Free Ghouls Night Out by Terri Garey Page A

her to meet me for coffee—then I’d told her what happened in the parking lot of the Long Branch Saloon when Randy’d attacked me. I’d fudged about why Joe and I had followed Randy to the One-Stop Body Shop, claiming it was because he was so drunk we were worried about him causing an accident, but I’d told the truth about how Randy, afraid he was about to die, had confessed to murdering Michelle. I’d appealed to Darlene’s sisterly instincts, getting her to agree that Debbie didn’t need to know the dirty details about Michelle until after she and Dale got back from their honeymoon.
    Truth be told, I’d done it more for Michelle’s sake than Debbie’s—it had been Michelle’s last wish to not ruin her best friend’s wedding, and I’d done my best to honor that.
    Darlene had surprised me; she’d shed a few genuine tears for Michelle before she’d blistered my ears with some well-deserved names for Randy, a few of which I’d never heard before. Then she’d picked up the phone and taken things one step further—her defensive instincts had kicked into high gear, and she wasn’t about to let her baby sister’s wedding be ruined. It turned out that she used to date the Hogansville Chief of Police, and she’d called in a favor by asking him to keep news of Randy’s arrest under wraps until after the wedding. Hard to do in a small town like Hogansville, but the now-married chief didn’t stand a chance against a determined Darlene. As far as Debbie and everyone else knew, Randy was in the hospital after wrapping his truck around a tree, period. Anybody who spilled the beans about Michelle’s murder before the wedding was going to have a pissed-off red-haired spitfire on their hands.
    Darlene was still breathing fire a day later in the dressing room in the back of the church, though she’d used up most of it on the florist, who’d showed up late to decorate. To Debbie, however, she’d been nothing but sweet, helping her dress and fussing over her like a mother hen.
    “But now the procession is ruined,” Debbie fretted. “There’s four bridesmaids and only three groomsmen; even if Nicki walks down by herself, the ceremony will end up lopsided, and so will the pictures afterward.”
    I seized my chance. “I don’t mind not being in the wedding, Debbie. If I dropped out, the wedding partywould be even again.” I waved a hand toward the pink sundress and sandals I was wearing. “I’m not even dressed yet, so it’s no big deal.” I’d put off wearing the ugly yellow dress until the last possible second, and it looked like it might pay off.
    Darlene shot me a sardonic, knowing glance, but kept her mouth shut.
    Unfortunately, Aunt Nadine, who’d been fussing over the bridal bouquets, was not about to let me off the hook. “Of course you’re going to be in the wedding, Nicki. You’re family. I only wish my sister Emily had lived to see this day.” Aunt Nadine’s lip quivered, and I knew I was sunk. “All five of our girls together, sharing this joyous occasion.”
    Crap.
    Easy for Aunt Nadine to talk; she looked pretty in rose-colored silk, while I had to wear one of the most hideous bridesmaid dresses I’d ever seen. “You’d better get moving, Nicki; the wedding starts in ten minutes.”
    The atmosphere in the tiny dressing room at the back of the church was hectic—it was crammed to the gills with women in various stage of undress. Aunt Nadine bent to help my niece Brittany, who made a cute flower girl, while Donna and Diane bickered over whose hat belonged to who.
    “Everything will be fine, Debbie,” Darlene said, sliding home the final hairpin that held her sister’s veil in place. The yellow bridesmaid dress I hated looked surprisingly good on her, which tipped me off as to who’d picked it out. The yellow hat brought out the auburn in her red hair. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
    “Can somebody zip me?” whined cousin Donna. “I don’t think Bebe got my measurements