Black Brick – Chapter Thirty Three

This week’s episode features Chapter Thirty Two of Black Brick. Here is an excerpt from the show: 

Even though the sun was setting, there was still enough light to make out where Shannon stood several hundred yards away. She was in the open and slowly turned in a circle with her rifle up and ready to fire.

I took as much time as I dared to make my approach, keeping an eye out for Martinez and his men as well. By the time I had almost reached her, I decided they were gone. I didn’t know how they’d been able to disappear so quickly, but I figured that Martinez had used a hidden passageway somewhere on the grounds to make his escape. He seemed to know this place better than anybody else. 

In the distance, I spotted a lone figure that had his back to me and was walking away at a normal pace.

The light was getting dimmer by the minute, but by the height of the man and the back of his head, I would have bet money that it was Thor. I’d spent a lot of time hiding from him and had gotten pretty good at recognizing him from a distance. What was he doing here? I squinted, wishing for binoculars, and thought about going after him. Lisa’s screams haunted me as I remembered Martinez’s claim that Thor had been behind the death of the Kurt family. I decided against chasing after Thor because there would be time enough to deal with him later. 

“I was too slow,” Shannon said when I reached her.

“We can chase him another day,” I said, neglecting to mention my theory for Martinez’s escape. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night while she went from exhibit to exhibit looking for hidden passageways.

We didn't speak as the sun set. I wanted to reach for her, to take her in my arms and comfort her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

“I’m sorry,” Shannon said at last. It was the first time I ever heard her apologize and it caught me off guard. “I shouldn’t have let Beltran convince me to break up with you.” It was hard to tell if she was sincere because it was dark and she was covered in shadow, but I suspected her words were genuine and I wanted to believe that she meant it.

“This isn’t really the time—”

“If we don’t get another,” Shannon said. “I wanted you to know.”

I didn't know how to respond.

“You guys trying to get caught?” Kris asked. I hadn’t noticed her approaching. “There's at least three corpses back there. We need to split.”