Connor’s footsteps pounded nearby.Bradley cried out behind them.Selena twisted Renee’s wrist hard against the ground.The pistol came loose.
Connor kicked it away, then grabbed Bradley by the collar and hauled him back.
“Move,” Connor snapped.“Get behind the SUV.”
Bradley stumbled, then ran across the yard with Connor guiding him by the arm.
Selena rolled Renee onto her front and pinned one wrist between her shoulder blades.Renee did not fight now.No screaming.No sobbing.No frantic plea.Her body had gone slack beneath Selena’s knee, as if the fired shot had emptied the last of the motion from her.
Selena pulled cuffs from her belt and secured Renee’s wrists.
“Renee Beaumont, you’re under arrest for the murders of Warren Holt and Victor Schmidt.”
Renee’s cheek rested against the grass.Her eyes were open, fixed on nothing Selena could see.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Selena said, breath rough in her throat.“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.You have the right to an attorney.”
Connor returned, weapon still in hand but lowered.“Bradley’s clear.”
Selena finished reading Renee her rights and stood, pulling Renee with her.For a moment, they faced each other in the yard.Renee’s cardigan was smeared with grass.A small scratch ran along her cheek.The composure had returned to her face, but it looked flatter now.
“Why Bradley?”Selena asked.
Renee looked toward the house.
A woman stood at the back door.
Sheila Atkins.One hand pressed to her mouth.Eyes wide.Barefoot on the threshold.
Bradley called her name from near Connor’s SUV, but Sheila did not move toward him.
Renee watched the wife instead.
“Those women deserved better than what their husbands were doing to them,” Renee said.
No tears followed.
Only that one sentence, offered with terrible certainty.
Selena guided her toward the front of the house as Arnold’s cruiser turned onto Briar Lane with its lights off until the last second.A second cruiser followed.Doors opened.Deputies moved fast, voices low, weapons checked and lowered when Connor signaled the scene was secure.
Bradley sat on the curb with his head between his hands.Sheila stood wrapped in a blanket Arnold must have taken from his trunk, though she refused to sit near her husband.She had heard too much from Renee.Connor spoke to both of them separately.Selena noticed that.Even now, even with Renee cuffed, the damage inside that house had not become simple.
Nothing about betrayal ever was.
Renee said nothing while Selena placed her in the back of the cruiser.Nothing while Arnold read the arrest notation into the radio.Nothing while Connor stood nearby, looking at Selena as if he wanted to ask whether she was hurt and knew better than to do it in front of everyone.
Selena kept her hands busy.
Evidence secured.Weapon location marked.Bradley and Sheila separated for statements.Backup assigned to Renee for transport.Connor spoke with Arnold.Selena gave instructions, signed the first custody form, and watched the pistol being photographed near the edge of the yard.
Work first.
Feelings later.
Only when the scene had settled enough for Connor to take over did Selena return to her car.The dressing on her head pulsed under her hair.Grass stained one knee of her trousers.Her forearm burned where the pistol had scraped it.
Connor approached before she opened the door.
