Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

walked by ignoring it, but Tony always stood up for everyone. The world won't be the same without him."

She slid her hand along his forearm until she felt his fingers. Placing his palm firmly against her heart, she turned to look up into his eyes, facing him in the moment of stillness that surrounded them. "I’m so sorry, David. I miss him too." Janice raised her chin as David's face lowered closer to hers with a slow tilt and their lips slipped together in unison around their rolling tongues.

#Sarah#

Sarah's pacing shoes clapped across the linoleum kitchen floor toward the comfy red carpet of her living room that did little to sooth the now frantic adrenaline that tingled through the soles of her feet as she repetitively brushed her fingers through her hair and typed another text. "Where the hell are you two?"

She glanced across the room toward the dining area. Vance's silvery revolver shined with the interior lighting on the table beside a pile of folded maps and a vacant laptop. They were now empty remnants of where the recently lost had once been. Sarah's attention returned to her phone where she noticed Tony's active status still lit. "Tony never hid anything," she said to herself. "I wonder..." Her thumb quickly tapped at his profile. A mini-map displayed the location of his phone on the move near Central Avenue. "Oh shit," she said as her eyes lit with the anticipation of pursuit.

Scrolling back to her messages, she tapped at the icon of Vance's face as she remembered the words they shared. "Wish you were here to see this," she typed before hitting send in futility. A loud ding sounded from her deserted laptop that hadn't felt the touch of a finger since Vance used it last. "Dumbass," she said with a light smile. "Forgot to log out."

As she slid her phone into her tight, blue jean pocket and reached for her keys, Sarah's heart skipped a beat and she paused. Her head slowly turned to the laptop. Her mouth opened with a long moment of realization. She quickly dashed over to the small computer and clicked the touchpad, lighting up the screen. Vance’s inbox was inundated with unseen messages, hers at the top. She scrolled down a couple weeks until Tony's final message to Vance appeared in frantically misspelled text. "Gtta run shw dvid," it read.

"This was the night we were stranded in the storm," she whispered to herself. Just above, a dark video displayed as Sarah turned up the volume and watched.

"David. Is that you?" Tony's voice shouted through the blackened distortion. Rustling leaves sounded across the branches he brushed aside. For just a second, his light swept across a vaguely visible form standing alone, then the screen was shrouded in pixelated darkness once again. "Sarah?" His voice sounded as his footsteps splatted closer through the mud. Sarah's eyes grew wide as she continued to watch.

#David#

The Sunset Diner bustled with the voices of rumors that bounced against one another as David picked a table for he and Janice in an empty corner of the lobby. She slid into the booth, just in front of him as he watched beyond her elegant, light brown hair. Another group of locals slowly trickled into the lobby. Terry's father accompanied Blaine in a dead pace toward the counter. Terry's younger brother said something to his father and they stopped to both glance in David's direction with a look of contempt before continuing to the counter. "Maybe we shouldn't be here, Jan," David whispered. Her eyebrows furled to the huff that left her lungs to sweep an air of frustration across the shiny surface of the table.

Old man Sam's tall, thin form strolled in their direction from across the lobby. "David, I was hoping I would see you."

As David watched Janice turn her head to face the old man who now stood beside them, he spoke up. "Listen, Sam. I wanted to apologize for last time."

He waved his weathered hand down at David. "Oh, don't worry about it. Already forgotten." Sam turned to face Janice as he motioned toward the seat. "May I?"

Janice scooted over and Sam settled in, giving David a prolonged stare. His aged expression of concern was written across his wrinkled face.

The large, thick glass windows that covered the wall across the lobby were now a darkening screen that brightly reflected the interior as the evening grew dim outside.

"Listen, Sam," David said. "We don't have much time and I want to tell you about something that you're not going to believe, but someone has to know what happened here."

Janice's eyes grew wide. "David!"

"It's okay, Jan." He slid his downturned palm toward her in a calming gesture that didn't seem to have much effect. His gaze redirected to the old man who sat before him, his years of life now directing their undivided attention through baggy eyes that still shown with determination.

"The werewolf, y'mean?" His voice grumbled as Janice turned with an open mouth.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I might be old, but these things work, y'know?" Sam pointed at his ear before turning back to face David. "Whatcha gonna do about it, though? Who is it?"

"Well," David said as he scanned the busy dining room for answers, finally settling back toward Sam and Janice. "We know for sure that it's one of us."

Sam's eyes grew wide. "One of you two?" He pointed his finger back and forth.

"No," David said. "I mean, we set a camera trap that only Vance, Sarah, Tony, Janice and I knew about." He paused to think for a moment.

"So, it's gotta be one of you," Sam said. "I see."

"But we've all done things that..." David stopped as he saw Janice silently press her eyebrows together at him.

"Tell you what," the old man's voice rattled before him. "Stay with me at my place. I have-"

"We can't, Sam," Janice interrupted. "It will find us no matter where we hide. We'll only get you killed." Her eyes grew round as she