EPILOGUE
Five days after Carol Fen pushed her down the cellar stairs, Selena had learned the precise number of cracks in the ceiling above her hospital bed.
There were seven.
Three ran from the corner above the window. Two branched near the sprinkler head. Another ended beside a water stain that resembled Kentucky if the eastern counties had been removed. The final crack was so thin that Selena could only see it when the morning light reached across the room.
She had counted them before breakfast, after breakfast, and during the physical therapist’s visit.
The television remained off. Every program seemed to involve hospitals, violent crime, or people renovating houses they could never afford. The paperback Arnold had brought the previous day lay unopened on the bedside cabinet. Selena had read the first page four times and remembered none of it.
Rain traced narrow paths down the window.
Her left wrist rested across her middle inside a rigid splint and layers of bandaging.
Two fingers remained swollen, their tips yellowed by bruising.
A hinged brace supported her right knee beneath the blanket.
The fall had done some serious damage. Torn ligaments.
A broken wrist. A knee that might never quite be 100% again.
A knock came at the door.
Connor entered carrying flowers.
Selena let her head fall back against the pillow. “Please tell me those aren’t for me.”
“They’re not.”
“That’s reassuring.”
He placed the arrangement on the windowsill beside two others. White lilies and purple irises crowded a glass vase wrapped with a ribbon from the hospital gift shop.
Connor had changed out of uniform. A dark sweater covered a pale shirt, and rain marked the shoulders of his coat. He had shaved, though a patch near his jaw suggested he had done it in poor light.
“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m bored.”
“That’s an improvement. Yesterday you were angry.”
“I can be both.”
Connor pulled the visitor’s chair closer. “One more day, and I think they’ll send you home.”
“Back to the Wilson Motel isn’t home.”
“Then they’ll send you somewhere you can complain in private.”
“That’s what they said yesterday.”
“They wanted to see how you managed the stairs.”
“I managed them.”
“You called the therapist several things I’m not going to repeat.”
“She made me walk up and down the same three steps until my leg shook.”
“That was the point.”
Selena adjusted the blanket over the brace. “You’ve become very supportive of medical authority. I’m going to be out of action for weeks. Walking with a cane and this damned cast on my wrist.”
“I’m supportive of medical authority when it’s telling you not to climb into cellars alone.”
“Kelly was twenty seconds behind me.”
“Twenty seconds was plenty.”
He sat before the conversation could become an argument.
“The wrist is going to need therapy,” Connor said. “Your leg, too. They’ve arranged appointments in Harlan and a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon next week for the knee.”
“I was there when they told me, Connor.”
“I know. You were glaring at the wall. I’m just here to take in for you.”
“I was listening.”
Connor nodded toward the flowers. “You should read the card.”
“You already brought me flowers.”
“These aren’t from me.”
Selena reached with her right hand and removed the small envelope tucked between the lilies. Her name had been written across the front in heavy black ink.
She opened it against her knee.
Another case, another bang on the head. Let’s not do 3 for 3.
Blethan.
Selena read it again.
“Doctor Blethan sent me flowers?”
“Apparently.”
“Are you sure somebody didn’t steal his card and attach it to these?”
“I collected them from his receptionist.”
Selena glanced at the arrangement. “Lilies, too. He must think I’m dying.”
Connor smiled. “I think he’s warming to you.”
“We’ll see once I’m back on my feet.”
“He said something similar. There was more swearing in his version.”
She returned the card to the envelope and placed it beside the vase. The gesture brought an unexpected warmth with it. Blethan would deny any kindness if confronted, which made the flowers feel more sincere.
Selena settled back. “Did you check on Dad like I asked?”
“I stopped by this morning. Robert’s fine.”
“Did he take his medication?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see him take it?”
Connor paused. “Diane said he had.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Connor watched her for a moment. “You could call her and ask.”
Selena knew he would just love that. Seeing them awkwardly swirl around their relationship like hair going down a drain.
“I could.”
“You know she was worried sick about you,” he said. “Even checked in when you were out of it on meds the first couple of days. She still loves you. She just needs to work through the bad blood.”
“I love her, too. But…” Selena shook her head. “I just don’t know.”
“You’re going to be living ten minutes apart, Selena. You’re here for the long hall with this new FBI office. You have to face your sister at some point. If you don’t, you’re going to run into each other in the street one day and not know how to handle it.”
