“Let’s talk in person,” she said. Simon sounded sincere over the phone, but she wanted to see his expression when she talked about Harrison Monroe and Stan’s alleged embezzlement. “I’m thinking about returning to New York—I have a life there I want to reclaim—but I can’t leave without making sure that I can give Grover my honest opinion about Victoria’s murder, and I’m not convinced that Stan is guilty.”

“And that’s all you want? To believe that he’s guilty?”

“I want the truth, Simon. It’s important to me, but more important to your parents. I’m at my hotel. Come meet me for a drink.”

“Where?”

“Sun Towers.”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Simon was late, but Max didn’t hold that against him. She figured he debated for about fifteen minutes whether he would come at all. He walked into the bar, spotted her by the window, and strode over. The server immediately came over and Simon ordered a double Scotch on the rocks.

Max sipped her Cabernet. She’d also ordered a cheese and fruit tray when she arrived and motioned for Simon to help himself.

He took a grape. “It’s been a shitty week, Max. Hell, it’s been a shitty year.”

“Tell me about Harrison Monroe’s gambling enterprise.”

Simon nearly choked but recovered quickly. “What?”

“In college, your roommate, Victoria’s boyfriend, ran an underground casino on campus. Got away with it for several years because he pulled in key staff and administration to ensure that if he was caught they could make it go away. But he wasn’t caught.”

“I don’t know where you heard that.”

“Andy Tompkins.”

“Tompkins? Shit, Max, none of us have talked to him in years. Decades. We all did stupid shit in college. Don’t tell me you were a saint. I heard some stories from your cousins.”

“I am no saint,” Max said. “And illegal poker games in college mean nothing to me. I’m more interested in his current operation, the one he runs every Friday night not too far from here.”

She had taken the information that Sean learned from his friend at SAPD, but sometimes you had to spill what you knew in order to get more information.

That she knew about the Friday night casino clearly surprised Simon.

The server came with his drink, and he downed half of it. “Just rich people blowing off steam, betting a few thousand they can afford to lose. You should understand that.”

“I never saw the allure of gambling, though I had a lot of fun in Monaco with my cousin William before he got married. One of my favorite trips.”

“Why even bring this up?”

“His name came up in the course of my research. So I went to introduce myself to him yesterday.”

“You just dropped by? For no reason?”