The Door

By Cecilia Valetti

Steve walked along the long corridor that led to Father Brian’s parlor. He knew every corner, every floor tile of that corridor. How many times he had gone to talk to Brian while he was living in that orphanage. And then, when he had gone to the police academy, how many times he had gone back to seek the comfort and the advice of the old priest.

Now he stopped in front of the big mahogany door. He had insisted on talking to Brian about Joan. The priest had tried to dissuade him, to encourage him to go on with his life and to stop looking for her, to stop waiting for Joan to go back to him… Why? He loved Joan so much…She couldn’t have done such a terrible thing that he wouldn’t be able to forgive her… 

Did he really want to know? He knew Brian too well not to perceive in his voice that what he would have to tell him would make him suffer…. He knew that Brian wanted to protect him from something that could only hurt him… Wasn’t it better to go on with his life? 

For a moment he thought of going back to his car and calling Brian to tell him that he was right, that it was better for him not to know… 

He raised his hand to knock on the door, but he stopped. He was a sniper, used to facing all kinds of danger, but now he was afraid of facing the reality, the truth about the woman he loved and he hadn’t heard for almost three years now. What did Brian know that he didn’t?

He gathered his courage and he finally knocked… he heard footsteps and then the door was opened…  Brian, who had been a father for him, appeared with a pained expression on his face. He put a hand around the tall policeman’s shoulders and let him enter. He closed the door carefully behind them and he prepared to tell Steve something he would have never wanted to say…

Cecilia Valetti was born and raised in Italy. She has been an English language and literature teacher for almost three decades. Her first cosy mystery: “A new beginning: Miracle High School Mysteries” will be published shortly by Pegasus publisher. She lives in a village in the north of Italy with her husband.