“Too soon?”
“I gotta go, Meg just waved me over to her office,” Tanya said.“I’ll run these names and message you when I’ve got something.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Selena?”
“Yes?”
“Is the strapping sheriff still available?”
Selena looked across the room at Arnold, who was pretending not to listen and failing.
“That isn’t relevant to the investigation.”
“So yes.”
“Goodbye, Tanya.Get back to me if you find anything.”
Tanya laughed.“Will do.”
The call ended.
Arnold kept his eyes on the monitor.“Washington sounds fun.”
"It's a good office," Selena said.It was, wasn't it?She had been there now for several years.She had worked her way to the top of her game, investigating some of the most important federal murder cases from the country's capital city.But was all that now going to go away because she'd put the higher-ups' noses out of joint?The dread of starting over crawled up her spine like spider legs.
Arnold seemed to notice.“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded and began typing.
Selena opened a browser and started with Sandra Holt.
The public-facing part of Sandra's life appeared quickly.Real estate company page.Chamber of Commerce photos.Charity fundraisers.Church luncheon announcements.A smiling woman in pearl earrings standing beside Warren at a ribbon-cutting.Their lives looked polished online, the same way the farmhouse looked polished in person.
Selena moved through the posts one by one.
For sale listings.Congratulations to local graduates.A shared recipe.A photograph of a sunset over farmland with a caption about gratitude.Beneath all of it, something shifted two weeks back.
The posts changed tone.
A quote about betrayal.
A shared article titledSeven Signs Your Husband Is Lying.
Then a post from Sandra herself, plain black text on a pale background.
Husbands are only good for two things:children and leaving in a ditch.
Thirty-seven comments.Mostly laughing emojis and women telling her she'd be fine.
Selena leaned closer to the screen.
The timestamp sat two weeks before Warren’s death.
Two days after Sandra said she had confronted him.
