Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (free ebook reader for pc txt) 📕

I meant to mail something off, don't you think I'd have done it by now?" she asked in a shrill voice as her head bobbed up and down with her jaw.

Janice silently mouthed in Terry's direction, pointing toward the car. Maybe we should go.

"Listen, we wanted to know about Brad's friend, Vance." Terry asked. "Do you remember him or David? Or maybe a Tony?"

"Mm-hm," she groaned, nodding her head. She walked back across the gravel road, her rustic cabin just ahead.

Terry whispered to Janice. "Was that a yes?" She shrugged her shoulders. He turned back to the old woman and spoke more loudly as she was walking away. "Is Brad's mom around?"

The lady stopped and turned to scowl a large wrinkle from her chin to her cheek. "Damn shame. Killed herself last week. My daughter did." She squinted her eyes and turned toward a makeshift clothesline that stretched above a tomato garden filled with weeds. "Couldn't take all that loss. But them boys had it a comin'. Tried to tell them," she said, snorting from her throat.

Terry dropped his jaw. "What do you mean?"

"Devil came and took them both." She grimaced and shook her head at the ground. "Sellin' that damn dope to that poor woman all the time."

Terry's eyes grew wide as he turned back to Janice. She continued mouthing silent words toward Terry. Let's get out of here. She's creeping me out.

Terry lifted his finger at her for a brief second. "Is there anything else?"

The elderly woman’s face dropped blank in an instant. "Why, hello sweetie. I didn't see you there."

Janice walked back to the passenger seat and closed the door as Terry remained outside, attempting to extract senseful conversation from the aging relic that still stood before him. She pulled out her phone. A message from David read, "Please, Jan. Just talk to me." It was followed by a barrage of missed calls. Her thumb hovered above the call button. All the questions she was too afraid to ask rested in the touch of a finger.

The door clicked open and Janice quickly locked her phone. Terry slumped into the driver seat with a long sigh.

"I feel like I’m this close," he said, pinching less than an inch of air.

"Then what?" Janice asked. "What do you do then?"

Terry's motionless stare did little to provide an answer. He looked away from her to the road. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Of course you haven't," she said, lowering her eyes toward her lap. "Nobody wants to think about the day they'll shove a knife in their friend's back." Janice pressed her eyebrows as she turned her eyes back to the raised red flag on the mailbox. "But isn't that what everyone has been doing all along?"

"What's really bothering you, Janice?" His voice pried at the coffin she held shut within her chest. Its contents burning to be set free.

"Why don't you go talk to David and ask him," she said quietly. "Just take me home."

"Listen, I'm sorry if I said something wrong," Terry said as he turned around on the narrow gravel drive.

For the entire silent journey through cracked asphalt backroads to smooth highways and on into the beautifully arranged subdivisions, Janice took his words to mind. It wasn't that he said anything wrong. He lacked the foresight to realize the inevitable truth. No matter how they handled the situation, the end result would be the same.

As they pulled into her driveway beside her mom's minivan, Janice slowly stepped out and gently shut the car door. "Listen." She leaned her face into the open passenger window and raised her eyes up to meet his. "I think you mean well." Janice paused. "But the more crap you dig up, the worse it will be for everyone."

"Look. I'm sorry about everything that's happened," Terry said to her. "But bringing the truth to the light will always be right in my eyes."

She looked in his unwaivering face. His conviction was admirable, but he rested there in his seat as a stark opposition to her. Surely, he didn't think that he could just unravel everyone's guilt to get his evidence and then they could all go out together for pizza the next day.

She sadly resigned her hands to fall from the passenger side door as she turned to her house without a glance behind.

#David#

A passing boat pushed waves across the surface of Moss Lake as David sat alone at the docks. They rippled closer while he dipped his feet to soak, laying back across the creaking boards. He waited. Though the splash hadn't yet made its way to him, he knew it was on its way.

His phone buzzed on the wooden walkway, just beside his head and as he reached out to grab it, the cool waves swept up against his knees. It was a text from Sarah. "Be careful around Terry. He's been asking a lot of questions and he went out with Janice today."

David started to type, "Ok. I'll deal with him." Before he could hit send, a message arrived from Terry.

"I know it's none of my business, but I think Janice could use your company right now."

David called Terry and he immediately answered.

"Could you come talk to me alone at the docs? There's something I've got to tell you about."

"What is it, David?" Terry asked. His voice crackled across the broken signal. After a long pause, his voice continued. "Sure, but I have to work the canned food runs at the church. Is tonight alright?"

"Come alone," David said, closing his eyes as he hung up the phone and laid his head back down, soaking his face in the warm sunlight that turned the darkness behind his eyelids blood red.

###

The phone rang from the outskirts of David’s awareness as he awoke in the darkness beside the repetitive splashing of water against the thick wooden pillars that supported the docks. He rubbed at his eyes as he focused on the phone before reaching to answer. It was Terry.

"What time is it?" David asked.

"I've been trying to reach you all afternoon," Terry