Roy held back an eyeroll. I could tell just by looking at him. I continued tapping furiously on my laptop, taking meticulous notes. Also, unbeknownst to Ms. Romero, I was recording her answers. I hadn’t planned to, but something inside me made me do it. I could always delete it later.

“Well,” Leta said, “Nieves didn’t find anything, but then someone called her.”

“Who?”

“They didn’t give her a name. But they told her Derek Wolfe had been killed.”

“They didn’t tell her Rock had left Montana?”

“I don’t think so. She didn’t say that. I think she just inferred that when he didn’t answer his phone at the cabin when she tried to call.”

“Anything else? A Manhattan billionaire being murdered would be pretty common knowledge, even here in Montana. Why would Nieves already know that?”

“That’s the weird thing,” Leta said. “The call came an hour before the time of the murder.”

20

Roy

“How would she know that?” I asked.

“Not too difficult. Once the murder hit the news and the police figured out when the murder had taken place, Nieves saw that she’d received the call before he’d been killed.”

“We’re going to need to see her cell phone records,” I said to Hoss.

“You’ll need a subpoena,” he said.

“How about some money, instead?”

“Are you trying to bribe me, sir?” Hoss asked.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” I said. “This is an unofficial meeting. I’m not a fucking cop. I have no interest in harming Ms. Romero or you. My interest is in exonerating my family, myself included.”

“It’s okay,” Leta said. “I can talk about it. Though maybe you should be talking to Nieves.”

“We would be, if we’d known she’s the source of your information,” I said. “But you’re here now. Please go on.”

“Nieves didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was a voicemail, so she didn’t get it until the next morning, and by then it was on the news. It wasn’t until later that she realized the phone call had come before the actual murder. Like I said, after the police had determined the timing.”

“Did the voicemail say anything else?”

“Just that Derek Wolfe wasn’t who he appeared to be, like I said.”

“Did she save that voicemail?”

“I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d say she did.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it involved Derek Wolfe, which meant it involved Rock. And if Derek was dead, that meant Rock inherited a lot of cash, and Nieves would want in on that.”

“Sounds like you don’t think too highly of your sister,” I said.

“Actually, we’re close, but I know who she is. I doubt she’d deny it.”

Charlie cleared her throat, nodding to me.

“Yeah?”

“May I ask Ms. Romero a question?”

“Of course.”