Chapter Eighty-Nine Holly
Chapter Eighty-nine
HOLLY
I reach the aisle, just as Leopold Kensington is about to lift his daughter’s veil. His expression is one of blissful pride.
He switches around in alarm as I come to an ungainly halt between the bride and groom, panting with exertion.
‘Holly?’ says Mark, confused and angry.
Adrianna twists around in shock. ‘What are you doing?’ she hisses, her eyes glancing across to where Petra has retrieved a different lens from the folds of her gown, and is attaching it to her camera.
‘You should know what you’re marrying into,’ I tell Mark. ‘Silky was murdered.’
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I see it. She knows. Adrianna must have figured it out, somewhere between putting on her gown and walking up the aisle. Her sapphire eyes fill with tears.
‘Holly,’ she whispers helplessly. ‘Not now. Please.’
Petra flashes another picture.
Adrianna glances miserably at the flickering camera. Opens her mouth to say something, then changes her mind, turning to me.
‘I had it all wrong,’ I say. ‘I thought someone was obsessed with you, trying to stop your wedding.’ I take a breath. ‘But none of this was ever about that.’
I turn to Petra. ‘You threw me off track,’ I tell her.
‘Destroying the wedding cake. Sneaking into her suite wearing a cloak and mask. Writing threats in the sand. But all you ever wanted was to photograph Adrianna looking freaked out. Those images could get your flagging photography career back on track.’ I shake my head.
‘But you were nothing to do with Simone’s death. ’
I turn to Fitzwilliam. ‘You were right,’ I tell him. ‘And wrong. Criminal profiling is the key to this entire case. This whole thing, even Silky’s murder, was one big publicity stunt.’
My eyes lock on Leopold Kensington.
‘The actions of a very gifted publicity person.’
Leopold’s eyes meet mine, and I know I’ve finally got it right. It was him, right from the start.
‘You had me fooled,’ I tell him. ‘I assumed whoever killed Silky didn’t want the wedding to take place. What you wanted was to manage the publicity to a perfect storm.’
Leopold’s face switches, and just for a second, I see a flash of someone else. The fish vendor’s boy, who learned to be tough because he had no other option. Then the weight of the years settles back in. I notice his fists silently clench. I keep talking.
‘You had it all planned out. Adrianna’s kidnapper would be found dead on Elysium, right before her wedding. It would be the story of the decade. Just the thing to get all eyes back on the Kensington brand, and bring high-spenders to Elysium by the boatload.’
I pause for effect.
‘But then Simone died unexpectedly, and you had to rework the story quickly. Revive the kidnapper earlier than planned.’
I glance at the cameras.
Leopold raises a single eyebrow. ‘I wasn’t even in the Plaza when Simone died.’
‘No, you weren’t.’ I agree. ‘Simone’s death was an accident.
An accident you made the most of. Silky rang you, the night Simone slipped through the scaffold to her death.
I imagine she was hysterical. But she also knew she could trust you to cover for her.
After all, you’d been supplying her with drugs for years. ’
It’s a guess, but I can tell right away I got it right. Leopold blinks, considering.
‘At some point during the conversation, you must have realized this could actually work in your favor,’ I continue.
‘You told Silky to put the body in Adrianna’s dress case, knowing it would be wheeled into the Plaza ballroom the next morning.
You arrived early at the Plaza, before the wedding demo, allowing you enough time to stage the body.
You had the perfect alibi for when Simone was murdered, and no one suspected a thing. ’
‘Interesting theory.’ Leopold raises a stocky eyebrow. ‘We can edit these photos, right?’ he says to Petra, waving toward the camera. ‘Crazy fan tries to disrupt Adrianna’s wedding.’
Petra dutifully takes another snap.
I notice Mark’s eyes widen slightly, like he’s not sure what to believe. Leopold puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder and turns to me.
‘The kidnapper has been identified,’ rumbles Leopold. ‘It was a tragedy. But Silky had mental health issues, and a drug addiction. She was an old family friend. None of us had any reason to wish her harm.’
‘Except that Silky knew the big family secret,’ I interject. ‘Just like Simone did.’
Something crosses Leopold’s face now. Something a lot like fear.
‘Can someone get this crazy girl out of here? Before she ruins my daughter’s entire wedding.’ Leopold glances around for his ever-present security, before realizing with cold shock that there’s no one at hand.
He lunges forward and grabs hold of my arm. I jerk it free.
‘You’ve been buying Silky’s silence for years. First with money, then with drugs. But she was becoming more demanding. Addicts always do. So you came up with a plan. Give her an uncut batch, strong enough to overdose, then frame her as the kidnapper. The perfect end to a clickbait story.’
Georgia steps in. ‘How dare you,’ she says, her voice trembling. ‘How dare you come here on Dri’s wedding day, with these accusations. We were all traumatized by Dri’s kidnap, Dad more than all of us. He would never risk the real kidnapper going free.’
‘You’re right, he wouldn’t have,’ I say.
‘What are you talking about?’ demands Georgia.
‘The big secret Leopold has been trying to hide. The family secret Simone planned to expose on Wrongly Accused.’ I take a breath.
‘I couldn’t understand how the kidnapper had bypassed such an elaborate security system and gotten into the Tower Suite that night.
It’s set for Adrianna’s fingerprints, and any kind of breach would have shown up.
The only way someone could have drugged Adrianna and dragged her through the secret route to the panic room would be if she had let them in. But there was a second possibility.’
I whirl around, looking into Adrianna’s frightened deep blue eyes.
‘Your dad isn’t the only publicity genius in the family, is he, Adrianna? The entire kidnap was a stunt devised by his twenty-year-old daughter.’ I turn back to Leopold, the groom and the bridesmaids. ‘Adrianna kidnapped herself.’