FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Nate and JJ Young had left Mexico with Ricky before dawn and arrived at St. Catherine’s just after one in the afternoon. Lucy met them there.
She’d already talked to Father Mateo, who ran the boys home attached to the church, and he understood the situation. He had experience working with boys who had witnessed violence.
JJ Young planned to stay with Ricky for the afternoon, to make sure that he settled in. Nate pulled Lucy aside. “Ricky talked. He didn’t want to, but he talked about everything until about halfway through the trip, then slept for the last four hours. That kid is tough, but what he heard when he was nine scarred him. He’s not going to just assimilate back into a normal family. He’s still processing that we know that his family was killed and that he can trust us.”
“So much has happened in the last two days, Nate, and we have work to do. Do you think he’s going to stay put?”
“If there’s a chance that he’s going to bolt, JJ will stay here with him. If JJ thinks that he’s settled okay, he’s going to bring Joe and Ginny to visit tomorrow. Maybe seeing his friends will help him adjust to being back home.”
“Abigail isn’t happy and we might get in trouble for this. She’s calling CPS tomorrow but will try to keep him here or find him an FBI-controlled safe house. Because he’s a minor it’s a whole different set of rules. She also wants him to make a formal statement to a judge and then decide what’s in his best interests.”
“Not today. We have the information we need, he can talk to the damn judge on Monday.” Nate was heated, but he stood firm. “Let me tell the kid what we’re doing.”
While Nate went back inside the house, Lucy returned Max’s call. She’d left her three messages that morning.
“Hello,” Max said. “Busy, I see.”
“I’ve been working this case since dawn. We have some new intel and are acting on it.”
“Good. I met with Grover and Judith an hour ago. I’m up at the Kerr County Recorder’s Office going over some land deeds.”
“Tread carefully, Max. You heard that Detective Chavez shot his partner and is now on the run.”
“Yes, I know, so I’m not worried about him showing up here.”
“We don’t know who works for him—or if there are other cops involved. Be extra cautious.”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“The motive for shutting down the Kiefer operation three years ago. Albright’s embezzlement destroyed him, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“So I started looking at Harrison Monroe’s land purchases from three years ago and Simon Mills’s land purchases, which—surprisingly—ended three years ago.”
“You’ve already lost me.”
“Simon basically operated for the last ten years like Monroe has operated for the last three. Buying and selling property. So I’m thinking, Why did he stop buying and selling land? Simon’s operation was a bit different in that he generally improved the land and sold it for a profit. What changed three years ago? Denise Albright was murdered. Grover confirmed that she did a lot of work for Victoria back then, and I surmised she may have also done a lot of work for Simon Mills.”
“I have her client list and neither of them is on it.”
“Victoria was pro bono. But if I were you, I’d review any small businesses again.”
“The FBI talked to every business owner. They are all legitimate businesses.”
“Look at them again.”
Lucy really didn’t like Max telling her how to do her job—it was the tone, which was clearly not a suggestion. “The White Collar Crimes unit is already doing it, but—”
“We believe that there is a larger conspiracy, right?” Max interrupted. “That Denise’s murder was because she knew something or was going to turn in someone or maybe uncovered an illegal operation she wasn’t comfortable with or saw something she wasn’t supposed to see.”
“All theories with no substance.”
“Earlier that year, Harrison Monroe moved to Texas. After that, Simon didn’t buy or sell any more land—he had three properties at the time, other than his house, and he kept them, leased them out. Harrison started buying and selling through HFM.”
“Nothing on the surface is illegal.”
“Kiefer was working on a federal project, right? Well, what was that project and who would it have helped or hurt? What if Denise, who was helping Simon and Victoria on the side with their accounting issues—maybe she even knew they were doing something illegal but was willing to look the other way—maybe she was asked to do something against her biggest client? What if she said no? And then they held these other illegal things she did over her head and she felt she had to leave or be prosecuted. Maybe she did plan to run, but they caught up with her. I know it’s just a theory right now, but it’s something we can prove or disprove. So I’m here looking at the public works project that would have happened and who that impacted. If it had gone through, Monroe would have lost millions. And get this: The parcel was sold to him by Simon Mills.”
Lucy saw where Max was going with this, but she still warned her to be careful.
“Get what you can, but this isn’t proof that either Monroe or Mills was behind the murders.”
“But it’s motive.”
