TO LOVE, HONOR, AND PERISH
By Christy Barritt
To Love, Honor, and Perish: A Novel
Copyright 2013 by Christy Barritt
Published by River Heights Press
Cover design by The Killion Group
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The persons and events portrayed in this work are the creation of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
CHAPTER 1
“Gabby, you look stunning!” Teddi stepped away from the embankment of mirrors surrounding me and put her hand over her mouth.
I turned to look at my reflection and nearly gasped. “Mamma, mia . . .”
I was wearing a wedding dress. A real, certified wedding gown. It was sleeveless with a brocade around the corset and layers of white silky fabric and tulle flowing down to the floor and beyond.
“Riley’s going to love it,” Teddi said, circling me and taking in every angle. “Of course, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He’d love it even if you were wearing a sackcloth.”
“I think this is the one.” I curtsied in the mirror, unable to take my eyes off the dress. I’d dreamed about this moment for so long. The day I’d find my Prince Charming, he’d realize I was his soul mate, and we lived happily ever after.
Even though Riley and I had been engaged for more than a month, my wedding planning kept getting delayed for various reasons. That’s why Riley and I had decided to have a small, private ceremony in a week. Yes, one week. A little less than that now, for that matter.
Today was Monday. Our wedding was on Sunday.
We were going to have the ceremony in Virginia Beach at the oceanfront. At sunset. I didn’t care about the flowers or fancy invitations. But I did want a dress that would knock Riley’s socks off. What’s a fairytale without a gown worthy of a princess?
Teddi tugged at the back of my gown, right at the zipper, like a seamstress might. “I don’t think you’re going to need to have it altered even. It’s like the dress was made for you.”
Teddi was my dad’s new girlfriend, and she was different from any of the other women who’d been in his life since my mom passed away. What the pint-sized woman lacked in stature, she made up for in hair. The former Texas beauty queen prided herself in having earned the title of Best Gown for three years in a row. In her mind, that made her a fashion expert, and I wasn’t going to argue.
Her hands rested above my hips as she peered behind me in the mirror. “Look at that tiny waist of yours. I used to have a waist like that.”
I didn’t mention that I’d probably dropped five to ten pounds from the stress of last week. Tracking down serial killers could do that to a girl. But that was all behind me now, and it was smooth sailing ahead.
She tugged at my red, curly hair, pulling it back away from my face. “Have you thought about your hair? How you’ll wear it?”
“Probably down and curly. Riley likes it that way. No veil. Maybe a flower behind my ear.”
“That sounds perfect.” She grinned.
I looked in the mirror again and sighed. “I can’t believe I’m getting married, Teddi.”
I thought back on all the messes in my life. I remembered the moments when I thought nothing would work out. I reminisced the bad decisions, the broken paths, the train wreck that could have been. But somehow, someway, everything had worked out and had led me to this point in my life.
And now, in less than a week, I’d be marrying the man of my dreams. I knew that with Riley by my side, I could handle anything the world threw at me. Riley was my best friend, my partner in crime, the levelheaded one who balanced my brash impulsiveness.
“You are going to be one happy woman. I think marriage will really suit you. My years with Jim were some of the best of my life.”
“You were married before?” As soon as I asked the question, I wanted to take it back. It was nosy, and Teddi was dating my father. I had no idea what her story was, nor should I be inquisitive about it. I’d entered the land called “Awkward,” and I had no one to blame but myself.
“I was married to Jim for twenty years, Sugar. Twenty of the best years of my life.”
My throat tightened. “What happened?”
“Cancer. It can get the best of us, can’t it? He held on for five years, but when the disease came back the second time, he was too weak to fight.” Her eyes welled with tears a moment before she smiled sadly. “I find comfort that he’s in a better place now.”
I squeezed her hand. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have found the love of your life and then lost him . . . what a tragic story. “I’m so sorry, Teddi.”
She shook her head and pulled herself upright. “Don’t be sorry. God brought your father into my life. He’s been a blessing to me.”
I had trouble seeing how my dad was a blessing, but I didn’t say anything. My dad was trying to make some changes in his lifestyle. I had to give him credit for that.
Teddi motioned to the fresh-faced attendant who waited in the distance. “We’ll take this dress.”
“You really don’t have to buy this,” I started, gripping the skirt of the gown like my hands had taken on a mind of their own and might never loosen their clutch. “I’m perfectly capable of affording this myself.”
She raised her hand, each finger a masterpiece from her golden, bejeweled rings to the manicured tips. “I’m not going to hear anything about it. I’ve decided this is how I want to help, and nothing you can say will stop me. I never had a daughter of my own, you know. And marriage is the last thing on my son’s mind. He’s too busy trying to make it as a country music star.”
I could tell by the way she said “country music star” that Teddi didn’t think too highly of his career choice. There was really so much that I didn’t know about Teddi. I couldn’t believe she’d stuck around for as long as she had.
