The Dying Room (7 page)

Crescent Road, 10:19 p.m.

Joe Pratt threw the damned remote at the television. It bounced off and shattered on the floor. One of these days the damned Coleman bitch would get what was coming to her. He’d hoped when the city learned she’d hidden her secret life as a lesbian she would be finished here. But the fools had forgiven her. Just as the fools had in Sodom and Gomorrah.

“This city is going to hell.”

His life had already gone to hell. In the past six months, he’d been forced to resign as mayor, his wife had left him, and his son wasn’t speaking to him. All because he had played the game.

He stomped to the bar and poured himself another scotch. How was a man supposed to make it in this world if the devil kept throwing obstacles in his way? He’d never done one damned thing that wasn’t for the greater good. He’d followed in his father’s footsteps, ultimately rising far above those accomplishments. He had served this city and helped it to flourish as never before.

Where had the sacrifices gotten him? Charged with unspeakable crimes and alone.

“Bastards.” He downed a hefty serving of his favorite drink. His own wife had turned on him as if all the years he had devoted to her meant nothing. His attorney had warned him the bitch was determined to have this house. It was his family home, not hers. He shoved his hand into his pocket and removed his keys. She expected him to give her half of everything. Disgusted, he threw the keys against the wall. Just his luck the damned things slid behind the bookcase. Didn’t matter. He wasn’t allowed to leave the property. He made a disgusted sound.

At any rate, he’d have to hunt up his spare set to lock the door before he went to bed. Or maybe he’d locked the door when he came inside. He couldn’t remember. He’d been far too angry. A man couldn’t even have a drink on his own front porch without some lowlife reporter sneaking through the shrubbery.

“Screw it.” He didn’t give one damn anymore.

His life was destroyed. One of these days, the blind fools would realize that men like Daniel Burnett were not the answer to their dreams. Burnett was too damned self-righteous, too damned good to do the necessary evils that life sometimes required. Few men were prepared to make the sacrifices Joe had made.

And that wife of Burnett’s... Jess had showed up in Joe’s town and brought the devil himself with her. The damned serial killer who’d followed her here had been responsible for the murder of dozens of citizens, and still Jess was the darling of Birmingham. The way she and Burnett stayed in the news with their every move documented as if they were royalty made Joe sick.

The favored couple would never make it. Just wait until real trouble hit the city. Those two would be worthless. The citizens would be clamoring for Joe then. But he’d be in prison... rotting away for doing nothing more than what was necessary to get the job done. This city prospered because of his sacrifices.

How dare
she
come here to question him about the murder of an old friend! Harmon Rutledge had known what it took to serve this state and this city. Like Joe, the judge had sacrificed more than anyone would ever know. Men were no longer forged the way he and Harmon had been. Most of them turned into the kind of indecisive namby-pamby morons Baron and the others had become. The very idea Jess and her minion would show up at his home infuriated him. Furthermore, he was still fuming that Robert had come up with the ridiculous theory that Wilson Hilliard was somehow responsible for the judge’s death. The man was grasping at straws.

“They can all go to hell.” He poured himself two more fingers of scotch before stumbling out onto the back patio and staring up at the moon. His ancestors had helped build this city with their own blood, sweat, and tears. “So much for loyalty.”

“What would you know about loyalty?”

Joe whirled around, almost lost his balance. He tried to see who had spoken. Whoever it was lingered in the shadows beyond the moonlight’s reach. “Who’s there?”

“A ghost from your past, Mr. Mayor.”

Joe tried to place the voice, the man sounded vaguely familiar. “If you have the nerve to come uninvited onto my property, at least have the guts to show yourself.”

A tall thin man stepped out of the shadows. His movements were stilted. Not a young man, Joe decided. The long face nudged at Joe’s memory but he couldn’t place it.

“You probably won’t remember me, Mayor Pratt.” He held up what appeared to be a cell phone and snapped a photograph.

