“Approximately thirty-seven minutes ago, Dooney Portis was found in the library, deceased,” he said.

Viv gasped. Andre blanched. Sunny sobbed even harder. I twisted my fingers together, and Archie said, “The ghost claims another.”

“What ghost?” Sunny asked. She looked at me. “There’s a ghost?”

I shrugged.

“The McKenna bride,” Archie said. “She died tragically before her own wedding, and now weddings in Waverly Castle are cursed. It’s said she haunts the castle to this day, ruining the nuptials of any who dare to wed here.”

To his credit, the detective ignored Archie and continued, “We don’t know the cause of death at this time, but his parents have informed us that he was in excellent health. We will be conducting a full investigation and would appreciate everyone’s cooperation.”

“Of course,” Viv said. “Anything to help. Do you want us to give you our contact information in London?”

“Oh, you’re not going to London,” he said.

“Not tonight, obviously,” she said. “But first thing in the morning since there won’t be a wedding.”

“I don’t think you understand, Ms. Tremont,” he said. “Until we know whether we’re dealing with a murder, no one who was here during the time of Mr. Portis’s death will be leaving the castle until our investigation is completed.”

*   *   *

“They can’t keep us here indefinitely, can they?” Andre asked.

“No,” Viv said. She sounded more confident than I felt. “Overnight at best.”

We were back in the dining room with all of the other guests. We’d missed dinner but had managed to arrive in time for trifle and coffee. I fully intended to hit the kitchen for a sandwich before bed. I wish I could say finding the groom deceased caused me to lose my appetite, but no. If anything, I needed comfort food more than ever.

There was a low rumble reverberating around the room. I suspected the rumors about where the bride and groom and their parents were had started to infiltrate the gathering. Not a big surprise, given that they all had missed dinner. I wondered how everyone was going to take the announcement of Dooney’s passing. Would they announce it? I supposed they had to.

Detective Inspector Stewart had interviewed me before letting us return to the dining room. I didn’t have much to tell him. I’d been looking for a loo and found Dooney instead. It was a terrible story. Whatever the detective thought about it, he kept to himself. He called Archie in after me, and then Sunny.