Faces of Evil [4] Rage by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online Page B

behind her.
    “That is none of your business, Chief Harris.” Burnett faked a smile. “By the way, I almost forgot to ask. How’s Agent Duvall?”
    Chief Harris? “Don’t even go there. Wesley is my only— only —ex. Everyone’s entitled to one.” Jess promptly turned her back. “I have a case to solve.”
    “See you at five,” he called after her.
    “Five thirty,” she tossed back on her way out the door.
    That was the thing about exes. Whether it was the other half of her one failed marriage or her twenty-year-old love affair with Burnett, an ex was like a bad penny, they just kept showing up again.
    And these days a penny was pretty much worthless.

 
    L ieutenant Grayson saw his wife at eight last night when he stopped by to tuck his son into bed. When he left Mrs. Grayson was watching a movie.” Harper added the movie title to the timeline he had created on the white board in the SPU offices. “The DVD was lying on the coffee table at the scene this morning.”
    “Can anyone else corroborate the times he gave for returning to work last night and leaving for home this morning?” Jess leaned against the front of her desk. According to Grayson, he and his partner, Sergeant Jack Riley, had been providing support to BPD’s Gang Task Force in their off-duty time. As head of the GTF, Captain Ted Allen was drawing as much manpower from the other divisions as he could in an attempt to get a handle on Birmingham’s escalating gang problem.
    “Sergeant Riley and Lieutenant Prescott have confirmed that Grayson left for home just before eight last night and returned shortly before nine.” Harper noted the times on the board. “He pulled an all-nighter and didn’t return home until he got the call about the murder this morning.”
    Prescott belonged to SPU but she, too, was on loan to the GTF. Considering she was not happy at all that an outsider like Jess had gotten the newest deputy chief position, she wasn’t likely in any hurry to be taken off that detail. Or to assist Jess in this case or any other. No matter that Birmingham was her hometown, Jess had spent more than two decades away. Most of that time she had worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That made her an outsider to those who’d served locally for their entire careers.
    That she’d been offered this position by her former fiancé, Chief of Police Daniel Burnett, ensured that most failed to consider her qualifications for the job before assuming the worst. Jess had a long, uphill journey when it came to fitting in and gaining the respect of her peers and subordinates.
    No problem. She’d been climbing hills since the age of ten.
    “Nothing from Dr. Leeds on the time of death?” she asked Officer Chad Cook, the youngest and least experienced member of their unit.
    “Not yet, ma’am,” he piped up. “Dr. Leeds’s assistant expects they’ll have some preliminary information around two.”
    Jess hoped so. She had to give Burnett something by five thirty. The BPD’s division chiefs and the mayor would likely be at the six o’clock briefing. All involved would want assurances that the investigation was well under way. Getting some estimate on time of death and narrowing down cause of death would be helpful.
    Detective Wells turned in her chair to face Jess and the others, hopefully with an update on the Grayson family financials.
    “Lieutenant Grayson’s finances have changed in the past year. He inherited a handsome sum from a rich uncle. In addition,” Lori went on, “to the home on Shady Creek Drive, and the pool guy, he recently purchased a beach house just outside Mobile along with a boat and two Jet Skis as well as a vintage Corvette. We’re not talking millions here, but a tidy sum nonetheless.”
    “A vintage Corvette,” Cook noted. “Nice. We young guys can never afford that. It’s always the old geezers driving a sweet ride like that.”
    “That’s what Trenton meant,” Jess rationalized, ignoring their