Invitation To Death by Smith Bryan

Author:Smith, Bryan [Smith, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grindhouse Press
Published: 2020-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

THERE WERE STARTLED GASPS AND cries of surprise as blackness enveloped the room. This was followed by an excited babble of voices as many in the room wondered aloud what was happening. Bradley did not add his own voice to the chorus of distress. The power had gone out. So what? There was nothing sinister about that and he saw no reason to get worked up about it. Raven’s Reach was way up in the mountains. Outages probably happened on a semi-regular basis. Someone on staff would undoubtedly get a generator going and the lights would be back on soon enough.

Meanwhile, he would take advantage of the momentary distraction by trying to talk some sense into Harlan Ross. The man seemed on the brink of talking about things they’d all agreed to never talk about again. Not to strangers and not even among themselves. Things best left buried for the rest of their lives. It was a vow Bradley had never broken. He rarely even allowed himself to think about that long ago night. He’d almost managed to forget any of it had ever happened. Bringing it all out into the open, even in this limited way, would be a terrible mistake.

He got up from his chair and took a few careful steps in Harlan’s direction. “Hey, Harlan,” he said, keeping his voice low but hopefully at a level his old friend could hear through the surrounding din of conversation. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

He heard the big man sigh heavily.

Before Harlan could say anything, however, shouts erupted from the other side of the room. The shouts were followed by sounds of struggle. Silverware rattled as someone bumped hard against a table. A man was yelling at someone to get off of him. That could be no one other than the irate housewife’s husband. The housewife was yelling, too, with an ear-splitting shrillness that set Bradley’s teeth on edge. The husband’s shouts cut off abruptly, followed by a choking sound and a wet gurgle. Then came a heavy thump. In the midst of all this was a sound of feet running away. This was followed by the slamming of a door and after that a sound of something ratcheting downward on rollers. When the lights popped back on an instant later, Bradley was staring right at the way out to the hallway, only now it was blocked off.

Someone had pulled down a roll door.

And now people were screaming again, seemingly louder than ever. Bradley heard Harlan sigh again and say, “Oh, dear lord.”

Bradley turned and followed his gaze. “Oh, shit.”

The housewife’s husband was slumped over the table, blood gurgling through the hands clamped around his throat. As Bradley watched, the man twitched a final time or two and went still. One of his hands came away from his throat, revealing the wide slit of a knife.

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