AN ANNABELLE ARCHER MYSTERY For my parents, who filled our home with an endless supply of love and books. Contents Chapter 1 Planning a wedding can be murder. Planning weddings for a… 1 Chapter 2 I pulled Kate to her feet as a waiter appeared… 11 Chapter 3 “I’m absolutely mortified,” Richard spoke into my answering machine as… 22 Chapter 4 “For your information, a cocktail party for twenty does not… 31 Chapter 5 “The guests, or should I say suspects, are starting to… 37 Chapter 6 “Was that so hard?” Richard handed me the last wine… 43 Chapter 7 “Ransacked is more like it.” Leatrice pulled me by the… 49 Chapter 8 “So we’re all secured.” Richard swung the milk crate onto… 54 Chapter 9 “Do you really think Mrs. Pierce’s death and the break-in… 61 Chapter 10 “I still don’t understand why we’re offering condolences for a… 69 Chapter 11 “Now that you’ve found me, how can I be of… 76 Chapter 12 I stood inside the expansive marble foyer of the Pierce… 84 Chapter 13 Fern stopped in midsnip as Kate and I walked into… 89 Chapter 14 “So Mrs. Pierce had an affair with a prominent political… 96 Chapter 15 The doorbell rang, and I glanced over my shoulder into… 101 Chapter 16 I stood in front of the bathroom mirror after my… 106 Chapter 17 “Everything that could possibly go wrong today already has.” Richard… 115 Chapter 18 A high-pitched, warbling whistle followed Richard’s loud tap on the… 120 Chapter 19 “Well, we can cross Mr. Boyd off our suspect list.” 128 Chapter 20 “So, did the same person kill Mrs. Pierce and Mr. Boyd?” 135 Chapter 21 “I’m leaving you, Annabelle.” Richard stood in the doorway of… 142 Chapter 22 Kate swung into a parking space in front of the… 148 Chapter 23 My cell phone rang, and I hunted for it on… 154 Chapter 24 I hurried to pick the champagne flute out of the… 162 Chapter 25 “I flattened it.” I sat up; one hand on my… 169 Chapter 26 Leatrice stood underneath a huge bouquet of helium balloons in… 174 Chapter 27 “I think we should call the police in on this.” 185 Chapter 28 “I’m telling you, Annabelle. Maxwell sounded upset that you took… 194 Chapter 29 “Sauro’s is two blocks down on the left.” We exited… 199 Chapter 30 “The question is, does the murderer know I’ve been sitting… 203 Chapter 31 “That’s what he said?” Kate sat on the floor of… 209 Chapter 32 Leatrice knelt next to the tiny flower bed in front… 212 Chapter 33 I raised my head and saw Fern standing next to… 218 Chapter 34 The organ started playing inside the sanctuary, and a few… 224 Chapter 35 “Dr. Donovan.” My voice sounded unnaturally high-pitched. “I’m sur…” 228 Chapter 36 “I wasn’t aware you were with someone.” Leatrice gave Dr. Donovan… 234 Chapter 37 After the police removed Dr. Donovan, barely coherent and mumbling… 238 Acknowledgments 242 About the Author Cover Copyright About the Publisher 1 r e t p a h C Planning a wedding can be murder. Planning weddings for a living is nothing short of suicide. “Is there a patron saint for wedding consultants? Because I think after this wedding, I just might meet the requirements.” I stood near the top of the wide marble staircase that swept down the middle of the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s central foyer. Below me, dozens of tuxedo-clad waiters scurried around the enormous hall filled end to end with ta- bles and gold ladder-backed chairs. After having draped ivory chiffon into swags on all forty tables, I massaged the red indentations left on my fingers by the heavy pins. “Annabelle,darling,I may be a lapsed Catholic,but I’m pretty sure you have to be dead to qualify for sainthood.” Richard Gerard has been one of my clos- est friends since I arrived in Washington, D.C. three years ago and started “Wedding Belles.” At the time,