Cut and Run

by Allison Brennan

  “What do you want?”

  “I’m going to send you a list of names. They were all friends in college, and my gut tells me that Mitch Corta knows for a fact that Stan didn’t kill Victoria—which tells me that he knows who did. Or suspects.”

  “Isn’t this why you hired Sean Rogan? He’s not cheap.”

  She ignored the comment. “I need a connection, something tangible so I can get Rogan to convince Lucy that we need to work together. Rogan doesn’t want to take sides, but I know—especially after the shooting today—that he’s not going to back down. He’s as curious as I am, and now it’s personal. But I need to push him over the line. Without the information the FBI has, I can’t solve this case, and I don’t want to follow Lucy and her partner all day tomorrow if I don’t have to.”

  She would. She’d done it before—followed a detective while they investigated a case she was interested in. But she had a feeling Lucy would know, and Max didn’t want to jeopardize her friendship with Sean or Lucy’s brother. In the past, Max would do anything to find the truth. Now she realized some friendships weren’t worth losing.

  “I’ll call you in an hour,” Ben said, resigned.

  “I owe you.”

  “You always owe me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lucy had had a really long day. Between nearly being run off the road in Kerrville and spending hours going over stacks of financial records and police reports, all she wanted was a hot bath, a glass of wine, and bed.

  Jesse came up to her as she was rinsing dishes. “I can finish that.”

  “I’m almost done, but thank you. Are you already done with your homework?”

  “Yeah, but I’m kinda beat, too. Coach is killing us at practice because we lost on Saturday.”

  “Go to bed early.”

  “It’s not even nine.”

  “They say teenagers don’t get enough sleep.”

  “I’m going to play video games. Bandit,” Jesse said, and the golden retriever got up from his bed in the corner—Sean had put a dog bed in nearly every room in the house—and followed Jesse out of the kitchen, his tail wagging frantically.

  Sean came over and grinned. “Nothing wrong with video games with the dog.”

  “You’re a bad influence on him,” Lucy said.

  Sean leaned over and kissed her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a car pull into the driveway.

  It was Max.

  Sean turned off the water and poured Lucy a glass of wine. “She learned something from Grover Mills and wanted to talk in person.”

  “I’ll disappear.”

  Sean didn’t say anything, but by his expression she knew she wasn’t going to like this. “You mean she wants to talk to me.”

  “I don’t know what specifically, but give her ten minutes. She’s good, Luce. She wouldn’t come here with a theory if she didn’t think it was important.”

  “What happened to you giving me a heads-up?”

  “She just texted me a few minutes ago.”

  Lucy had a feeling that Sean and Max had conspired to bring her into their investigation. That probably wasn’t fair, but after the shooting today Sean had become fully invested in this case. He was angry and motivated to find out who was behind this … conspiracy. Because there was no better word for it.

  Lucy had her own complicated case and she couldn’t get Ricky Albright out of her head. She kept picturing him as he looked when he was nine, a dimpled little boy with big brown eyes and freckles dotting his nose.

  “Hey,” Sean said, and kissed her. “You okay?”

  The doorbell rang.

  “I’ll listen. Ten minutes.”

  Sean went to let Max in and Lucy sipped her wine. What she really wanted was a giant bowl of chocolate–chocolate chip ice cream. Instead, she followed Sean down the hall.

  “Thank you, Lucy,” Max said. “You’ll definitely be interested in my theory.”

  “I’m still not getting involved in an SAPD investigation,” Lucy said. With Max, she had to be clear from the beginning what she wouldn’t do, or Max would see an in and try to exploit it. Lucy liked her on many levels—she’d read her true crime books, she admired her insight and ability to uncover the seemingly impossible truth, and her determination to find the truth—but the same determination made her difficult to work with, and she used intense pressure to get her way.

  “I understand,” Max said. To Sean, she asked, “Do you have a whiteboard?”

  “In my office,” he said.

  “Can we use it? This will make more sense visually.”

