Page 33

Affected AreaThe Channel Islands, including Santa Catalina and San Clemente

DescriptionSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM PDT THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON...Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall and high surf around the Channel Islands is expected.

Action RecommendedAVOID affected areas. An evacuation order may be issued. Be prepared to evacuate on short notice.

CHAPTER 6

Is It Okay to Be a Bridezilla If Someone Is Trying to Kill You?

When I find Emma in her room twenty minutes later, she’s inconsolable.

“A midnightmurder? Did you see, Eleanor? Someone is planning on killing me at my wedding at midnight!”

She’s sitting in a green rattan chair in front of a bank of windows. The sun is filtering through in a way that makes her seem lit from within, a visual that’s accentuated by the white linen dress she’s wearing.

Fred is standing behind her in white pants and a blue chambray shirt. As I meet his gaze over Emma’s head, it strikes me again how very much he looks like Connor.

“It’s a typo,” I say as I sit down next to her and gather her in my arms like a child. “No one is going to kill you.”

She wipes at her cornflower-blue eyes. “A typo! It was supposed to say ‘buffet.’ How does that get changed into ‘murder’? There aren’t even any letters in common in those two words.”

“There’s theuand thee. You know how autocorrect is.”

She shoots me a look. “But I checked it. Shawna checked it. The wedding planner checked it. You did, too, right, Fred?”

Fred and I exchange another look, and I’m 100 percent certain that Fred did not check the wedding schedule to make sure it didn’t refer to an upcoming murder.

Not that I blame him for that.

I’m not good at reading the fine print either.

“Of course I did, love.” He pats her gently on the shoulder.

“Then how did it happen?”

“Maybe someone thought it was a theme wedding?” I say. “Because ofWhen in Rome? That’s what you can say if anyone notices.”

“No one choosesmurderas their wedding theme!”

“Which makes it original.”

“I guess.” She sniffs. “Didyounotice?”

“Well, yes, but you know I’m a stickler for detail.”

I hold my breath because this is not true. Like I just said, I’m terrible at details. This is what I have Harper for. Emma knows this, but she’s distracted right now, so maybe she’ll forget.

“You think people will believe the theme wedding thing?”

“I do.”

“And when there isn’t any murder mystery to solve, what then?”

“They’ll be too drunk to notice,” I say. “There’s an open bar, right, Fred?”

This is an item I’m certain he took care of. If I know one thing about Fred, it’s that he loves an open bar.

“I certainly ordered one. If the studio wasn’t being such a bunch of ass—” He stops himself, his face turning red. “Maybe therewillbe a murder,” Fred says through his teeth. “The more I think about it...I bet Tyler had something to do with this.”