Silence: The Faces of Evil Christmas Prequel by Debra Webb Page B

more.”
    Surrendering to the inevitable, she kicked off her shoes and curled her feet under her to get more comfortable. She told him about BAU and her boss, Gant. The more she talked the more she had to say. It was as if they were back in college sharing future plans. The words poured out of her.
    When she finally shut up he just stared at her. During that seemingly endless moment she wanted more than anything in this world for him to be proud of her.
    “Jess.” The pride that filled his eyes made her pulse flutter erratically. “I am genuinely happy for you.” He stared at his glass for a moment and she knew he was remembering. “You knew what you wanted and you made it happen. You said you would and you did.”
    She’d had just enough to drink to admit that something else she’d always wanted was him... but she would take that secret to her grave. She touched her throat. Almost had .
    “Sometimes,” she confessed, “I wake up and I have to remind myself it’s real.” Images and voices from cases she had worked passed through her mind. None were pretty. But they represented success and accomplishment, two things that meant a great deal to her. More importantly, they meant justice for the innocent.
    “You have a boyfriend?” One corner of his mouth quirked. “A husband I haven’t heard about?”
    She downed a big gulp of wine before she attempted to answer that one. The sweetness fizzed in her throat. Her head spun just a little. “No boyfriend. No husband.” She’d noticed he wasn’t wearing a wedding band. And the tour of his place hadn’t revealed any indications of a female presence. “What about you? Wife? Kids?”
    The idea that he might have a child pained her somehow.
    Dumb, Jess .
    “No wife. No kids. Not even a girlfriend.” He looked away a moment. “I had a very unpleasant divorce a few months ago.” He shrugged, made a disparaging sound. “The good news is I lived through it and life goes on.”
    Seemed an odd way to describe surviving a divorce. “It does indeed.” No one knew that better than her. A subject best left alone. She cleared her throat. Time for a less sensitive topic—if not a less painful one. “How’s your father and... your mother?”
    He smiled. “Nice of you to ask, Agent Harris.”
    Jess couldn’t help a chuckle. “Despite popular opinion, I would never wish your mother ill will.”
    “Katherine is Katherine,” he said. “She stays busy with one charity event or another and that makes her happy. My father and I are both grateful.”
    “I’m certain she’s pleased to have you helping out whenever possible.”
    “More importantly,” he countered, “I’m pleased. When Mother isn’t consumed with a project, she’s lining up social activities for my father or, worse, playing matchmaker for me.”
    That shouldn’t have bothered Jess but it did. “She wants her only son to be happy.” There was no ignoring the hint of bitterness in her tone and she hated herself for letting it show. “Lil does it to me all the time,” she added for cover, hoping he wouldn’t notice her slip.
    “That’s what mothers and sisters do I guess.” He set his glass on the table. “My father’s doing great. He’s thinking of retiring.”
    Dan senior was too young for retirement. Worry cleared the resentment she felt whenever Katherine Burnett came to mind. “Is he okay?”
    “A mild heart attack a few months ago but he’s good now. He’s following the doctor’s orders. I’d be willing to wager he’s in better shape now than me.”
    Why hadn’t Lil told her? Then again, she hadn’t mentioned Dan’s divorce either. Possibly Lil hadn’t mentioned anything related to the Burnett family because Jess had told her over and over that it had been ten years. She had moved on. Lil was only honoring Jess’s wishes.
    Still made her mad. How ridiculous was that?
    “I’m glad he’s doing well.” Wow. It seemed impossible they were talking about Dan’s father and a