“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“You did well.I’m glad you came back.”
Selena looked at him.
He seemed to hear himself.His mouth tightened, and he nodded once as if agreeing with himself.
“Very glad,” he said.
Neither of them smiled.
“Let’s get back, Connor.”
They moved over to his SUV and got in without saying a word to each other.
The drive back to the sheriff’s department passed through quiet streets and pockets of porch light.Ahead, Arnold’s cruiser carried Renee Beaumont toward a cell, the woman who had turned suspected betrayals into death and called it protection.
At a stop sign, Selena watched the nocturnal quiet of Elmsview town.
Renee had been so certain.
Certain Gary had humiliated her.Certain Sandra needed justice.Certain Marlene needed saving.Certain Sheila Atkins stood at the edge of the same pit even though she had never met her.One suspicion had become a map.One hurt had become a rule.From there, Renee had built an entire catastrophe and filled it with other people’s bodies.
Selena looked for a moment at Connor.He didn’t seem to notice.
Once, she had been certain, too.Certainty had carried her out of Harlan County, away from a marriage she could no longer bear to stand inside.Maybe she had been right.Maybe she had only been hurt enough to stop caring about the difference.Somewhere deep down, she still wanted the answers from her past.But those would have to wait for another day.
Connor waited for a moment as the light turned green.
Selena breathed once, then let the question stay unanswered, for now, as they drove on into the night.
EPILOGUE
By the next afternoon, Robert Raven’s backyard had taken on the easy disorder of a family meal reaching its end.He was in his element now that Selena was around.
Paper plates sat in a loose stack on the patio table.A bowl of coleslaw had gone watery at the bottom.Tongs rested beside a foil tray with two burgers left cooling in the sun.Smoke curled from the barbecue in thin gray threads while Robert stood beside it, one hand on the lid, pretending there was still important work to do.
Selena sat in a lawn chair with a glass of iced tea balanced on her knee.
Her head still hurt if she moved too quickly, and the dressing beneath her hair pulled whenever the breeze shifted it.Blethan had told her to rest.Meg had told her the same thing over the phone that morning.There had been no mention of Connor being at Morimer’s home.But whether the FBI had surveillance of that or not, only time would tell.
Connor had stared at the bandage three times since arriving and managed not to comment, which counted as a minor miracle.
Arnold had commented twice.
The second time, Selena had threatened to put him on paperwork until retirement.
Now Arnold sat on the cooler, eating the last of the potato chips straight from the bag while Connor leaned against the porch railing.The sheriff had traded uniform for jeans and a blue shirt.Without the badge in plain view, he looked closer to the boy Robert kept pretending not to remember fondly.
Robert pointed at him with the barbecue tongs.
“I still don’t know what my daughter saw in you.”
Connor lifted his glass.“Charm.”
“Trouble,” Robert said.“That’s what it was.”
