Romantic Mystery Books: Perfect Day (A Contemporary Fiction - Suspense Novella) Read online

  Perfect Day

  Joanna Kidson

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Joanna Kidson Books

  Copyright © 2013

  http://www.joannakidson.com

  Joanna Kidson Facebook

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

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  Chapter 1

  Thirty-seven seconds before the first shot was fired, the tiny church of Santa Maria della Mare was a divine picture of serenity and celebration. A small crowd of close family followed the happy couple down the steps of the chapel and into the glorious sunlight bathing the courtyard below.

  It was, after all, the perfect day: the perfect weather for the perfect wedding--and the perfect day to shoot the bride.

  Cassie edged her way nervously a little closer, trying to remain inconspicuous.

  I only need one shot, she thought, just one shot. A headshot would be perfect, but I'll settle for a body shot. The groom was in the way. Move fella, move. Her mind was still racing.

  For a split second, Cassie caught the eye of the bride as she made the last step down from the chapel--and in that instant, it felt like she knew exactly what was about to happen. The bride opened up serenely, just like a sacrificial swan preparing for her final fateful moments.

  Cassie was there to do a job, being paid good money too. Don't get emotionally involved. Keep it professional.

  It turned out to be the perfect moment. Her finger clicked away steadily for a few seconds nailing the bride in a wide, sweeping movement.

  "Got it!" she said to herself as the barrage of gunfire echoed around the pretty courtyard. It only lasted a few seconds. Some of the intimate crowd jumped in shock while others, who were clearly ready for the noisy interlude, cheered and clapped their appreciation.

  Cassie looked down at the small screen on the back of her camera and flicked through some of the images, checking the composition and exposure. "Perfect," she muttered as she backed away a little further from the party. "Just perfect."

  She had been given strict instructions about what she could and couldn't shoot. The celebratory gunfire was on the list of moments absolutely not to be photographed. She dropped the camera letting it dangle freely from the harness around her body, grabbed the other one from her left side, and scrolled swiftly through the shots captured there. "This will do very nicely, thank you," she said, breathing out heavily in relief and satisfaction.

  Cassie was an experienced wedding photographer, but she had never done one quite like this before. She pinched herself again for the hundredth time that day still not believing it was real. It had all happened so fast. Two days ago, she knew nothing about this event, and now, here she was photographing what had to be the wedding of the year.

  Cassie pulled the crumpled schedule out of a pocket on the harness and scanned the page, checking the times again to make sure she wasn't needed. At the same time, her phone slid out with the paperwork, and she noticed a text message had just come through.

  "Told you, didn't I?" it read. She chuckled to herself but was suddenly distracted by the figure of a tall man in a dark suit, moving in her direction. She looked up to see him striding quickly toward her, wagging his finger in an admonishing manner.

  It was Yuri, one of the security men and the shadow who had been assigned to her for the day.

  "No phones," he said severely in his Anglo-Russian accent. "Come on, you know the rules," he followed up.

  "Sorry, sorry," she said, showing him the front of the phone. "It was just a text. I'm turning it off."

  "Don't make me take it away from you, please," he said. Cassie couldn't help thinking he sounded unbelievably sexy with that foreign accent, and the cut of his slim-fitting dark suit only added to the mysterious nature.

  Mmm, she thought to herself. I don't think I'd mind too much if you had to frisk me. Her silence was met with a steely stare, and Cassie felt a slight embarrassment flush her cheeks for such playful thinking.

  "I didn't say that out loud, did I?" she said, panicking for a second.

  "You didn't need to," Yuri replied. "It was written all over your face."

  Cheeky bastard, she thought. You're a bit sure of yourself, aren't you? In an instant, all feelings were lost for the big Russian.

  "You've got ninety minutes while they eat, and then we need you for one more series. No more pictures until then, okay?" Yuri sounded slightly softer as he gave his instructions, but the moment was lost on Cassie.

  "Follow me," he said. "You can get something to eat next to the catering building."

  He set off across the courtyard and she followed him, wheeling her case of equipment behind her. The small army of chefs was hard at work preparing what seemed to be the most exquisite menu she had ever seen. She was quickly ushered out of the way to a quiet corner where she dumped her cameras on a rickety table, sat down, loosened her shoes, and took a moment to catch her breath.

  The text from Tom made her laugh again. He was an old college friend. Although they had been close at one time, they didn't see each other that often anymore but had kept in touch over the years. He was now the assistant news editor at the local paper, and he was the one who had contacted her on Wednesday night asking if she was free on Friday morning.

  At first, she had thought he was asking her out on a date, which was quite a surprise as she hadn't really seen him as that kind of material recently. He was a nice guy all right, but they had always just been good friends with similar interests, so it had been difficult to see him as anything else even though her thoughts had often strayed into slightly romantic territory. Cassie was never sure what his real feelings were so she didn’t want to put herself out there for fear of looking like a fool.

