The Bride Wore Black Read Online Free PDF

he’s caught the ghost bug from what happened at Blanchard.”
    “Yeah. He has been throwing salt and wearing garlic lately. A few minutes ago, I caught him pouring graveyard dirt around the building,” Tori said in an awe-filled, hushed voice.
    “Oh stop it! You did not!” Stacy yelled, forgetting they were trying to be quiet.
    “No, but that’s about how seriously I’m willing to take all this nonsense. There’s no such thing as ghosts and voodoo and all that crap. What we do have is a serious case of spoiled girl-itis, and she’s gonna do whatever it takes to make her parents sorry about this whole mess. Including make people believe in some old ghost story. Just watch, the police are going to figure out that lady’s death, and it will have nothing to do with any of this.”
    “Maybe you’re right…” Stacy began skeptically, wringing her hands slightly.
    “Of course I’m right. This is all a bunch of superstitious nonsense. Now get back to work, boss lady. We’ve got five hundred hand-dipped black candles to prepare and a final fitting for the bridesmaids’ black robes in twenty minutes.” They left the kitchen and headed to Stacy’s office where the rest of the department heads were waiting on the bride and her mother.
    “Remember, I don’t want to hear a word about her clothes, or her style, or her eyebrow ring, or her lack of basic human manners, and there’d better not be a word about the death. As far as we’re concerned, she’s our bride, and that’s all that matters,” Stacy said firmly. Her team members nodded reluctantly but plastered smiles on their faces when Mandy’s voice came through the intercom, announcing the bride and her mother had arrived. An entourage of aides sat in the wicker chairs on the porch, obviously glad to have been dismissed from at least one official function for the time being. “Professionals, people… we’re professionals. We can do this.”
    Stacy stood up and smoothed her tailored blazer as she came around her desk. Mandy opened the office door and escorted in a bleached blond woman with a frozen expression and a scrawny waif of a girl with badly dyed jet black hair and white powdered skin. While her mother wore the typical power suit and stylish heels that every good state-level First Lady wore out in public, the girl was a walking cliché in a black lace dress and a hoodie, black and white striped stockings, and black Converse high-top sneakers. Her black opera gloves added an air of sophistication mixed with just the right amount of complete and total stupidity.
    “Wow. I never knew it was possible to feel physical dislike for another human being, especially before that person ever even opens her mouth,” Tori whispered to Mandy. Stacy couldn’t make out what they said, but knew her friends well enough to know it probably shouldn’t have been said in front of the pair of… well, ladies.
    “I’m Anastacia East,” Stacy began. She walked forward and held out her hand in greeting.
    “Hello, Miss East, I’m Michelle Davenport,” the blond woman said with a tone that implied Stacy should have known who she was. She held her hand out for the handshake, but positioned it turned sideways, palm down, as though Stacy should kiss the back of her hand. “And this is my daughter, Anna Catherine.”
    “Cat,” the bride barked, correcting her mother for what must have been the millionth time judging by the look of pure hatred she wore.
    Instead of being put off by the first impressions of both of them, Stacy simply took the woman’s hand and turned it slightly into a more appealing handshake, smiling as she introduced herself and the members of her staff. She directed the Davenports to the sofas by the window and joined them with her notepad.
    “Well, how about we start with some background information for the couple’s slideshow?” Stacy asked brightly, ignoring the dazed look from the older woman and the contemptuous scowl the bride wore. “How