Thank you for such high praise! I always appreciate people reading in a fandom they're not part of. I've been itching to write another reverse chronology fic and finally this idea showed up :D

I'm so glad it worked, because I honestly had my doubts by the end of it, strong as I thought the overall plot was. I wanted to explore how the 'heroes' are all basically liars while the 'bad guys' barely lie at all to lead the investigators to the obvious yet wrong conclusion. So many lies, such canonical/historical sexism and racism, and in any case if you're committing adultery and your emotionally -but never physicially- abusive husband ends up dead/wounded, you and your lover are bound to be suspects!