Pity and a Shame

Chapter 17

Carol washed the dinner dishes from she and Wendy after sending her daughter up to get ready for bed. Erik still had not returned nor telephoned and Carol felt sick. What if he came to her house? What if he met up with Erik? There could be violence; Erik was not an understanding man. She stood at the sink torturing herself with worry and cursing the day she let herself be wooed by a total stranger.

She hung up the tea towel and placed a call to the family next door, asking if their daughter could sit Wendy for a couple of hours while she tended to some family business. When the neighbour's daughter arrived, Carol was already to go. She ran through the usual drill then hurried out to her car and headed back down into town.

Brian stretched and yawned mightily, glancing at the wall clock and swearing to himself. Outside, the day had closed its business and night was setting up shop, preparing for the skimpy display of stars that would appear through the overcast sky.

Wegman had cursed a blue streak when Brian notified him of the killing at the Riverview, complaining that he would have to find other accommodation while running the investigation, or drive the fifty-five miles back and forth to Ingersol every day.

Brian said if Reece didn't come, he could crash at his place in the courthouse. Brian promised there would be enough room for the two of them. He looked at the phone and thought of trying a call to Janet but chickened out; he preferred face to face.

He shut out the lights and locked up the office, planning to go down to her place and sort things out once and for all. He didn't need their relationship hanging over his head while he was helping Wegman in an investigation.

As he pulled to a stop outside Janet's, Carol Tzajke passed him and turned off the main road onto the road beside Janet's shop and accelerated up the hill. Brian sat in the car wondering where she could be going to up there at this time of night. He got out of the car and went up to the door, turning his head to peek past the blind that read: Closed. Call Again Tomorrow. A light was on at the back and, sucking in his breath, he knocked firmly on the glass.

"Hello," Janet said noncommittally, as she opened the door.

"Hi. Uh- I... can I come in?"

She waited a beat then stepped aside, leaving him to close the door. Brian followed her to the back of the shop where she had her apartment and stopped in the entrance waiting for some indication of permission.

"What did you want?" She sat and resumed leafing through a catalogue of hair products.

"To talk." He took a chance and sat at the table across from her.

"About what?"

"C'mon Janet." Brian rapped his knuckles on the table in disgust. "About us. You and me." She kept her eyes on the catalogue, turning the pages slowly. "Is that your contribution then, silence?"

"What do you want me to say?" She snapped, slapping the magazine closed. "I'm sorry? Okay, I'm sorry."

Brian blinked in confusion. "Sorry about what? I didn't ask for any kind of apology. I just want to know where we stand."

It was Janet's turn to gape. She had felt so guilty since the night of the dance and again later when Doc had shown her in his theories before telling Brian that she figured he was angry and wanted nothing to do with her.

"You- you're not mad at me?"

"No more than usual," he tried a straight-faced joke.

"Brian, I thought you were really mad at me after that bit with Jenny. I- she said some things that really upset me."

"Was she right?"

Janet blanched. "I hope not, but I can see some truth in it."

"And have you seen the light as well?" He tried but failed to keep the grin at bay.

"Brian Weller, are you making fun of me?"

"Somebody beat me to that, I'm afraid. I just want to get some part of it for myself – kinda greedy like."

She came around the table and took his hands, bringing him to his feet, and with a brief shake of her head, she rose up and kissed him solidly on the lips.

"I saw your domestically stressed client driving up the road out here when I came in. That, by the way was what Jenny and I were discussing. Apparently Wendy showed up at school pretty upset about her parents fighting. Jenny wanted me to intervene and I told her I couldn't." They were side by side on the sofa, each cradling a large glass of wine that they were using to toast one another.

"But your sighting just now has piqued your interest."

"Well, it's late. It's dark. There's nothing up that road really."

"But not actually against the law, is it?"

"Where do you think she was headed?"

"I don't know. The Judge's?"

"Why come all the way down here? Why not go up by the courthouse?"

"Maybe she likes this route better." Janet sipped her wine and wiggled her toes against his foot on the coffee table.

"Hmm."

"You think she's meeting her lover, don't you?" She dug him in the ribs.

"Unngh, yeah, I do. But where?"

"There's nothing up that road that I can- oh wait! The sugar shack." She sat up and set her glass on the table. "I bet that's it."

"Ugh and double ugh. That ratty structure. Jesus, who'd want to roll in the hay in that dump?"

"Maybe they just have scintillating conversation."

"Oh right, like us you mean." He finished his wine and grabbed her about the waist. "I'll give you scintillating."

Janet squealed and faked resistance, letting him pull her back down on the sofa where she fell into his arms and soon into his lips.