The Bride Wore Black Read Online Free PDF Page A

managed to get everyone out of the house. She had the briefest thought about telling the officers to stay off the flowerbeds, but decided that even Mr. Lariviere could make an exception in this case. They waited outside the house for over an hour while the officers worked silently inside.
    “We’re gonna get a bad reputation if people don’t stop dying every time we try to put on a wedding,” Jeremiah said behind his hand. Stacy heard him, and pinned him back with a fierce glare. “What? I’m just saying, it’s kind of becoming a thing with us.”
    “It is not! This is only the… well… third time,” she admittedly hotly. “And it’s been ages since the last one!”
    “You’re forgetting that one wedding with the dead rap star,” Tori said glumly. “That makes four.”
    “It does not! No one died that time, the man faked his death to get out of his contract, or something! That’s hardly our fault!” Stacy struggled to keep her composure. Jeremiah had a point. This was not their first rodeo with a dead body gumming up a wedding. And of course it not only had to be the most important wedding on their calendar, but one where the bride would actually welcome a dead person.
    “I’m sorry to ask you to do this,” an officer said, coming up to Stacy as the coroner began rolling a gurney out of the house. “But you’re the only one here who’s got any connection to this property. Do you think you can identify the body?”
    “What?!” Stacy asked, her hand flying to her throat. It took her only a second to realize that she was not only the logical choice, but that the best way to get this cleared up and quietly covered up was to cooperate. She gulped, then nodded.
    She followed the officer to the waiting coroner’s van and steeled herself. When she nodded, he lifted back the sheet that was covering the body.
    “Wow,” she said, wincing and breathing through her mouth. “Yes, she came to my office a few days ago. Her name is Lady Persephone, she claims to be a medium who wanted to free the ghost in this house. That’s really all I know about her.”
    By then, Detective Rod Sims arrived. He raced over to the van and grabbed Stacy’s arms, pulling her close to his chest to shield her from the sight. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, screaming at the uniformed officer.
    “Rod, no. It’s okay. I agreed to look,” she said. Nathan, who’d caught a ride with Rod, made it to her side next. He took her from Rod and walked her away, keeping her close to his side.
    They regrouped on the front porch, no one too eager to go inside after what had transpired. The police were still taking photos and looking around the property, but the porch seemed safe enough for the time being. A roll of thunder sent the already on-edge crowd into a feeling of full panic.
    “What happens now, Rod?” Stacy asked. “It hardly seems right to have a wedding here, but that’s not my decision. What do we do if the bride still wants to go through with it?”
    “That’ll be a question for the local PD to answer, but they may be through with their investigation in just a couple of days. I’d suggest a different venue, if I were you, and you can always bow out gracefully by telling them the police aren’t done with the location yet.”
    “Somehow, I don’t think the little brat is going to accept that excuse, but we’ll do our best,” Jeremiah said. He stepped aside before Stacy could swat the back of his head.
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    B ack at their office , Stacy and Tori ducked into the kitchen next to Mandy’s desk and shut the door, speaking in a frantic whisper.
    “So what’s up? Why the secrecy?” Tori asked, following Stacy’s lead and leaning in close.
    “Well, you know. There’s already so much superstition among the staff about this wedding. Between you and me, I don’t even think Jeremiah’s protests have all that much to do with Abigail. I’m thinking there’s some heebeejeebees involved instead. Maybe