Page 153 of Say Yes to the Death

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Mindy said. She grabbed Wendy by the back of her sports bra and shoved her against the side of the apartment building.

Nicole sprang into action and slapped the furry handcuffs on Wendy’s wrists. Mindy grabbed Wendy’s cell phone and turned it off before putting it in her own purse.

“Ouch! You stupid whores will pay for this. Do you know who my father is?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mindy said, turning her around and frog-marching her across the parking lot. “We’re all very impressed.”

“Help! I’m being abducted!” Wendy screamed.

One of the apartment doors opened, and a bleary-eyed old woman in a dressing gown stepped out onto her porch.

“Surprise bachelorette party! We’re going to Atlantic City!” Claire called merrily over her shoulder. “Have a nice day!”

Nicole slid open the van door, and Mindy forced Wendy inside. Wendy grunted like an angry pig and thrashed around in her seat as if the seatbelt was burning her.

Claire turned around and held up one finger. “Listen up. I know you don’t want to be here. And trust me, I would rather be anywhere else in the world. But someone is trying to kill you, and I don’t want that on my conscience. So, you’re staying with us in a safe location until the danger has passed. Deal?”

Wendy rolled her eyes. “No wonder Jason dumped you. You’re such a psychopath.”

Claire sighed and locked all the car doors. She started the engine, and they shot out onto the highway then turned toward downtown.

“Have you felt like you’re being watched lately?” Claire asked. She glanced in the rearview mirror. Wendy stopped wiggling like a trapped feral cat for a minute.

“I always feel like I’m being watched. People love to look at me. Men especially.” She attempted to flick her hair over her shoulder, but she looked more like a horse trying to chase away a fly than a diva.

They pulled to a stop at a red light. “I’m serious. Have you noticed anything strange over the past couple of weeks?”

“I don’t know,” Wendy said quietly. “There was one weird thing. I checked the mail one day last week and had a plain envelope with a note that said, ‘I know what you did.’ I thought it was from you.”

“Not unless it was written in calligraphy on monogrammed stationery,” Nicole said. “You should have seen the wedding invitations.”

Claire shot her a dirty look as she turned onto Market Street.

“Sorry,” Nicole mouthed.

“It sounds like them,” Claire said to Mindy and Nicole. They nodded. “Did you get any weird flowers? From no sender?”

Wendy’s eyes narrowed. “Jason said he sent them.”

Claire snorted. “He didn’t send them. They did.”

“Who’s they?” Wendy leaned forward in her seat. “And how do you know?”

“ESA,” Claire said as she turned into the warehouse parking lot. “And I know because they’re doing the same thing to me.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

To Do:

- Find a Wendy-esque dress

- Work on keynote speech

“That was Mei.” Claire slid her phone back onto the charger. “She said everything is a go for the Walker house. One of the historical society members will meet us there to get things set up.”

Rosie walked out of the rows of warehouse shelving dragging a ten-foot garland of silver tinsel.

Mindy looked up from the conference table. “I don’t want to jinx us, but this might actually work.”

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