by Debra Webb
THE WEDDING
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
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
About the Author
1
Birmingham Police Department
Birmingham, Alabama
Friday, December 18, 4:00 p.m.
Lost in thought, Deputy Chief Jess Harris removed the crime scene photos from her case board. Her team had caught a double homicide early in the week. The case had appeared cut-and-dried at first. An intruder had entered the home and murdered the homeowner and his best friend. The house had been ransacked and any items of cash ready value such as jewelry had been taken. Sadly, the wife and two teenage daughters had arrived home later to find the awful scene.
Jess studied the photo of the wife and daughters before taking it down. The case had turned out to be anything but a random break-in. The father had been leading a double life that included drug dealing for extra income. The slow economy had driven him to make bad decisions. He and his friend had paid the ultimate price for his mistake.
Within forty-eight hours Jess and her major crimes team had uncovered the truth. None of it was pretty and finding justice for the murdered father and his friend hadn’t made any of them feel one iota better. The wife was still a widow and the two daughters were still without a father.
“You know,” Lori Wells moved up beside Jess and took the photos from her hands, “this was an unfortunate case to catch this week.”
Jess smiled at the detective who was her good friend as well as her maid of honor. “Everyone has secrets, some are just worse than others.” Jess removed the final photo. “Tomorrow I’m marrying the man I’ve been in love with for most of my life. I know him better than most women know the men they marry. More importantly, I trust him completely. That said, it’s impossible to know everything.”
“She knows all my secrets.” Sergeant Chet Harper grabbed the eraser and started removing the written timeline from the board.
Lori narrowed her gaze and issued a warning, “I’d better.”
From his desk, Lieutenant Clint Hayes tossed in his two cents worth. “That’s why I’m never getting married.”
Jess laughed as she turned to the lieutenant. “Because you won’t trust anyone with your secrets?” She’d long suspected he had a few.
“I’ll never tell.” He grinned. “Some secrets should stay that way.”
Chad Cook, newly promoted to detective, joined them at the case board. He still walked with a bit of a limp, but he was doing great. His up-close encounter with a follower of the depraved serial killer Eric Spears hadn’t kept him down. Thank God. Chad had been back to work for a month now. Jess imagined those eight weeks of recovery and physical therapy had been the longest of his life.
“By this time next year,” Chad said, “I plan on having a wife of my own with a baby on the way—if I’m lucky.”
Jess grinned at him. Chad and Dr. Sylvia Baron, who was Jefferson County’s associate coroner and closer to Jess’s age than Chad’s, had decided they were better at being friends than lovers. Jess was immensely grateful the break-up had been an amicable one. Chad was wise beyond his years. Having just turned twenty-four he had plenty of time. His recent brush with death had obviously made him decide not to waste a moment of it.
“That’ll make you the only bachelor, Hayes,” Harper challenged as he set the eraser aside. “You might want to rethink your strategy.”
Chet Harper and Lori Wells were engaged. The two were getting married next June. Jess still counted her blessings they had been able to pull off their personal relationship without it interfering with their work on the team. Jess didn’t want to lose anyone on her very specialized major crimes team. The Special Problems Unit had proved its worth in Birmingham as well as all of Jefferson County. So much so that the Sheriff’s Department and the BPD had decided to make the SPU permanent. Jess and her team would be fighting crime throughout Jefferson County for a long time to come.
“Not a chance,” Hayes declined. “I like my status and my strategy.”
“As interesting as this conversation is,” Lori announced, “the Chief and I are calling it a day. We’re having a mani-pedi party.” She rubbed her hands together in glee. “Twenty-four hours until the wedding!”
Jess checked the time and groaned. “I have so much to do.” She headed for her desk. “I don’t know why this wedding has to be so complicated.”
“Last night’s rehearsal went well,” Lori reminded her as she gathered her purse and keys. “The dinner was amazing.”
Jess hummed an agreeable note. Katherine, Dan’s mother, had insisted on a lavish rehearsal dinner for the wedding party since Jess and Dan had opted not to have a sit-down meal after the wedding. Neither she nor Dan wanted to delay their honeymoon flight until the day after the wedding so the dinner option had been taken off the agenda.
As pleasant and fun as last night had been the whole evening had been exhausting. Her soon-to-be mother-in-law and her sister, Lily, had organized a genuinely lovely but hectic wedding week down to the last detail. Jess had sworn she wouldn’t complain. She wanted to be happy and to enjoy all the festivities. The truth was, she was simply tired. At forty-two years old and five months pregnant, she wasn’t your typical blushing, energetic bride. Right now she’d trade her mani-pedi for a nap.
“We don’t get a mani-pedi?” Harper teased.
Lori waved him off. “Please. Tonight is ladies night.”
“I guess that means we get a guys’ night,” Hayes suggested.
