“We caught—someone.” He handed me the envelope. “She says she’s the bride’s sister.”
“What?” I blinked in confusion and looked back into the reception area—Taylor’s sister was not at her table. “Anna has been sending these to me?”
“My guys have her in one of the rooms down the hall,” he sighed. “Do you want to talk to her?”
“I guess I have to…” I nodded and followed Leo—my fingers fumbled with the envelope and tore it open as we walked.
‘You’ve seen my smile when I look at you. You’ve always known what was in my heart. I waited for our time, but you looked right past me. I’ll leave you with the one you’ve chosen over me, but I won’t be leaving alone…’
“We almost missed her—honestly, we weren’t looking for some high school kid.” Leo looked back at me.
“I certainly didn’t have her anywhere near my list of suspects.” I held up the letter that was inside the envelope. “This doesn’t sound like it’s from Taylor’s sister…”
“She had the envelope.” Leo shrugged and pointed to the door in front of us. “I don’t know man. I’ve seen weirder things than a high school kid being obsessed with a guy our age in Carson Cove.”
“True…” I sighed. “Okay, I’ll sort this out. Thank you.”
“No problem. I’ll keep my guys here until the reception is over just to be safe.” Leo motioned to his two guys that were standing by the door.
“You’re still keeping an eye on Melanie and her family, right?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Of course.” He nodded. “I won’t pull them until you give me the word.”
“Thanks,” I exhaled sharply and walked to the door.
This doesn’t feel right. How could it be Anna?
“Jon, thank god!” Anna walked towards me as soon as I opened the door. “I don’t know what the hell is going on. These guys—they grabbed me!”
“Hold on.” I held up the envelope. “Tell me about this.”
“That?” Anna’s head snapped back. “Someone gave it to me—they said it was a surprise for Taylor and Bryant.”
“Who gave it to you?” I narrowed my eyes.
“I don’t know!” She blinked in bewilderment. “A woman—she said she couldn’t stay for the reception and asked me to put that envelope behind the Picasso in the foyer. She said it was a joke, and Bryant would get a kick out of it.
I was just trying to help… Can you please tell me what is going on here?”
“It’s…” I sighed. “It’s just a misunderstanding. You can go.”
“Does my sister know you have watchdogs at her wedding!?” Anna’s jaw tightened.
“No, I—please don’t tell her…” I shook my head back and forth. “I was trying not to ruin her day, but it was important that we caught the person with this envelope.”
“You’re just lucky Bolt wasn’t with me when your friends decided to drag me into this room—otherwise, you might need some new ones.” Her nostrils flared, and then she stormed past me.
Well, this went horribly fucking wrong…
I wanted to chase Anna down and ask her to describe the woman to me, but I realized that it was probably a bad idea. Leo’s guys had good intentions and did what I asked—right down to traumatizing a high school kid because she had a pink envelope in her hand. I walked out of the room, found Leo, and let him know what Anna told me. He offered to have his guys look around a little more to see if they could find out who the woman could have been. She obviously had an invitation to the wedding—although the wedding wasn’t that formal. It wouldn’t have been very hard for someone to slip in. Bryant drew the line at having Leo’s security guys check invitations at the door, and I couldn’t blame him. It wouldn’t have created the best atmosphere for their big day.
“We’re back at square one…” I sat down next to Melanie and sighed.
“Why? What happened?” She reached for my hand.
“We caught someone but not the right something.” I shook my head back and forth. “The woman gave the envelope to Anna of all people…”
“Oh jeez.” Melanie tensed up. “I guess that explains why she was so upset when she came walking back in here. She grabbed her things and left—with Bolt following right behind her.”