D.D. fisted her hands under the table. Better people, her ass. They had security cameras showing Ethan entering the Boston Daily offices shortly before eleven-thirty, apparently driven there by a taxi he’d called using his mother’s iPhone. While D.D. and the rest of the BPD had been running to the state crime lab, the Aidan Brewster shooting, and then, ultimately, the discovery of both Sandra Jones and her wounded father and husband at the Jones residence, Ethan had been working in the Boston Daily offices. Several late-night reporters remembered seeing him there. But all had been too busy with deadlines to pay attention to a kid.

They assumed he belonged to someone else who was working late, and that had been that. They’d tended to their stories and Ethan Hastings had …

Definitely done something to the Jones computer, which by all accounts no longer existed.

“We know your uncle was pursuing a relationship with Mrs. Sandra,” D.D. tried now. “There’s nothing illegal about two adults having a relationship, Ethan. You don’t need to protect him.”

Ethan said nothing.

“On the other hand, your uncle implied that Jason Jones might have been using the computer to engage in various illegal activities. That, we’re very concerned about. So we need to find the computer. And I’m pretty sure you can help us.”

Ethan stared at her.

“Remember what you said, Ethan,” D.D. tried again. “Jason’s not a good husband. He made Mrs. Sandra unhappy. Let us do our jobs, and maybe we can help with that.”

It was an underhanded ploy, but then, D.D. was feeling desperate these days. Two weeks after one of the bloodiest nights in BPD’s history, she had three corpses and nobody to arrest. It went against her DNA.

Sandra Jones was claiming she’d disappeared to get away from an affair gone bad with Wayne Reynolds. Unfortunately, the publicity had drawn her estranged father back into the picture. He had killed her mother eight years ago, then sexually abused Sandra until she became pregnant at the age of sixteen. She’d terminated that pregnancy with an abortion. After that, she’d stopped staying home at night.

The police had found evidence in Maxwell Black’s hotel room that tied him to Aidan Brewster’s shooting, plus bomb-making materials consistent with what was used in Wayne’s car. According to Sandra, her father had confessed to killing both men in an attempt to frame Jason. Maxwell had hoped this would finally motivate the police to arrest Jason, paving the way for him to seize sole custody of his granddaughter, who would no doubt have become his next target.

Instead, when he broke into the Jones residence to frame his son-in-law, he’d discovered his daughter alive and well. He’d attacked Jason before Sandra had managed to wrestle the gun from him and, according to Sandra, shoot her own father in self-defense.