The Dying Room by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online

her child away and never looked back?
    “Maybe you are as cold-hearted as your ex and his friends think,” she accused the woman staring back at her.
    Sylvia turned away from the mirror and climbed into the tub. She sank into the deliciously hot water, closed her eyes, and tried to relax. She banished the voices from the past and sought a calm, quiet place.
    If only her mind hadn’t found Buddy there...

 

Chapter 8
    Dell Road, Mountain Brook, 11:15 p.m.
    Jess tossed aside the forensic report on the Rutledge homicide scene. Bear, her yellow Lab who looked more like a small pony than a dog, lifted his head and gazed at her. “Sorry, boy.” She scratched him behind the ears.
    She was frustrated, that was all. The killer in this case had taken great care in not leaving identifiable evidence. The prints of the victim, his housekeeper, as well as his son and late wife had all been eliminated. Though his wife had been deceased for two years, her prints remained on the perfume bottles still sitting on the dressing table in her bedroom and anything else in the house that had been important to her. The housekeeper was never allowed to touch his wife’s belongings and treasures with anything other than a feather duster. The judge insisted that those things remain exactly as his wife had left them. Jess believed the man had a bigger heart than most who knew him believed.
    The son, Harvey, proved little help to the investigation. He and his father hadn’t seen eye to eye, according to the son, since he graduated high school and decided to go into architectural engineering rather than law. Since his mother passed away, the son only came home for Christmas. He and his father spoke by phone occasionally and briefly, but saw each other only on that one day each year. If the judge had any enemies, the son had no idea who they might be or why any animosity existed. His father never mentioned any problems. All judges received threats at one time or another in their careers. Rutledge had suffered with plenty, including the attempt on his life, but none of the documented incidents were recent.
    So far, those who knew the judge the best felt convinced that whomever had done this terrible thing was related in some way to a ruling he’d made on a case. No one could point to a specific case that stood out in his or her mind. Nearly all his rulings had been controversial, making most of them memorable.
    Jess scowled at the pile of reports spread around her on the floor. How could the victim have had an enemy who hated him enough to take such a risk without anyone noticing that trouble was brewing? Entering a man’s home and creating a scene like the one found in Rutledge’s library took time and focus. Holding the judge hostage and worse in that very room required comprehensive planning and an equally comprehensive knowledge of the comings and goings at the judge’s home. None of his neighbors had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
    The killer not only knew the judge, he had watched him and his housekeeper for a good long while before executing his plan. The judge had apparently allowed his killer into his home without resistance.
    For now, Jess would keep her team focused on the death penalty cases of the past decade. Since all death penalty cases from the judge’s career had been plastered on that library wall, each one would be studied. One by one, relatives of each of the defendants were being interviewed and alibis confirmed. Jess heaved a weary breath. The trouble with that theory was that everyone they’d interviewed so far had an alibi.
    Dan sat down on the floor next to her. Bear immediately shifted closer and rested his head against him. “It’s time to call it a day, Jess.” He removed her eyeglasses, folded them, and placed them on the coffee table. “You need rest. The baby needs you to rest. Even Bear is exhausted just watching you work.”
    He was right. She placed her hands on her enormous belly. “Sorry. I lost