Simon nodded to Max, then sat in the far back corner of the small courtroom. He was looking at the back of Stanley’s head as he sat at the defendant’s table. She couldn’t read his face, whether he was angry or resigned. Simon and Stanley had been friends since college. According to Grover Mills, Simon had brought Stanley home for Christmas the first year they were at school and he’d become part of their family.

The bailiff asked everyone to rise, and then the judge stepped up to the bench.

The proceedings went pretty much exactly as Oliver Jones predicted, except for one thing: The judge postponed considering Oliver’s motion on the confession until Friday. He wanted to review the circumstances surrounding the confession and asked both the defense and prosecution to write statements as to why it should or should not be suppressed and submit them by five p.m. tomorrow; he’d be back in the court at nine a.m. Friday with his ruling. At that point he would consider other motions and set a trial date. He then granted bail, required Grant to wear an ankle monitor, and indicated that Grant couldn’t leave Bexar County.

Simon left immediately after the judge. Max needed to talk to him. She whispered to Sean, “Stick with Marie, I’ll call you in a minute.”

She jumped up and hurried after Simon. “Simon!” she called, her voice echoing in the hall. He stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for her to catch up.

She motioned for him to follow her to a bench on the far side of the rotunda. They didn’t sit, but at least they had a little privacy.

“What are you really doing here, Maxine?” Simon said. “Dad said you were coming into town to help us, why are you helping him?” He stared at her, anger vibrating under his skin. “He’s caused my family nothing but heartache and pain and now he’s playing this ridiculous game.”

“You believe he killed Victoria.”

“Who else? He confessed, Maxine. He stole money from their company and killed her when she called him on it. I thought he’d changed, but I was wrong.”

“So you knew he had a gambling problem.”

“It wasn’t a big secret. After college he lost his family home, his savings, his job—he lost everything because he thought he could make a fortune on luck. Hit rock bottom. We all gave him a second chance because he swore that he had changed. We’ve been friends since college, and I treated him like a brother.”

She had a lot more questions for Simon, but they didn’t have much privacy here in the middle of the courthouse. “I’ll be out to talk to your father tonight. I’d like you there.”

“Don’t bother coming if you’re trying to get Stan off.”