her knees felt like warm Jell-O, the pain in her chest made her wonder if she might be having a heart attack, and she wasnât sure sheâd even make it.
Quickly, she ran down a mental list of her guests and wedding party. Who was the most likely to have their cell phone on ... wedding or no wedding?
She punched in another number, and sure enough, there was an answer on the second ring.
âHello?â drawled a syrupy sweet Southern voice.
âMarietta, itâs me, Savannah.â
âSavannah! Hightail it back here, girl! Weâre all waiting for you! Did you find Grandpaâs ring?â
âMari, listen to me. Go get Dirk. Right now.â
âBut ... ? What are you talking about? Are you gonna ... ?â
âHush up. Donât argue with me, girl. Just do what Iâm tellinâ you. Walk out the door and down there where everybodyâs at and hand your phone to Dirk. Do it now!â
âAre you chickeninâ out? Is that what this is all about? âCause if you dragged all of us all the way here from Georgia just so that you couldââ
âMARIETTA! Damn your hide, girl! Make tracks! Now!â
âOkay! Sheez, Louise ... you donât have to scream at me! Iâm going! Iâm going!â
Suddenly, every bit of strength in Savannahâs legs disappeared, and she sank abruptly to the floor, there in the door frame, between the bedroom and the patio.
From where she sat, she could see, all too graphically, the face of the victim, whom she had pulled from the water.
Sheâd thought there might be a chance, even a slim one, that the body wasnât as dead as it looked.
But it was.
Madeline Aberson had definitely passed from life to death ... and there would be no coming back.
Savannah wasnât sure what had happened to her. She didnât know if the woman had drowned, or worse. It wasnât clear where all that blood had come from.
The blood that was now all over the front of Savannahâs white wedding gown.
For a moment, Savannah had a horrible sense of déjà vu. It was so similar to her recent nightmare.
Through the phone she could hear Marietta say to Dirk, âYeah, itâs her. She wants to talk to you. I donât know, but sheâs in a fettle about something. Youâd better talk to her.â
She heard a loud clatter and Marietta curse, âDamnation. I dropped it. Here.â
âSavannah? Honey ... what the hell?â Dirk sounded deeply concerned, and she couldnât blame him. It wasnât exactly standard wedding protocol for the bride to call her waiting groom on the phone. âAre you all right?â
âIâm fine. But you have to leave there and come to the bridal suite.â
âWhat? Why? Arenât we supposed to beââ
âYes, Iâm sorry, sugar, but it ainât happening right now. Weâve got us a ten-fifty-five right here in our room.â
âNo way! Youâve got to be kidding.â
âI wish I was. Itâs Madeline Aberson.â
âAw, man ... this bites.â He turned away from the phone and she heard him say, âNo, Gran, sheâs all right. But thereâs a problem. A bad problem, back in our suite. Iâm gonna have to go see about it. Atlanta, could you sing another song or two?â
She heard Atlanta begin a nice rendition of Paul Stookeyâs âWedding Song.â
Then Dirk said into the phone, âIs there any way in hell itâs an accident or natural causes and not a ten-fifty-five?â
Savannah got up onto her knees and scooted closer to the body. The front showed no signs of trauma, so with considerable effort, she rolled Madeline onto her side and peered at the back.
She saw what appeared to be three small puncture wounds between the shoulder blades.
âNo,â she said. âIt wasnât an accident, unless she fell on something and stabbed herself in the back three