Arnold turned from the desk, phone still at his ear.“Sheriff?”
Connor looked over.
Arnold covered the mouthpiece.“I’ve got Victor’s wife on the line.”
The room changed.It did not grow quieter.It was already quiet.But everything in it seemed to narrow toward the phone in Arnold’s hand.
Selena stepped closer.“Put it on speaker.”
“I’d rather take the call…” Connor said, sincerity in his voice.
“I know,” she said calmly.“But I think we should be all in it.Okay?”
Arnold tapped the screen and placed the phone on the table.
A faint hiss came through the small speaker.
Connor leaned over the table.“Marlene?”
A breath hitched at the other end.“Connor?”
The voice was thin, strained, and so small through the speaker that Selena pictured the woman in some borrowed kitchen hundreds of miles away, holding herself together where her children could not see her fall apart.
“I’m here,” Connor said.“I’m so sorry, Marlene.”
A pause followed.Someone muffled a sob.Another relative nearby, perhaps.
Connor lowered his head.“Victor was a great guy.One of the best.”
“I don’t understand,” Marlene said.“I don’t understand how this can be real.”
“I wish I knew what to say, Marlene.I can’t tell you how much I’ll miss him.”
“He was fine when we left.He was laughing.He told the kids he’d have the yard cut before we got home.”Her voice wavered.“He never cut the yard when he said he would.I was going to tease him about it.”
Connor closed his eyes for a second.
Selena watched his hands.One had braced flat on the table.The other had balled into a fist beside the phone.
She then drew a shaky breath.“Do you have any idea who did it?”
Nobody spoke.
The silence stretched too long.
Connor opened his eyes.“Not yet.But we’re working on it.”
Selena moved closer.“Marlene, my name is Selena Raven.I’m with the FBI.I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“It was one of your agents who told us today,” she answered.
“Marlene,” Selena began, “were you in Lexington all night?”
“Yes,” she said with a sob.
Connor gave a frustrated look toward Selena.
“I’ve worked cases like this before, Marlene.Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?”
