“I don’t want anything to do with it.You handle it.I’mclearlynot objective enough for that interview.”
Frustration flared through Selena’s chest.“Stepping out isn’t an option.”
“It is right now.You said you didn’t want me to complicate things.I won’t by staying away.”
Selena felt her blood pressure rising.“If I have reason to bring her in, I’m bringing her in.”
“Do what you have to do.”
His voice cut out.
Selena stared at the radio for a second, then dropped it onto the passenger seat.
“Stubborn ass,” she said.
The gnomes smiled from Renee Beaumont’s garden as Selena pulled away, heading back toward town and the widow Connor refused to see clearly.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Victor Schmidt’s house looked wrong in daylight.
Selena parked at the curb and let the engine idle for a moment.The crime scene tape had been removed from the front entrance, but the house still seemed marked.Curtains drawn.Yard trimmed too neatly.A child’s bicycle leaned against the side of the porch; its front wheel turned toward the street as if the child who owned it had dropped it and run inside for dinner.
No children were here now.
Marlene had returned without them.
Selena switched off the engine, took the radio from the passenger seat, and clipped it to her belt.Her head was clear, but irritation had been moving under her skin since Connor refused to come.The fact that he had done it because of Marlene, because he could not bear to look at her as a suspect, only made it worse.
The front path led past two flower beds filled with marigolds and dry mulch.A wind chime hung near the porch and gave a weak metallic sound as Selena climbed the steps.
She knocked.
No answer.
Selena knocked again, harder.“Marlene?”
A shape moved behind the frosted glass.The door stayed closed.
A woman’s voice came from the other side.“Who’s there?”
“It’s Selena Raven from the FBI.I was hoping to speak with you, Marlene.”
“I’m too upset right now, Agent Raven.”
“I understand, but...”
“No, you don’t.”Marlene sounded close to the door, but the voice was thin and strained.“I don’t want to talk.Not today.”
Selena kept one hand loose at her side.“Where are your kids?”
“With my mom in Lexington.”
“Good.Then this is a good time for us to speak privately.”
“I said I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Marlene, we know you came back to town the night your husband died.You told us you were at your mother’s.That wasn’t true.”
