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Hayley sat with her back resting against the counter for what seemed like only a few minutes, but when she looked at her watch again, the face read 12:59. She could hear Brennan in the other room. The occasional grunt or the scraping of metal on tile could be heard, and it sounded like he was moving furniture. Whatever it was, he was spending a long time in doing it, and at this point she really didn’t care what it was, as long as he stayed away from her.

She mulled over the recent events of the past two days, trying to sort it out in her mind. Could she trust him, after all of this? At first he didn’t seem half bad, almost gentlemanly, but then he had grabbed her and scared her half to death. She wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do next. He seemed almost an enigma to her, a man in his own world void of typical human conscience and reason. But strangely, despite the fear he could drench her in at a moment’s notice, she did want to trust him, to believe that if she did what he said everything would turn out alright.

She shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts and stood up. She took a bottle of water from behind one of the glass coolers and took a long drink. The frigid liquid felt good against her throat as she gulped it down. She poured a little in her hand and dabbed her face with it. If only she had someone she could talk to. Then it hit her. Her cell phone was in her purse. She reached for her purse on the counter and zipped it open. She rifled through the junk in her purse until she pulled out her black Nokia flip phone. She flipped it open and was met with a dark screen. For a second she felt disappointment, but then she realized she had turned it off to make sure Derek wouldn’t call her after their impromptu meeting earlier. Was that just yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago.

She turned it on, looking at the battery life as she did so. One bar. Enough for one call, maybe two if she kept them short. She scrolled through her phone book trying to decide who to call. She had lost all her so called friends when she had left the church, and as she finished scrolling through the names, she realized she hadn’t really made any new ones. She could always call her mother, but they hadn’t been on speaking terms since she found out about the baby. Maybe she should just call the police, she reasoned, but then thought better of it. Perhaps because she wanted to get out of this herself without relying on others as she had in the past, or maybe because a part of her really believed what Brennan had said about her getting arrested and them taking away her baby.

She stared at the phone trying to think of someone to call, and then the name came to her. What about Derek? But that was crazy, he would want to know where she was to help, and would most likely see the call as an invitation for him to come back into her life. But who else to call, no other names came to mind. She dialed the number and hit send, surprised she still remembered it after all this time.

The phone rang, and she waited, trying to decide what to say. The fourth time it rang she gave up hope and was about to call it quits when someone picked up.

“Hello?” Asked a woman’s voice on the other end.

“Hi.” Hayley said, the words she had prepared lost in her shock. “Is…Derek there?”

“Oh, I’m sorry he’s not. Can I give him a message for you?” She sounded friendly, and Hayley’s mind raced, trying to place the voice. It sounded vaguely familiar.

“Um…yeah. Just tell Derek that I called.”

“And who should I say called?”

Hayley remained silent, unsure of what to say. Who was this woman? Then it clicked. “Never mind. Bye.”  She hung up the phone before the woman on the other end could voice any protests.

Debora Mattson. Assistant Pastor Mark’s fiancée. Who knew why she would be over at Derek’s home while he was out, but she could imagine all the possibilities.  Another affair? Debora had broken up with Pastor Mark and was now dating Derek? Whatever the reason, it brought to her mind all the reasons why she had left in the first place. She felt bile rise up in her throat at the thought, and swallowed, pushing the questions from her mind as she did so.

As she turned the cell phone back off and placed it into her purse again, she realized she needed to start truly relying on herself, instead of others. She needed to be confident enough to get the answers for herself, starting with Brennan.

Feeling a little unsure about what she was about to do, Hayley walked down the hall and back to the employee lounge. She needed to talk to him. A few inches of light shone through the mostly closed door, and she hesitated, her palm resting lightly on the white surface. Then, mustering up as much courage and fortitude she could, she pushed it open. The room didn’t look all that different at first. Everything seemed to be just as she left it. Then she noticed the couch had been pushed forward a few feet with a wide red streak running out from behind it. She looked down, and realized the trail continued out the door and, as she glanced back over her shoulder, into the men’s bathroom.

Brennan was sitting at the table with a small bag of chips and a can of Coke, silently eating, a thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes caught hers, and they narrowed in anger.

“What are you doing in here?” He asked as he wiped his hands on his pants, freeing them from any lingering grease or salt from the potato chips.

Hayley chose her next words very carefully, attempting to hide the sarcasm she couldn’t help from creeping into her voice. “Well, since we trust each other now, I thought I’d see what we are planning on doing next.”

“Ah, I see.” Brennan seemed to relax just a bit as he stood up and walked up to her, stopping a few inches from her. She felt uncomfortably close, but didn’t bother backing away. “How about we both go back to the front counter and talk about it.”

Hayley regarded him silently, a little surprised at how open he seemed to the idea.

“It smells a little too much like blood and vomit in here.” He said by way of an explanation, albeit a rather crude one.

“Ok.” She answered, a little shocked by the bluntness of his reply.

Hayley and Brennan walked back into the main room. Once there, Hayley sat on the counter, and to her surprise, Brennan hopped up next to her, still maintaining a close proximity to her, but not quite touching her. It was slightly unnerving, and she found herself feeling a little distracted. Silence hung heavy in the air, and Hayley wondered if this was becoming a pattern between her and men.

