The Face of Evil Read online

  The Face of Evil

  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.

  Smashwords Edition

  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

  False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

  ~Socrates

  1

  Birmingham Police Department

  Birmingham, Alabama

  Sunday, August 29, 11:30 a.m.

  Deputy Chief Jess Harris closed her notepad and placed her pencil on the shiny conference table. Her heart thudded so hard it made her chest hurt.

  Another young woman was missing, Monica Atmore, a legal secretary in Montgomery. This time there were no games. No question as to who the victim was. The twenty-five year old hadn’t come home on Friday night. Her husband reported her missing first thing Saturday morning.

  No need to look any farther. Monica Atmore was with Eric Spears aka the Player—one of the most prolific serial killers on the planet. The one obsessed with Jess. The one who wanted to destroy all that she loved. He sent photos of his victims to her just to taunt her. Fury combined with the fear paralyzing her, making her want to scream.

  “You’ll get an update the moment I have one.”

  The sound of Supervisory Special Agent Ralph Gant’s voice jarred Jess back to attention. Gant was lead in the Joint Task Force attempting to find and stop Eric Spears. He was also Jess’s former superior, what felt like a lifetime ago, when she’d worked as a profiler for the Bureau.

  Gant’s image on the screen faded as the video conference call ended. Chairs squeaked and suits rustled as the rest of the attendees around the table prepared to leave the room. No one said a word to Jess.

  There was nothing else to talk about. God only knew where Spears was. He had at least two hostages at this point and there wasn’t a solitary lead on his whereabouts or theirs. They had nothing except the reality that every move he made was about her.

  Jess didn’t bother standing nor did she miss the glances from the rest of the members of the Joint Task Force. The two local Bureau agents were the first out of the room. Deputy Chief Harold Black, head of the Crimes Against Persons Division, walked out with Mayor Pratt at his side. Jess didn’t care that Black and the others blamed her for this—fact was she blamed herself. What tore her apart was the damage being done to the man she loved.

  When the silence had thickened in the room once more, there was only the two of them. She could hardly bear to look at Chief of Police Dan Burnett.

  Dear God, she had crashed her career with the Bureau and now she had all but destroyed his. To torment her, Eric Spears had targeted Dan, pitching his career into turmoil and his life into jeopardy.

  How in the world would she stop this insanity?

  “At least we’re not chasing down dead ends trying to identify his latest victim,” Dan said, voicing her earlier thoughts. The hint of hope in his tone fell just shy of optimism.

  Dan was no fool. He understood the situation was grave for all concerned.

  Jess tucked away her pad and pencil and pushed out of her chair. “That’s something, I guess.” She shouldered her bag and tried her level best not to let him see her hands shaking. “I should get to my office.”

  As deputy chief of the department’s Special Problems Unit, she had work of her own to do. Even as the thought formed, her head spun. Spears would not stop until he had what he wanted. Even if it meant everyone around her was destroyed.

  Dan caught her at the door. He cupped her face so gently with his strong hands that she wanted to weep. “This will be over soon. You have my word on that.”

  The sincerity in his blue eyes was almost her undoing. How could he hope to fulfill that promise? He knew what they were up against—what he was facing. And the baby—her heart lurched—protecting the child she carried was her constant worry just now.

  “We’re doing all we can,” she agreed, for his benefit. She tiptoed and brushed a kiss across his jaw. The warmth and certainty in his eyes chased away some of the cold that seemed her constant companion. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  She left before her emotions got the better of her. That was the thing about being pregnant—keeping her emotions in check was a serious challenge. Good grief, who would have thought when she returned to her hometown, just a few short weeks ago, that she would end up staying for good and back in the arms of the only man she’d ever loved? And pregnant.

  No wonder her head was spinning.

  Sergeant Chet Harper waited in the corridor outside Dan’s office. Her escort. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, not even the ladies’ room at this point, without an escort.

  Harper gave her a nod. “Ma’am, you have a visitor waiting in your office.”

  Jess frowned. “Should I avoid my office, Sergeant?” She was in no mood to see anyone not part of her team. The media frenzy that hit the news last night was enough attention for the next couple of decades. In the last week, she had gone from being the favored new cop in Birmingham to being the pariah of the city.

  “Maybe,” Harper allowed. “It’s Gina Coleman. We told her you were tied up but she insisted on waiting.”

  Gina Coleman was the Magic City’s award winning investigative journalist. If she was determined to get the scoop on Spears’ latest move, she could forget it. Then again, she had done some favors for Jess recently, and she was undeniably the voice of integrity and substance in the local media. Maybe she could give Gina something. Since returning to her hometown, Jess had learned just how important it was to have an “in” with the local media—even if they made her nuts most of the time.

  “All right then, I might as well see what I can do for Ms. Coleman this morning.”

  By the time they had gone down a flight of stairs and made it to her office, Jess had pushed aside the mountain of worries and prepared a kernel of information she hoped would satisfy Gina.