“I appreciate your generosity,” I finally said. If I was honest, I’d admit that money was really tight right now. I was back to crime scene cleaning, Riley was saving to buy a new car and trying to get his new law firm off the ground. Neither of us was at a place where we had a lot of disposable income.
Teddi clapped her hands together once and gave a confident nod. “Let’s get this baby boxed up and paid for. Then we’ll get some lunch at this little café down the street that I’ve been dying to try. I hear they have crepes that will blow your mind. Sound good?”
I nodded. “Sounds great.”
Being with Teddi still felt a little surreal. My mom had died while I was in college, and I’d gotten used to doing things on my own. Having a mother figure to shop with and do lunch together seemed so foreign. But there was a part of me that loved it.
Maybe things were finally looking up for me. As soon as I figured out my whole career thing, I’d have absolutely nothing to complain about. You see, I’d landed my dream job with the State Medical Examiner’s Office. But then budget cuts hit, so of course the new girl was the first one to go. No one else was hiring in my specialized field in the area, which brought me back to my original job as a crime scene cleaner.
I’d done an interview last week with the Medical Examiner’s Office out in Kansas. I was supposed to hear any time now whether or not I got the job. It didn’t really matter, though. I’d already decided that I wouldn’t accept the position, mostly because I wanted to be near my family and friends here in Virginia.
The attendant knocked on the door behind us, appearing with a box in hand. Teddi nearly jumped out of her skin. She placed a hand over her heart and closed her
eyes. From where I was standing, I could tell her breathing had quickened, that her muscles had tightened.
I didn’t have to ask about her response. I knew exactly why she’d overreacted.
The Scum River Killer had abducted her. Thankfully, the man had been shot and fallen off the aptly-named High Rise Bridge—the structure easily stretched eight stories above the massive Elizabeth River below. Teddi and three other victims had been rescued.
I placed a hand on her arm. I’d been there in those final horrifying moments before Scum had been shot. I’d seen how terrified Teddi had been, and rightfully so. How many women had died at the hands of the man during his first terror spree out in California? I knew the answer. Thirteen.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly.
She nodded and pulled her eyes open. “Just jumpy.”
“Are you sleeping any?”
The lines around her eyes tightened. “Not so much. I have too many bad memories. I keep thinking about . . .”
She didn’t have to finish. I knew it would be a long time before she forgot about Milton Jones hiding in her closet and abducting her. Details of the things that had happened in that cabin in the woods were slowly coming out from the victims. I knew they’d been starved, threatened with a knife, and left in the dark. That had just been the start.
Teddi pulled me into a hug and kissed one cheek before backing up and patting the other side of my face in a way that made me feel eight. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. You’re one brave girl, Gabby.”
I tried to smile but couldn’t. “I didn’t feel brave. My knees were shaking.”
Flashbacks of being held by Jones at gunpoint, of being forced to drive, of being prodded out onto the catwalk of a massive bridge, flooded my own mind.
I’d encountered a lot of bad people in my life. Jones had been one of the worst, if not the worst. Riley had put him behind bars when he’d been a prosecutor out in California. When the man escaped custody, getting revenge on Riley had been his first priority.
As much as I hated to admit it, there was this small niggle of doubt in my mind when it came to Jones’ death. I’d seen him shot. I’d watched him go over the bridge and hit the dark, black water below. If the bullet hadn’t killed him, the impact of hitting the water should have. If the impact hadn’t, then the river itself should have claimed him. There were a lot of layers there, which made it seem impossible that he could survive.
But I’d seen Jones do the impossible before. I knew that, against all odds, he’d escaped from prison and made it across country in less than forty-eight hours. I knew he had a little fan club. I knew he was without a heart.
The police never found his body. They all said there was no way he could have survived the bullet wound and the fall.
Part of me wouldn’t rest until his body was recovered, though. I needed that closure and resolution.
“He’s gone, Gabby.” Teddi put a hand on my arm, almost as if she could read my thoughts and knew I was thinking about Jones.
I forced a smile and nodded, trying to reassure her and ease some of her anxiety. “Of course he is.”
But I wasn’t so sure he was gone.
I’d already been told that his remains might not ever be found. From the Elizabeth River, his body could have been swept out to the James River, then the Chesapeake Bay, and finally to the ocean. Marine life could be feeding on the man now.
It wouldn’t surprise me if, even in his death, the man brought destruction. All those poor sea creatures would probably turn up dead in some kind of unprecedented fish kill. After all, it just wasn’t the man’s flesh that could rot. His soul was already rotten.
The attendant unzipped the gown, snapping me back to the present. I stepped out of my dress—feeling reluctant to do so, for some reason—and then pulled on my jeans and Bride-To-Be T-shirt.
Just as I grabbed my purse, my cellphone rang. I hoped it wasn’t someone calling me with a crime scene cleaning job that couldn’t wait. Chad, my business partner, should be able to handle things for a few hours. I couldn’t afford to turn down work, but I really wanted a day just to feel normal, to be a woman out planning her wedding. I still had people to call and reservations to make in order for this ceremony to happen on Sunday.
