When The Night Bird Sings: A Heaven Mystery (Heaven Murder Mysteries Book 20)

I’ve seen large funerals before but the one for my sister Kathy Taylor Landly filled the church and spilled out onto the street.

My name is Helen Taylor Hanson and I’m here to tell Kathy’s story. I sat beside her three year old son William Harris and her husband Chief of Police Derek Landly in the front row of the church and tried to swallow back the emotion. Eighteen month old Hillary sat on her dad’s lap and chewed on a ring of teething beads.

Derek stared straight ahead. There was no emotion. No tears, no anger, nothing. He had been that way for the past five days. I told my husband that it was as if he had closed himself off from all emotion and attachment.

Behind us sat fifteen officers of the Heaven Police Department. All in dress uniforms, all stoic and all staring straight ahead. Paul McClusky got to his feet and made his way to the pulpit to deliver the eulogy he had written. I tuned out his voice and focused on the cross that hung on the wall behind him. My mind questioned everything and seemed unable to put it together so it made sense. A serial killer, a pursuit, a shooting and finally Kathy was gone.