Joe blinked at the flash. Another damned reporter! Bastards. “What do you think you’re doing?” Joe reared back and puffed out his chest. “I suggest you delete that photograph and get off my property before I call the police.” Joe swayed in spite of his best efforts to hold himself steady. The idea that this reporter was wearing rubber gloves joined the other whirling thoughts in his head.

The man was suddenly standing right next to him. “I don’t think you will, Mayor.”

Joe tried to back away but the man’s iron grip on his arm held him close. “Unhand me!”

“Come inside, Mayor. We wouldn’t want your neighbors to be disturbed. We have much to discuss.”

Joe tried to fight him. He kicked at his leg and hit something hard like steel. His glass crashed onto the stones. He opened his mouth to shout but a cloth closed over his face. The pungent smell overwhelmed him. He tried not to breath but it was too late... the deadening fumes filled his lungs.

The sound of his heels dragging on the stone patio followed him into nothingness.

Parkridge Drive, Homewood, 11:00 p.m.

Lori Wells scrubbed her face and added a layer of moisturizer. She studied her reflection.
Wow
. Anticipation rushed through her. She was going to be a mother. She hadn’t expected to be
expecting
in this decade. Jess was right when she said that not even a year ago Lori had been totally focused on her career.

She lifted her hand and admired the gorgeous engagement ring Chet had given her last September. He’d made her the happiest woman in the world with his heartfelt proposal. Now, to be carrying his child was a dream come true. Her mother was so excited. Her sister couldn’t wait to be an auntie.

“You okay?”

Chet moved up behind her and Lori’s breath caught. He smiled at her in the mirror and her heart picked up its pace. “I was just taking care of all those little extra details that keep me looking like the woman you want to marry,” she teased.

His arms came around her waist and he nuzzled her neck. “You’re perfect just the way you are. No extra details necessary.”

Lori turned in his arms and smiled up at him. “No one has ever made me feel as cherished as you do.” Chet Harper was the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on. More importantly, he was a kind and generous man as well as a loving father to Chester. He was a good cop and she loved him with all her heart.

“I plan on spending the rest of my life making you feel that way.” He brushed a kiss across her lips. “Hmm, you taste good.”

She giggled. “You like my toothpaste, do you?”

He pressed his forehead to hers and grinned. “I love everything about you.”

“I guess you’ll still love me when I’m big and fat.”

“You will never be big and fat to me, no matter what size you are.”

Lori had to laugh. “You sure know how to say all the right words, Sergeant Harper.”

He lifted her into his arms. “I have all the right moves, too, Detective.”

Lori laughed as he carried her to their bed. They bounced down on it together and she sighed. “When we get old and one of us dies, you think the other will end up all alone like the judge?”

Chet frowned. “What are you talking about? Chester will be there for us.” He rubbed her tummy. “And we’ll have this one. Our children won’t ever desert us that way. We’ll be such good parents they’ll want to be there for us.”

She stroked his strong jaw. “I hope so. I can’t imagine ignoring my mother. I will always be here for her.”

“I’ll be here for her, too.”

Chet’s parents were deceased, but he treated her mother as if she were his own. Lori appreciated that more than words could properly articulate. “She loves you like a son.”

Chet braced his forearms on either side of her head. “Good cause I adore her.”

“Jess and I interviewed Tina Templeton. She denies any connection to the judge.”

“I don’t know why you didn’t let Hayes and me take care of that interview.”

Laughter burst out of Lori. “No way were we going to have you guys interviewing the premiere madam of Birmingham.”

“Alleged premiere madam,” he reminded her.

“Whatever.” Lori banged at his chest. “You know who she is.”

Chet laughed. “Every male over the age of 14 knows who she is. Did you really expect her to admit dealings with a person who is now a homicide victim?”

“Hey, why not? Unless she has something to hide, of course.” Lori couldn’t help being mesmerized by the beautiful woman. At fifty-seven, she’d been involved in or operating an escort service under the law’s radar for almost forty years. The most intriguing part was her ability not to get caught. The fact that her service catered to the rich and powerful and was very discreet probably helped. Her employees were well trained and all damned gorgeous.