  It soon became apparent that this was no date invitation. In fact, the conversation had left Cassie feeling more puzzled at the end than she was at the beginning.

  "Call me back in an hour when you've thought about it, but promise me absolutely not to mention this to anyone," he said. "Promise?"

  "Sure, don't worry, Tom. I don't think I'd know what to say anyway."

  Cassie thought about it for an hour, and when it still didn't make much sense, she dialed Tom’s number.

  "Okay, so let me get this straight," she started. "You need me to photograph someone's wedding. It's on Friday morning, but you won't tell me who it is and you won't tell me where it is."

  "Yes," was his reply.

  "I'm only needed for about four hours, the fee is ten thousand dollars in cash, and they have exclusive rights to all the images. I can't get to use them ever, not on my website or even my blog, and I mustn't keep any copies of any image."

  "Correct," Tom said, hoping she was going to do this; otherwise, he was in deep shit.

  "Who are these people, then?"

  "I can't tell you. And I've only been told one of them anyway."

  "Oh, come on, it makes a difference to my decision, you know," Cassie pleaded, lying through her teeth. She couldn't give a damn who they really were because the whole thing sounded so intriguing she was almost tempted to do it for nothing.
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  "Look, I honestly can't tell you, but what I promise is that you won't be disappointed."

  "But they might be gangland criminals, and then I'd be caught up in some sort of illegal activity." She was stretching it now, and it started to show.

  "Cassie, all I need is an answer." Tom pushed her, knowing this was an opportunity she couldn't really turn down.

  "Okay," she said. "I'm in."

  "Good. You won't regret it. Sometime tomorrow you'll get a phone call from one of their people. Just get yourself ready as you would for any shoot, then follow their instructions."

  "This sounds like the secret service or something."

  "Well, not quite. But listen, you must do what they ask. Don't tell a soul about what you're doing. They will be very precise--and there may be a couple of unusual requests--but you'll understand why when you get there."

  "Tom,” she had said, suddenly thinking of the darker side of this mystery for a moment.” I will be safe, won't I?"

  "Don't worry, you'll be absolutely fine," he had said and ended the call.

  Now here she was having just photographed the wedding of two people she was dying to tell all her friends about, but she wasn't allowed to do it. How sad was that? Finally some gossip to beat all other gossip but her lips were sealed with red tape--and Yuri with a gun, of course.

  Her thoughts were broken by the arrival of a bowl of chicken and rice carried by a little man with dark slicked back hair. This wasn't what the guests were having, so she soon got the message that this was definitely the servant’s quarters. Still, it actually smelled pretty good, so she wasted no time diving in. The little guy with the dark hair had even taken the trouble to give her a glass of wine, so things weren't really all that bad.

  She finished up and looked over at the frantic actions of the chefs, who were working in perfect synchronization. A procession of immaculately dressed wait staff appeared every now and then, marching off in a line laden with full plates and returning a couple of minutes later with their empty counterparts. One particularly slimy character, dressed in a sharp suit, was paying particular attention to one set of food, adjusting the arrangement on the plate and adding a bit of spice from a bottle before it was whisked away. Cassie assumed that it was for the bride and groom. It was a fascinating sight, and Cassie remained captivated until a lull in activity appeared to indicate that the main course had been delivered successfully.

  At this point in a normal wedding, Cassie would be editing some of the images on her laptop, but this was not a usual wedding. Her instructions were to hand over the memory cards at the end of the shoot, and nothing further was required of her. Incredible, she thought, the easiest ten grand I will ever make. She did, however, want to make sure she had done a good job so started to inspect the shots she had captured so far in a bit more detail. Her fingers moved expertly around the back of the camera as she flicked between different views and zoomed in to check that all the right features were in focus.

  Working meticulously through each one, Cassie stayed engrossed in the detail until she was disturbed by a light tap on the shoulder. She looked up, her eyes widening immediately in shock. It was the woman she had just been studying on the back of her camera.

  "Hey, sorry to disturb you," the woman said. "I'm really glad you came."

  Cassie almost exploded with laughter. What! This woman is happy that I came?

  This woman was Carmella Rodriguez, the number one selling female pop artist of the last five years. Triple platinum, gold albums, and two award-winning movies. Cassie even had two of Carmella’s tracks on her playlist. In her humble opinion, that made Carmella a genuine artist.

  “How do they look?” Carmella asked. “So sorry to interrupt you. I just couldn’t wait.”

  Cassie, still in a state of shock, felt she must be gawking like a giddy schoolgirl so tried desperately to pull herself together and exude a slightly more professional image.

  “Well, I hope I’ve done things the way you wanted,” she managed to say without too much stumbling.

  “We weren’t going to have any photographs at all, but I managed to persuade Jake at the last minute. I mean, it is my first wedding after all--might even be my last. Who knows?” she said with a wink.

