She poured herself a glass of wine and looked again at her timeline. She was frustrated that Lucy wouldn’t help her get the information from SAPD. She supposed she hadn’t actually expected her to, though she’d made a compelling argument. Curiosity always piqued Max’s interest and led her to asking questions; why not Lucy?

She put aside Lucy’s lack of interest and focused on her case as she waited for her meeting with Grant’s attorney.

Victoria Mills had been killed two months ago. A Realtor—which seemed like an odd way to label the real estate diva who ran a multi-million-dollar business. Her longtime friend and business partner Stanley Grant had confessed to her murder nearly a week later, stating that she’d learned that he’d embezzled money from their company because of a gambling addiction.

The case seemed straightforward. The only reason Max had even been interested was because the Mills family were family friends. When Grover Mills asked Max for her opinion on the investigation, Max had hired Sean Rogan. Sean had done a good job tracking the media, pulling copies of public records, and running a basic background on Victoria, Grant, and their third partner, Victoria’s ex-husband, Mitch Corta. Sean thought there was something more going on with Corta—he had a large cash flow—but Max didn’t find it unusual considering that MCG Land and Holdings moved high-end properties throughout Texas.

Max’s timeline had photos, charts, police reports—some she probably shouldn’t have, but Sean had truly gone above and beyond. But she didn’t have all the reports, including the original crime scene report. The coroner’s report had been released to the family, but it didn’t give her the full story. Victoria had been stabbed twice in the gut, then fell into a pool. Cause of death was listed as drowning with secondary cause of stabbing. She wouldn’t have drowned if she hadn’t first been stabbed.

Max knew that the weapon had never been recovered and that Stanley Grant hadn’t turned it over to the authorities when he confessed. He claimed he threw it in a sewage drain near the property, and since this was right after a big storm, the water was still running high. The police searched—at least they said they did—and didn’t find it, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was lying.

Yet this morning Stanley Grant changed his plea from guilty to not guilty. His attorney quit and he’d been assigned a public defender.

Chances were that the plea change was a game to him, that he was facing life in prison and wanted to take his chances with the jury. If the confession could be thrown out, maybe there was a chance. But there was no guarantee, and if the jury heard that he confessed, he’d better have a believable reason for changing his statement.