  Sean led the way down to his office. He opened a cabinet that concealed an eight-foot-wide whiteboard. He handed Max a set of colored markers, then sat down on the couch. “Luce,” he said, motioning for her to join him.

  She did, though she was so tired she feared she wouldn’t get up.

  Max wrote on the board. On the far left she listed several names:

  VICTORIA MILLS

  SIMON MILLS

  STANLEY GRANT

  MITCH CORTA

  HARRISON MONROE

  DENISE ALBRIGHT

  “Stop,” Lucy said. “I’m not talking to you about my case.”

  “Ten minutes,” Max said, ignoring her comment. Above the names she wrote Texas A&M. “Victoria and Denise were college roommates their freshman year. They grew up in the same general area in Fredericksburg, didn’t go to the same high school, didn’t know each other, but had a lot in common. According to Victoria’s father, Denise was her only close female friend. Denise named her oldest daughter Victoria—she went by Tori—after Victoria Mills.”

  Lucy’s chest tightened. She knew where Max was going with this, but she didn’t say anything. If she put up the stop sign now, Max wouldn’t share anything with her.

  And Max knew something about her case. Something that Lucy didn’t know. That grated on her and excited her at the same time.

  Max created a timeline. Fifteen years ago, Mitch, Stan, and Victoria created MCG Land and Holdings. Simon and Grover Mills were silent partners, each holding a small portion of the company. Twelve years ago Mitch and Victoria got married. Denise was the maid of honor. A little over three years ago—over the summer—Mitch and Victoria legally separated. In September, the Albright family disappeared. The next spring, Mitch and Victoria legally divorced but remained in business together.

  The Friday after Labor Day of this year, the graves were uncovered in Kendall County. Max wrote:

  A FEW BONES FOUND AFTER LABOR DAY FLOODING.

  GRAVESITE DISCOVERED FRIDAY MORNING.

  MEDIA WIDELY REPORTED THE DISCOVERY.

  V KILLED FRIDAY NIGHT.

  “Max,” Lucy began.

  “Let me finish,” Max said, and continued writing in her bold script.

  TUES: GRANT ALLEGEDLY EMBEZZLED $2.1M, THREATENED BY UNKNOWN HISPANIC MALE W/BURN ON HAND.

  WED: MARIE & KIDS IN ACCIDENT. SCARMAN PRESENT. GRANT CONFESSES. MUST HAVE FACTS FOR POLICE TO BELIEVE. NO MURDER WEAPON.

  Max then drew a line down the board and wrote on the right:

  FRIDAY: IDENTITY OF BONES REVEALED. SIMON VISITS STAN IN PRISON.

  SUNDAY: STAN TELLS MARIE TO LEAVE TOWN WITH HER BOYS.

  MONDAY: STAN CHANGES PLEA. MARIE THREATENED.

  TUESDAY: STAN SHOT AND KILLED.

  Max turned to Sean. “I assume you heard.”

  He nodded. “Marie called me when I was driving back from Austin. I had a friend take Marie to the hotel you reserved for her. Her ex-husband is already on his way.”

  “Good. Okay. So these are facts that we know. I have a few more based on my interviews and staff research—no offense, Sean, but I called Ben to dig around while you were still on the road following Mitch.”

  “I wish something more came from that.”

  “Well, it might end up being important. We know that after I talked to him he went to a bank an hour away in Austin. Why Austin? And he has a safe-deposit box ther
e. One more puzzle piece—we don’t know where it goes, but it goes somewhere.”

  He smiled. “I’m good, but not Superman.”

  Max smiled back, and Lucy wanted to throttle both of them. She knew where this was going: Sean was going to side with Max and want Lucy to get involved with Max’s case. It was clear as day.

  “You believe that Victoria’s murder is connected to the Albrights’ murders three years ago,” Lucy said bluntly.

  “You took my thunder.”

  “You wrote it on the board.”

  “Yes, they’re connected. But more than that, I think Victoria really believed that Denise left the country. I think that when the bones were uncovered, whoever killed Denise thought Victoria would come forward with damaging information, even though it would have gotten her in trouble, too.”