  Cassie warmed to her immediately. Carmella wasn’t at all like the histrionic diva that the media played her out to be when they were splashing her face all over the front pages of their glossy magazines. Controversy followed her about like flies round a watermelon. Rumors were constantly surfacing in the press about her latest antics, although her recent attempts at reinventing herself to keep up with the times hadn't really taken off.

  “Here, take a look if you’d like to.” Cassie spun the camera around and started to flick through the photos.

  Carmella squinted at the tiny screen and nodded. “Wow, you’ve done a fabulous job.”

  Encouraged by this, Cassie continued. “Actually, you can’t really see much on that screen. Give me a second and I’ll pull some up on the laptop.”

  “Would you mind? I’d love to take a quick look.”

  Cassie grabbed her MacBook out of the case, and within seconds, she had fed through some of the images into a slideshow. Huddling over it together, Carmella let out the occasional squeal of delight, and almost every shot was met with an "Oooh" or an "Aaaah" as if she was watching a firework display cascade over the Sydney Opera House on New Year’s Eve.

  "Hey, pause this one, will you?" she said excitedly as they came to the series at the bottom of the steps. "I saw you on this shot. Thought I'd glam it up a bit--you know, add a bit of theater."

  "I just managed to get in before the guns went off," explained Cassie, happy that the images had come off as she hoped. "Frightened the shit out of me," she added daringly.

  "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I'm used to the noise. It's a Latin thing; my dad insisted on it. He didn't get to decide anything else about the wedding, that's for sure. I'm so happy he's here."

  "Was it planned quite suddenly?" Cassie thought she might as well ask. After all, she'd never get another chance to talk to Carmella Rodriguez.

  Carmella flung her head back wildly and laughed out loud. "It's not what you're thinking."

  "Oh, no!" Cassie clasped her hand to her mouth. "That's not what I meant at all. It's just that there haven't been any reports about it anywhere. I mean, this is big news."

  "Don't worry,” Carmella clasped her hand gently in a consoling gesture. "No, this thing has been in the planning for months. We couldn't let on to anyone, you know, Jake’s father being who he is and everything. He wouldn't have it covered in one of the big magazines either--too vulgar. I've been there too often, so I know."

  Carmella's eyes turned back to the screen, and they continued the impromptu show for another minute. Cassie pinched herself again discreetly, unable to believe she was really here chatting to Carmella Rodriguez as if she was one of the girls.

  "You've got it, girl," Carmella said, turning to look at Cassie and nodding her approval. "Whatever they are paying you, get them to double it. See you at the cutting of the cake."

  “Sure thing, and thank you,” Cassie responded, genuinely thrilled that she was getting such great feedback from someone who should know a thing or two about being photographed. Her new buddy straightened up and instantly changed her demeanor, pacing toward the door as if she was strutting the catwalk. Her actions had the effect of turning the heads of all the kitchen team as she disappeared from sight.

  Cassie sat motionless for a moment. Then a smile started to creep along the edge of her lips until the flickering glimmer of her teeth appeared as she broke into a full ecstatic grin. She imagined the looks on the faces of her friends as she recounted this tale of intimate chitchat with one of the world’s most famous faces--and that made it impossible for the smile to end.

  As it happened, the smile was still lingering there twenty minutes later, only to be wiped away pretty quickly with the unwelcome arrival of her old pal Yuri.
He beckoned her with a tapping motion to his wrist and then holding up five fingers. She packed her equipment away and dutifully followed him through to a private dining area decorated with hundreds of tiny pin lights giving an almost space-like effect.

  She could see the group starting to assemble at the far end of the room. The lighting was going to be a challenge so she quickly snapped a flashgun on to one of the cameras and then shuffled her way toward the wedding party.

  They were an odd collection of people--now that she looked at them in terms of trying to create some group shots--as they watched the bride and groom take a knife to the tallest wedding cake she'd ever seen. This wasn't at all easy as another one of her many instructions was that she wasn't to talk to any of the guests or give them any direction as to where to stand. Cassie wasn't too bothered about this, really, as most of her work was completely natural and un-posed anyway. It's just that she was under massive time pressure here, and before she knew it, Yuri was giving her the signal to get lost.

  Within a few seconds, she found herself outside in the sunlight, squinting as she popped the memory cards out of her bag and placed them into his huge, long-fingered hands.

  "Is that everything?" he asked in his now familiar grumpy style.

  "Four cards. That's the lot," she said, opening her bag so he could inspect it.

  Yuri delved into the bag and rifled around, checking the pockets for any further storage devices. He looked up at her, satisfied that she wasn't concealing anything from him.

  "Okay, time to go," he snapped, and they walked, almost side by side this time, back to the dusty hard standing area behind the low line of shrubs where she had parked her car.

  On the other side of this small parking area was an entrance to a private marina, and Cassie caught a brief glimpse of the monstrous, gleaming white motor yacht moored along the raised jetty. Its majestic bow towered proudly over the gangways underneath, and a covered walkway lined with a thick luscious red carpet was being prepared by a couple of uniformed staff.