The Dying Room (20 page)

Tutwiler Hotel

The Burnett Wedding Reception

2021 Park Place, 7:00 p.m.

The photographer didn’t need to tell Jess to smile. She couldn’t stop. The formal photos had been taken. The toasts had been made and the gorgeous cake had been cut. Jess wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a cake so beautiful or so enormous. Five luscious layers of decadent red velvet cake covered in sweet cream cheese frosting generously embellished with sweet fondant jewels. The middle layer was monogrammed with the letter B and crowned with silver and crystal columns that supported the top two layers. It looked as extravagant as it tasted.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Mrs. Burnett?”

Jess peered up into Dan’s eyes and her smile widened. “I am, Mr. Burnett. The wedding was everything I’d dreamed it would be.” Jess laughed. “Once I got used to the idea of a
big
wedding anyway.” She gave her head a little shake. “Really, Dan, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

“The Tutwiler was a good choice for the reception.” He surveyed the hundred fifty or so guests still celebrating, some swaying to the soft notes of the music drifting from the band, others simply mingling.

Dan’s mother had personally overseen the decorating of the ballroom. The lights, the classic holiday ornaments, and the flowers, all of it was simply magnificent.

“All right, ladies and gentleman,” the bandleader announced, “let’s clear the dance floor for the bride and groom’s first dance.”

Dan leaned close. “You finally get to hear the song I selected for our first dance as husband and wife.”

“I can’t wait to hear it.” He smiled and Jess’s heart skipped a beat. His smile had always had that effect on her.

Dan led her to the middle of the dance floor accompanied by a round of applause. She wished she’d held onto Sylvia’s great-grandmother’s handkerchief now. She’d been afraid it would be lost so she’d given it back to Sylvia once all the formal photos had been taken.

The slow easy notes of the song began as Dan took her into his arms. The female member of the band stepped to the microphone and started to sing.

At last...

My love has come along
...

Jess’s eyes filled with emotion as Dan guided her smoothly to the easy, gentle rhythm of the music. She looked up at him and whispered, “Good choice.”

Their life together was finally exactly where it should be.

At last
...

“I love you, Jess.”

She smiled. “Love you, too.”

“Earlier you said you had something to tell me.”

After the ceremony there hadn’t been a moment of time alone. Though they weren’t alone now, the dance allowed a hint of privacy. “I felt the baby move.”

“You did?” His face lit up. “Did it feel like a butterfly’s wings?”

The books they’d read had described the first movements a mother could feel as a fluttery sensation. “It really did.”

“I can’t wait to feel him move.”

“Her,” Jess reminded her new husband.

Dan laughed. “I guess we’ll know when the time comes.”

They had opted not to be told the baby’s sex. Why spoil the fun? They were planning to decorate the nursery in shades of soft yellow and green with a little blue and pink here and there.

 “When I saw you coming toward me, Jess, I couldn’t breathe for a minute. You are so very beautiful. I wouldn’t have thought it possible for you to look even more stunning than you do everyday and somehow you did.”

“I felt the same about you, Mr. Burnett.”

“We’re very lucky.”

Jess nodded. “We surely are.”

The final notes of the song faded and the applause began. Dan leaned down and kissed Jess until she was dizzy.

“Excuse me, son.”

Jess turned to Dan Senior and smiled. “Are you cutting in?”

He gave Jess a nod as Dan stepped aside. “No one can take the place of your father, Jess, but, if you’ll have me as a stand-in, I’d love to share the father-daughter dance with you.”

Battling another wave of tears, Jess hugged him. “I would be honored.”

What a Wonderful World
floated through the air and Jess felt as if she were bursting with happiness. Across the dance floor, Dan danced with his mother. Soon, more couples joined them. Blake and Lil made a lovely couple. Blake Junior twirled Maddie around the floor. His sister Alice carried three-year-old Chester, Chet’s son, around the dance floor.

Jess almost laughed out loud when she saw Buddy with Sylvia cuddled in an intimate embrace. She was reasonably sure Sylvia had indulged in a little extra champagne to allow Buddy Corlew to put his arms around her so tightly. Chet and Lori whispered to each other as they swayed with the music. Chad Cook danced with Gina Coleman and Clint Hayes maintained his wallflower status. Jess was very happy that every member of her team was here, alive and well.

As the official parts of the evening were concluded, Jess lost all track of time. There were so many congratulations and hugs exchanged her head was spinning. Lori was still beaming after having caught Jess’s bouquet.