Selena turned the edge of the blanket between her fingers. Hannah Montgomery’s message came back to her.
Tell Diane I was asking after her.
One harmless sentence. A reason to call that required neither apology nor argument. She had carried it for days and done nothing with it.
“Not yet,” Selena said.
Connor seemed ready to answer, then thought better of it.
Selena appreciated that. She had spent weeks pretending the silence between her and Diane was something happening around them, when both of them were choosing it. For now, at least, she could admit her part in keeping it alive.
“At least Dad is okay,” she said with a sigh.
“He’s fine, Selena. He’s also not happy you told him to stay away.”
“He was here for the first three days. That was plenty.”
“He doesn’t agree.”
“I don’t want him coming into a hospital and picking up an infection.”
“I told him that.”
“And?”
“He said he survived raising you.”
Selena laughed, then pressed her right hand to her ribs when the movement pulled at bruised muscles.
Connor leaned forward. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.” She waited for the ache to settle. “I’ll make it up to him when I get out.”
“You may have to. He’s already planning what you’re eating for the first week.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
“He mentioned stew.”
“It is a threat.”
Another knock sounded.
Kelly stood in the doorway with a slim folder under one arm. She wore a navy trouser suit and had tied her hair back at the base of her neck. No makeup concealed the tiredness around her mouth.
“Hey,” Selena said.
“Hey.” Kelly lifted the folder. “I heard you’re up for a debrief.”
“Hit me with it.”
Connor rose. “I’ll leave you two to it.”
He reached the side of the bed, hesitated, then bent and kissed Selena near the hairline.
The contact lasted no more than a second.
Selena remained still as he straightened. Affection between them had once required no thought. Now even something gentle arrived carrying years behind it. She did not know whether to welcome the kiss, question it, or pretend it had meant nothing.
Connor seemed uncertain, too.
“I’ll come back later,” he said.
“Okay.”
He gave Kelly a brief nod and left.
The door closed behind him.
Kelly watched it for a moment before taking the chair. “How are you doing?”
“Apparently, I’m going home tomorrow.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Selena shifted against the pillows. “My head hurts less. The wrist hurts more. I might have to get surgery on my knee.”
“You scared me.”
The directness quieted Selena.
Kelly rested the folder on her lap. “When I reached the cellar, you were covered in blood. I couldn’t tell how much was yours.”
“I remember hearing you.”
“You kept trying to answer, but nothing came out.”
“Probably the first time you’ve seen me unable to argue.”
Kelly did not smile. “I thought I’d killed Carol and lost you before the ambulance arrived.”
Selena studied her for a few seconds. “You saved Deb and me.”
“I should’ve reached you sooner.”
“You were at the back because I sent you there. The deadbolt delayed you. None of that belongs to you.”
Kelly accepted the statement with a small nod, though Selena could not tell whether she believed it.
“What’s happening with Carol Fen?” Selena asked.
“They took her off the ventilator yesterday. She’s awake and talking.”
“Has she confessed?”
“Not formally. She admitted going to Deb’s house and said the other women deserved what happened. Then she tried to tear out an IV and struck a nurse.”
Selena frowned. “Is the nurse all right?”
“Bruised forearm. Nothing broken. Carol’s in restraints now, with two deputies outside the room. She became more violent after they told her Deb survived. I think she’s furious Deb made it.”
“She didn’t finish what she started.”
“She keeps asking whether Deb has spoken to us.”
Kelly opened the folder.
“The Commonwealth’s Attorney expects three murder charges and attempted murder for Deb. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing federal attempted-murder and assault charges for what she did to you. Both cases can move once she’s medically fit for arraignment.”
“What about the evidence?”
“The knife from Deb’s cellar is consistent with the wounds on Karen, Ruth, and Linda. The lab hasn’t finished the full comparison, but blood from all three victims was found in seams around the handle and sheath.”
Selena pictured Carol carrying the knife beneath her blouse while Deb tried to make dinner conversation.
Kelly continued, “Her laptop contained archived HearthSpace messages, searches for all four women, saved maps, and copies of property records. And get this, Karen’s stolen storage papers were in her case packet.
The missing box contained divorce correspondence, old account paperwork, and a printed confirmation for the Montgomery rental.
Carol used the break-in to find Karen’s new address before following her out to the cabin.
That closes the burglary. The packets give us surveillance dates going back almost eight months. ”