Lucy asked a few clarifying questions, but she had what she needed for now. She told the FBI agent who had detained Mr. Pollero that her boss would work with him to transfer Pollero back to Texas. He would face charges, but that was up to the AUSA. If he fully cooperated, he may not face much jail time, but he certainly would lose his job and never work again in the financial sector.
She ended the Skype call and Nate said, “I’ve already put out an APB on Simon Mills.”
“It’s time we talk to Grover and Judith Mills,” Lucy said. She was dreading the conversation. She couldn’t imagine that they knew what had been going on with their two oldest children, especially since they’d asked Max to help find answers to Victoria’s death. But they could know more than they’d shared—either things they didn’t think were important to mention or maybe didn’t want to think about.
* * *
By the time they arrived at the Mills ranch in Fredericksburg, reports had been coming in from those looking for Simon Mills. He wasn’t at his home, at MCG Land and Holdings, or at any of the properties he owned in the area.
Jennifer Reed had called Lucy and said that she was getting her ducks in a row with the DA and warrants and would be going over to the Monroe house first thing Saturday morning. She had an unmarked car watching the property, which was both easy and hard. Easy because there was a lot of land in the area with heavy foliage and trees, so they could be discreet, since there was only one road in and out of the neighborhood, but hard because the property was far back and they couldn’t get close enough to keep the house in sight.
“Mike, me, the DA, an AUSA, your boss, Vaughn, and a guy named Adam O’Neal—”
“He’s in White Collar Crimes,” Lucy explained.
“We’re all meeting in ten minutes to talk about how we want to proceed. We don’t want them running. Good work on Clemson. Weasel. For what it’s worth, I think Melissa Randolph freaked when I showed up. She wanted to tell the truth, I believed her that she had no idea what was going on, but when your boss tells you to do something you do it, according to her. She didn’t think the move to Chicago was to keep her from me—Hollinger’s legal aide was going out on maternity leave, and according to Randolph, her replacement didn’t work out. She believed it, but I don’t. Anyway, I asked her to keep it to herself for the time being, but we should expect that it’ll get out.”
“We put a flag on their passports,” Lucy said. “They won’t be leaving the country.”
“I’ll let you know what we decide to do. It’s going to depend if the DA thinks we have enough evidence to go after a high-end lawyer like Parker. The crime lab is busting their butt to collect evidence from Clemson’s vehicle tonight and that will make a huge difference. We have Clemson’s statement, but we need to corroborate it. I don’t see a woman like Faith Parker blabbing like Clemson or Pollero.”
“They were pawns,” Lucy said. “Pieces of a puzzle. They didn’t know what was going on, but they certainly knew what they were doing was illegal. I don’t want them getting a pass.”
“They’ll face some charges, what I don’t know. We get Parker for murder, we can rip apart her life to get her husband on accessory or the illegal gambling. Once this gets out to the press, we could have people knocking on our door wanting to give us information.”
“Wish it was all that easy.”
“You call this case easy?” Jennifer laughed. “We need something so solid the lawyer can’t wiggle out of the noose.”
“Has Mitch Corta come in?”
“No.”
“He hasn’t come to our office, either,” Lucy said. “Sean thought he’d convinced himself to turn over everything he has. He doesn’t have hard proof of any crimes, but he has some firsthand knowledge of the money-laundering operation and documentation that would be valuable to our White Collar unit. He needs to go on record.”
“Should we put an APB out on him?”
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t kill her, so what he has or doesn’t have isn’t going to help me make a case against Faith Parker. But if he’s an accessory—”
“We need to question him, but we don’t have anything tangible about his involvement, other than Sean’s unofficial statement.” Lucy snapped her fingers. It had been a long day—a long week. “I almost forgot. Mitch told Sean that Harrison and Victoria had been having an affair—a long-running affair ever since he returned to Texas.”
“That’s why they divorced?”
“I don’t know. Sean didn’t go into details, other than to say that he believed the divorce was amicable and Mitch claimed that he was in a relationship with Stan and that Victoria knew about it.”
“That explains a lot.”
“It does?”
“I have a copy of Stan’s will. Everything he has—and that’s up to the lawyers to decide what was ill-gotten gains and what wasn’t—is to be split fifty-fifty between his sister and Mitch Corta. It was written three years ago.”
* * *
Grover Mills didn’t want to disturb his wife. It was nearly nine at night, and she was getting ready for bed.
Lucy wasn’t backing down. They needed to find Simon Mills.
Lucy said, “Max Revere was run off the road this afternoon because she was investigating your son and Harrison Monroe. She could have been killed. As it is she has a concussion, cracked ribs, and a broken ankle.”
He closed his eyes. “She asked today if we wanted the truth, the good and the bad. We told her yes. We told her we needed to know or we couldn’t put this chapter of our lives behind us.”
“That’s what Max does. She finds the truth. This time, the truth got her hurt. She learned at the recorder’s office that both Simon and Harrison profited when Kiefer lost the federal public works project. She didn’t know what everything she read meant, and she was bringing it down to the FBI for further analysis when she was run off the road.”
“She’s okay, right?”
He was genuinely concerned.
