This is the ninth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you should probably read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, and Part VIII before continuing.
Knott had to restrain herself from jumping straight to asking about the maid of honor.
Instead, she started the way she started all her interviews: by asking Chad to take her through the day, start to finish.
The groom had stayed at Chad’s place the night before the wedding so as to avoid the bad luck of seeing the bride on the big day before the ceremony. They had spent the entire morning together, which meant Chad also had not had a chance to see the bride until her body had been found.
When Knott asked if anyone had wanted to hurt Harper, Chad gave the same answer everyone had given: she was the nicest girl, everyone loved her. It was all very unhelpful.
As much as Knott knew it was bad investigating to ask leading questions, she was afraid she would never get anywhere if she didn’t direct some of her witnesses to remember certain aspects of specific relationships. “I understand Liz was supposed to have her own wedding, but it got called off right before Harper got engaged.”
Chad nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“Do you think there was any resentment on Liz’s part for being asked to be in a wedding right after her own wedding plans fell apart?”
“No. Not at all. Liz seemed like she was really happy for them. And she jumped right into all the duties of being maid of honor, even though she had just been maid of honor for her sister’s wedding.”
“Really? When was that?”
“Last year.”
“Did Harper know about that before she asked Liz to be her maid of honor?”
“Yeah. They’re best friends. They tell each other everything.”
Knott nodded as she wrote all this down in her notebook. She definitely knew people who had killed for less.
“How about when she came down the path to walk down the aisle with you? How did she seem then?”
“Liz?”
“Yeah.”
“She seemed great. Really happy.”
“Did she seem rushed at all?”
Chad shook his head. “Nope. She showed up right when she was supposed to. Everything seemed to be going really smoothly.”
“What about her clothing? Did you notice anything unusual?”
Chad cocked his head. “What do you mean ‘unusual?’ She was wearing the same bridesmaid dress they were all wearing.”
“You didn’t notice any stains or weird spots on her dress? Or maybe on her hands or arms?”
“What kind of stains?”
“Any kind of stains.”
“No, I didn’t see anything like that. Why would I?”
“Just curious.”
Knott couldn’t tell him she suspected Liz might have had blood on her dress before she touched Harper’s body, so she took her questions in another direction before letting him go.
To be continued…