Page 39 of No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

“Whatever happened to your no-producers rule?”

“That was for projects I was on. We never did a project together. And he agreed to keep it quiet.”

“How long did the relationship last?”

Emma twists her engagement ring around her finger. It’s a large square Harry Winston diamond thatPeopledevoted an entire three-page spread to. “A couple of months, but...I think he fell kind of hard.”

“Not you?”

“Not me. He was a bit messed-up when I ended it, frankly. Like surprisingly so.”

“What did he do?”

She gets a faraway look in her eyes. “A little light stalking. Showing up at my place, leaving messages.”

“How long did that last?”

“A couple of months. But this was years ago.”

“How did you get him to stop?” I ask.

“I had my security talk to him. I use them sometimes. Around releases. And it seemed to do the trick. We even saw each other a few times after that and it was all good. Or so I thought.”

“And then?”

She nods slowly. “And then I got cast inWhen in Rome.”

“You think that was because he wanted you around?”

“I didn’t at first, but...”

“What?”

She gathers up her hair in her hands, then releases it. “He tried to renew the relationship. I told him no, and I thought that was the end of it, but...”

“Then he found out about you and Fred.”

Her eyes connect with mine in a way they have so many times before.

I remember the first time we communicated that way. It was the second day of kindergarten and we were playing one of those kids’ games involving a ball and minor injuries. We called it murder ball, even though we weren’t allowed to.

Anyway, old story: I didn’t get picked, but then there Emma was, holding my hand and insisting she couldn’t play if I wasn’t on her team, and that was it. We were a unit after that.

Eleanor and Emma, murdering everyone in sight on the blacktop playground.

And now we might be bound up in arealmurder, and the thought of that scares me in a way I haven’t been in a long time.

Three months at least.

“What did Tyler do?”

“It wasn’t what he did so much as how he was acting. Just angry all the time. And then, when those notes started showing up in my trailer, I thought it was him.”

“What did the other notes look like? The same as the one you gave me? Made up of cut-out letters?”

“Yes.”

I shudder, thinking of the time it took to do that.

---