Harper shrugged. “I have my son tonight, but you and Cook are welcome to come over for pizza.”
“Before you go,” Cook said, interrupting the male bonding moment, “we have a little something for you, Chief.”
Bag slung over her shoulder, Jess hesitated as she rounded her desk. “What? You guys have done too much already. You shouldn’t have bothered with a gift.” She’d lost count of the gifts she and Dan had received. In the past two weeks there had been a shower hosted by the bridesmaids, another one hosted by Dan’s mother, and yet another one from the BPD. There were also endless gifts from long distance friends—like Wesley Duvall, her ex-husband, and Ralph Gant, her former boss at the Bureau. She didn’t need more presents.
From beneath his desk Cook removed a gift wrapped in the traditional snow white paper and tied with an elegant silk ribbon in the same white.
What was she going to do with this wonderful group of people? “You better not make me cry.”
“No promises.” Lori placed the package on Jess’s desk. “It’s from all of us.”
Jess shrugged off her bag, letting it slip to the floor. She opened the gift with shaking hands. Foolishl
y, she had hoped to make it through this day with no tears. At this point she wasn’t sure she could keep blaming her emotions on the pregnancy. Beneath the glossy wrapping was a white box stuffed with tissue paper. Wrapped carefully in the paper was an eight-by-ten photograph of the entire team framed in Waterford crystal.
“When was this taken?” She didn’t remember anyone snapping a photo like this. Judging by the outfit she wore it had been taken in the past couple of months. Lately, she’d had to go with fabrics that had a little stretch to them. The crime scene looked vaguely familiar.
“I had one of my buddies from the Crime Scene Unit take it when we worked that case with the missing cousins,” Chad explained.
“Read the inscription on the frame,” Lori suggested.
Before she’d even read the engraved words Jess was already swiping at her eyes. “Your family away from home.”
“While you’re on your honeymoon and then staying home with the baby,” Harper said, “we didn’t want you to forget about us.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about that,” Jess assured them.
After hugs were exchanged and Jess had totally ruined her mascara, Lori insisted they had to go.
It was Friday after all. The case was closed and Jess had less than a day before her wedding to the man she’d loved for twenty-five years.
2
3309 Dell Road
Mountain Brook, Alabama
Saturday, December 19, 1:30 a.m.
Empty boxes were scattered all over the floor. The distinct evergreen scent of the Fraser Fir mingled with the lingering smell of sugar cookies. Jess stood back and surveyed the enormous tree. Dan had borrowed his father’s truck and driven out to the Christmas tree farm first thing Thursday morning. He’d brought the tree into the house and set it up so they could hang the first ornament together before leaving for the office. The beautiful angel sitting on the very top of the tree made Jess smile. They’d hoped to get home early enough after the rehearsal dinner to finish decorating but that hadn’t happened.
This morning—yesterday morning, technically—she and Dan had left for work and, according to his mother and Jess’s sister, it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride again until the wedding. It was a ridiculous superstition in Jess’s opinion, but she wasn’t about to test fate. Particularly after the summer she and Dan had survived.
Though she’d missed Dan, Jess and Lily and the bridesmaids had spent the evening doing fun, girlie things. The mani-pedis had been first, and then dinner and going over the preparation list for the big day. Everything was set. Except Jess didn’t feel fully prepared.
She wrapped her arms around herself and ran down her mental checklist. Bear, their sweet but huge yellow Lab, was staying with Detective Cook for the next week. Cook had picked him up after work yesterday. Hayes would be keeping tabs on the house for Jess and Dan while they were in Barbados. Harper was in charge of the team in Jess’s absence.
Everything had been arranged. She and Dan were packed. Although Katherine and Lily had taken care of all the wedding planning, Jess had selected her gown, the veil and shoes as well as all the flowers and most of the music. The rest she had gladly left in their capable hands. She had never been more grateful for that decision than she was this week. Despite the careful planning and meticulous execution of every little thing, Jess felt oddly out of sorts as the final hours before the wedding ticked away.
Somehow there seemed to be too many things undone. She stared at the tree, inhaling the rich scent. It was almost Christmas and she hadn’t hung the rest of the ornaments. She supposed it didn’t really matter since they wouldn’t even be here for Christmas. Yet, not having a decorated tree in their new home for their very first Christmas as a married couple felt wrong. She wanted to return from their honeymoon and smell the scents of the season all through the house. She wanted them to take down the decorations together the way they had in that tiny apartment near Boston College all those years ago.
Maybe this unsettled feeling was just nerves. Jess pressed her hand to her belly. Her sister had been right about most everything so far. She had hit the twenty-week mark in her pregnancy and only gained a few pounds. The worries about her gown fitting had been unnecessary. It fit like a glove. Finding one she loved hadn’t been nearly as problematic as she’d feared. She’d known the moment she saw it that it was the one.
