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

venturing further away from the house. The tall, black mountain of trees that bordered Sarah's back yard rose higher to cover the moon in the deep, dark skies as she was now halfway between the house and the forest. The woods snapped alive with mysterious movements from every direction.

Janice's hand finally reached a bulge of tape bound cord and she started peeling around at it with her fingernails, searching for the end of the tape in the dark. "Dammit, Sarah," she said. As the sounds in the forest grew close, she abandoned her futile search and gave them a tug in both directions. A loud crack sounded from somewhere just behind the shed, certainly closer than the woods. With a hard jerk, she yanked the two cords apart from one another. "There."

Janice jogged through the grassy yard and hopped onto the porch. She ducked under the rail and rushed to the backdoor where Sarah and David could still be heard arguing from the living room. She fumbled her fingers around the multiple switches until she discovered the large one on top. With a snug push from the bottom, she flipped it up. The house became brightly lit as a few beeping appliances sounded with the air conditioner.

"What the hell?" Sarah's voice could be clearly heard.

"Where's Jan?" David asked. Janice strolled toward the living room as David and Sarah rushed around the wall that separated them, almost colliding into her.

"What the hell did you do, Janice?" Sarah asked with concern in her eyes.

"I just went out back and unplugged the-"

"What were you thinking?" David asked loudly. "That thing could still be out there."

The uneasy confusion that dropped into Janice's stomach reached her feet. She stepped back as Sarah turned to David. "Thanks mister-knight-in-shining-armor. I've got this, okay?" Sarah said.

Janice looked across the room to the dining area where a large, shiny revolver rested alone on the table. It was the place they had their first meeting about the attacks. Sarah paced past the table, slowing down as she passed it. Janice eyed David as Sarah was turned away. Let's leave. Janice mouthed silently at him with a sharp nod to the front door. Now.

David glanced around the room before lifting out his hand. "I guess we better go."

Sarah turned around and stared straight at Janice for the longest second before turning a sideways look at David. She retreated down the hallway and shut her bedroom door just short of a slam. Janice hurried to the front door where she turned to look back. David hesitated, looking down the quiet hallway.

Janice whispered across the room. "Are we going?"

She watched his eyes settle slowly toward the carpet as he still faced the hallway. He turned and walked toward her. "Yeah," he said with a sigh.

Janice started the engine and began backing up in the bumpy driveway as she turned to speak. "There was nothing out there, David."

His sigh followed a tone of reluctant acceptance. "I figured."

The occasional flickering streetlight stood alone and far between in the dark, distant stretches of county road as Janice navigated the empty space below the stars on their voyage back home. It seemed there was so much to say that the words themselves clogged her throat for the entire trip until she finally found herself coasting through her neighborhood. Her evenly graveled driveway welcomed the minivan into its carport home.

"I'm glad you stayed over, David." She tried to continue, but the words again failed her.

David twisted to look at her from the passenger seat as he reached to open his door. "But?"

Janice's eyes lowered between the seats for a moment before rising once again. "I think there's something you need to decide on your own." She stepped out and softly shut the driver door before his shut as well.

David walked beside her as she stepped toward the carport, looking down at the dark gravel until it was replaced by the smooth concrete that led to her stairs. "But I already have, Jan. I've always known," David said from where he stood on just behind her on the bottom step.

She turned to look down in his deep blue eyes. "No, you haven't," she said softly with a long stare until David broke eye contact, shoving one hand in his pocket while he dragged the other back through his hair.

Janice stood at the top step as she watched David turn toward his car. "Wait," she said, stopping him mid-turn. "There's something you should know." She watched David look back up at where she stood. "The group chat. Have you checked it since yesterday?"

The disappointment in his eyes was apparent. "What about it?" he asked.

"It says that it was seen by Tony. On the morning after Vance-" she stopped her sentence there with a slow nod before she gradually turned to open the door to her kitchen.

"Goodnight, Jan." His words were cut short by the click of the door she had now pushed shut. The pressure that swelled inside her heart pushed heavy in her throat as she tried to give the door a final lock, but as it erupted into her eyes and streamed down her face, the strength to do so was lost on her.

Chapter 22

#Sarah#

Charred, black film coated the metal wires that formed globulous bulbs of solidified copper where it had melted against the steel posts. The sun blazed on her from above as Sarah squatted in the burnt grass, inspecting carefully while she waited for Terry to arrive. It wasn't even noon yet and she could already tell that it was going to be a scorcher. But this fire hadn't started with the rising sun.

Sarah rounded the corner of her house just in time to see Terry's new, white car pulling up into the driveway. He didn't bother to turn beside hers as he parked it right where he pulled in. Terry swiftly hopped out before shutting the door and jogging over to her.

"What do we got?" he asked, eyes open wide behind the lenses that he pressed firmly up the