The Wedding Project 💍

'Money For Nothing' - The Entertainer (@Binaforreal, @MikeMacColin)

The bride was dead. The news reached me when I was in the middle of my day job, trying to keep the folks at the wedding in a good mood.

That was bad enough already. And it wasn't like someone tried to keep this horrid message under wraps or something. No - this stupid bridesmaid who rushed into the restaurant, white as a sheet, her face wet with tears, didn't even think for a second that this could make things even worse. She told the groom and his family, then spread it like a disease among the bridesmaids and the other folks, and within minutes the entire party knew about it. The hotel staff learned about it this way as well, and they had nothing better to do than to confine everyone to the restaurant for the time being.

The time being... for what exactly? But I knew very well that nobody on this island was ready to deal with it, especially not this tall quiet black man who posed as head of the security here. I know this type of person - big and intimidating, but politeness was his primary function, and his job was more to give the guests a false sense of security than to actually keep law and order here. He had some sort of authority here, but he wouldn't go face to face with a cold-blooded killer.

No, they would get help from the outside. And given the fact that the victim was my employer's daughter - a man who really didn't have to worry about the cost of anything - the outside help would be more capable than Haitian police. They would get a professional. The best that money could buy.

I don't worry about a lot of things in my life, but I did not like this idea one bit.

In the meantime, my day job kept me occupied, especially with all those kids at the wedding - they did enjoy being imprisoned in this dining room as much as everyone else and started to get bored pretty quickly. I had a treasure hunt planned out for them and had announced that they could go searching as soon as lunch was done. So much for that! They were all the more disappointed by it. So while I adjusted the playlist on the music system that the hotel had provided for me - apart from the keyboard which was my personal instrument - I tried to keep them entertained with stories. Fairytales and other dreamy stuff suitable for children, all memorised as one of many contingency plans.

Sometimes children running berserk and completely out of control at an event can be very useful. But not with me still being in the middle of it. Then they'd start to annoy me as well, and I needed to stay focused.

My employer had given me a look that made me worry, too - as if he suspected me. A short while after that, before security closed the restaurant doors on us, he and his wife had departed for their luxury suite. But I was fully aware that as soon as the opportunity arrived, he would try to talk to me about this. Despite our agreement. I wasn't looking forward to it.

Guess the best thing to do at this moment was to keep an eye out on the wedding party. Something that I could have done the entire time, if my other job hadn't been to primarily focus on the groom.

I silently cursed. He had left the table for a minute, hadn't he? That one moment when I got distracted by one of the kids asking me questions about the games I had planned. Callum returned quickly, and I assumed that he had only visited the loo. But that was before everything went to hell. His sister had entered the scene with him, now without this admittedly very stylish dress that caused a bit of drama earlier during the ceremony. I saw her appear in it and thought to myself that it fit her very well, in more than one way - but her mother obviously didn't agree and had pulled her behind the bushes before the bride arrived.

The kids had run off to another corner of the restaurant, and nobody else was bothering me right now. While the speakers blasted some fairly neutral music, after I replaced most love songs with easy listening, I put the earphones in once more and played back the recording.

"What, you think I didn't know? You really think I didn't notice how you look at her when you are together?"

"Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica gave the conversation between the groom and his best man just the right soundtrack. I looked across the room, to the table where both men sat, ate their lunch and tried their best to not look each other in the eye.

A slight distortion covered part of the next sentence and reminded me to get some better bugs as soon as I am paid for this contract. Then the words of the groom came through: "What the... What are you talking about?"

I had listened to it before this all happened, and I knew how the private conversation between Callum Wallace and Mr. Creed ended. Like the groom, I refused to call the best man by the name he had picked for himself. But this was the interesting part, and I paid closer attention to their voices and the emotions they displayed. This time I focused on Creed.

"... You've been lying to yourself this whole time. I know the real Callum Wallace well enough, the laser-focused, plan-sputtering and calculating business hound from college..."

And maybe... cold-blooded? Enough to commit murder? At least that was my thought when I listened to it the first time.

"You are jealous." Somehow those three words reminded me of some soap opera I had been watching ages ago. And Callum's explanation from that point actually made sense to me. It was exactly how I pictured Mr. Creed - he was just "the rich guy" among a large group of rich people. Someone who dedicated his entire life to gathering money and showing off. The idea that there were more important things in life puzzles them - at some point in their lives it can even crush them. And this could as well be one of those moments.

The conversation got a little heated, and it astonished me once more how different men sound when they believe nobody else is listening - how heartfelt they could talk to each other. This could well be the very first time those two were completely honest with anybody else.

And then it came...

"If I told you I'd call our business plan off..." Creed made his suggestion to take over the entire financial aspect of their project and then asked the ultimate question: "Would you still do it?"

"Yes!"

I was convinced. Callum's answer was without any hesitation, without any hint of doubt in his voice. Pure determination and dedication. If I had been the bride listening in on this, I would have been very happy about it.

Again I looked to the table with the groom and the best man. Callum Wallace, a widower after not even two hours of marriage, still tried to keep it together, but the death of his bride had hit him hard and deeply. He stared grimly at his plate, barely touched his food, and whenever someone tried to talk to him, he wouldn't look them in the eye. Some would have appeared guilty this way, but I knew that he used every strength within himself to not break out into tears. With his father, a decorated British soldier, at his side I could see why. Men like them keep it together for as long as it takes, then shed a single tear in private.

I had no doubt that Callum Wallace did not kill his bride. I know a killer when I see one - especially when they are not professionals.

My glance went over to Mr. Creed. I wasn't so sure about him though...