“He was hired by an investigative reporter, Maxine Revere.”

“Your friend.”

Lucy hesitated. “Yes. She and Sean have been looking into the Victoria Mills murder, an SAPD case. In the course of their investigation, they learned that my victim, Denise Albright, was the maid of honor at Victoria Mills’s wedding. We don’t believe it’s a coincidence that they are both dead. But we have nothing yet to connect the crimes. So I decided that Nate and I would continue investigating the Albright family and Max and Sean are investigating the Mills murder and they promised to let me know if they find anything that we can use to tie them together.”

“You said it yourself: The Mills homicide is an SAPD case. They have not asked for our help. You cannot involve yourself unless you, through your investigation, have direct evidence that the two cases are connected. If you do, then talk to the detective in charge, give her the information you have, and go from there. Maybe she’ll agree to work with you, you can be convincing. But we have to tread carefully.” Rachel paused. “I suppose there’s no way to encourage Sean to stand down.”

“He’s invested in the case. And they have access to a lot of the Mills financial records through Victoria’s father, who asked Max to get involved in the first place.”

“It’s a tightrope, Lucy.”

“I know.”

“Keep me informed.”

“I will.”

She couldn’t believe it was that easy. She stood up.

“Lucy, did you think I wouldn’t notice that you slipped into the conversation that Nate went to Mexico without authorization or approval?”

She sat back down.

“He took sick time.”

“It’s vacation time, and I don’t know where he went, understand? But this could blow up in our faces.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Put together the information for the warrant and I’ll expedite it, you’ll have it by the morning. I don’t have anyone available on the squad. Laura Williams is done with her part of the trial, take her with you—I’ll talk to Daphne and also ask for two of her agents to back you up.”

“Okay. Thank you, Rachel.”

“Keep tabs on Nate, I want him back in one piece.”

“So do I.”

Lucy ran back to her desk to put together the information for the warrant, relieved and worried.

That was too easy.

Chapter Twenty-two

WEDNESDAY EVENING

Over Skype, Max went through everything she and Sean had learned with Ryan—the theory of illegal gambling going back to college, the accusations of blackmail, the land deals, money laundering. As she spoke, she knew she was right about the big picture, that Harrison Monroe was in the middle of a massive criminal conspiracy and everyone around him was involved in one capacity or another.

It would be extremely difficult to prove it. She had no hard evidence, only theories based on circumstantial evidence.