Maggie wondered whether to believe him. In her own experience, people didn’t change. They just became more of who they really were, for better or worse. She knew that was true of herself, too.

‘Actually, I do need the old Nathan Skinner for a few minutes,’ Maggie told him. ‘The guy who spouted racial obscenities at Wisconsin cops and cheated with Janine Snow. That guy.’

Nathan leaned across the table with a serious expression on his face. She had to admit that she still felt the old, unwanted attraction to him. He knew how to turn on the physical charm. There was also more calm and restraint about him than he’d shown in the old days. She couldn’t push his buttons so easily now.

‘I heard about you guys finding the gun in the Jay Ferris case,’ he told her. ‘I know what you want to ask me, but the gun’s not mine. It never was.’

‘So where do you think it came from? And where has it been all these years?’

Nathan eased back into the booth. He swiped a piece of bacon from Maggie’s plate, which annoyed her, because she loved the bacon at the Grill. ‘Honestly? I have no idea.’

‘This was a street gun,’ Maggie said. ‘Not a suburban Gander Mountain special.’

‘Do you think Jay had gang connections you never heard about?’

‘Not according to his brother Clyde. And we never got a whiff of that during the original investigation.’

‘Well, street guns don’t usually show up in a domestic murder case,’ Nathan said. ‘It’s gangs and armed robberies. Or maybe murder-for-hire. Wasn’t there some old lady who thought Janine killed her husband on the operating table? Did she pay some money to have Jay whacked?’

Maggie nodded. ‘Esther Rose. She passed away last year. It wasn’t her. We checked her finances nine years ago, and there was no evidence that she paid anyone to get rid of Jay.’

‘Then I don’t know what to tell you,’ Nathan said. ‘The gun disappears for years and then shows up at another murder scene? I don’t get it.’

‘There’s something I need to ask you about. Just between us. Did Janine Snow really want to know how she could get a handgun off the books?’

‘That was my testimony in court,’ he replied cautiously.

‘I know. Was it true?’

‘Even if it weren’t, do you think I’d admit perjuring myself? Sorry.’

‘I’m not trying to bust you. I just want to know if Janine could have figured out a way to buy that gun.’

‘You’re talking about a Texas girl, Maggie. They’re half-animal under those pretty faces. If Janine wanted a gun, she wouldn’t be shy about asking around. That woman knew how to get what she wanted. So yeah, the gun could have been hers, but I don’t think it was.’

‘Why not?’