  “You jumped ten steps ahead,” Lucy said, “and I’m too tired to try to decipher.”

  “I don’t know much about your case,” Max said, “but I’ve read every news report from both three years ago and this week. Denise was suspected of embezzling three million dollars from one of her clients and then fled the country when she learned he was auditing the accounts. That was the theory, and I think that’s completely wrong.

  “Denise was an accountant. Grover told me she did work for Victoria all the time—usually for free. Mostly tax advice, setting up accounts, things like that. According to Stan, Victoria was short-tempered and testy in the weeks before her murder, and keeping information from him and Mitch. He claimed she had a straw buyer named Harrison Monroe, and said he didn’t know who he was. That is a lie. He knows Harrison Monroe because they all went to college together.”

  “Why would he lie if he wanted your help to get out of prison?” Lucy asked.

  “Because I think in the back of his mind he was trying to protect Mitch and Simon. I think they all knew that Victoria was doing something illegal with Monroe—and has been since she and Mitch separated. I think that’s why they separated—either because Monroe, who Victoria dated for four years in college, was back in town and they may have been having an affair or because Victoria was doing something illegal with him. Maybe she separated so it wouldn’t come back on Mitch, or maybe he found out and left her.”

  “But they still worked together,” Sean said. “Their livelihood was deeply entwined.”

  “That’s interesting, too. Their business continued to thrive, and in fact Victoria was making a lot of money these last three years, over and above MCG. That’s why I’m leaning to a personal reason for their separation.”

  “If they went to college together, the Harrison Monroe we’re looking for is in New Braunfels. He’s the only one of that age. And he’s married to a lawyer.”

  “I think that all of them were involved in something illegal three years ago, but Denise got cold feet. Maybe she didn’t know about it and stumbled across it because she was working on Victoria’s taxes or a business deal. Or maybe she was doing some work for Monroe and came across something illegal. She could have been involved in it herself. Whatever happened, I think she was threatened and that’s when she decided to embezzle the money from her client and disappear with her family—maybe with Victoria’s blessing. This was a tight-knit group, according to Grover. All six of them. It could even be that they were collectively involved with an unknown party who killed Denise, but the others bought into the myth that she left the country.”

  Lucy considered what Max was saying. Based on what they’d learned, Denise had been talking about leaving. Her son thought it was because of a pending divorce, which was logical for a nine-year-old. But what if it was because she was scared? Or had done something illegal?

  Max continued, “Victoria thought Denise left the country, or she wanted to believe it. What happened after I can’t even guess, but everything went back to normal. Until the bones were uncovered.”

  Lucy rubbed her eyes. “You think that Victoria was killed because the bones were found.”

  “Exactly. Because then she would realize that her best friend had been murdered three years ago and she would go to the authorities with whatever she knew. Victoria may have been committing a crime, but when your best friend and her entire family are executed you will do the right thing.”

  “You think so?” Lucy asked sarcastically, uncharacteristic of her. But she knew too many criminals who could justify any crime.

  “Based on what I know of Victoria, yes, I think she would. I’ve interviewed a lot of criminals—I know you have, too. White collar criminals are distinctly different than violent predators. I think Victoria would have come clean. Perhaps worked out a plea arrangement, I don’t know. She wasn’t given the opportunity. She was killed. Or she threatened to expose the wrong person and they killed her.”

  “There are several problems with your theory, Max, but I can’t share them with you because they’re part of a federal investigation.”

  “I have just given you a motive for Denise Albright’s murder. Don’t tell me you already figured this out, because you had no idea Denise and Victoria knew each other.”

  “I would have with enough time. We got this case less than forty-eight hours ago.”

  “I have access to the Mills family. We can get information faster using my access than if you jump through hoops.”

  “Those hoops are there to ensure a conviction when a case goes to trial. You don’t have to worry about things like that; I do.”

  “You have no probable cause to interview Harrison Monroe. In fact, you made it clear that the Victoria Mills homicide is a local police issue, so you have no reason to interview Mitch or Simon or anyone else.”

