Page 21 of Forever Gone

“Get him down to the station, Connor. Don’t tell him what this is about yet. We’ll see what he knows before we give him anything.”

“I’ll have Arnold bring him in… You think it could be the ex?”

“It often is,” she said. “Whoever killed Karen wanted to disfigure her. The tongue could be because of things she’d said during the divorce.”

Selena stepped into the hallway.

The distance from the body helped, but not as quickly as she wanted. Blood had a way of following a person beyond the room where it had been spilled, clinging to the back of the throat and turning each breath into a reminder.

Behind her, Matt’s camera clicked again.

Selena continued toward the open front door, but the smell of blood did not fade from her senses quickly enough.

CHAPTER FOUR

Late-afternoon light lay flat across the front of the Harlan County Sheriff’s Department when Selena turned into the parking lot.

Connor’s SUV occupied the space nearest the entrance. Road dust coated the lower doors, and a spray of dried mud marked one rear wheel. The vehicle had probably come straight from the Montgomery property. Two patrol cars stood farther along the building, leaving a narrow space beneath a maple that had begun dropping leaves.

Selena parked and switched off the engine.

For a few seconds, she remained behind the wheel with her phone in her hand. The sheriff’s department was a low brick building with narrow windows and a flag moving above the entrance. She knew what waited inside. Connor, Arnold, Cheryl, interview rooms, evidence forms, and people who had known her before she learned how to become Agent Raven.

Washington had been easier in certain ways. No one there remembered her at seventeen. No one knew which boy she had taken to prom or how long she and Connor had tried to save their marriage before it failed. The office had given her distance, and distance had allowed her to build a version of herself that did not have to answer for the past each time she entered a room.

She found Meg Calloway’s number and called.

A receptionist answered. “Section Chief Calloway’s office.”

“It’s Selena Raven. Is she available?”

“One moment, Agent Raven.”

Hold music began, faint and tinny. Selena watched the department entrance while a deputy she did not recognize crossed behind the glass doors. The music stopped after less than a minute.

“Selena,” Meg said. “What’s happened?”

“We have a homicide at a property outside Elmsview. Karen Sloane, forty-one, recently divorced. Multiple stab wounds, defensive injuries, and her tongue was removed.”

Meg’s tone sharpened. “Removed at the scene?”

“Yes. It was left on the floor beside a smashed word processor.”

“What’s the sheriff’s read?”

“Connor asked me to assist, but I’m not sure this is FBI business yet. We don’t have interstate movement, an identified serial pattern, or anything showing a federal nexus.”

“If the sheriff requests Bureau assistance and you document the cooperative basis, you can support the case. Keep the state charges with Connor unless a federal nexus develops.”

“That broad?”

“You’re running a violent-crime and rural liaison office, Selena. This is exactly the kind of support the post was created to provide.”

“Okay,” Selena said.

“Do you need resources?” Meg asked.

“Yes. I’m handling the scene consultation, case coordination, and everything waiting at Eagleton. Can we get someone to assist like I asked?”