First to Die

Chapter 2

PHILLIP CAMPBELL had imagined this moment, this exquisite scene, so many times. He knew it would be the groom who opened the door. He stepped into the room. "Congratulations," Campbell muttered, handing over the champagne. He stared at the man in the open tuxedo shirt with a black tie dangling around his neck. David Brandt barely looked at him as he inspected the brightly ribboned box. Krug. Clos du Mesnil, 1989. "What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?" Campbell murmured to himself. "Am I capable of doing it? Do I have what it takes?" "Any card?" the groom said, fumbling in his pants pocket for a tip. "Only this, sir." Campbell stepped forward and plunged a knife deep into the groom's chest, between the third and fourth ribs, the closest route to the heart. "For the man who has everything," Campbell said. He pushed his way into the room and slammed the door shut with a swift kick. He spun David Brandt around, shoved his back against the door, and powered the blade in deeper. The groom stiffened in a spasm of shock and pain. Guttural sounds escaped from his chest- tiny, gurgling, choking breaths. His eyes bulged in disbelief. This is amazing, Campbell thought. He could actually feel the groom's strength leaking away. The man had just experienced one of the great moments of his life and now, minutes later, he was dying. Campbell stepped back, and the groom's body crumpled to the floor. The room began to tilt like a listing boat. Then everything began to speed up and run together. He felt as if he were watching a flickering newsreel. Amazing. Nothing like he had expected. Campbell heard the wife's voice and had the presence of mind to pull the blade out of David Brandt's chest. He rushed to intercept her as she came from the bedroom, still in her long, lacy gown. "David?" she said with an expectant smile that turned to shock at the sight of Campbell. "Where's David? Who are you?" Her eyes traveled over him, terror ridden, fixing on his face, the knife blade, then her husband's body on the floor. "Oh, my God! David!" she screamed. "Oh, David, David!" Campbell wanted to remember her like this. The frozen, wide-eyed look. The promise and hope that just moments ago had shined so brightly were now shattered. The words poured from his mouth. "You want to know why? Well so do