Free Gabriel's Revenge (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 2) by J.T. Lewis Page B

you might be in a hurry to get started; your gun is in there too. I also figured that you probably wouldn’t feel like coming into the office for a couple of days considering the long trip you just had. Figured I’d just drop you at your house, let you work on them there for awhile.”
    I was relieved at the thought of being by myself for a while, and having time to go over the case files without interruption.
    “Thanks Allen…that would probably be a good idea.”
    We were pulling off of the interstate onto the Allenville exit, and familiar sights were making their way into my vision amid mixed emotions. While I had grown up here and had always considered it home, the loss of Betty had turned everything here into a glaring advertisement of my loss.
    Thinking of her then, I whispered, “I love you Betty.”
    “You say something?” Allen asked questioningly.
    I hadn’t realized I had spoken so loudly.
    “No, just talking to myself; you taking me straight home?”
    “Unless you need to go somewhere first,” Allen said.
    “I probably need to stop at a store to get a couple of things if you don’t mind.” I had realized only moments before that there would be nothing in the house to eat or drink. I would also be needing a few things for cleaning myself up, not to mention I had run out of deodorant a couple thousand miles ago. We were about to pass a 24-hour drug store, and I indicated that it would probably have everything I would need.
    Allen pulled in the lot, offering to help me with getting the supplies I needed. After a few moments of thought though, I told him I thought I could handle it myself.
    I was on a mission, not wanting to spend anymore time in there than needed. I had no trouble finding what I needed once inside, and was back in the car and headed home in ten minutes. Besides bread, milk, peanut butter and cereal, I had grabbed plenty of soap, as well as a bottle of shampoo and some deodorant. Finally, I had found the most important item, coffee. Unfortunately though, they had only had it in small cans, so I bought two. I figured I could come up with a better list and hit a real store in a day or two.
    Allen dropped me off on the sidewalk in front of my house. As he drove off, I turned to face my home with trepidation. Standing there, I must have made an unusual sight, groceries and my pack on the ground beside me, a box of evidence under my arm. I stood there…for a long time, unsure if I had the guts or energy to deal with the ghosts in my life that this house represented.
    Taking a deep breath, I walked up the stairs, lugging the box under my arm. I stood there, staring at the old wooden door, unable to move any further. I had faced down a gun three inches from my face before, but this may have been the hardest thing I had ever had to do.

Chapter 19
    August 21, 1998
     
    I finally rounded up enough mental courage to get moving, bending down and taking the key out from beneath the mat. The lock was stiff from disuse, but I finally heard the definitive click telling me the bolt had receded into the door.  Pushing open the door, I was unsure what would greet me as I stepped over the threshold.
    It’s exactly the same as I had left it, but I guess that shouldn’t have surprised me. Frank had been taking care of it since I had left, even hiring someone to come in once a month to clean. I set the evidence box down and returned to the sidewalk to grab my luggage and supplies, closing the door behind me when I returned.
    Memories surround me as I walked around the house. It was still a good, sturdy old house, but there was no life to it now, not for me. Betty had made this house our home, and when she was ripped out of my life, the life had been ripped out of the house, and out of me.
    I was determined to ignore my history in the house; it was just a roof over my head now. If the last year had proved nothing else, it proved that I could exist anywhere. Living…I guess that was another story