“I’ve been working this case since dawn. We have some new intel and are acting on it.”

“Good. I met with Grover and Judith an hour ago. I’m up at the Kerr County Recorder’s Office going over some land deeds.”

“Tread carefully, Max. You heard that Detective Chavez shot his partner and is now on the run.”

“Yes, I know, so I’m not worried about him showing up here.”

“We don’t know who works for him—or if there are other cops involved. Be extra cautious.”

“I found something.”

“What?”

“The motive for shutting down the Kiefer operation three years ago. Albright’s embezzlement destroyed him, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“So I started looking at Harrison Monroe’s land purchases from three years ago and Simon Mills’s land purchases, which—surprisingly—ended three years ago.”

“You’ve already lost me.”

“Simon basically operated for the last ten years like Monroe has operated for the last three. Buying and selling property. So I’m thinking, Why did he stop buying and selling land? Simon’s operation was a bit different in that he generally improved the land and sold it for a profit. What changed three years ago? Denise Albright was murdered. Grover confirmed that she did a lot of work for Victoria back then, and I surmised she may have also done a lot of work for Simon Mills.”

“I have her client list and neither of them is on it.”

“Victoria was pro bono. But if I were you, I’d review any small businesses again.”

“The FBI talked to every business owner. They are all legitimate businesses.”

“Look at them again.”

Lucy really didn’t like Max telling her how to do her job—it was the tone, which was clearly not a suggestion. “The White Collar Crimes unit is already doing it, but—”

“We believe that there is a larger conspiracy, right?” Max interrupted. “That Denise’s murder was because she knew something or was going to turn in someone or maybe uncovered an illegal operation she wasn’t comfortable with or saw something she wasn’t supposed to see.”

“All theories with no substance.”

“Earlier that year, Harrison Monroe moved to Texas. After that, Simon didn’t buy or sell any more land—he had three properties at the time, other than his house, and he kept them, leased them out. Harrison started buying and selling through HFM.”

“Nothing on the surface is illegal.”