Chapter 25 - Pictures Don't Lie or Do They?

Saul returned twenty minutes later with lunch. Nothing more was mentioned of the letters. They ate quietly, Roger quite lightly after his vomiting episode. Then they began the tedious task of going through the wedding pictures.

"Remind me what we are looking for?" Roger asked.

"The baby daddy, anyone with a grudge, anything out of the ordinary, like a blond and blue waiter."

It was quickly evident to Lee that blond and blue was most of the bridal party and plenty of others. "Focus is on the groom's side or just outside of it."

The photographer's pictures were tight to the ceremony and there wasn't much to see outside the pew area. There wasn't much focus on the groom's side either, perhaps owing to the sparse attendance.

Roger flipped picture after picture saying little. "Crappy shot. Surprised he printed it."

"He was told to print them all," Saul reminded. "Crime scene pics, not wedding pics, remember?"

"Here's another. Blurred."

"That was probably during a backfire," Lee noted.

Roger kept flipping, reaching yet another motion blurred picture taken on the grounds during set up.

"There's a corner of a van back there," Lee remarked, "but nothing identifying about it. Damn."

"We'll get it blown up, just in case. We may still get some video from the hotel cameras. It's a tedious process getting their tapes. They've insisted on a subpoena that is very specific, to protect the privacy of their guests. You'd think they'd be more interested in solving the murder of a guest."

Lee and Roger kept passing pictures around the table.

"Aw, geez," Roger sighed and passed the print to Lee.

"Damn." They'd reached the sad picture capturing Mel beginning to bleed.

They kept going, the mood in the room going in a downward spiral.

"There's nothing here!" Lee complained.

"Go through again in case you are missing something," Saul advised.

Roger started back at the beginning of the pile, the rehearsal pictures.

"Mel sure does have lots of Teutonic looking relatives," Lee observed. "That's her cousin Randall. He was an usher, right?"

"I . . . I couldn't say for sure who that is."

"Why?"

"Look at this rehearsal picture again."

"They all look similar. These two are dead ringers, though."

"Right, Randall and his twin, Thomas."

"I think one of them walked me to my seat. I didn't see him in a picture, but I'm certain an usher with similar looks sat a row or two behind me, far left. I couldn't guess which one though," Lee said.

"We'll have to follow up on that with interviews," Saul said.

"Randall made it sound like he was on the other side," Lee said.

"That's an odd turn of phrase."

"He's an odd duck. He suspected Rachael before he knew about her confession. He intimated to me she foreshadowed the shooting the day before while at the shooting range."

"Unfortunately, she did, Lee, whether or not she meant to," Roger shook his head.

"So much for discounting Randall," Lee carped. "Still, there was something about him that seemed off. He seemed kind of gleeful when I told him Rachael confessed."

"Wouldn't you be if you were a relative? Beats a long manhunt and trial," Saul said.

"I suppose."

"Hey, look at this one," Saul pulled one from the box.

"Another blurry one, so?" Roger asked.

"What does this look like to you?"

Lee answered. "Tripod legs, behind and between the potted plants that partitioned off the wedding from the grounds on the groom's side. But that doesn't make sense. The photographer was positioned at the back of the center aisle."

"Maybe there was an assistant?" Saul asked.

"Behind the plants?"

"There's a few inches gap, enough to stick a lens through if you wanted a better angle of the ceremony."

"It's possible. The priest wouldn't let the photographer up front for close ups during the ceremony. We had to use rehearsal pictures for that. Maybe Mel wanted photos of the real thing and arranged for it to be done on the sly. I wouldn't put it past her."

"Except there are no photos from that side. Roger, what do you know about the photographer?" Saul asked.

"Nothing. Mel took care of that. She took care of nearly everything. You were sitting over there, did you notice anyone taking pictures?"

"I couldn't say one way or another. Wedding photographers are kind of everywhere yet invisible."

"I'll call the photographer," Saul volunteered and stepped out.

"Look at Rachael in this one. She wore makeup for me. I feel like shit for forcing her into this now. How is she today?"

"She ripped apart the mattress binding and was crafting a noose from it."

"Shit."

"She's . . . erratic. Crazy one minute. Not so crazy the next."

"That's how it's been for months. I had no business involving her in the wedding."

"I'm not usually one to play the blame game, but I'm going to agree on that one." Lee got up and paced, regretting taking the cheap shot at Roger. He fiddled with his pockets. "Oh, here are your keys. Glad to see you've upgraded your taste in cars. I wouldn't have guessed you for that shade of blue but it beats your nasty old brown sedan fetish."

"That wasn't my car you took. It was Mel's."

"Figures."

"Mel wouldn't be caught dead in my sedan, even though her top leaks. She risked getting her wedding dress wet she was so adamant that we take her car to the hotel instead of mine."