“She has plenty to hide I’m sure,” Chet countered, “but I doubt her sins include the judge’s murder.”

Lori ran her fingers through his dark hair. “Whoever killed the judge did a hell of a job of not leaving behind any evidence.”

“We’ll get him.” Chet rolled onto his side. “We always do.”

Lori turned on her side to face him. “What’re we going to do when the baby comes?”

“If you want to stay home for a while or until he or she graduates high school that’s fine by me. We can manage on one income.”

They were lucky when it came to finances. “It’s a big decision, but right now I can’t imagine giving up my career. I love being a cop. I worked hard to get where I am.”

“You did,” Chet agreed. “Is the chief still planning to come back to work?”

“Definitely.” Lori traced a path down his chest. “Katherine keeps telling her that when she holds that baby in her arms, she may change her mind.”

“Is that what you think will happen with you?”

She looked deep into his dark eyes. “Yeah and it scares the hell out of me. I’m not sure how I feel about putting my career on hold even for a couple of years.”

“Whatever you decide works for me. We’ll be good parents whether we’re both working or not. Your mom would love nothing more than to retire and take care of her grandchild.”

“She sure has made that loud and clear.” Lori had to smile. Her mother would be an amazing grandmother. “Like you said, we have plenty of time to decide.”

“We do.”

“I made another decision just now.” Lori slid her finger into the waistband of his boxers. “These have to go.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He kissed her long and deep and Lori melted into the sensations of making love with Chet. Whatever decision they made about the future, it would be the right one.

Then she stopped thinking at all...

Crescent Road, Wednesday, April 1, 10:15 a.m.

Holding her breath, Jess leaned down to get a closer look at the victim’s face. “There’s some bruising around his mouth.” Other than that small amount of discoloration and the fact that former Mayor Joseph Pratt was tied to a chair in his study, he might have simply been asleep.

The chair had been turned to face the wall on the side of the room farthest from his desk. His wrists were secured to the wooden chair arms with nylon rope in a very similar manner as the judge’s had been. The legs of the chair had been used for binding his ankles. As with Judge Rutledge, a wider nylon band worked like a safety belt to fasten his torso to the back of the chair. The stench of human waste and urine permeated the room.

“The newspaper clippings tell quite a story,” Lori said.

Jess straightened. Rubbing her aching back, she stepped closer to the wall where framed photos of Pratt with various other politicians had been removed and a collage of newspaper articles about Pratt’s career as Birmingham’s mayor had been created.

“All of it bad,” Jess pointed out.

Unbeknownst to his constituents, the mayor had spent most of his career doing what was best for himself and his close friends. Of course, he had accomplished a fair amount of good for the city, but the greater part of his endeavors and achievements had been self-serving. Jess wanted to feel bad that he’d spent his final hours of life being forced to face his nasty deeds, but somehow she didn’t. Maybe it was because one of Pratt’s final acts as mayor had been an attempt to destroy Dan’s career. Not to mention his callous efforts had posed a serious threat to Dan’s personal life.

“Looks like we’re dealing with the same killer as the one in the Rutledge case,” Lori suggested.

“No doubt.” Jess considered the staging of the victim once more. “Same type and color nylon rope. Same knots. Same
brag
wall of photos and clippings collected over time.” She gestured to the newspaper clippings plastered to the wall. “The question is what did both ex-Mayor Pratt and retired Judge Rutledge have in common that triggered a motive for murder?”

Every violent act committed was prompted by motive. In Jess’s experience, the sooner the motive was uncovered the sooner the killer was revealed. Find the motive, find the killer. If Pratt and Rutledge were victims of the same killer, then the two victims shared a common thread that apparently linked their lives and/or careers. Rutledge’s rulings may have seemed heartless or simply wrong to the family members and friends of convicted criminals, so revenge was a reasonable motive. Jess couldn’t quite see a similar motive for Pratt’s murder. His vile deeds had only recently been revealed to the public. It would take some digging to uncover any suspects carrying a murderous grudge against both Rutledge and Pratt.