I pulled my phone out and glanced at the number. When I saw the digits there, I blinked with surprise.
Detective Adams. The Norfolk detective had worked the case against Jones.
Maybe he was calling to tell me the killer’s body had been found.
Wouldn’t that be a great wedding present?
I excused myself for one minute, already anticipating sharing the good news about Jones with Teddi, as I put the phone to my ear. “I hope you found him in the swamp.”
“Gabby?” Detective Adams said. His deep voice rumbled across the phone.
“The beach is too peaceful and pretty,” I continued. “I hope Jones got washed up somewhere dank and dirty. Somewhere fitting.” I paused. “That is why you’re calling, right?”
“I wish that’s why I was calling, Gabby.”
Something in his voice caused me to stiffen. There were undertones of tension, of sorrow. If Adams wasn’t calling about Jones, then why would he be calling? “What’s wrong?”
“You need to get to the hospital, Gabby.”
A million scenarios raced through my mind. Time seemed to stop for a moment. I leaned against the wall, bracing myself for whatever he had to say. Had something happened to one of Jones’ other victims? Nichole or Clarice maybe? Had one of them had a mental breakdown? No one would blame them after what they’d been through.
“What . . . what do you mean? What are you saying?”
“Riley was shot this morning, Gabby. He’s in critical condition. Come to the hospital. There’s no time to waste.”
CHAPTER 2
It was a good thing Teddi was with me, because I don’t think I could have gotten myself to the hospital without an accident. My hands were shaking too badly. I could hardly breathe. My heart felt like it had been smashed into a thousand pieces.
Teddi pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance. Before the car completely stopped, I opened the door and ran through the gushing rain toward the automatic doors. I didn’t bother to look back. To say anything.
My body seemed to take over, to know exactly what I needed to do—to find Riley. On autopilot, almost feeling outside of myself, I hurried into the hospital. I ran past the people milling around in the waiting room. Past the people with bloody, makeshift bandages. Past screaming children. Past those with pinched expressions.
I pressed myself against the reception desk. “Riley Thomas. I need to see Riley Thomas.”
The middle-aged woman with an unnatural shade of red hair glanced at me, said nothing, and then took way too long to type something into the computer.
Each moment seemed suspended and urgent, like time had thickened, like each action had me moving through gel.
Finally, the woman peered up at me through her tiny turquoise glasses. “Are you family?”
“I’m his fiancée,” I mumbled breathlessly.
She stared at me another moment, as if trying to figure out if I was telling the truth, before offering a slight nod. “He’s in surgery.”
“What floor?”
“The third, but you can’t see him now.”
I barely heard her. I took off in a slow jog down the hall, reached the elevator, and hit the UP button uncountable times until the door opened. A nurse pushed a man in a wheelchair out just as I slipped inside. I didn’t bother to check for anyone behind me. I hit the “3” button and then the “Close Door.” The elevator moved too slowly. Everything seemed to be in slow motion except me.
Riley? Shot? What had happened? Where? Was he okay?
My brain rushed a million different directions. Different scenarios. Different outcomes.
I was probably overreacting. Riley was fine. He’d have surgery. The bullet would come out. He’d re
cover. We’d go on with our lives.
So what if he was on crutches for our wedding. I could handle that. One day, we’d look back and laugh about it. We’d view our wedding pictures and remember how awkward it had been to try and stand on the sand with crutches and a cast.
Maybe we should move the wedding from the beach, for that matter. To somewhere more accessible. After all, it wasn’t the ceremony that was as important as the commitment, as the vows.
Nausea welled in my gut as the elevator doors opened. I quickly followed the signs to the ICU. Before I reached the unit, I saw Detective Adams standing in the corridor. Something about his expression gave me pause, made a shudder run through me.
Okay, maybe we’d have to delay the wedding. Maybe Riley would need a little more time to recover. Maybe I was rushing things here. Being selfish.
As I stopped in front of Adams and saw his eyes, queasiness rose so strongly in me that I thought I would vomit. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. More wrong than I wanted to accept.
My lips wanted to move but couldn’t. I didn’t know what to ask. What to say. What to think.
Adams placed a hand on my arm. “Let’s sit.”
I wanted to argue. Instead, I let the detective lead me to a gray padded chair against the wall. As I started to lower myself, my knees buckled. I grabbed the plastic gray armrests and caught myself.
Adams sat beside me. He stared at me a moment. “Riley’s in surgery,” he started.
“How . . . ? What . . . ?” Even as I asked the questions, warning bells were going off in my mind. Somehow, I realized this news, this conversation, would rock my world. I wouldn’t be the same again.
“We’re reviewing security footage right now, but it appears that a masked man walked into the law office at nine this morning. He pulled the trigger only once.”
“And . . .?”
“The bullet got Riley in the head.”
I gasped. Cried out. My heart stopped. “The head? He was shot in the head?”
Adams nodded.
I bent forward until my face collided with my hands. This was even worse than I imagined.
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