Brennan spoke, dispelling the quietness. “So what did you want to know?”

Hayley paused, the words in her mind, on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated in speaking them. Finally, she answered. “If we’re going to trust each other I need to know if you lied to me about anything.”

“No.” He answered simply.

Hayley sighed, and tried to rephrase the question. “You don’t have to worry about me freaking out or anything, I just need to know the truth.”

Brennan smiled at her, as he realized what she was getting at. “You want to know if I really did kill him or not.”

“Yes.” Hayley stared him down, gaining a little confidence.

“And the answer is no.” Brennan said, matching her gaze, and then looking ahead continued. “I found the body when you were in the bathroom. I didn’t want you to find it so I told you to stay put. I don’t know who killed him, but there wasn’t much of a struggle, it was almost like he had been paralyzed so he had no way of defending himself.”

“So if you didn’t do it, then who did?”

“Who knows. That corpse has been here since yesterday sometime at least. Whoever did it, took the money in the cash register though. It’s empty.”

“Why did you move it?”

“Why? Because I was trying to give you space for a little bit and I didn’t feel very comfortable sitting in a room with a rotting corpse staring at me from across the room.”

Hayley was about to ask another question, but Brennan interrupted her, placing his fingers lightly across her lips. “Shh. Do you hear that?”

“What?” Mumbled Hayley behind his hand.

“Someone’s here.” Brennan slid across the counter and down behind it. He grabbed Hayley’s arm and tried to pull her down as well. “Come on.”

“Just a second.” Hayley protested as she awkwardly pushed herself off the edge and crouched down next to Brennan. He snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him, but she felt so tense that she barely noticed.

They both watched as a man dressed in jeans and a light brown hunting coat appeared outside the front door. His hair matched his coat so well, that it seemed to blend in with it. His fist gripped the handle, pulling open the door, his weathered face twisted into a frown. He stepped into the room, snow swirling around him as he entered. The door slammed shut behind him, a loud bang. Hayley tried to breathe as quietly as possible so as not to attract attention.

“Hello?” The man called out. “Tom, are you still here? Your wife sent me out to fetch you; she said she was worried about you when you didn’t come home last night in the storm. Tom, can you hear me?”

The man continued forward and down the hall, and Hayley felt Brennan tense next to her. Just as the man escaped from view, Brennan snuck around the counter and came up behind him. He stepped out of view and Hayley heard the man cry out once and then everything grew silent. After several tense minutes, Brennan appeared around the corner, a satisfied look on his face.

“What did you do?” Hayley asked while trying to figure out what had just happened.

“I knocked him out.”

“How? With what?”

“With my hands.”

“You choked him? Is he alive?” Hayley demanded, concern rising in her voice.

“Yes.” Brennan replied, sounding a little annoyed at her questioning.

“So what do you plan on doing now?”

“Me? Well, I figure we can tie him up to the pipes beneath the sink in the men’s bathroom. It should hold him well enough.”

“But isn’t…what about you-know-what? Is that a good idea?”

“Why not? It’ll be pretty entertaining when he wakes up, that’s for sure.” Brennan chuckled to himself a little bit. “I can’t wait to hear what he says.”

“That’s just wrong, Brennan. We can’t do that. And what are we going to do, just leave him tied up there forever?”

“No. Of course not. The storm will blow over by morning at least. Then we can get the hell out of here.”

“Morning? Are you sure? What if someone else comes by looking for him, or the other guy? We can’t just go attacking whoever walks through that door.”

“Why not?” Brennan asked playfully.

“Because.” Hayley felt at a loss for words. How to make him see that they needed a better plan, that this just wasn’t working.

“I see.”

“Yes.”

The argument petered out. Brennan spoke again, this time a serious tone in his voice. “I’m gonna go tie him up. I’ll be back soon.”

“What are you going to use?” Hayley asked, noticing his hands were empty.

Brennan grinned and walked over to a display that had several household items, including dog leashes. After testing for durability, he grabbed a blue leash and two chain choker leashes and walked over to where the man lay crumpled on the floor. He dragged the man across the floor and into the men’s restroom. As he open the door and shoved the man inside, the stench of death wafted into the air.  Disgust flittered across his face as he flipped the light on, pushing the door shut behind him, as he did so.

Several minutes later Brennan opened the door again, closing it tightly behind his back. “God it smells in there.”

“Did he wake up?”

“No. He shouldn’t wake up.” Brennan stopped then added haltingly, “For quite awhile at least.”

Hayley noticed, but paid it no heed, deciding to let things rest for awhile.

They spent most of the afternoon sitting around the counter talking. Hayley ended up telling Brennan a little about her past, but most of the conversation revolved around light-hearted topics like if you were trapped on a deserted island, which object would you bring with you, or name one thing you’re afraid of. As the time went by, they started to get more comfortable with each other, and for a little while, Hayley was able to forget the circumstances surrounding their meeting. In that moment, with the blizzard of the century storming around them, and their future uncertain, she dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, the world wasn't completly hopeless.