All Dressed in White

50

On the way to the hotel elevator, Laurie asked Detective Henson if they could have a moment. “Detective, there’s something you need to know about the wedding band that you found with Amanda’s body. Jeff told us that when he got back to New York, he couldn’t find the rings in his luggage. He said that with all of the distress over Amanda’s disappearance, he hadn’t realized they were missing.”

“I was wondering why she would have been wearing the band before she was actually married.”

“She wouldn’t have been,” Alex said. “And here’s the thing: both the bride and the groom’s rings were supposedly being kept in Jeff’s room safe prior to the ceremony. And one of Amanda’s friends just told us that Amanda seemed to be having second thoughts about the wedding. She said there was something she needed to find out before she made a final decision about whether to go through with the ceremony.”

Detective Henson raised her eyebrows. “Well, that certainly is interesting. Sandra already told me about the will. Now that we’ve found her body, Jeff will finally get his money without having to call attention to himself by asking a court to declare her legally dead.”

Laurie saw the pieces of the puzzle falling together. “If Amanda went up to Jeff’s room that night after their separate parties, she might have wanted to try on her ring-maybe as a test to see how she felt about it. If she changed her mind and decided to call things off, a fight might have ensued. Jeff could have killed her and buried the body without remembering to remove the ring.”

As usual, Alex was following her logic step by step. “When he realized his mistake, filing an insurance claim for the stolen rings after he got back to New York could have been a way to cover for the fact that her wedding band was missing. But he never filed a claim.”

The detective smiled. “I appreciate the information, but you should leave the police work to us.”

“Are you sure about that, Detective?” Alex asked swiftly. “Because we’re supposed to question your number one suspect in half an hour, and for now he has no idea you found Amanda with that ring on her finger. And rest assured, I’m going to ask him about that.”