Page 38

Phyllis

By the time Phyllis made it to the church door, a steady procession of guests were making their way up the path. Most of them were faces she recognized from St. Tredock, but there were a few unfamiliar figures dressed in bright clothes that made them stand out from the local crowd. These must be Nova’s London friends, although they were vastly outnumbered by Craig’s guests. Phyllis scanned the congregation inside but there was no sign of the one guest she was particularly interested in. She did, however, see Ash sitting in one of the pews. He caught Phyllis’s eye and gave her a quick nod, and she nodded in return.

“Richard and I will go inside and find some seats,” Michael said from beside her. “Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

Phyllis turned her attention back to the guests walking up the front path. Where was Lauren? Nova had said she was definitely coming, but maybe the girl had worked out they were onto her and decided to skip the wedding? No, that seemed unlikely. Most criminals believed they were smarter than everyone else and so rarely suspected they’d get caught.

And sure enough, there was Lauren, wearing a skimpy pale pink dress and holding hands with a tall, muscly man as they walked up the path to the church. At the sight of her, Phyllis felt a stab of rage. How dare that rat stroll up here as if she didn’t have a care in the world, while all along she’d been trying to frame the bride and get her sacked. The absolute gall of the woman! For the hundredth time since Nova and Arthur had told her what they’d discovered, Phyllis kicked herself for not having suspected Lauren sooner. She’d allowed her judgment to become clouded by her dislike of Cynthia, something Miss Marple would never have done. Still, Phyllis was going to make up for that mistake today.

“Phyllis, hi!” Lauren smiled as she reached the church door. “I didn’t know you were invited.”

“A last-minute addition,” Phyllis said, fixing a fake smile on her own lips. Two can play that game, missy. “Did you hear what happened yesterday?”

“Do you mean the book club road trip? Craig told me that you’d all gone down to Lizard Point.”

“That’s right. And we found the missing man, Michael.”

Phyllis watched Lauren’s face as she said this, but the girl didn’t so much as blink. She was looking over Nova’s shoulder, her eyes searching for someone inside the church.

“The murder suspect who stole the money? Wow, well done.”

“Ah, but that’s the thing. It turns out that he didn’t kill his mother or steal the money.”

“Are you sure? He might have been lying to you. Unless you think it was someone else at the book club who took the money?”

No, you’re the one who’s lying and took it, you little snake. Phyllis kept the smile glued on her face as Lauren’s boyfriend excused himself to head inside. Lauren turned to follow him, but Phyllis reached out to grab her arm.

“Did you hear the other good news?”

“What’s that?”

“Sandy’s remembered who attacked her.”

This caught the girl’s attention, and she swung back to look at Phyllis. “What? When did that happen?”

“Apparently she woke up this morning and suddenly remembered she’d seen their face. Isn’t that incredible!”

“And has she told anyone who it was?”

“I don’t know. But I heard she’s going to call the police straight after the wedding.”

“Sandy’s here?” A pink flush was spreading across Lauren’s cheeks, turning them the same color as her dress.

“Yes, she felt well enough to come. She’s inside the church now.”

“Right. Wow…that’s great.”

Yet Lauren looked anything but delighted as she hurried past Phyllis. She stopped for a moment in the doorway, her eyes scanning the congregation, and then she saw who she was looking for and headed over to join them. Phyllis watched her go and smiled in satisfaction.

“There we go, Craddock,” she whispered. “Stage one of the book club plan is complete.”

Now, like Miss Marple in A Murder Is Announced , Phyllis just had to sit back and let the criminal hang herself.