“I’ll take it to my people, Max, but watch your back. Why didn’t you bring Sean up there with you?”
“Sean’s pursuing his own lead. I’m fine, Lucy. I’m making copies of everything and will be back in San Antonio as soon as possible.”
Max ended the call, but Lucy couldn’t help but worry about the reporter.
Nate exited St. Catherine’s and said, “Ricky’s going to be okay, I think. Father Mateo showed him his room, and Mateo and JJ are both with him.”
“I have a lot to tell you.” She looked at her phone. “This is Detective Reed. I hope it’s good news.”
Robert Clemson was at his office in a building not far from the warehouse where his company sold remainders, on Guadalupe. It was a simple building, clean but old, and Clemson’s office was crowded with file cabinets and tile samples.
“I don’t know what else I can tell you,” Clemson said, pushing papers aside and stacking tiles that didn’t need to be stacked.
“I’ll get right to the point,” Lucy said. Nate stood in the doorway looking intimidating, which made Clemson even more nervous. “Detective Reed is in Chicago. She had a nice conversation with Melissa Randolph.”
Clemson sat down. He paled, visibly shaken.
“Ms. Randolph came clean. That happens when someone is facing a felony.”
“F-felony?”
“Accessory after the fact in a felony case is also a felony,” Lucy said. “I’m letting the Bexar County DA work out a plea arrangement with Ms. Randolph. She didn’t know that she was giving you an alibi for murder.”
“Wh-what? I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Let me explain what happened. Your car was parked in the driveway of the house where Victoria Mills was murdered. It left at ten thirty. I went over and over the crime scene photos and the witness statements and talked to the witness who saw your car leaving the neighborhood that night. And when I looked at a map, I realized that you weren’t leaving from your house, you were leaving from Mills’s house.
“Evidence at the scene proves that whoever killed Victoria Mills got into the passenger side of a vehicle in the driveway.” She put a photo down of the blood drops on the drive. “When Detective Reed returned two days after Victoria’s murder to question you about your alibi—if you remember, you originally told her that you were home all night and didn’t hear anything—you ‘remembered’ that you met Melissa for drinks.
“According to Ms. Randolph, she was asked the day after Victoria’s murder to tell anyone who asked that she met you at Russo’s for drinks. Convenient, because Russo’s doesn’t have any security cameras. Or rather, they didn’t until a series of car thefts prompted the owner to put cameras in the parking lot. We went back and checked that night—neither your vehicle nor Ms. Randolph’s vehicle was in the parking lot at all the night Victoria was killed.”
It was true that Russo’s had put in security cameras; however, they didn’t keep the footage this long. It was a bluff Lucy played well.
Clemson didn’t say anything.
Lucy put down a photo of Victoria’s body in the pool. It was bloated from floating in the water all night. Clemson closed his eyes.
“Who did you pick up at the Mills house?”
He didn’t speak.
“Mr. Clemson, I’m getting a warrant to search your car. No matter how well you clean up blood, we will find it. Bexar County has the best CSI in the state. Did the killer touch the door handle? Inside or outside? The seat? Did a drop drip down between the door and the seat, hiding in the dark where you can’t see it? We will find it.”
“Kincaid,” Nate said, and cleared his throat. He turned his phone to her. She turned back to Clemson. “We have the warrant. We’ll secure the car until the crime scene team gets here. Save us some time and energy. Who did you pick up at the house?”
He still remained silent. He was thinking how he could get out of this. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“You’re not getting out of this, Robert,” Lucy pushed. “Would you like to see the warrant? Because it’s very clear that we can search your entire car, and if I find one drop of blood I will get an expanded warrant for your house, your property, your work, and all your financial records.” She stressed financial because of what Clemson told Sean at the bar the other night.
His mouth opened and closed and opened and closed.
Lucy took another photo out of her folder but didn’t show him yet. “I want to make something clear to you. We are your best hope at staying alive. Because you know what happens when you disobey orders? The people you’re playing footsie with are dangerous.” She slapped down the photo of Stanley Grant at the courthouse. He died at the hospital, but one of the cops had been smart and took a couple of pictures at the scene before he was transported.
Lucy then slapped down a photo of the mass grave where the Albrights were buried.
“Talk, we’ll protect you. Remain silent, you’re on your own. One drop of blood, and I’ll have your arrested for murder.”
“Murder! But you said accessory—”
Finally, he speaks.
