Free The Wedding: A Faces of Evil Short Story by Debra Webb Page A

my status and my strategy.”
    “As interesting as this conversation is,” Lori announced, “the Chief and I are calling it a day. We’re having a mani-pedi party.” She rubbed her hands together in glee. “Twenty-four hours until the wedding!”
    Jess checked the time and groaned. “I have so much to do.” She headed for her desk. “I don’t know why this wedding has to be so complicated.”
    “Last night’s rehearsal went well,” Lori reminded her as she gathered her purse and keys. “The dinner was amazing.”
    Jess hummed an agreeable note. Katherine, Dan’s mother, had insisted on a lavish rehearsal dinner for the wedding party since Jess and Dan had opted not to have a sit-down meal after the wedding. Neither she nor Dan wanted to delay their honeymoon flight until the day after the wedding so the dinner option had been taken off the agenda.
    As pleasant and fun as last night had been the whole evening had been exhausting. Her soon-to-be mother-in-law and her sister, Lily, had organized a genuinely lovely but hectic wedding week down to the last detail. Jess had sworn she wouldn’t complain. She wanted to be happy and to enjoy all the festivities. The truth was, she was simply tired. At forty-two years old and five months pregnant, she wasn’t your typical blushing, energetic bride. Right now she’d trade her mani-pedi for a nap.
    “We don’t get a mani-pedi?” Harper teased.
    Lori waved him off. “Please. Tonight is ladies night.”
    “I guess that means we get a guys’ night,” Hayes suggested.
    Harper shrugged. “I have my son tonight, but you and Cook are welcome to come over for pizza.”
    “Before you go,” Cook said, interrupting the male bonding moment, “we have a little something for you, Chief.”
    Bag slung over her shoulder, Jess hesitated as she rounded her desk. “What? You guys have done too much already. You shouldn’t have bothered with a gift.” She’d lost count of the gifts she and Dan had received. In the past two weeks there had been a shower hosted by the bridesmaids, another one hosted by Dan’s mother, and yet another one from the BPD. There were also endless gifts from long distance friends—like Wesley Duvall, her ex-husband, and Ralph Gant, her former boss at the Bureau. She didn’t need more presents.
    From beneath his desk Cook removed a gift wrapped in the traditional snow white paper and tied with an elegant silk ribbon in the same white.
    What was she going to do with this wonderful group of people? “You better not make me cry.”
    “No promises.” Lori placed the package on Jess’s desk. “It’s from all of us.”
    Jess shrugged off her bag, letting it slip to the floor. She opened the gift with shaking hands. Foolishly, she had hoped to make it through this day with no tears. At this point she wasn’t sure she could keep blaming her emotions on the pregnancy. Beneath the glossy wrapping was a white box stuffed with tissue paper. Wrapped carefully in the paper was an eight-by-ten photograph of the entire team framed in Waterford crystal.
    “When was this taken?” She didn’t remember anyone snapping a photo like this. Judging by the outfit she wore it had been taken in the past couple of months. Lately, she’d had to go with fabrics that had a little stretch to them. The crime scene looked vaguely familiar.
    “I had one of my buddies from the Crime Scene Unit take it when we worked that case with the missing cousins,” Chad explained.
    “Read the inscription on the frame,” Lori suggested.
    Before she’d even read the engraved words Jess was already swiping at her eyes. “Your family away from home.”
    “While you’re on your honeymoon and then staying home with the baby,” Harper said, “we didn’t want you to forget about us.”
    “You don’t ever have to worry about that,” Jess assured them.
    After hugs were exchanged and Jess had totally ruined her mascara, Lori insisted they had to go.
    It was Friday after all. The