“Because his sister and her boys were threatened and he believed their lives were in danger,” Lucy said.

“I don’t know that I buy it, but I can see the possibility.”

“So can I,” Jennifer said.

“Did you honestly think I would hop on a plane with you to Chicago?” He was grinning.

“Well, we could make a date of it and have fun,” she teased.

“Watch it, or I’ll write you up for sexual harassment.”

But he was smiling, and so was Jennifer, and Lucy wondered if they had something going on after hours.

Jennifer said, “Lucy’s going to gaslight Clemson.”

“Excuse me?”

Lucy said, “As soon as I know that Jen has Randolph in an interview, I’m going to talk to Clemson. I’ll convince him that we know Randolph lied about the drinks and then suggest that there’s a witness who saw his car in the driveway. That I’m in the process of getting a warrant for his car to test for blood, convince him that no matter how much detailing he gets, blood stays.”

“Are you getting a warrant?”

“I’m going to try, but unless I have something like a witness or Randolph recanting, I don’t think I can get it.”

“You get me one thing,” Mike said, “like Randolph admitting that she didn’t have drinks with Clemson like she said she did or Clemson admitting that he lied, I’ll get you the warrant.”

Jennifer smiled. “Excellent. Clemson is already on edge, and he’s panicking—so Lucy might be able to get him to slip up.”

Lucy said, “I’ll suggest a deal—he talks, I get the AUSA to work out a plea arrangement.”

“This is my case,” Mike said. “Not federal.”

Lucy smiled.

“Oh,” Mike said. “I get it. You’ll work a deal for information about the alleged money laundering.”

“My case is the Albright family execution and now we know that at least one cop was involved—Detective Carl Chavez in Kerr County. He shot his partner last night and is on the run.”

“I read about that this morning on the wire.”

“Detective Douglas will likely make it, but he’s in a medically induced coma. He gave a statement to first responders that ID’d his partner as the shooter. So Albright is federal. Mills is local. And if we share information that connects, that helps both of us.”

“I can live with that,” Mike said.

“Clemson knows something about Harrison Monroe, maybe evidence of his illegal gambling operation, or maybe he knows that Harrison killed Victoria. It’s no coincidence that Faith Parker is his lawyer.”

“She’s not a criminal lawyer,” Mike said.