Lori checked her phone. “Lieutenant Hayes is talking to the wife now. He was able to catch her before she saw the news.”

“Good.” Before Jess arrived at the scene reporters had already descended on the block. Birmingham’s finest had done a great job clearing the area, but it hadn’t taken long for an ambitious reporter to slip through and determine the probable victim. Pratt had been the focus in the news for months now. In the beginning, his devoted wife had been at his side. Eventually, news broke that she had left him. Still, the two had a long history. The news was no doubt shattering for her as well as their son.

“Is the ME on the way?” Jess was surprised Sylvia wasn’t here already. Lately everyone moved faster than Jess did.

“She should be here by now.” Lori checked her phone again. “I can call her.”

Jess shook her head. “Let’s give her a few more minutes. She may have run into a traffic issue.” Though Harper had gone through the house before Jess arrived, she wanted to have a look around herself. “Let’s take a walk through while we wait for Sylvia.”

Crime scene techs had arrived and were going through their protocols. Pratt’s computer as well as his cell phone would be taken to the lab, and phone records would be ordered. Harper, the first detective on the scene, was now interviewing neighbors. Jess and Lori moved through the house, room by room, the first floor and then the second. Harper had found no indications of forced entry during his search. Though all windows remained locked, the front door, as well as the one leading onto the patio, had been unlocked. As with Rutledge, the lack of forced entry suggested the victim knew his killer. Although they had discovered broken glass on the patio outside, there was no other indication of a struggle. There was no way to know as of yet if the broken glass had anything to do with the murder.

Pratt’s attorney, Marvin Siniard, had discovered the body. He and Pratt had an appointment this morning at eight. Since the front door was unlocked, Siniard had rung the bell and entered the house as was customary for their appointments. Harper had interviewed Siniard only briefly since he’d had to leave to be in court. Jess would interview him again later.

Her cell burst into the old-fashioned ring tone she hated. She hesitated on the upstairs landing and dug in her bag for it. One of these days she was going to change that annoying sound to something more pleasant. The only reason she’d kept it this long was because it was so different from everyone else’s. No one wanted it, which made Jess’s ring tone unique in an irritating sort of way.

Dan calling
.

She smiled as she answered the call from her husband. It still warmed her to think of Dan as her husband. They’d been in love since high school, and then spent two decades apart before finding each other again.

“Hey.”

“Hey to you, too,” Dan replied. “Are you feeling better?”

The lower backache that started last night just wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t unusual at this stage of pregnancy, just annoying. “I feel a little better now that I’m moving around.”

Lori went through the upstairs rooms a second time. She wouldn’t go back down the stairs again until Jess was ready to do the same. Her team took extra good care of her. These days Jess sincerely appreciated the extra backup.

“You should be taking it easy, Jess. The doctor said—”

“I know what the doctor said,” Jess caught herself and added, “sweetheart.” Dan was only trying to help. “I’m fine. If I need to sit down, I will.” She would be taking enough time off work in the coming months. No need to start now.

“I’m certain you will,” Dan replied patiently. “What’re we looking at?”

“Same MO as the Rutledge homicide.” Jess knew Dan would have preferred to come to the scene personally, but his attorney had advised him to steer clear of anything related to the former mayor until his case was adjudicated. Then again, she supposed the Pratt case was closed as of now anyway. “No indications of forced entry. No readily discernible cause of death. He was home alone. The front and rear doors were unlocked. The ME isn’t here yet, but I would estimate that Pratt’s been dead seven or so hours.”

“I’d like to hear more frequent updates on this one, Jess. Have Detective Wells keep me in the communications loop. We may have a vigilante out there who’s targeting persons he feels wrongly wielded the power of their positions.”

Jess had a very bad feeling that was exactly what they were looking at. Though Pratt’s misdeeds were a matter of public record now, Rutledge had never been accused of wrongdoing. The killer could decide to target any public figure whose actions he perceived as wrong, making Dan and numerous others potential targets.