Jess smiled. Tomorrow—today, she reminded herself—she would become Mrs. Daniel Thomas Burnett. She blinked at the emotion that immediately filled her eyes. She had been in love with him since she was seventeen years old. As their college days had come to a close, so had their relationship. They’d spent almost two decades apart and both of them had been married before. Somehow none of that had been able to keep them apart.
“Jess?”
Lily Colburn, Jess’s older sister by two years, shuffled into the room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The huge hair rollers and well-worn chenille robe reminded Jess of their mom. She vividly recalled watching their mother, dressed in a similar robe and slippers, at the stove making breakfast. On Sunday mornings her hair had always been up in rollers.
“I hope I didn’t wake you.” Jess had tried to be quiet.
Lily draped an arm around Jess’s shoulders and surveyed the tree. “Sweetie, you do realize it’s almost two o’clock in the morning and that you’re getting married in just over twelve hours? You should be sleeping.”
Jess reached up and touched the matching rollers in her own hair. “How can you sleep with these things boring into your skull? Wouldn’t it have been easier to go to a salon?”
Lil rolled her eyes. “No salon. I want to do this. Now, all you have to do is climb into that big comfy bed, close your eyes, and focus on something else.” She stared at Jess’s hands and frowned. “You didn’t mess up your manicure, did you?”
“No,” Jess grumbled. “I was stringing lights not scrubbing floors.” She sighed. “I wanted to decorate the tree before we left.” If she’d taken Friday off from work as everyone had wanted her to she might have had time. Maybe this child would give her the ability to walk away from work at a decent hour even if all the i’s weren’t dotted and all the t’s crossed.
“All right.” Lil walked over to the waist high stack of ornament boxes Jess had accumulated since the middle of October when they started showing up in stores. “We’ll decorate your tree, and then you are going to bed.”
Jess smiled. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”
Lil made a sound that was more a grunt than anything else. “As long as we can see to walk down the aisle tomorrow, I don’t mind at all.”
Jess picked up the box of red crystal bells. “I spent a lot of time selecting these ornaments.”
“Money, too,” Lil teased.
After hanging an ornament on the tree, Jess shrugged. “It means a lot to Dan and to me that we start traditions that we’ll keep year after year. The ornaments are part of it.”
Lil hung a shiny silver star. “I know what you mean. Blake and I have ornaments from our first Christmas, too. Those and the ones the kids made when they were little are my favorites.”
“You’re a good sister, Lil.”
“I know.” Lil smiled. “You, too.”
Jess’s cell chimed with an incoming text. She picked up her phone and smiled. “Dan can’t sleep either. He and his father are playing cards.”
Lil laughed. “We’re all going to need naps before the wedding.”
I love you, Jess.
Jess smiled as she replied with love you, too.
As she reached for another ornament, she decided that maybe she didn’t want to sleep at all.
This day was too important to miss a single minute.
7:30 a.m.
A second cup of coffee cleared the haze sufficiently to have Jess tugging the rollers from her hair. Long spirals of blond hair fell around her shoulders. She groaned. Between her puffy eyes and the not so happy feeling in her stomach, she wasn’t su
re how she would get through the day.
A tap on the door and Lil appeared in the bathroom mirror behind Jess. “Dan’s at the door and he insists on speaking to you.”
Jess’s heart leapt. “He’s here?”
“He can’t see you, Jess,” Lil cautioned. “It’s bad luck. Don’t you dare poke your head outside that door.”
Jess considered her reflection. “Don’t worry. If he saw me looking like this he might get cold feet.”
“Not a chance, but keep in mind that I’m the one who would have to answer to Katherine if she found out I let Dan see you.”
“I won’t let him see me,” Jess promised. She didn’t want anyone seeing her like this!
“All right. Go.”
Lil stepped aside, and Jess hurried through the bedroom and down the hall. Sitting on the floor near the Christmas tree, four-year-old Maddie looked up and smiled.
“We gots the same hair, Aunt Jess.” She tugged at a long lock of her blond tresses.
Jess smiled down at her little niece. “We sure do. Your mommy swears she can make it beautiful.”
Maddie looked about as convinced as Jess felt.
In the entry hall, Jess hesitated to catch her breath. She couldn’t actually see Dan through the front door’s stained glass, but she could make out his form. Tall, broad shoulders. Her mind easily filled in the rest. With every fiber of her being she wanted to go to him. She wanted to feel his arms around her and to rest her cheek against his chest.
Just a few more hours.
She went to the door and opened it just a crack so they could hear each other without shouting. She pressed her hand to the glass, wishing she could somehow touch him through it. “Good morning.”
“Hey. I know I’m not supposed to be here.”
Jess heard the smile in his voice and her heart melted a little more. “The rules don’t say we can’t talk.”
His soft laugh had her trembling with the renewed urge to throw open the door and fall into his arms.