The Dying Room by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

track of time.” She’d promised him no more crawling into bed at midnight.
    He smiled and her heart reacted. From the first time she laid eyes on him back in high school, she’d fallen for that smile and those dimples. And the blue eyes. Even now, more than two decades later, she melted just a little simply looking at him. Daniel Burnett completed her. She couldn’t begin to count the number of times he had told her the same. He made her so very happy. She couldn’t wait for the baby to come. The idea was still a little scary, but she believed without doubt that Dan would be an amazing father. His parents would be wonderful grandparents and her sister Lily would be the perfect aunt.
    Jess aspired to be even half as good a mother as Dan would be a father.
    He kissed her temple. “How about I organize all this for you? I’ll leave it on your desk while you go get ready for bed.”
    Dan had insisted that all work was to be left at the office or kept in the home office. Jess had always created a case board at home. At her last place, she used the living room wall. With the baby coming, taping photos of victims and suspects on a common wall was not a good idea. She surveyed the wall of her office where Dan had installed an enormous white board. This worked just fine.
    “You’ll have to help me up.” She turned to him and made a face. “Getting on all fours and crawling to the desk to help myself up isn’t exactly attractive.”
    Dan laughed. “You might be surprised how attractive I would find you in any position.”
    “Ha ha. Now help me up.”
    Dan got to his feet and held out his hands. Jess put her hands in his and first moved up on her knees, then to her feet.
    “Thank you. Oh!” She pressed her hand to her belly. “I guess the baby didn’t like it that I got up and disturbed her sleep.” Jess laughed as she placed Dan’s hand to her belly. “Do you feel that?” The baby moving still amazed her. At first, it had been nothing more than those little butterfly wing flutters. Eventually, she’d felt the kicks and then it was the baby moving around. There wasn’t a lot of room left these days so the baby’s movements were particularly startling at times.
    Dan’s grin made her heart perform another of those happy little pitter-patters. “I can’t believe
he
will be here in a mere twenty days.”
    “
She
will be here before we know it,” Jess teased. They had this ongoing banter about the gender of the baby.
    “A little Jess will be fine by me.” Dan scooped up the reports.
    Jess grabbed a pile and carried it to her desk. If she didn’t help, Dan would be in here all night. He had a desk on the other side of the room that sat in front of the windows overlooking the backyard. Jess had wanted hers close to her case board. Besides, the gardens could be too distracting. Under the meticulous direction of Katherine, she and Dan had planted hundreds of bulbs in early December. Now those gorgeous tulips provided a river of color around the yard. The landscape lighting showcased clumps of brilliant reds and soft pinks as well as rich purples. She’d never had a flower garden much less a vegetable garden but they’d already planned out a small vegetable plot.
    Eating healthy was more important than ever now. They were going to be parents. Setting a good example in all things was important. No more M&M stashes—at least not at home.
    When her work piles were organized on her desk, Dan turned out the lights. “Did Lily tell you she found a magician for Maddie’s birthday party?”
    “That’s great.” Jess wrapped her arm around his as they headed for their bedroom. Bear followed close behind them. “Maddie seems so happy.”
    Four-year-old—soon to be five—Maddie was the daughter of the half-sister Jess and Lil hadn’t known about until a few months ago. Amanda Brownfield, a serial killer herself, had ended up a victim of the infamous serial killer Eric Spears. Lily and her husband Blake had adopted