Paula Broadwell hidden in her brother’s Petworth home in Washington

It has been revealed that Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at her brother’s Washington D.C. home as she hides away from the fall-out of her affair with disgraced former CIA boss David Petraeus.

The 40-year-old mother-of-two is staying in the Petworth suburb of the capital as the scandal she set off by sending threatening emails to alleged love rival Jill Kelley blew up publicly on Friday – causing David Petraeus’ resignation.

This was confirmed this evening when the Associated Press released a photograph of Paula Broadwell standing in the kitchen wearing a pink top with a glass of red wine in hand looking like any other housewife on a weekday evening.

It was Paula Broadwell’s threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite who is a Petraeus family friend that led to the FBI’s discovery of the affair between the biographer-turned-mistress and the nation’s top spy-chief.

And in another jaw-dropping development it has been claimed that Paula Broadwell also sent emails to General John Allen under the pseudonym “KelleyPatrol” – calling the unpaid social liaison for the military a “seductress”, warning the general about becoming entangled in a relationship with her.

This in turn led to a dramatic twist when sources close to the internal investigation into the scandal said that the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan General John Allen exchanged emails likened to “phone sex” with 37-year-old Jill Kelley.

Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at her brother’s Washington DC home as she hides away from the fall-out of her affair with David Petraeus

General John Allen, who is married who two daughters and leads U.S. troops in Afghanistan denies any wrongdoing.

Officials claim his emails to Jill Kelley, who is also married with children, were simply friendly and not “inappropriate” or flirtatious.

However, sources have told Fox News that the emails between the pair were so explicit that they could be compared to “the equivalent of phone sex over email”.

Another official said that the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would not have referred this matter to an internal investigator without being sure that he had to – such would be the effect on John Allen’s family and the U.S. war effort.

“This was a serious enough matter that those who examined the emails thought it should be referred to the secretary of defense, and the secretary made the decision to turn it over to the inspector general,” the official said to Fox News.

“He would not have thrust this into the limelight without good cause.”

Sources are reviewing between 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails between Jill Kelley and General John Allen which date from between 2010 to 2012.

The investigation into the burgeoning sex scandal is ongoing – on Monday evening FBI agents searched Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, North Carolina home and left with electronic equipment.

And further deepening the mire is news that the FBI agent who began the investigation into David Petraeus was taken off the case after it was found that he sent shirtless pictures of himself to Jill Kelley.

He is facing an internal investigation.