Chapter 4

The officer stopped in front of me and looked down.

"You're the resident of 1204? Agatha Fox?"

I gave a numb nod.

Before he could ask anything else, Russ shot up off the ground.

He turned to the officer and threw out his accusation at full volume.

"Officer, it's her! She killed my son!"

"She's careless around the house all the time. Today she went out and forgot to shut off the gas again, and this is what happened!"

"I told her over and over to check before leaving. She never listened!"

As he spoke, Russ pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to the officer.

"Officer, look at this."

"This is a diagnosis she got last month at the city mental health center."

"She has severe postpartum depression. Her moods have been extremely unstable this whole time."

"She's had fits at home before, smashing things. She even said it herself, that living had no meaning, that she'd take Little Bo and die with him!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the way the neighbors looked at me flipped in an instant, from blame to disgust.

"God, so she's insane!"

"That's terrifying. We've been living in the same building as this psycho killer!"

I stared hard at the diagnosis in Russ's hand.

Right then, Debbie squeezed into the crowd, perfectly on cue.

She dabbed at fake tears, her voice pitched just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Officer, I can testify too."

"I saw Aggie on the road earlier and gave her a ride home out of kindness."

"But she was acting completely wrong in the car. She screamed at me, and she even tried to grab the wheel."

"She kept muttering something about how everyone had to die. I was scared out of my mind."

The officer finished reading the diagnosis, glanced at Debbie, and took a bright pair of handcuffs from his belt.

"Agatha Fox, please come with us to the station for questioning right now."

Two policewomen stepped forward and pinned my shoulders, one on each side.

My wrists were wrenched roughly behind my back. I didn't resist at all.

Russ stood behind the officer, the corner of his mouth curling up on its own.

Beside him, my mother-in-law wailed and piled it on.

"Good, arrest her! A poisonous woman like this should just be shot!"

"Officer, you have to get justice for my grandson! Nothing short of her death will settle people's anger!"

Just as the handcuffs were about to close.

"Screeeech!"

An ear-splitting brake shrieked through the noise of the scene.

A black armored tactical vehicle came roaring in, and its door was yanked open from the inside.