I freeze. I can see Colin standing in front of me in his rumpled suit, grinning as he points to the bar. Savvy, already holding a glass of wine, stands on her toes and kisses his cheek.
She looks so beautiful in that pink dress. The thin straps show off all her tattoos, and it swishes around her knees as she walks. I’d forgotten what that dress looks like when it isn’t covered in blood and dirt.
The crime scene photos flash through my mind. Pink dress twisted around her legs, caked in grime. And then it’s not the crime scene, it’s right in front of me. I’m staring down at her.
But, no, that can’t be right, because it’s daylight. I never saw Savvy dead in the daylight.
I don’t think.
“Lucy.” There’s a hand on my back, and I look up to see Matt, his brow furrowed in concern. Ben, standing across from me, looks ready to catch me swooning again.
I blink, stepping away from both of them. “What else? Did we mostly stay in here?”
“I’m sorry, but most of the actual reception is a blur,” Matt says apologetically. “And you and I weren’t really getting along that day, so we didn’t actually stay together most of the evening. Savvy didn’t like me, and she didn’t pretend otherwise. I can’t really blame her, I guess.”
I look at him in surprise, but his gaze is across the room.
“You and Savvy stuck together that night, for the most part. Not the whole time, though. At one point I looked around and Savvy was at the table without you, and then I looked again like half an hour later and I still couldn’t find you.”
“I remember you telling the police that.” I glance at Ben. “You never found any guests to confirm where I was?”
“No. No one remembers seeing you anywhere out of the ordinary.” He points across the room. “The restrooms are that way, right? Let’s take a walk down there.”
My heart thumps frantically as I follow him across the room. I take a slow breath. There’s no reason to be nervous. I’m walking through an empty wedding venue.
Savvy’s in the hallway, wearing her pink dress, holding a bloody knife. She grins and holds it up to Matt’s face as he walks by her.
“You’re always just using whatever’s around,” she says. “Be prepared, like a Boy Scout! Bring your own murder weapon!”
I shake my head, willing the image away.
We turn a corner. I stop. I look to my left.
There’s a door to the outside, sunlight shining through the small square window like it’s beckoning us over to it.
“I think I went that way,” I say.
“Outside?” Ben asks. “Why? You hate outside.”
I almost laugh as I walk to it. “I know. But I think I did.”
I push the door open, squinting in the bright sunlight. There isn’t much on this side of the building. Just a dumpster, way down at the other end of the building, and what looks like the remains of a broken canopy resting against the brick.
“Are you sure?” Matt stands with Ben in the doorway. “The outdoor area where people were smoking is on the other side.”
I take another step. There’s a little alcove, currently filled with several nearly empty cans of paint.
I can feel the brick against my back suddenly. I can smell fresh paint as lips press into mine. One of the straps of my dress has slipped down, and there’s a hand on my breast. I kiss him again. It’s a man. I can still feel the way he smashed his lips into mine.
“Lucy,” Ben says.
“Lucy,” Savvy said sharply.
I jolt. I remember the air on my breast as he’d moved his hand. I’d pulled my strap back up while she stared at me with an expression—anger? Was she mad?
I try to see the guy. I can’t. I can feel his breath against my lips. His hips grinding into mine. But there’s just empty white space when I try to see his face.
“Let’s go,” Savvy barked, and turned on her heel.
And then there’s nothing. I don’t know whether I said goodbye to whoever the guy was. I don’t know whether I followed her right away. Maybe I stayed and had sex with the mystery man. The way he was grinding his hips into mine, we may have been headed that way.
I look at Matt.
“What?” he says. “You remember why you were out here?”
One thing’s for sure. The guy wasn’t Matt.
And whoever it was, he hasn’t bothered telling anyone.
“No,” I say. “I don’t remember.”
Matt cocks an eyebrow.