“Yes,” Lucy said. “Her boyfriend took her back to her hotel. You should also know that we have another suspect in Victoria’s murder.”
Judith came down the stairs at that point. “Who?” she asked.
The woman looked frail, especially in a bathrobe and slippers. Grover helped her down the last few steps. “Are you sure you want to hear this, sweetheart?” Grover asked his wife.
“Please, tell us the truth,” Judith said. “I can take the truth. I can’t take any more lies.”
Grover kissed her on the head and escorted her to a chair in the formal living room. He motioned for Nate and Lucy to take a seat.
It was generally not wise to tell family who a suspect was if that suspect was not in custody, but this time she made an exception.
“We have evidence that points to Faith Parker Monroe,” Lucy said. “SAPD hasn’t made an arrest, but she will be questioned shortly. However, we are also looking for your son Simon.”
“Simon? He wouldn’t—couldn’t—kill anyone, especially Victoria. His own sister.”
“He’s not a suspect in her murder, but we believe that he has information about the Albright family.”
Grover looked stunned, then tears fell from Judith’s eyes.
“Where might Simon go if he wanted to get away for a while? Is there a property we might not know about? We checked every property that he owns.”
Judith nodded. “We have a cabin in Horseshoe Bay. He would often go there to get away, usually alone. To think.”
“I’ll get the address,” Grover said heavily. He rose slowly, then turned back to Lucy and Nate. “Are you certain? Did he … he didn’t kill those children, did he?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “But based on what we’ve learned, he knew at least after the fact.”
And she knew then exactly how to get Simon Mills to talk.
Chapter Thirty-seven
It took an hour for Nate and Lucy to drive to Horseshoe Bay. It was in Llano Cou
nty, and they contacted the sheriff’s office for backup.
A lone light was on in the large A-frame-style cabin, and Simon’s vehicle was in the drive. Lucy and Nate walked to the front door and knocked, then stepped back with their hands on their guns. They didn’t know how he would react.
“Simon Mills, FBI.”
“It’s open!” he called out.
Nate motioned for Lucy to stand aside. Nate drew his gun and pushed the door in from the side. He quickly breeched the room, searching for a threat.
There was none. Simon Mills sat in a recliner chair with a nearly empty bottle of Scotch.
They showed their badges and identified themselves.
“Simon Mills,” Nate said, “you’re under arrest for illegal gaming, obstruction of justice, felony embezzlement, and if we’re lucky we’ll be tacking on a first-degree murder charge.” He read him his rights.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” he said.
Lucy kept her gun on Simon while Nate frisked him. He then handcuffed him and sat him back down on the couch.
“My parents told you I was here.”
They should take him to the station to interrogate him, but that would be a long process and the DA would probably insist he be sober. Right now they could get answers that would help them nail Faith Monroe, because a person with that much wealth could get out of the country. They would have an exit strategy, and Lucy didn’t want to give her or her husband time to implement it.
She sat on the table across from him. “What happened, Simon?”
“Everything got fucked. As soon as Harrison came back to town, everything was fucked.”
“What happened with Denise Albright?”
“I told Victoria not to let her look at the records, but Victoria does what Victoria does. At first, Denise went along with it, but she wasn’t happy. But when she found out that we were working on a plan to squash the Kiefer project, she balked. Said no way. Harrison said he would destroy her. She had … well, she had done things for us. Helped us hide some money, move things around. She would have been in serious trouble, lost her license, gone to prison. Victoria convinced her to leave town, used their friendship—saying that if Denise went to the authorities they would all go to jail. She’d never see her kids again. Victoria loved Denise, but she loved the game more. I planned to take her across the border—and if she had just gone when I told her to none of this would have happened! But she talked to her husband, and he was talking her out of it. He was going to go to the police. Denise told him he couldn’t, that Harrison was dangerous, so they agreed to leave together. I took the money for Denise. To help her make a new life in Mexico. And … also, she wouldn’t be able to come back if she was wanted for embezzlement.”
He looked longingly at the near-empty Scotch bottle.
“And then?” Lucy asked.
When he didn’t say anything, Nate pounded his fist on the wall. “What happened then? Did you shoot them?”
“It went to hell. Carl Chavez and his asshole cousin shot them all. Just shot them in cold blood and I stood there and didn’t do anything. I didn’t know that’s what they were going to do. They didn’t have to kill them! I told Harrison that they were leaving town, and he was good with that. Harrison … he said he didn’t know that Carl was going to kill them.”
“Excuse me? You can’t be saying that Carl Chavez spontaneously decided to kill an entire family!”
Nate was on edge. He’d spent hours with Ricky Albright and knew what that poor kid had suffered.
“I told Harrison. I was a mess that weekend—hell, I’ve been a mess for the last three years. Harrison said he told Chavez to make sure the Albrights crossed the border, that was it. He wasn’t happy, but hell, I don’t know anything anymore.”
Lucy frowned. This was not the clear statement that she wanted. Maybe she should have waited until Simon was sober.
“How involved was Faith Monroe in this scheme?” Lucy asked.
