Page 68 of Forever Dark
“She never mentioned anybody by name.”He shook his head.“Just ‘the revival is coming.’She’d say ‘they’re in Ashby next week’ or ‘they’re crossing into Benton County after this.’Like she was always paying attention to where they were.”
Selena rubbed the back of her neck, fixing her ponytail for a moment.“Did your mom ever mention feeling under threat or in danger?”
“Not to me,” he answered.“Certainly not from those revival shows.But I didn’t like it either way.”
“No?”
“No,” he echoed.“I don’t believe a person can just suddenly change like that.It’s fake.They fill your head up with stuff like you can wash away everything overnight.You can’t.You gotta put in the work first.”
He bent forward and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.The paper cup tipped, sloshing coffee onto the table.Connor moved first, quick and quiet, righting it before it could spill further and sliding a box of tissues across without comment.
Brian laughed once, a short, broken sound that carried no humor.
“Brian,” Selena said, leaning forward.“I know this might be a difficult subject, but what did your mom need forgiven?”
Brian moved in his seat and shook his head.“That’s my mom’s private business.”
Selena reached across the table and patted his hand.“We think the killer might be punishing the victims for something, possibly their romantic relationships.Was there anything unusual about your mother’s?”
“I… I’m sure she regretted some meet-ups with guys over the years,” he said.“She wasn’t exactly a prude.She didn’t know who my father was, either.Let’s just leave it at that.And before you ask, I don’t know who they guys were.They’d come and go.That’s why I moved out as soon as I could.You imagine… hearing it…”
Selena felt for him.“Brian, we all have some things we don’t agree with about our folks.Trust me, I know.But whatever people thought about your mother, going to those meetings doesn’t make her guilty of anything other than trying to be at peace.”
He met her eyes at that, raw and angry and exhausted.
“My mom wasn’t bad,” he said.
“I know.”Selena hesitated.“But the more we know about her life and her personality, the better chance we have of figuring out who her killer is.”
Brian sighed and then sniffed, as though the tears were somewhere inside of him ready to fall at any moment.“She liked to drink.And when she drank at a bar, she’d lose herself, get into trouble or end up waking up with someone she didn’t even know.I… I hated that.But deep down, she was good.”
“We understand,” the sheriff said.
“No, you don’t.”His voice rose, then cracked.He dragged a breath in and steadied himself.“WhatIknow is she still made my lunch when I was little even when she’d worked all night.She still sat up with me when I had the flu.She still knew every stupid thing I liked to eat on my birthday.So don’t lethimturn her into whatever he thought she was.”
Selena held his gaze.“We won’t.And we will do our best to catch who did this for your mom and his other victims.”
“Victims?There’s more than just the Brenda lady?”
The Roman numerals flashed across Selena’s mind, dripping in blood.II and III.But where was the first?That was what bothered Selena.Who was victim one?“Brenda so far,” Selena said.
Connor got to his feet.“I think that probably winds up what we need, Brian.”
Brian scrubbed a hand over his mouth.“So now what?”
Connor uncapped a marker and faced the board.“Now you go home and try to rest.We’ll update you if we have anything.”
Selena helped him to his feet and ushered him kindly out of the door to the reception where Cheryl was waiting.
“Cheryl, do you have information on a local bereavement counselor?”Selena asked.
“Sure,” she said, coming out from the desk with a card and handing it to Brian.“Sorry about your mom.”
He nodded.
Selena patted him on the back.“If you think of anything else, please get in touch.”
“Now what?”he said, his voice a whisper.“I just go home and stew, I guess?”
