Connor looked at her then.The defensiveness she expected was absent.Only urgency remained.
“I was wrong about Marlene,” he said.“I let knowing her get in the way.But this isn’t me swapping one suspect for another.Renee had access to Sandra, Janet, and Marlene’s grief.She knew where the wounds were.”
Selena folded her arms against the cooling air.“This is a good theory, Connor.”
“Renee finds women who’ve been betrayed or think they have.She gets close.Comforts them.Listens.Then the husband dies.”
Selena remembered Renee offering soft little openings when they visited Warren’s wife.Sandra stepping through them.At the time, it had seemed like support.Maybe it had been rehearsal.
Connor said, “Renee wanted us looking at affairs.Not because the wives were guilty.Because she wanted the men judged.”
“Punished,” Selena said.
His gaze sharpened.“Exactly.In a way she couldn’t punish her dead husband for his affair.”
Selena’s mind turned to the blank pages left at both scenes.“The blank letters could be the apology she never got from Gary.The confession she thinks every one of them owes their wives.”
A chill moved across Selena’s skin that had nothing to do with the evening.Day by day the case had been offering them different villains.Ray Parkinson.Carl Higgins.Marlene.Each one angry enough to tempt them.Each one with a reason that could be placed neatly on a board.
Renee had never needed to stand in the center.She only had to stand beside the person in pain.
“Are you sure about this?”Selena asked.
“I am.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Connor turned to face her fully.“You need to trust me.”
The words carried more than the case.They both knew it.
Selena looked toward the cottage, then back at him.“I’ll trust the evidence.Right now, this is a good lead.”
He almost smiled.Almost.
They went up the path together.The gnomes lined the way, little red hats and frozen grins on both sides.Selena noticed one near the porch that looked newly painted, its cheeks brighter than the others, fishing rod held in both hands.
Gary had loved fishing.
She filed the thought away.
Connor knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again, harder.“Renee?It’s Sheriff Chase.Open up.”
The house remained still.
Selena moved to the side window and looked through a gap in the curtain.The living room lamp was on.The couch was empty.The tray from their earlier visit had been cleared away.Gary Beaumont’s photograph sat above the fireplace; his smiling face fixed toward the room.
“Anything?”Connor asked.
“No.”
Connor tried the door.Locked.
“Her car?”Selena asked.
