“I don’t know.”
“Did he come back quickly?”
“Late.After midnight.”
“Did you speak after that?”
“Hardly.”Sandra’s voice thinned.“We could sit in the same house and say less than strangers.”
Janet leaned forward.“That doesn’t mean she had anything to do with what happened.”
“I haven’t said that,” Selena replied.
“But you’re circling it.”
“I’m asking what Warren’s life looked like before someone killed him.”
Renee’s chin lifted.“He was hurting her.That’s what it looked like.”
Sandra shook her head, fresh tears gathering.“Renee.”
“What?He was.You don’t have to protect him now.”
Selena noted the quick flare in Renee’s voice.Protective, yes.But also angry in a way that felt rehearsed by private conversations.
“Sandra,” Selena said, “I hate to ask this, but it’s procedure.Where were you two nights ago when Warren was killed?”
Janet sat upright.“Excuse me?”
Sandra answered before her sister could continue.“I had a terrible migraine.I was in bed for two days.”
“Can anyone vouch for that?”
“Not all of it.”
The answer came without hesitation and plenty of exhaustion.
“No one else was in the house?”Selena asked.
“No.Mary lives with Janet.Renee came by the day before yesterday, just in the afternoon for an hour, but I was alone after that.”
“I see.”
Janet stood so suddenly the sofa cushion shifted.“You aren’t accusing my sister while she’s mourning, are you?”
“No.But I have to ask for alibis.”
Renee rose too, one hand still on Sandra’s shoulder.“It’s outrageous to question a widow like that.”
Selena remained seated.“My job is to catch whoever did this.That means asking questions people don’t want answered.”
Sandra covered her face and began to sob.
Janet pointed toward the doorway.“Get out.”
Selena stood slowly.“Sandra, I’m sorry for the distress.We may need to speak again.”
“No,” Janet snapped.“You won’t.Not like this.”