Ralph Gant, Jess’s former boss at the Bureau, had even traveled all the way from Virginia for the wedding. Jess had spent a few weeks trying to be angry with him, but she’d failed miserably. Gant would always be a sort of father figure in her life. As much as she might deny it, she’d worked with him for two decades and she couldn’t pretend she didn’t care about him.

Deputy Chief Harold Black caught up with her at the bar when she went for another glass of water. No matter that he’d lost his wife last month, he found a way to be here and that meant a great deal to Jess.

“Harris, I have to tell you, with the exception of my wife, I have never seen a more radiant bride.”

Jess smiled. “Thank you, Chief. I’m glad you came.” She wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d wanted to pass on the invitation. The loss of his wife was so recent.

“I wouldn’t have missed it.” He gave her a hug. “You and Dan have a wonderful honeymoon. I’ll check in with your team from time to time to see if they need anything.”

“Thank you, Chief. That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“I suppose it’s time we dropped all the formality. If you’ll call me Harold, I’ll call you Jess.”

“I can do that.”

He gave her another hug. “I’ll have a word with Dan and then be on my way.”

Jess watched as Dan chatted so easily with the power players of the city and the elite of Birmingham society. They were all here, too. Senator Baron, Sylvia’s father, was among them. They all wanted Dan to agree to run for mayor. If he agreed, they would make it happen. Jess intended to stay out of that one. She was fine either way.

“Jess.”

She smiled as Katherine Burnett joined her. “I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to tell you how lovely you look, Katherine.”

Dan’s mother had chosen a striking beaded suit in a gorgeous deep rose. The fit of the jacket as well as the pencil skirt showed off her trim figure. Her dark hair was fashioned in a lovely bun that accentuated her high cheekbones. Katherine really was a beautiful woman.

“Thank you, Jess.” She gazed across the crowd. “Everything turned out beautifully. Sharon Pace from the
Birmingham News
was quite impressed. I expect a full page in the Lifestyle section as well as a front-page headline. This was the event of the year, hands down.”

Jess hugged her. “Thank you, Katherine, for making this day more special than I could have ever imagined.”

Katherine blinked rapidly, holding back tears. “Why, you’re welcome, Jessie Lee.” She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I wouldn’t have wanted anything less for you and Dan. The two of you are my world.”

Jess tried to hold back the tears but it wasn’t happening. “I know that.” She nodded. “And... I love you for it.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Katherine hugged her tight. “I love you, too.”

When they had their emotions under control once more, they both laughed and shared Katherine’s handkerchief. Jess would never forget that moment. Something had changed in Katherine... or maybe Jess was the one who’d changed. Either way, it felt good.

Before the crowd could thin too much, Jess and Dan changed into their traveling clothes and said their goodbyes. More photographs were snapped as they rushed from the entrance of the historic hotel beneath a shower of bubbles.

A gleaming white limousine waited. Jess settled into the elegant leather seat and Dan slid in next to her. Their luggage was already in the trunk. With final waves, the limo rolled forward, leaving the crowd of well-wishers behind.

Jess leaned against Dan and sighed. “I’m exhausted. I’m certain I’ll sleep the entire flight.”

Dan hugged his arm around her. “Rest while you can, Mrs. Burnett. Once we arrive in paradise, there won’t be a minute of rest for either of us.”

Jess looked up at him. “Is that a promise, Mr. Burnett?”

“Definitely.”

He kissed her. The taste of champagne and cake icing made her want to devour him right here and now. But she could wait. The future was theirs.

At last..
.

(A Faces of Evil Short Story)

Debra Webb

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 Debra Webb, Pink House Press

Edited by Marijane Diodati

Cover Design by Vicki Hinze

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

PINK HOUSE PRESS

WebbWorks, LLC, Huntsville, Alabama

First Edition November 2014

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

~Socrates

Birmingham Police Department

Birmingham, Alabama

Sunday, August 29, 11:30 a.m.

Deputy Chief Jess Harris closed her notepad and placed her pencil on the shiny conference table. Her heart thudded so hard it made her chest hurt.

Another young woman was missing, Monica Atmore, a legal secretary in Montgomery. This time there were no games. No question as to who the victim was. The twenty-five year old hadn’t come home on Friday night. Her husband reported her missing first thing Saturday morning.

No need to look any farther. Monica Atmore was with Eric Spears aka the Player—one of the most prolific serial killers on the planet. The one obsessed with Jess. The one who wanted to destroy all that she loved. He sent photos of his victims to her just to taunt her. Fury combined with the fear paralyzing her, making her want to scream.

“You’ll get an update the moment I have one.”

The sound of Supervisory Special Agent Ralph Gant’s voice jarred Jess back to attention. Gant was lead in the Joint Task Force attempting to find and stop Eric Spears. He was also Jess’s former superior, what felt like a lifetime ago, when she’d worked as a profiler for the Bureau.

