ALEXANDRIA
After the wedding party, was the after party, and then came the later party.
What a wedding day! One would have to be in a white dress and solving a crime hours after you've said "I do". Even the blood-stained white dress won't let you remember those vows.
The wedding came. The wedding party came, followed by the after party and then came the later party.
HOURS EARLIER
"I do"
"I do"
It kept ringing in my head as I zoned out, blocking the sound of music from my mind.
I do
I said I do to what?
I never had intentions to get married, maybe once upon a time. But even at that once upon a time, I intended to get married to someone I really loved, no lies, no deceit. But here I am, living in the same life I hate. There was no coming out from this one. Not anytime soon.
My parents and his parents need to believe all they have to do is believe and give us what is ours and we are done.
"This is your party, sulking is not convincing" Gwen said as she got closer to where I was sitting and pulled me up from my seat. Though I was reluctant, she still managed to pull me to the dance floor.
People around me congratulate me as I get closer to where the party is at.
Steven and Joe walk up to me dancing.
"Mrs. Baxter" Joe said
"I'm still keeping my last name" I said.
"Last name or not, Mrs. Baxter" Joe said
"Agent Snow" I said to him
"Mrs. Baxter" Joe said, obviously enjoying himself.
"I ain't got time for this" I said to him and they laughed
"Patterson, you look nice" Joe said
"You've already said that tonight" Gwen said.
"Start hitting on other girls, Gwen says no" Steven said and we laughed.
"Thank you Wheeler, I appreciate your concern for my sanity" Gwen said.
"You are welcome, Patterson" Steven said.
"Congrats, Snow" Steven said and then he left so quickly.
"Someone is not in a party mood" Joe said.
"Tell me about it" Gwen said and then congratulated me once again as Baxter walked up to me.
"May I?" Baxter said and they excused him as he now stood in front of me.
"Mr. Baxter, Mrs. Baxter" Joe said as they left. I just shook my head and ignored him. Baxter took my hand in one of his and used his other hand to place my other hand on his shoulder and then placed that other hand on my waist, pulled me closer and started moving me.
"You know it takes two people to dance right?" Baxter said to me.
"And you knew that but you still wanted to dance with me. How clever" I replied and then remained silent.
"Okay, you know what? You do look pretty. That's a fact. You know we could make this arrangement even sweeter by helping each other's needs and scratching each other's backs" Baxter said and I knew exactly what he meant.
"Get your mind out of the gutter. You and me, not happening" I said to him.
"Come on sugar pie, I can't be that unattractive" he said.
"You are THAT unattractive. Now please will you keep quiet" I said to him shutting him up.
"So your mind doesn't seem to be here, what's up?" well, so I thought.
"If you must know, I was expecting or I'm still expecting someone. I got a call just before the wedding, there was a guy who said he knew everything" I said.
"What's everything?" Baxter asked.
"I don't know but he said he knows everything behind the whole killings and madness that has been going on and possibly Owen Fletcher's death" I said and Baxter stopped moving.
"So where is he?" Baxter asked eagerly seeing his dead friend was involved.
"That's the problem. He said he would find me when he arrived at the reception and I have been waiting ever since. He did give me his name. Gary Fay" I said.
"Alright, he better come if not I would round up all the Gary fays on this earth to find the one I'm looking for" Baxter said.
"Yeah, you go do that" I said to him and the tempo of the music changed to a fast one
"In the meantime, loosen up a bit" Baxter said to me and before I could speak Baxter pulled me even closer to him, if that was even possible and then dancing and moving me around to dance.
"I didn't think you could dance" Baxter whispered into my ear as he was behind me dancing.
"Yeah well, not everyone is in your level. Besides I'm not the one dancing, you are the one moving me" I said to him.
We continued dancing and slowly I started loosening up and a smile began creeping up on my face till I saw Gwen and the guys walking towards me with different expressions on their faces and that said it all, something was up, something has happened.
"What?" I asked Gwen as she reached my front not even waiting for her speak.
"There is a dead body in the supply closet down the hall… it's fresh" Gwen said to me and all my smiles faded.
