“We’ll need to check your phone for that… Anything after that text?”
“No.”
“Did she say she was going inside?”
“No.”
“Did she say she saw anyone else there?”
“No.”
“Where was Victor found?”Amanda asked.
Selena held her gaze.“At home.”
It was as if the penny finally dropped.Amanda’s face had lost much of its color.“Oh God.”
“What?”
“I mean, what would look worse than that after he was found dead?Her lying about being gone.Coming back secretly.Thinking he was with another woman.”Amanda leaned forward, urgent now.“I hope I’m not getting her into trouble.Marlene could never have done it.She couldn’t.How was Vic killed?”
Selena closed her notebook.
Amanda stared at it.“That’s it?You’re not going to tell me anything?”
“You’ve helped a lot, Amanda.”
“That sounds bad,” she said.“Marlene loved him.”
“I believe you.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”Amanda’s voice rose, then she checked herself.“She was angry, sure.She was humiliated.But love doesn’t just go away because a man’s stupid.”
Selena stood.“Sometimes it doesn’t.”
Amanda rose more slowly.“Are you going to arrest her?”
“I’m going to verify what you told me.”
“And then?”
“And then I’ll follow the evidence.Should you inform her that we’ve spoken, I’ll take that as obstruction.So not a word.”
Amanda looked toward the door as if Cheryl might come back and undo all of it.“I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“Thank you.Please hand your phone over to Arnold so we can verify that Marlene messaged you about Victor’s car.”
Selena opened the door and found Cheryl waiting in the hall with one shoulder against the wall.Her expression changed when she saw Amanda’s face.
“What did you say?”Cheryl asked.
Amanda’s mouth tightened.“The truth.”
Cheryl looked to Selena.
Selena did not answer the question in her eyes.Not yet.
Back in the interview room, the clock kept marking off seconds.Outside, evening pressed against the building.Somewhere in the department, a phone rang and rang before someone picked up.