  “If you continue down this path and you are even partly right, then you could blow the entire investigation, and could very well put a young boy at risk.”

  Max glared at her. “I do not blow investigations.”

  “We believe that Ricky Albright is alive and in hiding. We think he knows something about his family’s murder, possibly as a witness. We have a plan to bring him home safely, but if he’s scared—and if those responsible find out we have a line on him—he may never come home, and could be in more danger.”

  “I would never put a child in danger. Between the two of us, we have far more information than separately.”

  “The difference is I have a badge and you have a pen. Would you seriously withhold information in a capital case because you want to be in the middle of the investigation?”

  “It’s really hard not to take that as an insult.”

  Sean spoke up.

  “Max, can you excuse us for a minute?”

  Max walked out without comment, closing the door behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” Sean asked.

  “Wrong? Are you actually taking her side?”

  “I’m not taking sides because there is no side to take. We all want the same thing.”

  “I want justice. She wants a story.”

  “I don’t think that’s fair to Max.”

  “That’s not what you used to think. It’s so hard to compete against her!”

  That didn’t come out the way Lucy intended, and by the look on Sean’s face he didn’t understand.

  “You sound jealous, and you don’t have a jealous bone in your body,” he said.

  “It’s her way. I know you and Dillon are friends with her and she is so persuasive and smart, but she’s a reporter. She’s not a cop, and her concerns are not my concerns. I admire her work—she is truly brilliant on so many levels. Her books are textbooks in how to investigate cold cases—but also in what not to do.”

  “I think I understand,” he said.

  “You don’t.”

  “Now you’re not being fair to me, Luce. I know that your hands are often tied, and I know that you wrestle with bending the rules.”

  “I’ve done it, to save lives, and I’ve never regretted it.” She’d once broken a rule that resulted in saving a woman’s life … but also let a human trafficker walk. It ha
dn’t been a hard decision, because life is precious. That woman deserved to survive, and if she hadn’t gotten the information out of the trafficker the woman would have died.

  But he walked, and that was a heavy burden to carry.

  “But it adds weight. Max doesn’t have that burden. I don’t have that burden, at least not like you do. She’s on to something here, and you would not have had this information if she didn’t come here and open herself up like this. I told her when we first started working together not to tell me anything that would mean I had to keep a secret from you, because I won’t do that. But I couldn’t help her if she kept all this from me—and I can help. I’m running a deep background on Harrison Monroe as we speak. But neither of us have access to the Albright case. Max is willing to turn over all the research in this case—everything I’ve done and she’s done.”

  “But she won’t walk away.”

  “Would you?”

  “That’s different.”

  “If you weren’t a federal agent and you uncovered something big—a potential conspiracy—would you just turn it over to the police and walk away?”

  “I can’t answer that, because I am a federal agent.”

  “I think if you talk to Max about the Albright case she might have more information that she doesn’t realize is important, plus a unique insight.”

  “You’re forgetting that the Victoria Mills murder is an active police investigation. I can’t get involved.”

  “You’re not. But if you solve the Albright murders, I think you’ll also solve the Mills murder. And like you said, a little boy’s life is on the line. No one wants Ricky Albright to stay in hiding his entire life. What he must have been going through the last three years. If he’s alive, he deserves a life free from fear, free from running, right?”

  Sean was taking Max’s side over hers. She rubbed her eyes. Sean was right. There really wasn’t a side in this situation. But what happened when Max crossed the line—which historically she was prone to doing—and it cost them a conviction?

  As if sensing her indecision, Sean said, “Remember when we were looking for my cousin in New York, before you were an FBI agent, before you were even in the academy, and Suzanne brought you into the investigation because you had a unique insight into the situation? She didn’t want to. Noah vouched for you, and she trusted Noah. You helped solve a major case, even though you weren’t a cop. And before you went through the academy, that DC cop partnered with you to solve the murder of two prostitutes. Because you had insight and you wanted to help. I’m telling you, Max has insight and access right now, and I think she can be an asset.”