SLAY PAIRS WITH ROSE (The Kelly's Deli Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Sophie Brent (phonics reading books .txt) 📕

Zoe, Emma was trying desperately to create the best wedding possible. You can see the amount of work she put into it. What makes you think that she was trying to ruin it?”

“Did Fiona tell you that Emma had changed the menu for the wedding reception? I found out on Friday morning that it wasn’t just the desert that she had changed, it was all the vegetarian dishes and the fish course. She ruined the meal, without consulting Fiona or her mother. And then there were the dresses. Emma deliberately ordered the wrong size bridesmaid’s dresses and then told Maya and Kate that they would just have to fit into them because it was too late to order new ones. She planned it that way.”

“What possible reason would she have?”

“I don’t know the answer to that question, Erin, and I wish I did. Emma was one of their best friends at one time, so something must have gone wrong. Take a look at this photo.”

Zoe pointed to a group photo, which showed a group of five students sitting on a sunny lawn, surrounded by books and papers. It reminded Erin so much of her university studies, that it might have been taken of her group of friends.

“They were all so young. Is that Fiona and Maya?” Erin asked.

“Well spotted. Emma is the one on the left wearing the university sweatshirt. The three girls were all studying accountancy and business,” Zoe replied. “From what Fiona told me, Harry and Ethan met on the same IT course and were good pals all through university.”

Erin barely recognized the smiling happy young student grinning back at her in the photo as the hard-nosed woman she had spoken to, emailed and then finally met only a few days earlier. The Emma in the photo looked full of life and energy.

“People change in ten years. I guess they all want different things now. Maybe that’s all it was?”

“You have a wonderful kind heart, Erin Kelly,” Zoe smiled, “but Emma wasn’t quite as generous. Not by a long shot.”

Matt stretched his arms out on the table and gestured towards Zoe. “Help us understand what happened to make you think that she was scheming,” he suggested. “All we know is what happened after the fire alarm, not before. Please. Take us through it.”

“You’re right, I’m running ahead of myself. The trouble started during the dinner, right after coffee,” Zoe said, then grinned across at Erin. “I have to tell you that I wasn’t kidding about those mini-cakes. They are amazing! Much better than the desserts that the hotel served.  At least we had something nice to eat before it all went horribly wrong.”

“Did Emma start an argument?” Erin asked as casually as she could.

Just the mention of Emma’s name made a muscle on the side of Zoe’s neck flex and she slowly sipped her coffee before answering.

“Actually, it was Fiona’s mum who started the ball rolling. Auntie Sarah was praising Fiona about her promotion at work and telling everyone how proud she was of Ethan and Fiona and how much they had achieved since leaving university.”

Zoe lifted her beaker and waved it towards Matt. “Which is the truth,” she confirmed. “Fiona has just been made a director at the accountancy firm where she works with Ethan. It’s a lot more responsibility, but she’s earned it and every mum has the right to be proud of their daughter.”

Zoe closed her eyes for a second and exhaled slowly. “We were all delighted for her and clapping and toasting. Then I realized that the only person not congratulating Fiona was Emma. She was just sitting on her chair, in total silence, with a look of fury on her face. Emma was at the other end of the table from Fiona, but she practically leaped up and interrupted them right in the middle of the conversation.”

Zoe picked up the sheets of paper on the table and began stuffing them back into the wallet, each sheet being pushed harder and faster than the next.

“The next thing we knew, Emma was bragging about her successful business. How she had set up on her own company instead of working for someone else. How she was in charge of her own finances and running a brilliant company that was doing very well. Because we are nice girls, we all nodded and congratulated her, but it wasn’t enough.”

Erin watched Zoe as she stopped what she was doing and pressed both of her hands flat on the table, her gaze fixed firmly on the photo.

“Emma was sitting next to Maya and she turned to her and started laughing and calling Maya a loser because she was working for a small finance company instead of running her own business. She even called Maya pathetic in front of the other girls and my aunt.”

“That was hard!” Erin cried out. “Not everyone wants to be a business owner.”

“It was humiliating for the poor girl, Erin. What do you do in that situation? The last thing Maya wanted to do was embarrass Fiona, so she kept quiet and took it. Hoping that Emma would stop and change the subject.  I tried talking about the Seychelles and what their plans were for the honeymoon, but Emma wouldn’t let it drop. She just kept lashing out at Maya. Then she tried to ridicule Kate for being a fine artist instead of having a real job. That, was when Rebecca stepped in. And things really spun out of control.”

“What did Rebecca say to her?” Matt asked.

“Plenty! What none of us realized was that Rebecca had worked for a finance company until about a year ago and guess who was working at the same company when she was there? The one and only Emma Wilson. Rebecca had recognized her immediately but didn’t say anything until she started bragging and putting Maya down.”