

Officer Anderson’s words ring in my head. Shawna could have been stabbedhoursago. And who knows where Shawna has been since she escaped during the blackout.

We were last all together at one in the morning. It’s now three a.m. That leaves two hours unaccounted for.

I know where I was—with Harper and then with Oliver.

Oliver was alone for part of the time, but if there’s someone here I know isn’t involved, it’s him.106

David and Allison were in their room when we got there. But that leaves at least an hour unaccounted for. I assume they were together, but I don’t know that. Then again, Allison made a mistake last time, in Italy. She kept a crucial piece of information to herself, and I almost died for it.

“Allison, where were you and David?”

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