  The other members of the SPU team present this morning looked up as Jess and Harper entered the office. Their working space was nothing more than one big room filled with desks and an empty case board, but it worked. They’d solved their latest case less than forty-eight hours ago.

  Gina Coleman stood at the window behind Jess’s desk. She looked amazing as always. Sleek, formfitting white jacket and skirt. A killer pair of white stilettos. Also as usual, not a strand of her lush brunette hair was out of place. Jess resisted the urge to sigh. How was it that some women made looking that good appear so effortless?

  “Chief Harris,” Gina smiled, “I hoped you might be available for lunch.”

  As if on cue, Jess’s stomach rumbled. Everything tasted better these days. By the time she was ready to have this kid she would surely be enormous. A groan rose in her throat but she kept it to herself. She and Dan were the only ones who knew about the baby. As if she’d telegraphed the thought, Lieutenant Clint Hayes, the newest member of their team, opened one of his desk drawers. Hayes had learned her secret but he’d sworn to keep it to himself. Jess hated secrets but she just couldn�
��t share this news right now. Not and risk Spears finding out. He would love another pawn to use against her. She couldn’t afford to give him any more ammunition.

  “Today is not a good day for lunch,” Jess admitted. She glanced at Lori Wells, the only female detective on her team. “We usually have a working lunch.”

  “I called in an order for pizza from Gino’s,” Lori said, taking Jess’s cue.

  The uncertainty in her voice almost made Jess cringe. How she wished she could make Lori see that she hadn’t done anything wrong. The events that played out in that restaurant on Friday couldn’t have been anticipated by anyone.

  Coleman gave a nod. “I see.” The gleam in her eyes warned she wouldn’t be so easily deterred. “I guess you’re not interested in what I can do to help.”

  The hint of something beyond the usual self-confidence in her expression nudged Jess’s curiosity. She turned to Lori. “Miss Coleman and I will need some time.”

  Without meeting Jess’s gaze this time, Lori grabbed her purse. “I wasn’t in the mood for pizza anyway.”

  So far, nothing Jess had said had penetrated the layers of guilt overwhelming Lori. She needed time. Unfortunately, time was something they had little of to spare.

  “I love pizza,” Hayes spoke up.

  Jess would have liked nothing better than to tell the newest member of her team to go with the others. Why waste the energy? She understood that wouldn’t be happening, and, for the most part, had come to terms with that inevitability since her safety wasn’t only about her anymore.

  “Good,” Jess told him. “You can make sure we’re not disturbed, Lieutenant.”

  That was her one complaint about their shared space. Though the open concept worked well when the team was brainstorming on a case, there was no privacy for meetings like the one she was about to have with Gina.

  “Happy to oblige, ma’am,” Hayes said, in his best southern drawl.

  When she and Gina had the office to themselves, Jess opted to set the ground rules. “You’re aware there are certain things I can’t talk about yet.”

  Gina moved to the front of Jess’s desk and made herself comfortable in a chair. “I doubt you know anything the media doesn’t have already.”

  There was that.

  Jess settled behind her desk. So much for the tidbit she’d decided to give the reporter. “Then why bother coming? I can tell you right now the pizza isn’t that good.”

  “I have a proposition for you, Jess.”

  Jess leaned back in her chair. “I’m listening.”

  “Tell me your story,” Gina began. “The real story of how Spears came to be in your life and how he ruined your career with the FBI. The citizens of Birmingham will eat it up. They love you.”

  Jess laughed. “I think you’d better check your sources on that one. This city has quickly fallen out of love with me.”

  “All these murders have them running scared,” Gina argued. “Spears has them running scared. Let me tell them how he’s taken over your life—what he’s done to you and the people you care about. The world loves a martyr, Jess. And you’re a martyr if I’ve ever seen one.”

  Jess was reasonably sure that was not a compliment. “The story starts back in February, more than six months ago,” she warned. The truth was it started even before that. Like five years before that, but the real trouble had begun this year. “What makes you think people want to hear old news?”

  Gina smiled. “You’ll have to trust my instincts.”

  No arguing that point. The woman hadn’t gotten where she was by going after the wrong stories.

  “What do I get in return for spilling my guts to you?”

  Gina shrugged. “Tell me what I can do for you. I’m confident there’s something. Name it.”

  As if the answer had suddenly been scrawled across her bare case board, Jess knew exactly what Gina Coleman could do for her.

  “I’ll give you the story,” Jess granted.

  Victory, or maybe euphoria at getting the interview every reporter in the state would no doubt wish they’d landed, sparkled in Gina’s eyes.

  “If,” Jess qualified, “you help me find a discreet way to warn the citizens that their beloved chief of police is being framed.”

  Now Jess had the reporter’s attention.

  “I can definitely help with that,” Gina agreed.

