JUST A JOKE

The recording was only twenty-eight seconds long.

Claire watched it seventeen times.

At 10:21, Evelyn entered the bridal room.

At 10:23, Paige followed.

At 10:24, a catering employee pushed a covered flower cart down the hallway.

The person was tall, broad-shouldered, and moved with a slight stiffness in the left leg.

Thomas Bennett had injured his left knee in a riding accident when Claire was a child.

At 10:25, the employee stopped beside the bridal room.

A hand reached toward the door.

The camera captured the scar.

Then the person entered.

At 10:29, the employee left without the cart.

The face remained hidden.

Daniel paused the image.

“A scar and an old injury are not proof.”

“I know.”

“You want it to be him.”

“I don’t know what I want.”

Claire stood near the window, arms folded tightly around herself.

If her father was alive, he had allowed his daughters to believe he was dead for twelve years.

If he was involved in the bouquet, he had returned not to protect them but to terrorize them.

Neither possibility resembled the man Claire remembered.

Her father had built tree houses, ruined pancakes, sung badly during long drives, and kept emergency medication in every car because of her allergy.

He would never place lilies in her hands.

Unless the person she remembered had never existed.

Daniel approached carefully.

“Your mother knew who entered that room.”

“And Paige.”

“We need them to explain.”

“Paige will lie.”

“Then we confront her with evidence she cannot dismiss.”

Detective Ellis arranged the meeting in an interview room at the police station.

Paige entered wearing plain gray clothes provided after her wedding dress was collected as evidence. She looked younger without makeup, almost like the sister Claire remembered before resentment became part of every conversation.

A camera recorded from the corner.

Ellis placed a tablet on the table.

“We recovered hallway footage.”

Paige’s eyes moved toward Claire.

“From where?”

Adrian answered.

“A secondary camera.”

Paige looked down.

The video played.

She watched Evelyn enter.

She watched herself follow.

When the catering employee appeared, her face crumpled.

Claire leaned forward.

“Who is that?”

Paige shook her head.

“You know.”

“No.”

“You saw the person inside the room.”

“I didn’t see a face.”

“What happened?”

Paige pressed both palms against the table.

“Mom told me the bouquet had arrived.”

“The artificial bouquet?”

“Yes.”

“Did you open it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because she told me not to.”

Claire looked at Evelyn’s empty chair.

Their mother had refused to attend.

“What did Mom say?”

“She said the flowers were part of a test.”

“What test?”

“To prove Daniel did not know you.”

Daniel remained silent, but the muscles in his jaw tightened.

Paige continued.

“She said the bouquet would be placed near him before the ceremony. If he noticed the lilies, the plan would end. If he didn’t, you would see them before walking down the aisle and understand he had not protected you.”

“But the flowers were hidden beneath roses.”

“I did not know that.”

“What happened when the catering employee entered?”

Paige closed her eyes.

“He told us the plan had changed.”

“What changed?”

“He said you needed to carry the flowers into the ceremony.”

Claire’s voice became colder.

“And you agreed?”

“No. I said that was too dangerous.”

“The video shows you remained inside.”

“Mom argued with him.”

“Did she know him?”

“I think so.”

“Why?”

“He called her Evie.”

Claire remembered her father using that name.

No one else did.

Paige’s breathing became unsteady.

“I asked who he was. Mom told me to leave. I refused. Then he turned toward me.”

“Did you see his face?”

“Only part of it. He wore a beard and glasses.”

“Was it Dad?”

Paige began to cry.

“I don’t know.”

“That is not an answer.”

“He looked like him.”

The words struck harder than Claire expected.

Daniel placed his hand over hers beneath the table.

“What did he say?” Ellis asked.

Paige wiped her eyes.

“He said Claire’s reaction would be controlled. He said Adrian always carried emergency medication because of a previous event.”

Adrian’s expression changed.

Only employees knew about the EpiPen in his jacket.

“He said the ambulance response had been arranged,” Paige continued. “He promised she would never be in real danger.”

Claire’s anger finally broke through the numbness.

“You handed me the bouquet knowing it contained real lilies.”

“No. Mom said he was lying to scare us. She said the flowers were still artificial.”

“You could have checked.”

“I know.”

“You could have warned me.”

“I know.”

“You could have stopped the ceremony.”

“I know.”

“But you wanted the video.”

Paige did not deny it.

Claire stood.

“All your life, you have called cruelty a joke when people became angry. You humiliated friends, employees, and strangers, then acted offended when they refused to laugh. This time you gambled with my life.”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“You were trying to prove you were right about Daniel.”

Paige looked at him.

“I received photographs.”

“Forged photographs,” Daniel said.

“They showed you meeting someone from Helix Development.”

“I represented Helix in a contract dispute three years ago.”

“Mom said you were helping them buy the Bennett estate.”

Daniel looked at Claire.

“What sale?”

Paige realized she had said too much.

Ellis leaned closer.