The auburn-haired woman was definitely not okay. I raced over to the woman with my heart thumping wildly in my ears and knelt beside her. Immediately I recognized her. The wedding planner was clearly dead. What happened to her? Had she fallen? Maybe that was the noise we’d heard.
“Call 911,” I yelled.
My mother pulled out her phone without saying a word. I wasn’t sure where she’d had that hidden in her dress, but I wouldn’t even ask. I was just thankful she had it. While she placed the call, I leaned down and pressed my fingertips against Tabatha’s neck. There was no pulse. Immediately my stomach sank.
“This is horrible,” Tammy said. “Is she really dead?”
Tammy seemed oddly calm about this considering she normally lost her cool when she saw a spider. I suppose the wedding jitters had thrown her normal behavior out of whack.
“Should I turn her over and start CPR immediately?” I asked.
“I suppose you should, but do you know what you’re doing?” Tammy asked with wide eyes.
“I got my certification, remember?”
I figured with as many mysteries that took place around town that knowing how to resuscitate might be a wise idea. I released a deep breath. Okay, I had to do this. There was no time to waste. When I went to move the body and I saw the red marks and bruising on her neck, I knew that it was too late for her. Her body was already cold.
While my mother was on the phone with the 911 operator, Tammy finally stepped over to me. “And you’re sure she’s dead?”
“Yes, she’s dead,” I said.
“She was my wedding planner,” Tammy said.
“I know who she is, but she’s dead.” I positioned Tabatha’s head to prepare to blow into her mouth.
Honestly, it seemed as if this was a moot point. Nonetheless, I had to try. What if I were able to bring her back? If I didn’t attempt, then I would always wonder if I could have saved her. Not to mention that this was the whole reason I had taken the training. This was my time to use the skills that I’d learned.
“How did this happen?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t know,” I said in a panic between blowing into Tabatha’s mouth.
“What will we do now?” Tammy stood near, hovering over Tabatha and me.
I shrugged. “We wait till the police get here, I guess.”
“But isn’t Brannon already here? He’s the police,” Tammy said.
“Brannon hasn’t arrived yet. I don’t know what’s keeping him, but I suppose when he hears about this he’ll be right over.”
“He’s not skipping my wedding, is he?” Tammy’s voice held a hint of anger.
I knew what she was thinking. She thought because Brannon and I hadn’t set a date for the wedding yet that something was wrong. That maybe we’d never have a wedding at all. She should know that wasn’t the case. I loved Brannon with all my heart.
My mother liked to point out that Tammy had only met Matteo six months ago and they were already tying the knot. Sure, it was taking me a lot longer to walk down the aisle, but that totally wasn’t a problem. I suppose I understood what made people feel that way. Regardless, now was hardly the time to discuss my future nuptials.
The current situation all seemed so surreal. Devil’s Moon had seen more than its share of strange occurrences since I’d returned to town. Plus, the fact that I’d been known to become involved in a few of the murder investigations around town. Brannon wouldn’t be happy about this latest incident, but I couldn’t help it. The fact that I’d discovered this woman wasn’t my fault. It was as if fate had wanted me to find her. Perhaps to figure out who did this to her?
Chapter 4
At least this time we had all walked into the room and found the dead woman. I wasn’t alone in my discovery. No matter though because there was nothing that I could do to change what had happened to her. I wished I could have reversed everything. The thought had barely left my head when the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway.
When I looked to the left, I spotted Brannon standing in the doorway. Wow. He looked handsome in his dark tailored suit that hugged his muscles in all the right places. Not that I found that distracting or anything. Oh, who was I kidding? It was completing distracting. Even after all this time that I’d known Brannon, he still remained somewhat mysterious to me and I found that completely mesmerizing. The dashingly handsome features—dark hair and high cheek bones—added to this mystic.
The deep blue tie highlighted his gorgeous indigo eyes. This was no time to reflect on my fiancé’s good looks. The stress of finding this woman was doing strange things to my thought process.
“What happened?” he asked as he hurried into the room.
He’d gotten here seconds after I’d placed the 911 call. I assumed he’d heard the call go out and it had probably scared the bejeezus out of him.
“The wedding planner is dead,” I said breathlessly.
Brannon rushed over and knelt beside the woman. Tammy and I moved over to the door to give him some space. Perhaps it wasn’t too late for her after all. Okay, that was wishful thinking. She had been like this for a while. I knew by the blue color of her face.
“How long has it been since you talked to her?” I whispered to Tammy so that Brannon wouldn’t hear.
He would tell me to stay out of the investigation. That it was dangerous to get involved. He’d probably even tell me that it was too early to jump to conclusions. I agreed with that most of the time, but right now, I knew that Tabatha Llewellyn had been murdered. The marks around her neck told me how she’d died.
“I suppose it was an hour ago. I started to wonder why she wasn’t with me in the room. I mean, I thought she would help me get dressed, but as you saw the dress was stuck on my head,” Tammy said.
Speaking of heads, where was Tammy’s veil, and why wasn’t it on her head?
“This is disturbing,” I said.
What could have happened to Tabatha? It looked as if someone had strangled her. I knew that she hadn’t done that to herself. That meant that someone had murdered her. The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Who had done this and why?
When I glanced over in the corner of the hallway by the bedroom door, I spotted Tammy’s veil. How had it gotten there? How had Tammy not missed it?
“You lost your veil.” I reached down and picked it up.
Seconds later, more loud footsteps echoed from the hallway. I peered out the door and saw the paramedics rushing toward the room, along with other officers. The whole scene seemed surreal. Definitely not what I had expected for the wedding. The personal brushed by without barely a glance in our direction when I pointed toward the bedroom.
Tammy and I stepped back to make way. My mother stood with her back pressed against the wall and her eyes widened like saucers. We all just tried to stay out of the way. As soon as the men rushed into the room, Tammy, my mother, and I hurried for the staircase. I wanted to get out of the way as much as possible. Plus, put some distance between me, and the dead body. I knew that people downstairs waited for the wedding to start, but now that this had happened, the wedding would be off.
Yes, this tragedy had ruined Tammy’s day, but that was the least of our worries at the moment. This poor woman was dead. The wedding could be rescheduled, but someone had killed Tabatha and for all I knew, they were still in the house. What if they tried to kill someone else? Now I’d look at everyone with a suspicious eye.