  Jess ignored the tinge of jealousy that came automatically at the idea the other woman had once shared Dan’s bed. Didn’t matter. All that mattered was making sure Dan didn’t suffer more than he already had. His home had been burned to the ground. He was being investigated in the case of a missing BPD division chief, Captain Ted Allen. She had to do something to stop this downward spiral.

  “Eric Spears,” Gina said, drawing Jess’s attention from the painful thoughts and to the small recorder now sitting on her desk, “start at the beginning.”

  Jess shuddered at the idea that she’d once owned a recorder very much like that. Funny, how something so seemingly harmless could change one’s life.

  Jess took a breath and began. “It was Valentine’s Day.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Feels like a lifetime ago.”

  2

  Valentine’s Day, Six months earlier...

  Quantico

  Special Agent Jess Harris stared at the massive bouquet of red roses on the corner of her desk. She shook her head. The divorce papers were signed and though the marriage had ended months ago, the legal dissolution wouldn’t be final until the end of this month. Still, it was over. Why in the world did Wesley waste his money sending her flowers? She lifted the card from the lush arrangement.

  Thinking of you. Wesley.

  Jess tossed the card into a desk drawer. “That must be why you accepted a position on the opposite coast.”

  She stared at the open folder in front of her but her mind just didn’t want to stay focused. The idea of holding the divorce against Wesley was ridiculous. Their failed marriage was more her fault than his. He was a very nice man and an excellent agent. Wesley Duvall’s only mistake had been being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jess had turned forty and getting married promptly went from nowhere near her priority list to practically the top. Forty had felt so old and she’d never been married. Everyone around her was or had been at least once in their lives. The idea that her old flame, Dan Burnett, had been married twice already hadn’t played a part in her reasoning. At least, not one she would acknowledge. That was a secret she fully intended to take with her to the grave.

  A rap on her office door drew her errant attention from those foolish musings. She really didn’t have time for a pity party. All work and no play was her choice. If she ended up old and alone she had no one to blame but herself. Her sister Lily reminded her of that fact regularly.

  “Come in.” Jess had nothing to prove to anyone except to those who needed her assistance with finding criminals.

  The door opened and Supervisory Special Agent Ralph Gant walked in. Judging by the bulging case file he carried he had a new assignment for her. Or maybe he wanted to remind her that an all hands staff meeting included her.

  “I was on a conference call,” Jess said before he could chastise her. “It took me three days to get that time with the coroner on my current case. The detectives are waiting for this profile.” She tapped the folder on her desk. “I knew you’d bring me up to speed and here you are.” She topped off her excuse with a broad smile.

  Gant grunted a disagreeable sound, closed the door and then deposited himself into the chair next to her desk. “I’ll send you an email.”

  So this was about a case. She’d anticipated a reminder that as a career agent and seasoned profiler she was expected to set the proper example.

  “We need to talk about the Player case.”

  Anticipation coursed through her. She forced herself to relax. No need for him to see the immediate interest and hope, frankly, his words elicited. “I gave everything I had to Taylor five months ago li
ke you asked.”

  Gant shrugged. “Unfortunately, we don’t have anything new to add to that.”

  Why wasn’t she surprised? The Bureau had been on the Player’s trail for the past five years and still he remained an unknown subject. Jess had consulted on the case for most of that time. She had studied his victims. His MO. She knew all there was to know about the phantom and his games. Truth be told, she had done almost as much searching for this unsub as any agent in the field.

  No matter, she, like everyone else involved, had no idea who he was beyond the probability that he was a white male in his late thirties to early forties. Intelligent. Resourceful. And ruthless. If Jess’s profile was correct, he was a sociopath in the purest form.

  “He’s like a ghost,” Gant grumbled.

  Jess didn’t believe in ghosts. “It’s difficult to identify a suspect when he leaves no evidence and never strikes in the same place twice.”

  Gant nodded. “That doesn’t help me sleep at night.”

  Insomnia went with the job. How was she or any agent supposed to sleep when every imaginable evil roamed their heads all hours of the day and the night? Only when a case was closed successfully, and the criminals involved were either dead or on their way to justice, did she feel she had done enough. Unfortunately, there were far too many, like the Player case, which remained unsolved. Those were the cases that robbed her of sleep. The average civilian couldn’t understand how a serial killer, like the Player, who had raped and murdered at least six women every year for the past five, that they knew of, hadn’t been caught by now. It was simple. No witnesses and no evidence. Until the Player made a mistake, there was no identifying him much less catching him.

  “Taylor and Bedford have done all they can and they’ve gotten nowhere.”

  Jess bit back I told you so and reminded her boss of what he knew all too well. “It’s time for him to start again.” Goose bumps rose on her flesh. About this time every year the Player’s cycle started. As the date on the calendar had neared, she’d pretended it wasn’t her problem. Had done all she could to ignore the inevitable. But he was there, night and day, on the fringe of her mind.