"You should see the back yard. It's like something out of a fairytale. Come see," Juliet said, grabbing my hand and drawing me to the back of the house. What I saw stopped me dead. Fairytale was a good description. Far from the dark, shadowy scene of a recent shooting, this yard was festooned with ribbons and fairy lights, along with colorful sets of decorated chairs that flanked a petal-strewn aisle. Somewhere, wind chimes tinkled in the breeze. Thankfully, someone successfully scrubbed all of my blood droplets from the deck.

"I don't know how you planned all this. It's so amazing."

"I had a lot of time on my hands. Plus, the stalker actually helped. I got to use a lot of the stuff they insisted I pay for, or was already sent to me. I just added a few things and voila! So... in their face, right?"

I blinked in surprise at Juliet's perkiness. "You seem..."

"Happy?" finished Juliet. "You know what? I am. I refuse to let this beat me. All those threats. All that nastiness. Everything my stalker did is unraveling. Rob and I are going to beat this. I am going to beat this."

"That's my girl," said Rob, coming up from behind us. He draped an arm around Juliet, pulling her against him, and planting a kiss on her cheek. Juliet smiled as she relaxed against him. "There's someone at the door for you," he told her.

"Who is it?"

"Go see."

"I best go see," Juliet giggled, slipping out from Rob's embrace.

I gave Rob a pointed look, wondering whom exactly Juliet was about to greet. Rob simply smiled and nodded towards the door. Since people close to Juliet were exactly the kind of people I was worried about, I followed her to the door. I stopped in the kitchen doorway and watched Juliet hugging and exclaiming her greetings to the group at her door. "Her friends are here?" I asked Rob when he joined me. Rose, Chloe and Rebecca were all standing together.

"Juliet called everyone yesterday. Every single one."

"That must have been hard.

"It was, but she persisted. She told them all what was happening... and there was a lot of crying, but... I think everything is okay. Thanks to you, they all understand now and also are relieved that Juliet wouldn't ever do any of those nasty things to them."

"Another win."

"Yeah, Juliet is definitely winning this battle."

"You stood by her when many wouldn't... and didn't."

"It wasn't easy. Some of it, anyway," added Rob. "This stalker tried to come between us too, but Juliet and I... we communicate with each other. We always have. No one can ever come between us."

"Keep that in mind today," I reminded him.

"I am."

Despite the pleasing sight, a cold chill ran through me. We were waiting for people, exactly those kind of people. We were waiting for Juliet's friends and family, knowing that someone close to her wanted to harm her, and would do anything to accomplish that. "Don't leave her alone," I warned him softly as Juliet hugged an old friend. "Not for a second! Not with anyone! I don’t care how much you trust them."

"I won't."

"I mean it."

"I won't!" Rob pulled on a long breath. "Did you come in for something? Other than to see our crazy, fake, fabulous wedding?"

"I only came to check on you and to see if I could get a green tea for my pregnant friend who's assisting with surveillance."

"I can get you a cup."

"And a coffee too, if you don't mind?"

"Coming right up... Uh, if I can leave Juliet alone for one moment?"

I laughed since I just contradicted my own orders, and all to appease Lily's cravings. "Sure, just this once."

"Lexi..." Rob hesitated as he turned away.

"Yes?"

"What if it doesn't work? All this... Is it all for nothing?"

"I can't make you any promises," I told him honestly, wishing I could say otherwise. Sure, I wanted to give him more hope. I could only set the trap, and couldn't account for the stalker's actions. "This is our best chance to draw her into the open. We're so close. So close."

"This had better work." Rob stepped into the kitchen before I could answer, which was just as well because I didn't have any more answers to give him. I had only platitudes and raw hope. I crossed my fingers and made a silent wish that I was right, and this wedding would prove to be the ultimate happiness, something the stalker couldn't resist interfering with. It had to be just too tempting for her to ruin. There was no way the stalker would not try to eclipse it.

That was exactly the thought I had in mind when I knocked on the window of my car five minutes later. I gestured to Lily she should get out. "What happened?" she asked, her eyes filled with hope.

"Absolutely nothing. I thought you might like to go for a walk? We've been sitting here for a long time."

"But who's watching the front? What if we miss something?"

"We won't. Solomon called. He's here too, watching."

Lily looked around. "Where?"

"I wish I knew."

"Remind me to never play hide and seek with him."

"I will."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Play hide and seek with him?"

"Is this going to descend into one of those kinky sex conversations?"

Lily restrained a smile as she wrinkled her nose. "Only if you want it to."

"Maybe later." We crossed the street and I handed her the green tea. "We played hide and seek in the dark once. He found me really fast." I raised my hand and Lily high-fived me.

"Thanks for the tea. I wish it were wine."

"Me too."

"How's Juliet?"

"Bizarrely happy. She seems to be enjoying all the preps for the wedding."

"Did you see the cake?"

"No, but they had a bar."

Lily pouted. "Cruel."

"You work in a bar!"

"I curse it every day. Also, I'm going to stop working behind the bar. I think the baby is putting off customers."

"Why?"

"It's a reminder of what happens if you drink too much."

I laughed and took a sip of my coffee.

"Ruby is taking over. I'm staying in the office until I take maternity leave, then Ruby is going to co-manage until I come back."

"Ruby will be great."

"She's uber reliable and you know how hard it is to find good employees."

"I do," I said, thinking back to a recent case where an employee of Lily's staged a robbery, and relieved her of a large amount of cash. "Let's patrol around back. There's a lot going on here." We stepped onto the opposite sidewalk as another van sped past and halted behind the florist van.

"More flowers?" Lily frowned. I simply shrugged and tried not to make a show of enjoying my coffee while Lily pulled a face at her tea.

"She really took me literally when I said 'put on a show'."

"We do get to watch the show, right? It would be very disappointing to just sit watching the house all this time, without eating any cake, or seeing the wedding."

"You know the wedding won't actually take place?" We watched as two large terracotta pots with pink patio roses wrapped in gauzy, white ribbon were unloaded from the second florist van. They were carried over to the house and positioned on either side of the stoop.

"Are you sure about that? Juliet has a wedding dress."