Page 67 of Forever Dark
“I’m sorry about your mother, Brian,” she said.
His throat moved.“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Selena let the silence sit a moment.“Doesn’t make it any less true.”
That got the smallest nod.
“You okay to talk a bit longer?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘okay,’” he said honestly.Then he rubbed his face hard with one hand.“But sitting at home feels worse, so… yeah.Ask.”
Selena turned the flyer so Brian could see it clearly.“I found this at Brenda Colter’s house.We believe that the same person who killed your mother may have murdered Brenda.We’re looking for a connection between your mother and Brenda.Have you seen a flyer like this before?”
Brian leaned in.His fingers tightened around the paper cup.
“Yeah,” he said.“Not this exact one.Same church people, though.My mom had one in her purse for a while.”
Connor glanced at Selena.Neither of them spoke.
Brian looked up.“My mom never mentioned Brenda.Do you think they knew each other?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Selena said.“Did your mother go to one of these revivals?”
“A few.Not here.In other towns.”
“Do you remember where?”Selena asked.
“Mercer Falls, first.That one I’m sure about.Then maybe Ashby.I think.”He swallowed.“She started following the page for that online.I forget how many she went to after that, but there were a few.”
Selena slid the flyer a little closer to him.“When did your mother start going?”
Brian stared at the paper as if reading it might be easier than answering.
“A while ago, a few months, maybe.”
“And do you remember anything unusual about her trips to this revival?”Selena asked.
“She started dressing up to go,” he said finally.“Not fancy.Just nicer than usual.Hair done.Lipstick.One time I asked if she had a date and she laughed at me.”He almost smiled, but it didn’t come to anything.“Said she was going where people still believed folks could change.”
Connor leaned forward slightly.“And that was the revival.”
“Yeah.”
“Did she say anything about what it was like?”
Brian stared at a spot on the table.“First time back, she talked more than I’d heard her talk in months.Said the preacher looked right at her when he was speaking.Said it felt like somebody was finally telling the truth for once for people like her.”
“People like her?”Selena asked.
His jaw tightened.“That you can spend your whole life messing things up and maybe still not be finished.That if you ask for it, Jesus will forgive all sins.”
Selena looked at Connor for a moment.He’d crossed his arms, a sure sign he wasn’t comfortable with the topic.He’d never liked religion, not when he was younger, at least.
She turned back to Brian.“Was your mother religious before that?”
Brian let out a thin breath.“Not really.Like a lot of people, she’d say she believed in God when it suited the argument.That’s about it.”He wiped a tear from his eye.“Then these meetings started and she got… softer, maybe.Quieter.I could hear her praying sometimes when I stayed over.At night.I don’t know what it was about, but she was upset.She’d never talk about it.”
“Did she ever meet anyone there?Pastor Elias Croft, maybe, or someone else?”
