One of the constables came out of the library. He glanced down the hallway as if he was expecting someone. He checked his phone, glanced down the hall again, checked his phone, rinse and repeat, until a person appeared at the end of the corridor.

He was a tall man, with very short gray hair and prominent ears. He looked to be in his late forties although he had the lanky build of a soccer—excuse me, football—player. The constable was clearly relieved to see him. He even let out a small sigh.

“Detective Inspector Stewart,” he said. “Thanks for coming out so late. The . . . er . . . situation is in here.”

The detective paused and looked at the three of us. “Who are you?”

“I’m Piper May, the deceased’s bride-to-be,” Piper said. Her voice wobbled a bit on “deceased.”

The inspector’s gaze never left her face. He had light brown eyes and a beak of a nose, but his strong chin balanced it out. He wasn’t good-looking in the classical sense, but he had one of those faces that grows on you in time. After a few years, you’d wonder why you never thought he was handsome before.

“I’m Archie Carlton, castle caretaker,” Carlton introduced himself. The detective nodded.

“I’m Sunny Bright,” Sunny said. I hadn’t caught her surname before and it caught me by surprise. I wasn’t alone.

“Really?” the detective asked.

“Yes, really,” she said. There was just the faintest bit of testiness in her voice which led me to believe she had to answer for her name a lot. She added, “I’m a bridesmaid.”

“And you are?” the detective asked me.

“I’m Scarlett Parker,” I said. “Hatmaker—well, I don’t really make the hats. That’s my cousin Viv, she’s around here somewhere, she can vouch for me. Not that I think I need anyone to vouch for me since I didn’t do anything wrong.” Hush up, I chastised myself, blathering on is not helping you.

“And why are you here, Scarlett Parker?”

“I was actually looking for a bathroom,” I said. “Big as this place is, they really hide the necessaries.” This reminded me of how badly I had to go and I hopped from foot to foot.

Detective Stewart looked at Carlton and said, “Maybe you could escort her to the nearest loo?”

“Aye, I can do that,” he said.

“Come right back,” Detective Stewart said. “I have more questions for all of you.”

Sunny let out a low moan that only I could hear. I suspected she was freaking out. I was right there with her. I mean, there was no way that saying you were looking for a bathroom and just happened to stumble upon a dead body didn’t sound lame, right?

“This way, miss,” Carlton said.

I glanced at Sunny to see if she wanted to come, but Piper said, “She stays with me.”