He handed the microphone to Margaret.
She stared at it.
Then she took it.
“Everyone here came to celebrate a marriage,” she said. “There will not be one today.”
Vanessa flinched.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Margaret continued, “The reception is over. Please leave calmly. The staff will arrange transportation for anyone who needs it.”
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Thomas’s sister, Elaine, stepped forward from beneath the stone archway. She had been silent through the entire confrontation, one hand pressed against her coat pocket.
“Margaret,” she said, “there is something else.”
Thomas looked at her.
Elaine removed a small evidence bag from her pocket. Inside was a single pearl, wet and shining.
“I found it near the rosebush,” she said. “It must have come off when Vanessa pushed you.”
Vanessa looked at the pearl as though it were an accusation.
Elaine crossed the grass and gave it to Margaret.
Margaret closed her hand around it.
Richard saw the gesture and reached for his phone.
Thomas’s solicitor, Helen Ward, stepped out from beneath the covered terrace. She had arrived earlier without announcing herself, carrying a navy umbrella and a leather case.
“Do not call anyone,” Helen said.
Richard turned sharply. “You were not invited to this discussion.”
“I was invited by Thomas.”
She opened her case and removed a tablet. “The police are already on their way. The county fraud unit has the documents, the security footage, and the emails. Your company’s bank accounts have been flagged because the payment trail runs through three accounts you control.”
Richard’s composure broke.
“You cannot do this at a wedding.”
Helen glanced at the bride in the mud, the older woman with the ruined dress, and the guests pressed against the hedges.
“No,” she said. “You did this at a wedding.”
Two uniformed officers appeared at the far end of the garden.
Richard backed away.
Vanessa caught his sleeve. “Dad.”
He shook her off.
