For a moment, they stood beside the vehicle and looked at Bradley Atkins’s house.
Poor Sheila.
One more woman waiting for someone else to make the pain stop.
The killer crossed the street.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Renee Beaumont’s cottage looked smaller with the evening pressing down around it.
Selena parked behind Connor’s SUV at the edge of the lane and sat for a moment with both hands on the wheel.The dressing at the back of her head pulled when she turned to look at the house.Light showed through lace curtains in the front room, but no movement crossed behind them.The garden gnomes stood in their rows and clusters, their painted faces catching the last of the day.
Connor was already out of his vehicle.
He stood by the gate, hat in one hand, phone in the other, looking at the cottage as if it had shifted while he was away.Earlier that day, the place had seemed odd.Now it looked arranged.Every cheerful figure in the flower beds seemed to be watching.
Selena climbed out and crossed to him.“Where’s Marlene?”
“With Arnold at the department.She’s safe.”Connor put his phone away.“I told him not to question her until you get there.”
“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said today.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Why are we here, Connor?”
His mouth moved as if he might argue.Then he looked back at the house.“It’s Renee.The killer is Renee.”
Selena stopped beside him.“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure enough to be here.”
The lane behind them stayed empty.A dog barked somewhere beyond the trees, then another answered farther off.The cottage did not react to any of it.Selena kept watching the front windows.
Connor said, “Renee was close enough to Sandra and Janet to hear things no one else was hearing.I’m convinced Janet must have confided in her.That’s how she learned that Victor was having an affair.”
Selena looked at him.“Marlene told you as much?”
“Marlene came home to catch Victor cheating.She found him dead.She panicked and drove back to her mother’s.But before that, she’d suspected Victor was having an affair with Janet Holt.”
“Sandra’s sister?”
“Yeah.”
Selena pictured Sandra Holt on the sofa, held between Janet and Renee.Janet quiet and close.Renee attentive, almost maternal.At the time, grief had made that scene ordinary.Now it began to look crowded with motives.
“That’s the connection we needed between Warren and Victor!”Selena said.“Warren’s sister-in-law sleeping with Victor!”
Connor continued, “Renee was right there with Sandra after Warren died.She knew what Sandra thought Warren had done.She knew who was hurt, who was angry, who felt humiliated.”
“Knowing pain isn’t the same as murder, though.”
“No.But Gary Beaumont drowned after Renee believed he had eyes for Mavis Turnberry.That accident meant he was never able to answer for what he’d done.Warren was shot after Sandra found out he was sleeping around.Victor was shot after Marlene thought he was cheating with Janet.”
“Gary’s death was a year ago.”
“And a year later nearly to the day, Renee decides to kill other men to answer for Gary’s crimes.”
