Page 177 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

“In our room, where you found us.”

“You sure? Neither of you left?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Unless you’re working together,” Oliver says.

“That could go for all of us,” Allison points out. “We all have alibis in twos and threes.”

“A conspiracy of murder,” David says.

“That sounds like one of those book titles generated by AI.”

“What I want to know,” Oliver says, “is why Shawna was coming here. To this room.”

“I had the same question,” I say. “And what are you doing here, Simone? And you, Tucci? Where haveyoubeen?”

“I was with Officer Anderson,” Simone says.

“Why?”

She gives me a contemptuous glare. “She was questioning me.”

“And you, Tucci?”

Inspector Tucci runs his hand over his head, spraying out water as he goes. “I was investigating.”

“Give me a break,” Simone says.

“As I have been telling you since the beginning, I am a trained detective. I can help solve this murder. And the others, too.” I try to cut him off, but he puts up his hand. “As you were saying, Shawna came to see Fred and Emma before she died. She must’ve done that for a reason. Did she say anything? The victim usually says something before they die. Or perhaps she had something clutched in her hand?”

I take in a slow breath. Tucci’s like a child bashing around on a piano. Every once in a while, he hits on something that sounds like a tune.

“There wasn’t anything in her hand,” I say, even though I didn’t check. But she was waving her hands around when she came in and they were empty. “She did speak, though only to say she was sorry. And that she was doing what she was told.”

“I can’t believeyou’regoing along with him, of all people,” Simone says.

Inspector Tucci ignores her. “Ah, well, now, that isveryinteresting indeed.” He looks at Emma. “She was coming to see you, wasn’t she?”

“What? No.”

“It makes sense, of course.”

“How?” Emma says.

“The least likely suspect.”

“Seriously?” I say. “Simone’s right, you’re a nut.”

He gazes at me. “Isn’t that what you write in your books? You go through all of the suspects starting with the most obvious to the least likely, and that’s the one that it is.”

This isexactlywhat I do.

Not like I’m the only one. It’s a common technique.

But being called out by Inspector Tucci about it?

Do not recommend.

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