Chapter 28: Revelation

Brady’s hand rested on the doorknob of the room to the right. Even in the dim light of the nightlight, Sarah could see the bloodstains across the back of his hand. She felt physically ill. Her headache escalated by leaps and bounds. As he began to turn the doorknob, a bright light appeared under the door leading off the end of the hallway. The light attracted Brady’s attention and his hand fell from the doorknob to the right.

Sarah stood a few centimetres from Ivan’s body. Behind her, she could hear Ivan’s breathing slow, gurgle and then stop. She whispered a quick prayer to herself.

Brady stood between Sarah and the lighted door, hidden in the shadows of the right side of the hallway.

A weak frightened female voice called through the door.

“I’m coming out. I’m unarmed. Please don’t shoot.”

Sarah held her breath as Brady raised the gun. She prayed he wouldn’t use it.

The doorknob turned slowly and the door creaked open.

The interior light spilled from the doorframe, silhouetting a slim woman with shoulder length hair, palms open and raised at her shoulders. Sarah blinked as the sudden light overexposed into her eyes.

“Please don’t shoot,” the woman repeated. As her eyes adjusted to the new light, Sarah saw the woman’s hair was brunette, tumbling across her shoulders. She was slim, fit and attractive, standing barefoot in a satin robe belted loosely at her waist.

The woman’s brown eyes found Sarah first, despite Brady’s proximity. Her eyes fell to the visible brand below Sarah’s left breast. The woman sighed in resignation. She didn’t seem surprised by Sarah’s nudity, or the carnage of the hallway.

“I knew you’d come eventually,” the woman said quietly towards Sarah. Sarah had never met the woman.

“Hello, Janet,” Brady whispered.

Janet stood in the middle of the undamaged living room with her hands still raised, palms outward. Sarah switched on a floor lamp, and muted light reflected off the ceiling, illuminating the space. Brady sat on the sofa shaking his head, the pistol aimed squarely at Janet’s chest. Sarah stood beside Brady, shaking. Gunpowder and copper remained lodged in Sarah’s senses. She tried to push the images of Ivan and the unknown man from her mind, but their blood stained her bare skin as it stained Janet’s feet and Brady’s shoes.

“Is Jackson dead?” Janet asked.

“I assume that’s the fucking moron with the shotgun?”

Janet nodded numbly.

“Why? You fucking him?”

Janet simply glared at Brady.

“Well, you won’t be fucking him any more,” Brady muttered.

“He’s dead then? And Ivan?”

“Your fuck buddy killed Ivan,” Brady replied somewhat petulantly.

Janet shook her head slowly. Her hands trembled. “You’re wrong.” Brady cocked an eyebrow. “Jackson was only a friend. A good man, but no, I wasn’t fucking him.”

Brady scoffed. Sarah believed her.

“Still a fucking moron. Fuck.” Brady shook his head slowly, but the gun never wavered from Janet’s breast. “We only wanted to talk.” Sarah didn’t believe that.

“You don’t need that,” Janet said quietly. “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll return to the Shelter, if that’s what you want. You can Box me for a week, if you need to.”

“You betrayed us. All of us,” Brady said.

“Because I left?”

“You put us all in danger,” Brady hissed.

“I didn’t tell anyone anything,” Janet replied. “They all thought I’d been lost in the woods and was attacked by coyotes or something. I almost died.”

“Perhaps you should have,” Brady hissed. His jaw clenched in anger.

Janet nodded. “Maybe so. I wished I was dead in those first few weeks.”

Brady paused. Janet refused to lower her gaze from his fiery eyes.

A tremble settled into Sarah’s upper left arm. She closed her eyes and willed it to stop. It resisted her efforts, but eventually subsided. When she opened her eyes, Janet watched her with an odd intensity. Sarah lowered her eyes, staring at her bloodstained toes, wishing desperately for clothes.