Gant’s image on the screen faded as the video conference call ended. Chairs squeaked and suits rustled as the rest of the attendees around the table prepared to leave the room. No one said a word to Jess.

There was nothing else to talk about. God only knew where Spears was. He had at least two hostages at this point and there wasn’t a solitary lead on his whereabouts or theirs. They had nothing except the reality that every move he made was about
her
.

Jess didn’t bother standing nor did she miss the glances from the rest of the members of the Joint Task Force. The two local Bureau agents were the first out of the room. Deputy Chief Harold Black, head of the Crimes Against Persons Division, walked out with Mayor Pratt at his side. Jess didn’t care that Black and the others blamed her for this—fact was she blamed herself. What tore her apart was the damage being done to the man she loved.

When the silence had thickened in the room once more, there was only the two of them. She could hardly bear to look at Chief of Police Dan Burnett.

Dear God, she had crashed her career with the Bureau and now she had all but destroyed his. To torment her, Eric Spears had targeted Dan, pitching his career into turmoil and his life into jeopardy.

How in the world would she stop this insanity?

“At least we’re not chasing down dead ends trying to identify his latest victim,” Dan said, voicing her earlier thoughts. The hint of hope in his tone fell just shy of optimism.

Dan was no fool. He understood the situation was grave for all concerned.

Jess tucked away her pad and pencil and pushed out of her chair. “That’s something, I guess.” She shouldered her bag and tried her level best not to let him see her hands shaking. “I should get to my office.”

As deputy chief of the department’s Special Problems Unit, she had work of her own to do. Even as the thought formed, her head spun. Spears would not stop until he had what he wanted. Even if it meant everyone around her was destroyed.

Dan caught her at the door. He cupped her face so gently with his strong hands that she wanted to weep. “This will be over soon. You have my word on that.”

The sincerity in his blue eyes was almost her undoing. How could he hope to fulfill that promise? He knew what they were up against—what
he
was facing. And the baby—her heart lurched—protecting the child she carried was her constant worry just now.

“We’re doing all we can,” she agreed, for his benefit. She tiptoed and brushed a kiss across his jaw. The warmth and certainty in his eyes chased away some of the cold that seemed her constant companion. “I’ll see you tonight.”

She left before her emotions got the better of her. That was the thing about being pregnant—keeping her emotions in check was a serious challenge. Good grief, who would have thought when she returned to her hometown, just a few short weeks ago, that she would end up staying for good and back in the arms of the only man she’d ever loved?
And pregnant
.

No wonder her head was spinning.

Sergeant Chet Harper waited in the corridor outside Dan’s office.
Her escort
. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, not even the ladies’ room at this point, without an escort.

Harper gave her a nod. “Ma’am, you have a visitor waiting in your office.”

Jess frowned. “Should I avoid my office, Sergeant?” She was in no mood to see anyone not part of her team. The media frenzy that hit the news last night was enough attention for the next couple of decades. In the last week, she had gone from being the favored new cop in Birmingham to being the pariah of the city.

“Maybe,” Harper allowed. “It’s Gina Coleman. We told her you were tied up but she insisted on waiting.”

Gina Coleman was the Magic City’s award winning investigative journalist. If she was determined to get the scoop on Spears’ latest move, she could forget it. Then again, she had done some favors for Jess recently, and she was undeniably the voice of integrity and substance in the local media. Maybe she could give Gina something. Since returning to her hometown, Jess had learned just how important it was to have an “in” with the local media—even if they made her nuts most of the time.

“All right then, I might as well see what I can do for Ms. Coleman this morning.”

By the time they had gone down a flight of stairs and made it to her office, Jess had pushed aside the mountain of worries and prepared a kernel of information she hoped would satisfy Gina.

The other members of the SPU team present this morning looked up as Jess and Harper entered the office. Their working space was nothing more than one big room filled with desks and an empty case board, but it worked. They’d solved their latest case less than forty-eight hours ago.

Gina Coleman stood at the window behind Jess’s desk. She looked amazing as always. Sleek, formfitting white jacket and skirt. A killer pair of white stilettos. Also as usual, not a strand of her lush brunette hair was out of place. Jess resisted the urge to sigh. How was it that some women made looking that good appear so effortless?

“Chief Harris,” Gina smiled, “I hoped you might be available for lunch.”