~~~~~~~
"The body is about 30 minutes old" Ray said as he came back from examining the body.
"That means that this happened here at the wedding" Gwen said.
"And the killer might possibly still be in the building" Joe added.
"30 minutes, he might have bolted" Steven said.
"I doubt that" I said to them.
"Why is that" Gwen asked
"Just a feeling. How is the scoop going?" I asked.
"Still nothing yet" Joe said.
"We need to know who this guy is and why he was killed" I said to them.
"Yeah well, I'm still working on his identification now" Ray said, then excused himself. We walked up to Corbin as he was closer to where the body is, still interviewing the guests but so far nothing. "This was a clean and well calculated move. We have to start looking at other guests, even from those who were only at the church" Corbin said
"Or down to staff. This was an inside job. So everybody should be checked" I said at the same time signaling my team with my eyes. I blinked twice and looked at my 6 then looked up, indicating there was someone suspicious behind them upstairs and another at the ground floor's entrance.
Everyone taking the signal, we all started to move slowly, one after the other, trying not to spook the suspects as we all put on our coms. I took one from Gwen as we continued to move. We looked at the suspects again, and then I locked eyes with the man downstairs, who was already looking at me. I raised my head up and the one upstairs was looking down at us and we also locked eyes. I looked at the rest of my team and saw that
"We've been made", I said and they turned around and noticed the two suspects were looking at us.
"What's our next move?" Steven asked.
"Whatever theirs will be" I replied.
1, 2, 3, seconds and they were on the run.
"Move" I said and we followed immediately.
"Wheeler, Joe, take the stairs. Gwen and I will take the other guy downstairs" I said to them.
"Corbin, circle round then stay at the entrance" I said to them again as we kept moving and going to our various locations.
As Gwen and I were moving, we were losing him.
"Gwen, we are losing him" I said and before 5 seconds, he was gone. We stopped and started looking at the guests. We looked around for 3 minutes and saw nothing.
"Shit" I said and we regrouped.
"I didn't see the face but I got this" Corbin said.
"The killer is female" I said and all of them looked at the hair
"How do you know that?" Gwen asked
"Look at the strand of hair, it's female. Also, it smells like strawberry and lavender. A wise woman such as myself and the suspect will use that to wash her hair. And it explains the two guys. One switched with the female. She's the killer, the two guys are the look out. Three people couldn't be running at the same time. So, one changes with the other…" I was saying and Baxter came in.
"And we still have two people running in the same clothes." He said and they looked at him.
"It's my wedding, I'm allowed to speak if I understand" he said and they looked away.
"We have to look into this, know who that man is, why he was killed and why you two are always involved" Corbin said.
"Yeah, we'll work on that. Gwen…" I was saying then Corbin cut me short.
"Gwen will be taking the lead on the case…" Corbin was saying and I tried coming in.
"Sir…" I was saying but he didn't let me speak.
"… and you will be off to wherever it is you are going to for your honeymoon" Corbin said.
"I need to…" I was saying but yet again, he didn't let me speak.
"You need to change out of that blood-stained white dress. Have a cool, nice shower and then rest and prepare for your honeymoon next" he said. "That's an order. Snow!" he said as I attempted to speak yet again and failed again.
Baxter took that as a cue to pull me away as he said goodbye to everyone and we drove to my apartment in silence.
We got back and I headed straight for the shower. I first put on the cold water and let it pour all over me to keep me cool first. I let it flow for a few minutes whilst looking at my wedding dress on the floor outside the bathroom from the bathroom's glass door. I have to give that to a professional dry cleaner to do that one.
5 minutes later, I switched to hot water. Staying under its warmth, I sat down eventually on the bathroom floor and watched my stress wash away.
I was married but not happily. I had a feeling that bad things were coming, a lot of bad things. I hated the feeling because at times, these feeling came to pass. I was already in a crazy marriage with a crazy life, I already had enough sadness to last me a lifetime. I didn't need more to last me another.
I just wanted the later party to be over. It was a shitty later party.