“Involved? Hell, she ran everything. Harrison does nothing without Faith’s permission—except for his not-so-secret affair with my sister—but Faith does whatever she damn well pleases. You know, I told Victoria she and Harrison should disappear together. That Faith was going to find out what was going on and destroy them both. Victoria thought I was being melodramatic.” He laughed, then he couldn’t stop laughing, until he started to cry.
Lucy asked, “Simon, focus. Were you one of the men who went to the Albright house the night they were murdered, searched her office, and shredded papers?”
He stared at her. “How do you know that?”
“Were you there?”
He nodded. “I was in shock. I didn’t have a choice. They would have killed me, too.”
“They killed two innocent children.”
He closed his eyes. “Ricky,” he whispered. “He was there, wasn’t he?”
Lucy didn’t answer.
“He heard me. He recognized my voice. I used to go over to the house to meet with Denise … oh, God.” The tears didn’t stop now as Simon Mills broke down.
Nate was so tense next to her, she feared he’d beat up Simon. “We’re taking you into federal custody,” Nate said. “It would be in your best interests to cooperate fully with our investigation, but I will tell you this: You will do a lot of time. I hope you never see freedom again.”
Simon looked at him, his eyes glassy from emotion, booze, or both.
“I deserve it.”
* * *
It was after one in the morning before Lucy got home. Sean had waited up for her, Bandit at his feet.
She sank onto the couch next to Sean, kicked off her shoes, and put her head on his shoulder. She told him everything.
“I don’t think that Faith and Harrison are going to roll as easy as Simon. From what Simon said before he passed out, Mitch was involved in the financial scam but knew nothing about the murders until the bones were identified. He went to Stan and told him, and Stan changed his plea. He figured out that Harrison Monroe must have been involved because of the financial end of the Albright case, but my guess is that neither of them knew that Faith killed Victoria. They probably wouldn’t be surprised.”
“I really thought Mitch would turn himself in.”
“We don’t really know what he knew or when he knew it. But if he wasn’t party to the murders and he comes clean, he might do minimal time.”
“I’ll track him down tomorrow.” Sean kissed her. “Reed called me a couple of hours ago. They confirmed that Carl Chavez was one of the two people in the van that was used at the courthouse. The van itself was destroyed out in the desert, they couldn’t find any evidence inside, but remnants of the paint job and floral design match the van that was used. The passenger was likely his cousin, though they don’t have a clear image of him, only a partial.”
“One more loose end tied up.”
“Reed said you’re a smart fed,” Sean added. “I think she likes you.”
“I tried to be open with her from the beginning. She still doesn’t like Max. How is Max? Did you talk to Ryan tonight?”
“He’s really mad that I wasn’t sitting on top of her like David would have done, and I’m feeling a bit guilty about that as well. You were followed, we had been followed, I guess in the back of my head I figured they just wanted to know what we were doing. I didn’t think they’d actually go after Max. But I should have. That’s on me.”
“No, it’s not. Max didn’t ask for your protection, and she knows what she needs. Don’t blame yourself.”
“I did go over and see her, bring her flowers. She’s not a very nice invalid. Grouchy and quite bitchy.”
“She hates not being in the middle of things.”
“Even though Ryan isn’t happy with me or Max, he’s very impressed with our work. He’s been on the phone with the SSA of White Collar with his analysis of the money-laundering scheme. He was having fun. I think he’s enjoying the fact that Max can’t walk and he gets to wake her up every two hour
s.”
“We’re going to interview the Monroes tomorrow. We have a strategy, but neither Jennifer nor I is positive that it’ll work.”
“There’s no one better than you, princess, and I was pretty impressed with Detective Reed letting me go into the bar undercover. That was fun.”
“Did you bring Jesse home?”
“Yeah, I grabbed him after I looked in on Max. They were watching one of the new Star Wars movies. Jess likes it over there, but I think he was ready to come home. And Bandit was really happy to see him.” Sean reached down and scratched the dog’s head, earning himself a lick.
“How’s Ricky doing?”
“He was watching the movie, quiet. Not part of the group, but not wanting to be alone, I think. Mateo’s keeping an eye on him, but they had a good talk this afternoon. I guess the guy who took care of him for the last three years is religious and they regularly went to church, so Ricky naturally gravitated to Mateo.”
“I was so worried that we’d put him in danger by bringing him home, but I couldn’t help but think that his grandparents need him as much as he needs them.”
“Do they know?”
“I asked Miranda King, the private investigator, to call them and tell them that Ricky was alive and healthy and they’d be able to see him soon but not give any details. Just in case Chavez heads out that way.”
“Do you think he will?”
“No. I think after he shot his partner he left. He could easily have crossed the border. But … there’s still a niggle of doubt in my head. Simon was up at his cabin all day drinking. His phone doesn’t show that he made any calls or texts—though he had several missed calls. When did Ynez start following Max? Why? Because Chavez told him to? When? And if Chavez told him to, he’s still around.”
“And Ynez isn’t talking.”
“Not a word.” She yawned. “I’ll be up early in the morning, does Jesse have a soccer game?”
“Not this weekend, but next weekend is the big tournament.”
Cut and Run Page 35