“Victoria’s blood in your car and you say you didn’t pick anyone up at the house? That tells me her blood is there because you killed her.”
“Stop. Stop. Let me think.”
“There’s one right answer, Mr. Clemson. That right answer is telling me the truth.”
He looked toward Nate as if appealing to him, then quickly looked away.
Nate said, “Kincaid, Ash’s crime scene unit is leaving the lab now. ETA ten minutes.”
“I didn’t kill her. I didn’t even know the woman was dead!”
“But you picked up someone at the house.”
“I-I—”
“The same person you let use your property to access the house. There is no fence, only natural barriers, along the property line. Easy enough to walk between two trees and end up in the backyard. Waiting for Victoria to come out. Or calling her and asking her to come out. But the killer didn’t leave the same way. Maybe because if the blood trail went to your house, you would be questioned and the killer knew you were a weak link.” Lucy slapped her hands on the photos she’d put in front of him. “This is what happens to weak links.”
“I didn’t know,” he said. “I swear to God, I didn’t know. She came to my house at ten that night and said she had a problem to take care of, and to pick her up at ten thirty. I did. I didn’t see any blood. I didn’t see anything. I took her home.”
Her.
“How did she get to your house?”
“I don’t know. Uber, maybe? A friend? I didn’t ask. She just came. And I owed her.”
“Who.”
“I-I—” He looked down at the last picture Lucy put there, the bones.
Nate said, “Ash’s ETA is four minutes.”
“Tell me, or when Ash gets here you don’t get my help with the AUSA. This is an FBI-SAPD joint investigation, and the SAPD already has Melissa Randolph on notice. She’s cooperating. She’s safe, in Chicago. You’re here, in San Antonio. Tell me who you picked up the night Victoria Mills was murdered.”
“Faith. Parker.” His voice was a squeak.
“Faith Parker Monroe?”
He nodded.
“How do you know Mrs. Monroe?”
“She’s my lawyer in another matter…” His voice trailed off.
“Would that matter have to do with a large gambling debt you owe to her husband?”
He was shaking and sweating, his eyes pure panic. “She said she would take care of it if I let her go through my yard and then picked her up.”
“Why would Faith want to kill Victoria? Was she worried that Victoria was going to turn state’s evidence against her husband? Against her?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. You don’t ask that woman questions. I— Well, she said she couldn’t use her car because she didn’t want her husband to know where she was and he was, I guess, possessive. I don’t know. I swear to God I didn’t know she was going to kill that woman.”
“Did you know Victoria Mills?”
“No, not personally. I mean, I know the family. Her brother.”
“Which brother?”
“Simon.”
“How?”
“He, um, well, I-I need to know I’m not going to jail. And that you can protect me. These people—I-I just got in over my head. I was getting out of it. Faith was helping me, I just needed to do this one thing and I didn’t think it was a big deal, I didn’t know she was going to kill anyone.”
“This is how we’re going to handle this,” Lucy said. “You’re going to come with Agent Dunning and myself to FBI headquarters. You’re going to give your statement, sign it, and I’m going to talk to my boss. If you give us something that convinces us that your life would be in danger, my boss is a reasonable woman. She’ll do what she can to put you in protective custody. If you lie to me about anything, all bets are off and you’ll be immediately arrested as an accessory to murder.”
She stared at him until he looked down, but he couldn’t avoid looking at the photos on his desk. She picked them up and put them back in her folder. “Simon Mills?”
“He’s Harrison’s partner. He ran the business here, Harrison ran it in Chicago until something happened, I don’t know what, and they closed down Chicago and came here. That’s how I met him and Faith. They run things a lot different than Simon. Simon was much more forgiving of, you know, losses.”
“Why did Stanley Grant confess to killing Victoria?”
“I don’t know. I swear. Faith doesn’t talk. She only tells you what you need to know. When I said SAPD was talking to me, that they might have seen my car, she said to tell them I had drinks with Melissa Randolph at Russo’s. That we’re friends and I was giving her career advice. That was it.”
Nate said, “Ash is here with the van.”
“Great. Shall we head to FBI headquarters, Mr. Clemson?” Lucy said.
He got up, shaking.
Lucy said to Nate, “I need to make a call. Can you take him?”
“My pleasure,” he said.
When they stepped out of Clemson’s office, Lucy called Max to warn her about Simon.
There was no answer.