As if on cue, Jess’s stomach rumbled. Everything tasted better these days. By the time she was ready to have this kid she would surely be enormous. A groan rose in her throat but she kept it to herself. She and Dan were the only ones who knew about the baby. As if she’d telegraphed the thought, Lieutenant Clint Hayes, the newest member of their team, opened one of his desk drawers. Hayes had learned her secret but he’d sworn to keep it to himself. Jess hated secrets but she just couldn’t share this news right now. Not and risk Spears finding out. He would love another pawn to use against her. She couldn’t afford to give him any more ammunition.

“Today is not a good day for lunch,” Jess admitted. She glanced at Lori Wells, the only female detective on her team. “We usually have a working lunch.”

“I called in an order for pizza from Gino’s,” Lori said, taking Jess’s cue.

The uncertainty in her voice almost made Jess cringe. How she wished she could make Lori see that she hadn’t done anything wrong. The events that played out in that restaurant on Friday couldn’t have been anticipated by anyone.

Coleman gave a nod. “I see.” The gleam in her eyes warned she wouldn’t be so easily deterred. “I guess you’re not interested in what I can do to help.”

The hint of something beyond the usual self-confidence in her expression nudged Jess’s curiosity. She turned to Lori. “Miss Coleman and I will need some time.”

Without meeting Jess’s gaze this time, Lori grabbed her purse. “I wasn’t in the mood for pizza anyway.”

So far, nothing Jess had said had penetrated the layers of guilt overwhelming Lori. She needed time. Unfortunately, time was something they had little of to spare.

“I love pizza,” Hayes spoke up.

Jess would have liked nothing better than to tell the newest member of her team to go with the others. Why waste the energy? She understood that wouldn’t be happening, and, for the most part, had come to terms with that inevitability since her safety wasn’t only about her anymore.

“Good,” Jess told him. “You can make sure we’re not disturbed, Lieutenant.”

That was her one complaint about their shared space. Though the open concept worked well when the team was brainstorming on a case, there was no privacy for meetings like the one she was about to have with Gina.

“Happy to oblige, ma’am,” Hayes said, in his best southern drawl.

When she and Gina had the office to themselves, Jess opted to set the ground rules. “You’re aware there are certain things I can’t talk about yet.”

Gina moved to the front of Jess’s desk and made herself comfortable in a chair. “I doubt you know anything the media doesn’t have already.”

There was that.

Jess settled behind her desk. So much for the tidbit she’d decided to give the reporter. “Then why bother coming? I can tell you right now the pizza isn’t that good.”

“I have a proposition for you, Jess.”

Jess leaned back in her chair. “I’m listening.”

“Tell me your story,” Gina began. “The real story of how Spears came to be in your life and how he ruined your career with the FBI. The citizens of Birmingham will eat it up. They love you.”

Jess laughed. “I think you’d better check your sources on that one. This city has quickly fallen out of love with me.”

“All these murders have them running scared,” Gina argued. “
Spears
has them running scared. Let me tell them how he’s taken over your life—what he’s done to you and the people you care about. The world loves a martyr, Jess. And you’re a martyr if I’ve ever seen one.”

Jess was reasonably sure that was not a compliment. “The story starts back in February, more than six months ago,” she warned. The truth was it started even before that. Like five years before that, but the real trouble had begun this year. “What makes you think people want to hear old news?”

Gina smiled. “You’ll have to trust my instincts.”

No arguing that point. The woman hadn’t gotten where she was by going after the wrong stories.

“What do I get in return for spilling my guts to you?”

Gina shrugged. “Tell me what I can do for you. I’m confident there’s something. Name it.”

As if the answer had suddenly been scrawled across her bare case board, Jess knew exactly what Gina Coleman could do for her.

“I’ll give you the story,” Jess granted.

Victory, or maybe euphoria at getting the interview every reporter in the state would no doubt wish they’d landed, sparkled in Gina’s eyes.

“If,” Jess qualified, “you help me find a discreet way to warn the citizens that their beloved chief of police is being framed.”

Now Jess had the reporter’s attention.

“I can definitely help with that,” Gina agreed.

Jess ignored the tinge of jealousy that came automatically at the idea the other woman had once shared Dan’s bed. Didn’t matter. All that mattered was making sure Dan didn’t suffer more than he already had. His home had been burned to the ground. He was being investigated in the case of a missing BPD division chief, Captain Ted Allen. She had to do something to stop this downward spiral.

“Eric Spears,” Gina said, drawing Jess’s attention from the painful thoughts and to the small recorder now sitting on her desk, “start at the beginning.”

Jess shuddered at the idea that she’d once owned a recorder very much like that. Funny, how something so seemingly harmless could change one’s life.

Jess took a breath and began. “It was Valentine’s Day.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Feels like a lifetime ago.”