At this point, revenge was the only viable motive. Lori had learned from Rutledge’s private physician that he had recently been prescribed Viagra to help protect against heart issues related to the Doxorubicin prescribed for his prostate cancer. So a scorned lover or escort appeared to be off the table.

“I’ll make sure you’re kept in the loop,” Jess promised as she smoothed a hand over her belly. “You just watch your back. We don’t know this killer’s ultimate objective.”

“I’ll call a briefing with the folks who might be potential targets. For now, I don’t see any point in suggesting a serial killer or a mass murderer to the media. Let’s make absolutely certain these two homicides are connected first.”

“Will do,” she promised.

“Be safe, Jess.”

“You, too.”

As Jess dropped her phone back into her bag, the front door opened. Sylvia stepped into the entry hall and looked around before a forensic tech showed her to the body. Maybe it was her imagination, but to Jess her friend looked harried and shaken. Jess wished she would share whatever was going on with her. Being so visibly off her game was completely out of character for the brash, tough as nails deputy coroner. Maybe her distraction had something to do with Buddy. Jess’s old friend had confessed to Dan that he had a thing for Sylvia. Jess still found the idea surprising. When and how had that happened? Talk about opposites attract.

Before Jess reached for the railing and started down the stairs, Lori was at her side. “I didn’t find his car keys.”

Pratt’s keys were nowhere to be found, which was odd since his car was in the driveway rather than the garage. The man was on house arrest. “Have another look around downstairs,” Jess suggested. “As soon as Sylvia gives the okay, check his trouser pockets a little more closely.”

“On it.” Lori took the final step down and set to the task.

Finding the keys was relevant in terms of determining whether or not Pratt had possession of them when the killer entered his home. Jess leaned toward the theory that the victim knew his killer. Breaking and entering likely hadn’t been necessary. Jess headed for the study. Sylvia had already begun the process of determining approximate time of death. The small incision below the ribcage allowed her access to the liver. Liver temperature was an incredibly accurate way to gauge time of death.

Despite her harried demeanor when she’d arrived, Sylvia was dressed impeccably. The lavender skirt and jacket were no doubt tailor made for her tall, slender figure. The matching high heels made Jess regret having given hers up months ago. Oh well, she had other priorities now.

“Time of death was between two and four this morning,” Sylvia announced. She looked at Jess and presented a weak effort at a smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Jess fished out her notepad and pencil and jotted down the information. “You look especially nice this morning.” The lavender was a good color on Sylvia.

“I have a business lunch,” Sylvia said, playing off the compliment.

The truth was, Sylvia always looked nice. It was the distracted expression she wore and the atypical sense of being in a rush that were so out of place.

“We should have lunch soon,” Jess suggested. “I’d like to plan a baby shower for Lori. I could use your help.”

“Sure.” Sylvia focused her full attention on the body.

“I’ll call Gina and figure out a good time.”

Sylvia made an agreeable sound without looking Jess’s way again.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Jess headed back to the entry hall.

Whatever was eating at Sylvia she had no intention of sharing it—at least not right now. Life was so much simpler when Jess had been too focused on her career to have real friends. Maybe she’d demand an explanation from Buddy.

“The keys weren’t in his pockets,” Lori announced as she joined Jess.

“Let’s find out what time the attorney will be free.” Jess had a long list of questions for him though she was confident he wasn’t their killer.

“Hayes called. He said the wife is particularly upset because she and Pratt had exchanged heated words over dinner last night regarding the divorce settlement. Otherwise, she had no idea who might have wanted to do anything like this.”

Jess felt for the poor woman. Losing a loved one—even an estranged one—with hurtful words as the final exchange made the loss even more painful. Whether it was the pregnancy or just the fact that she was getting older, Jess had spent a lot of time thinking about her relationships lately. She and Aunt Wanda had made amends after a lifetime of estrangement. The most surprising part was that Jess had come to see that she actually
liked
Wanda.

Life was full of surprises.

Joe Pratt had faced a startling one last night. No matter how powerful a man thought he was and how many friends he thought he had, the past always caught up with him and it was rarely pretty.