A wedding with a touch of murder

Part 1

The frigid winds of the chilly night tore through Fretmore Bay making everyone toss and turn in their slumber. The little houses on the street rooted to the floor also seemed to rock a little. However, the flying leaves and thundering clouds weren't the only things happening that night. Jimmy Hudgens pulled his covers tight over him and pressed it against his shivering body. In his dreams, mammoth chickens flapped around on him and were about to lift and put their large talons on him when a loud creak occurred and the startled chickens scurried away. Jimmy woke up and looked around in confusion. An irresolute frown creased up his face and with furrowed brows Jimmy Hudgens reached his hand out hopelessly in the dark for the lamp switch. As he flicked it on, a warm oasis of light spread out across the room, throwing light in different directions. Jimmy groaned, his eyes heavy. Suddenly there were thundering footsteps. Jimmy jerked his head towards the source of the noise, the barn. Someone was inside. Usually Jimmy would find herds of pigeons breaking in through the unrepaired roofs and feeding on grains. He stepped out into the dark, the cold piercing him like blades of ice. Jimmy made his way down the stepping stones and passed his field, where his barn was. The door was wide open, enough for an elephant to stick it's head through. Jimmy raised his eyebrows questioningly at the mess. Inside, all his glass vases were broken, crashed to the wooden floor. Infinitesimal pieces of grain rolled around covering wide acres of the ground and where the usual sacks of wheat and grain used to be, was now an empty spot filled with soot and dirt. A robbery!! A break in!! Nothing of this sort had happened before! Well unless you consider birds as robbers. Jimmy shook his head and put his hand on his hip. Tilting his head slightly to the right, discombobulated, his eyes fell onto the footsteps on the floor, big. He couldn't believe that in such a safe town like his, in such a poor place like his, someone could come steal grains! And the only other farmers he knew apart from himself were his fellow friends. Shaking his head in disbelief, Jimmy locked the barn door before storming off to his hut and returning to his crazy dreams.

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Elise Charlton Doyle sat with her back hunched and sighed. She was in her room, brightly decorated with lights and flowers. But these didn't seem to push away those saddening eyes of hers. A knock on the door propped her up onto her toes as she twisted the knob and saw her maiden, Wendy Walters.

"Madam Doyle, are you alright? I am sure I knocked many times before you opened the door", Wendy said in a concerned tone

"Come in Wendy, I-I am...fine", Elise replied politely

Wendy held a plate with a glass of water and Elise's usual tablets. She took her medicine and thanked Wendy for the favour.

"Is it something about tomorrow's wedding that's worrying you?", Wendy inquired as Elise hopped onto her quilt.

"Ok, you got me good, I am really anxious. A wedding is a big thing, you know I love Perry dearly but I love my home, my town, the people here too. And knowing that I will leave it all tomorrow and go to a completely different place just scares me"

Wendy walked over to a large cardboard box at the far corner of the room and brought it over to Elise, she opened it and smiled.

"Remember when your father first bought you this necklace? It's priceless isn't it? I remember how he had told you to open it on your wedding day and you had waited, looked at it every night before resisting the urge to try it on and put it back in the box.

Elise's frown turned into a wide grin as her eyes stung with tears. With a soft chuckle she said :

"Things used to be so normal back then, you know, before mother and father got the promotion and we became famous. Tomorrow I will be inheriting the fortune, billions of notes all for me, that's something. What am I even going to do with all that money?", Elise said worried again