The Wedding Project 💍

'Behind Blue Eyes' (Part Two)

Anna was dead, there was a murderer among them and they were all locked up in the restaurant by the hotel staff as they thoroughly searched the premises for anything suspicious.

And, surprisingly, Alex didn't feel a thing.

He and Mia were still in the restaurant and so were all the other guests. Callum's family, minus Mia, and some well-wishers were huddled around him. Alex couldn't see Callum and while a part of him wanted to go and comfort his friend another part was afraid to do that.

He had never seen Callum ever be anything other than confident, it was one of the only thing constant about Alex's life and, as much as he knew he was being selfish, he didn't want that to change.

Other guests were seated around tables, shaken. The air in the room was tensed and hushed. Except for the sobs of the Gilmour family, everyone else was talking quietly.

Alex and Mia had been sitting quietly by a table in the corner of the room. So far, except for the occasional "hmm"s and "yeah"s as reply to Alex's monologue, Mia hadn't said anything. She chose to twirl a pen in her hand instead.

"I hated Anna," Alex said, "but I don't think I ever wanted her dead. Divorced? Yes. Dead? God, no!" He didn't look up to see if Mia was paying attention. "And we are in a freaking island so the murderer is definitely among us, free to do whatever."

Mia tapped the table with her pen and finally broke her silence, "But then that could mean that one of the guests did it."

That thought had occurred to Alex too, but it seemed a tad bit wrong to accuse the guests that had been invited to her brother's wedding.

"Well," Alex said, glancing around the room again, eyes stopping and observing each table, "if that's true, then whoever did it is doing a damn good job of mixing in, even after killing the bride."

"Or maybe they aren't in this room right now," Mia said as she looked around too. "Everyone isn't here."

Alex couldn't tell, he hadn't bothered to count how many people were there to attend the wedding, hadn't even bothered to look properly at half of the people.

"Do you have a list or something? So we can know for sure who isn't here?"

"I don't but I think one of the bridesmaids has it. I think her name is Susan? She--" Mia never got to finish her sentence because right at that moment, a small commotion erupted in a table across the room where Mia's grandma Gwendolyn was seated.

"Oh no." Mia was up and across the room in a moment. Alex wished he had that much energy and got up to see what it was all about.

By the time he reached the table, things seemed to have quietened down again. Gwen had a sever allergic reaction to some food item, a guest whose name Alex didn't know told him. Anaphylaxis; very worrying considering her age. Luckily, the vicar knew how to handle it, and she seemed fine now.

Mia was sitting beside her grandma, supporting her shoulders and trying to make her drink some water.

And right behind her was Susan, the Maid of Honor.

And she had the list.

Confirming that grandma Gwen was fine again, Susan nodded her head to the vicar in what Alex assumed was a shocked thank-you-nod and turned away to return to her table she shared with the other bridesmaids.

Alex quietly slipped away from the small crowd that had gathered around Gwen and went after her.

"Susan, a minute please."

Susan jumped and whirled around. "What? Oh, it's you." Her eyes were narrowed at him. "Alex isn't it?"

"Yes," he tipped his head slightly as a hello. And now that he was closer, he noticed that she looked fine which stood out from the rest of the people in the room who looked shocked, scared, or had been crying for a while. Compared to all of them, her face still looked quite fresh, just maybe a little paler than usual.