“Like Ryan said, without anyone specifically looking for it, he can get away with it. The statute of limitations is, I think, ten years. And we don’t have access to his tax returns—we don’t know what he’s claiming or what he’s doing with the land, if he’s renting it for cattle grazing or adding improvements or what.”

“This is a waste of time,” Max said. “We’ve driven by nine properties, nothing has jumped out at us as wrong. Nothing is wrong. If he’s laundering money we’re not going to see it hanging from the trees.”

“Testy, aren’t we.”

She was. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be with Ryan and Eve and not think about Victoria Mills or Denise Albright, money laundering or murder.

She frowned. Denise and her family didn’t deserve to be murdered. Victoria didn’t deserve to die. But for the first time, Max thought a case was unprovable. They needed someone to talk.

“We need to push Simon,” she said.

“You mean Mitch.”

“Don’t start.”

“I wish you’d trust me on this.”

“I wish you’d trust me.”

They’d gone round and round about whether Simon or Mitch was more likely to turn.

“I have an idea,” Sean said.

“All ears.”

“We split up. You push Simon, I push Mitch.”

“And potentially screw up a police investigation?”

Sean laughed. “When have you cared about that?”

She smiled. “Detective Reed believed Grant was guilty, but she must be skeptical now that he was gunned down.”

“Unless she thinks it was related to his alleged motive—that he’d embezzled the money to pay off his gambling debt. Which he didn’t, because the police froze his assets and returned the money to his company.”

“I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“Bookies don’t like killing their debtors because there’s no way to get them to pay—so the threat against Stan’s sister would work, but killing him would not. But if they thought he could never pay because his embezzlement failed and he was in jail, they could kill him as a warning to others who might default. At least—that might be what Reed’s thinking.”

“Has Lucy talked to her yet?”

“She hasn’t told me if she has.” He looked down at his phone. “Nate has Ricky Albright. He’s safe. They’ll be back tomorrow early afternoon.”

“It’s about time we have good news.” Poor kid, Max thought. To lose your entire family and go into hiding at such a young age.

“Lucy said they’re taking him to Saint Catherine’s. He identified one of the cops as being in his house the night his family was killed. He has a statement to make, and once he does then hopefully he’ll be safe. Lucy is trying to figure out how to do it without putting him in the system.”