Ultimate Fear (Book 2 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) Read Free Page B

like the husband shot the wife first,” Alex said from the opposite side of the angel.
    “She was on her knees.” Jessica squatted down. “Her rear is still resting on her heels. First guess, the husband came up from behind her and shot her in the head. Blood spatter and bits of her brain are near the angel’s knee and at the point of the heart slab.”
    “The gun is still in the husband’s hand,” Alex said, also crouching.
    From her angle she couldn’t see the gun, but based on the entry wound on the man’s head, which rested on its side against the woman’s back, it was clearly a suicide. What a waste. She’d never understood the whole murder-suicide thing. If someone wanted to take their life, have at it. But to take another person’s in the process?
    Disgusted, she stood and looked to the heart-shaped slab again. The boy had been adorable in life. Cute smile, laughing eyes and had died— “Oh, my God.” She glanced down at the dead couple. “The boy died a month ago.”
    Alex met her gaze. “The husband didn’t even give her a chance to properly grieve.”
    “He didn’t give himself the chance,” she countered, not with sympathy, but with frustration. She didn’t believe time healed all wounds. Hers were still raw and painful, but she knew first hand that life could go on after death. Just not the life she’d foolishly envisioned. Not the happy home, the warmth of her husband’s embrace or the joy and enchantment of her baby’s endearing smile.
    “Looks like there’s a silencer on the gun,” Alex said.
    Jessica shook off the melancholy and, with it, the image of her daughter’s dimpled smile, and moved behind the headstone to join her partner on the opposite side of the grave. “Unless he’s a cop, I’d say this was definitely premeditative.” In the state of Illinois, it was illegal for civilians to own silencers. “Not that it matters at this point.”
    Megan moved next to them. “Yeah,” she began, “he’s already given himself the death sentence. On the bright side, he saved Chicagoans tax dollars. No trial, no long prison sentence.”
    “Really, Meg?” Audra held up her camera and began taking pictures. “Just because you think it, doesn’t mean you have to say it. These people were obviously grieving for their dead child.”
    Megan rolled her eyes, then knelt and rummaged through her toolkit. “I don’t remember ‘killing your wife’ as being a stage of grief.” She slipped on her protective eyewear. “I mean, I get it. Losing a child has to be the worst thing ever, but there are better ways to deal with—”
    Audra cleared her throat. “Change the subject,” she said, and sent Jessica an apologetic look.
    Megan glanced over at Jessica, before she hung her head. “Sorry, Jess. I…didn’t mean…” She let out an audible breath and went back to her toolkit.
    “Let it go,” Jessica said, looking to the crows above them. There were eight now. “I’m going to head down the hill to talk with the groundskeeper and get the officers to tape off the area.”
    “Jess.” Megan stood. “I really am sorry.”
    She started to back away. “Seriously. Let it go. It was a long time ago.” Six years, two months and four days. She held no contempt toward Megan for her faux pas, but she could have done without the reminder of her own loss. Not that it was ever far from her thoughts. Nor was the pain. The agony. Physically, she was fine. At least that’s what her doctor had told her, but had added that depression could cause the constant dull ache in her neck, back, legs and chest. Her doctor didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. She wasn’t depressed. Donavans didn’t do depression, but they did do anger. For a long time now, she’d certainly had plenty of rage bottled inside her.
    Six years, two months and four days.
    Rather than become caught up by that rage and the excruciating sorrow that sometimes came with it, she quickly pushed her mind to that