Chapter 21: Played in Full

"Before I say anything," I told the ballroom, "I'd like you to hear someone."

I looked at the sound desk and nodded.

The technician pressed a key.

Kendra's voice filled Heron Hall, warm and breathless through the ceiling speakers.

"I got the contract in a single phone call. The manager was very understanding about the paperwork."

A woman at table four put down her champagne.

"Brett's accounts are mine to manage as well. He's very trusting. It's his best quality."

The recording ran on, and Kendra beside me did not move.

Her smile was still in place.

It had simply stopped belonging to her face.

"You can plan a lot if you're patient," her recorded voice said.

The technician stopped it there.

For a moment nobody breathed.

Then someone's chair scraped, and a murmur began at the back and rolled forward through the room.

"That's a phone call," Kendra said brightly, to the guests. "That's been edited. Bridget is upset, she's been so unstable since her mother got hurt."

"Nathan," I said. "Would you?"

Nathan came up the side steps.

He didn't look at Kendra.

He turned the laptop toward the big screen that was meant for the wedding slideshow, and the first slide came up.

It was Colin's tab.

The one labeled K.

The dates ran down the screen in white type for a hundred and twenty people to read.

Forward B's old email to K.

Schedule Hospital Test around B's mother's surgery.

List K as secondary contact at Heron Hall.

Bride-for-a-day. Props paper to B in suite. Colin to witness.

After: bank, venue, mother.

Brett's mother had stood up at her table.

Brett's father crossed the room and put his arm around her.

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