Free Beyond the Shadows by LaVerne Clark Page B

behavior made horrendous sense. A funeral director would feel at home with the dead, could spend time gloating over his kills. And that seemed to be exactly what he’d done.
    Once he’d been taken in for questioning, his possessions were seized and examined in minute detail for further evidence. It didn’t take the computer specialists long to find and open the suspect’s wacky website. The authorities tracked down his online friends, interviewed them, and also charged them with their own transgressions. Although each man was interviewed separately, not one believed Williams was capable of the murders. The common opinion was that he genuinely seemed to care for the corpses in his charge.
    Kelly shivered as the memory of the photographs flashed behind her eyes. A grinning Williams clinked champagne filled glasses with a corpse sitting across a table from him, his hand wrapped around her dead flesh to help hold it up. Another of him sitting in a makeshift movie theatre with two corpses, either side of him, a paper bag filled with popcorn sitting on his lap as if sharing with good buddies. There was no forgetting the one that creeped her out the most. A woman, murdered during late pregnancy was posed on a couch, her hands cradling her giant belly as if in a moment of reflective wonderment.
    She swallowed down the tears as the image haunted her again. That one had kept her up too many nights. More times than she could count, she’d wake drenched in sweat from a recurring nightmare featuring her. In her private hell, the woman came to life and lifted her head to stare at her with the opaque, lifeless stare only the dead could master, but then she’d open her mouth, and the most unearthly howl of pain would echo in her brain.
    Kelly rubbed at her arms and sighed. No matter how good a fit Scott Williams was to being their killer, the hard evidence they needed to place him at any of the murder scenes remained frustratingly elusive. And none was more frustrated during that time than Nate.
    Kelly would never forget the suppressed rage that was his constant companion. Taciturn at the best of times, Nate was like a volcano poised to erupt. She’d learned the hard way it was easiest to stay out of his way. It didn’t seem she could do anything right. When she’d complained to another colleague about his snappiness and boorish behavior, she learned his sister had been murdered six years before, and the murderer had gotten off due to lack of evidence.
    It was no wonder this particular case got to him. Karma caught up with Thea’s killer, who died in a gang related shooting not long after, giving the family some semblance of peace. But peace seemed as elusive for Nate as the evidence they so desperately needed.
    When they finally discovered the vital piece of evidence at the mortician’s last murder scene, everyone was jubilant. Finally, they had solid proof of Scott Williams’ guilt, and the city let out a collective breath.
    He’d made a pitiful sight in court on the day of sentencing as he’d been led into the dock. As the judge passed sentence, gone was the smug confidence he usually wore. Instead, he looked thunderstruck and loudly protested his innocence. When he didn’t heed the warnings of the judge to quiet down, the bailiffs dragged him out and back to the cells, his voice slowly fading into the distance. A week after being sent to prison, he’d committed suicide.
    A fitting end, she’d thought at the time. Now, she stared blindly at the television and wondered.
    “Bathroom’s free,” Nate called from the doorway and she looked up, startled. His gaze sharpened on her face then lowered to the remote clutched in her hand.
    “Thanks.” She pressed the off button and the remote clattered to the table. She didn’t want to risk his recovery with the news just yet and she needed to get her head around all the ramifications.
    Cocking his head to the side, he glanced at the television and back again. “Something upset