Page 71 of Forever Gone

Boyd now had a witness covering Karen’s likely time of death. The digital evidence still needed checking, and the call did not clear him of Ruth’s death or explain why Karen had been targeted.

Kelly opened the passenger door but did not climb in immediately.

Selena had handled Boyd’s anger, his mother’s confusion, and Trina’s reluctance without losing the thread of the interview. Selena was better at the work than Kelly had allowed herself to expect, perhaps better than the stories following her from Washington had suggested.

Kelly only wished Selena would ease her grip on the past.

With trust between them, they might finally get their teeth into the case.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dusk had begun gathering over Elmsview by the time Selena turned into the sheriff’s department parking lot.

The last of the daylight stretched across the roofs in long copper bands. Shadows had pooled beneath the maple trees along the edge of the lot, where fallen leaves scraped over the pavement whenever the breeze moved through. The department’s front windows glowed against the deepening blue beyond them.

Kelly’s sedan remained where she had left it that morning.

Selena pulled into the space beside it and switched off the engine. For several seconds, neither woman moved. The drive back from Boyd Cutler’s house had been quieter than the journey out, though not unfriendly. Kelly had spent most of it writing interview notes on her phone and reviewing the photograph Trina Vale promised to preserve. Selena had called Arnold with instructions to begin checking Boyd’s whereabouts during the likely period of Ruth Keller’s murder.

One alibi had weakened the lead. It had not removed him from the investigation, but the school connection no longer felt as clean as it had before the interview.

Kelly gathered Boyd’s file from her lap. “I’ll type this up tonight and send it over.”

“Make sure the times from Trina’s statement are separated from anything we haven’t verified.”

“I will.”

Selena opened her door.

The cooler air felt good after forty minutes inside the car. She stepped out and stretched the stiffness from one shoulder while Kelly walked around the rear of the sedan.

A figure emerged from the department entrance.

Arnold Shaw wore a dark jacket over a pale shirt instead of his uniform. His blond hair had been combed into place with more attention than usual, and the uneven stubble along his jaw had disappeared. He stopped when he saw them, one hand holding the door behind him.

Selena took in the polished shoes and the faint shine along the front of his jacket.

“Are you off home?” she asked.

Arnold released the door and came down the steps. “I have a hot date.”

“Are you sure she exists?”

He placed one hand over his heart. “Your jokes are just as sparkling as I remember.”

“You sound nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“You’ve shaved.”

“I do that sometimes.”

Kelly smiled beside her.

Arnold shifted his attention toward Kelly with visible relief. “How are you settling in?”

“It’s a learning curve,” Kelly said.